gravitywurks Posted February 12, 2002 Posted February 12, 2002 Has anyone been up here in the last couple days? Any info on conditions and how well the route has consolidated? Thanks! Quote
erik Posted February 12, 2002 Posted February 12, 2002 friends are on it right now, i will let you know tonite for the climb and ski conditions Quote
vegetablebelay Posted February 13, 2002 Posted February 13, 2002 quote: Originally posted by erik: friends are on it right now, i will let you know tonite for the climb and ski conditions Hey Eric throw us a bone here, where's the promised beta? Quote
erik Posted February 13, 2002 Posted February 13, 2002 it was good for him..... you aint ice climbing but mtn climbing..... appraoch conditions are good too... [ 02-13-2002: Message edited by: erik ] Quote
jdog Posted February 14, 2002 Posted February 14, 2002 climbed the north face of chair peak on sunday. been on this route before and it was definitely not in the best of shape, but better than last year. the approach sucked in spots because we were breaking trail in knee to waste deep snow on snowshoes, but there is a trail now. the first 50' was the only decent ice. lots of spin drift, in fact there was alot of spin drift the whole route. after the first pitch there was alot of post holing in deep snow with little bits of verglas covered rock, and some short sections of mediocre ice. topped out and the wind was blowing like 50 mph. getting off sucked. i would recommend downclimbing (easy) the first descent couloir (aka wind tunnel). the rap was not worth it, as our ropes got hung up and gave us more time in the wind tunnel of pain. nothing like snow and ice hitting you in the face at 50 mph. there was a nice 10 foot cornice on the 2nd rap. if the weather would have remained stable it would have been a whole lot more fun, but it was still a good time. the route on the ridge facing source lake (northeast buttress?) looked like it might be some fun too. the skiing in the valley above source lake would have been phenomenal. i cannot believe how much snow is up there. Quote
Yungaburra Posted February 14, 2002 Posted February 14, 2002 yea man I'd like to give it a go! PM me Quote
mr.radon Posted February 14, 2002 Posted February 14, 2002 I was with jdog. My $.02 is that whoever makes us of the trail we stomped out owes us a couple of beers! I would sujest bringing four pickets, on some sections there is no way to protect 'cus of the loose snow. Quote
erik Posted February 14, 2002 Posted February 14, 2002 i should qualify the fact that my bots skied in....so they have a different report on the slog... they are skiing again i will try and call them tonite...... damn lackys Quote
gravitywurks Posted February 14, 2002 Author Posted February 14, 2002 Thanks to all for the info. We did the route yesterday and had the same conditions: loose snow and only the first 30 feet had good ice. We actually went off route and headed straight up to follow firmer snow but that probably turned out to be a mistake...steeper and still loose snow.Don't expect much protection; we ran the first three pitches because there wasn't a belay worth a damn. And Radon, sorry but no beer. We didn't find any track (other than the skiers trail to source lake) until the base of the NE Butt. We actually assumed no one had come in for the last few days but the wind is blowing a fair amount of loose snow around and covering things up. Quote
mr.radon Posted February 15, 2002 Posted February 15, 2002 Also another note: The trees this year have very heavy snow loads. Heading out Sunday the wind hit the trees, I'm surprised we weren't smacked down. Trees were sluffing loads to the right & left of us; land mines in reverse. Got to get AT skis soon. Quote
dan_e Posted February 26, 2002 Posted February 26, 2002 I went up to Chair Peak Basin and made it to the ridge, but my attempts of soloing the N or NE Face were thwarted by very strong winds (20 to 30 mph with higher gusts) and blowing snow, this combined with a -25 or so windchill was enough to send my non-gore tex equipped ass back to the car! Two guys I know bailed as well (equipped in a similar fashion), but two other guys from Pro Mountain Sports may have given it a go. Snow conditions on the approach were okay, but snowshoes needed for sure. Some man-made slides from glissading. Hard to tell how the North Face looked, but the NE Face looks really nice, again hard to say what the snow of the face was like. it was fun just being up there today, it was pretty cold in the am and I got some nice shots alpenglow on the surrounding peaks. Check out my post in Spray named "Unthankful Backcountry Skier" some people, you will be amazed! Dan E. Quote
nolanr Posted February 26, 2002 Posted February 26, 2002 Dan E. Were you up there yesterday? Me and my buddies were over on the NE Slab of the Tooth. Quote
dan_e Posted February 26, 2002 Posted February 26, 2002 Nope, I was there this morning and there were no tracks up to Chair Peak Basin, I was really surprised since there were tons of tracks obove Source Lake. Dan E. Quote
nolanr Posted February 26, 2002 Posted February 26, 2002 There were 2 guys in the parking lot REALLY early Sunday a.m. that were intending to climb Chair, I guess they didn't get very far. A fair bit of traffic by the Tooth on Sun. Quote
j4 Posted February 26, 2002 Posted February 26, 2002 Big B and I were up on Chair Peak yesterday. We saw Dan and the other couple folks (Brian?) up in the basin by Thumb Rock (thanks for the trail!). The wind was indeed howling, but we elected to do the climb anyhow. There was ice on the first steep bulge and ice on the steep shot below the corniced ridge at the top. The rest was changing snow. It was solid enough to climb without much trouble, but pro was pretty difficult to find until we got to the trees. We brought one picket and I was wishing for another one. Where the snow wasn't burying the ice, screws worked well. Having done this face twice now in two weeks (the earlier climb was 2/14), I'm psyched about this climb. It's a blast. We didn't have any problem with the descent, on either trip. Two ropes is a breeze. One rope isn't a problem though (there should be a sling around a little horn now in the first descent gulley). We found a rap ring at fifty meters down the second gulley also. Contrary to an earlier report, I thought the descent was cake. Quote
sverdina Posted February 26, 2002 Posted February 26, 2002 How was the 'shrund crossing? Seems like you had no problems getting over on it on the 14th. Quote
highclimb Posted March 3, 2002 Posted March 3, 2002 as of 3.2.02 North Face......great condition. first pitch ice...mid face ice/good neve....last pitch....ice/neve approach idnt even need snow shoes Quote
Alex Posted March 4, 2002 Posted March 4, 2002 Might as well add that NE Buttress was also in great shape, at least 4 parties went up it Saturday (including 1 soloist). My right crampon came off and dangled from my boot during the "cruxy" ice section high up Pretty interesting trying to stay in balance and put that damn thing back on with only 2 points of pro in and no belay. Quote
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