West Ridge Mt Thompson (Snoqualmie Pass)

[DPS]

I would like to get people's opinions on if this is a worthwhile route to do considering its rather long (by Snoqualmie Pass standards) approach.

[CascadeClimber]

Dan-

It is pretty moderate and loose. There is quite a bit of 4th with some low to mid 5th mixed in. The approach is long. It isn't a route that I'll repeat. Full TR and some pics here:

http://cascadeclimber.com/west_ridge.htm

Cheers-

CC

[Pencil_Pusher]

A buddy and I did it as a day trip this past Saturday. Leave the crampons and ice axe at home. There's some snow to descend from Bumblebee, but nothing that made it hard for me to self-arrest with hands and feet... oops.

The scree on the approach is probably the hardest part of the climb.

Basically you'll scramble up to the notch and start off to the left going left/up until in a chimney of sorts. Top out over the rocks and then head up left towards the bushes. Big ol' root is one fine anchor. Of which, notice the 40+pound rock sitting against it and the gash it left in the root. About 20 feet up my partner pulled it free and sent me to pucker-land as I dove for cover, missing me by a foot. Beware loose rock...

So the second pitch just goes straight up from that root and I can't remember. Just stick to the ridge as much as possible. If you get in to a bunch of lichen or hard climbing, you're off route. Once you break up onto the slab (a way easy slab you easily walk on), just follow the corner on up, it's a helluva lot easier than taking the face just past the corner and that damn tree.

I can't remember, but I think it's some six pitches. You'll hit the false summit then go down to base and keep climbing up the last bit of the west ridge before you top out. Friggin' huge ass piton somebody bashed in on top.

Descend by following ridge east, I think you'll keep heading east until you come down on two trees where you can do a single rope rap down to another set of trees with obvious webbing. Another single brings you down to some easy down scrambling. Keep along the foot path that sticks close to the ridge. You'll reach an obvious saddle with snow on the ridge and descend a light footpath down.

There's water to be had at the lakes and also at the base of Thomson (streams).

And there's booty to be had!! We got two singles and two biners on our trip!

As for pro, we had basically a full set of stoppers and 1, 2, 3 camalots. I'd leave the 3 at home next time. Rope drag was a huge problem for me as I tried to go the full length on the slab once I climbed up on it, to maximize the pitch. It was extremely difficult if not impossible to communicate with my partner and took a big effort to make sure the rope was tight on him versus friction on rock. Quite a few rocks to sling.

[DPS]

Thanks for the play by play. I was wondering if you felt it was worthwile, considering the longish approach.

[Pencil_Pusher]

Heck yeah it was worth the approach. We were no way near as fast as Cascade Climber, but the whole route was enjoyable and the weather was great.

It was hilarious this time because the same buddy and I tried Mt Thomson last year as our first trad multi-pitch climb. We thought we had gotten 200 feet up before bailing (we were sloooowww, and by CascadeClimber standards, we still are), but in actuality, we weren't but one pitch up. It's funny how perceptions change. If we had more sunshiny weekends in the year than we do, I'd love to go back and climb it again. Maybe another year.

Have fun.

[jblakley]

Did this route last fall with a buddy of mine. Definitely a long way in. I think it took us about 12 hours car to car and remember feeling pretty whipped by the time we got back.

Had a major pucker moment on route. Somehow we bone-headed our way off route and I led out on this shitty moss dihedral that would not suck up any pro and ended up on this 5.9 ish crap face just as my only pc popped out. I still can hear the loud popping sound echoing through the valley as a result of my sphincter slamming shut. Ended up making the climb much more adventurous than it should have been. I would say all in all it would be a good workout type outing with an ok climb at the end of it. 2.5 stars out of 5. Let me know what you think if you do it DPS