[TR] Mt. Kent- North Face 2/19/2006

[Gary_Yngve]

Climb: Mt. Kent-North Face

 

Date of Climb: 2/19/2006

 

Trip Report:

After working all day Saturday, I decided that I either needed to get in some people time that evening or go to the mountains on Sunday. I made some calls, and Ralph was looking for a partner to check out the north face of the obscure Mt. Kent. We found only one TR on the NF of Kent online, a trip by Dave and Phil that took a bushier line than ours. Beckey dedicated one sentence to Kent; Krawarik had two.

 

Saturday morning Ralph picked me up at 5 AM, and we drove to exit 42. Our USGS map indicated that the McClellan's Butte trail would put us to the right of Alice Creek when we intersected the Iron Horse trail.

 

 

So we turned left and marched. Past Rock Creek. Past Harris Creek. Darn well near Carter Creek before we realized that surely we went too far. We looked back and saw McClellan's Butte get some morning light. So much for our early start, and good thing it was a cold day.

 

(photo by Ralph)

 

We turned around and hiked back, wondering if we'd ever find the Alice Creek or wondering if it was really another name for Rock Creek. We didn't see any signs of other roads. We eventually returned to the initial intersection and decided, why not, to wander the other way for a bit. Worst case we'd slog up the north gully on McClellan's Butte. Less than a quarter mile away, we stumbled across Alice Creek and a road branching down from it toward the creek. Elated, we followed the road down, only to have it dead-end. So we started shwacking up the creek toward Kent. Eventually we hit a road, but before then, navigating through clear-cutted timber with minimal snow cover was annoying. Only later did we really find out what was going on with the trail and the roads:

 

 

Eventually our nice road curved the other way out of the valley, so we went off-trail climbers-right of the creek. The snow had a firm crust on it, and we made good time to the basin below the north face.

 

 

We aimed for the central gully, which in the above picture, started at the point about 1/3 from the left and top. On the slog up to the base, a crust about an inch thick would fracture and dinnerplate, tumbling down and revealing sugar beneath. The cold temperatures have been having their effect.

 

(photo by Ralph, color-corrected by Gary)

 

Ralph got the first pitch, and he promised he wouldn't pull a NFChair and finish the first pitch on the summit. The pitch was great ice for half a rope, and it protected well with 13cm screws. The slope lessened to some nice neve, and at the end of the rope, Ralph set an anchor off a small tree and a pin.

 

 

 

 

The second pitch took me up another step of ice and then some snow until I stretched the rope to dig out a solid tree anchor.

 

(photo by Ralph, color-corrected by Gary)

 

Ralph followed the pitch in style.

 

 

The snow was pretty variable in quality. Sometimes solid neve/snice. Sometimes sugar. Sometimes crust over sugar. In general it was great for climbing (though you might have to alternate between plunging and dagger frequently or have each hand doing a different style), though the protection was hit-or-miss. But we did enjoy solid belays.

 

Ralph's next pitch was a long simul pitch of gentler neve.

 

 

We were getting high on the mountain, which means closer to the top, but the top still seemed far away. We were on a large north face.

 

(photo by Ralph, color-corrected by Gary)

 

My next pitch featured some more nice neve and ice steps.

 

 

Ralph then led up some gentler slopes in another simuling stretch. We saw a steep headwall to our right that looked really fun though hard, and we were worried about time. So Ralph headed left, first through snow, and then some sweet low-angle ice.

 

 

But that headwall and blue ice sure looked like fun! It just looked harder above, with possibly a little mixed action.

 

 

My next pitch took me up a steep ice step that was unprotectable due to poor ice quality. I screwed in two stubbies with screamers at the base, each of which had about a third air. Higher up, the ice had aerated, and often I had to swing several times in an area to find something that would grab. Keeping most of my weight on my feet was key.

 

 

(photo by Ralph, color-corrected by Gary)

 

The ice gave way to neve, and as the rope went taut, I reached a huge tree. Ralph's next pitch took him behind a rock buttress where he found water ice and frozen moss that allowed passage.

 

 

He weaved his way up a ropelength through snow to another tree belay. I followed, in snow that was becoming increasingly sugary.

 

(photo by Ralph, color-corrected by Gary)

 

My last pitch was started off with a groveling heel hook around a tree I had just slung to pass some sugar that I couldn't seem to get on top of. Then about twenty feet of ice and frozen moss amidst some bushes and trees. Finally more steep deep sugar, fluted and interspersed with cliff bands. I traversed below a band and exited onto easier terrain a little below the summit.

 

We scrambled the rest of the way and arrived on the summit with clouds above, but visible were Rainier and a strong red hue to the west. We quickly cramponed down steep slopes to the east and sidehilled for what seemed like forever to return to the other side of the mountain. Having figured out all the routefinding puzzles on the way in, we made it out much faster.

 

All in all, we were amazed by the quality of the route, especially given the trouble we had in finding it, and the dearth of record of folks climbing it. We enjoyed nearly 1500 vertical feet of snow and ice, which bomber tree belays along the way. It was a perfect difficulty -- not a walk in the park, nor holy shit, if I fall we both die. The route was aesthetic, and I think we found it in nearly perfect conditions.

 

To cap off a great trip, I then invited Ralph over to enjoy the crockpot that I had cook overnight. A big roast of beef, with red potatoes, carrots, green beans, celery and onions. We stuffed ourselves until we burst, and then I pulled out the cheesecake.

[kurthicks]

I was thinking about that face last night and wondered if anyone had been up there since Alex & Jason wrote the guide. Nice!

Edited February 24, 2006 by wazzumountaineer

[slothrop]

This route was way better than NF Chair and at least twice as long. We couldn't really have asked for better conditions, except for the sugar up top. Great sticks the whole way.

[philfort]

Haha... nice.

 

I think you can see the easier line Dave and I took in the gully hidden in the background here:

(but we didn't have nice ice at the start like you did, so we had to waste time thrashing up rotten rock and dirt on the side somewhere ).

[TrogdortheBurninator]

[gyselinck]

holy crap thats cool looking!

 

if it didnt snow so freaking much this weekend, i would definatly go there.

[Gary_Yngve]

Anyone have a copy of Dallas Kloke's self-published book on winter dayclimbs from Seattle (or have Dallas's contact info)? I'm sure there's other gems out there...

 

(Is he the same Dallas of the Mt. Erie guidebook? I thought I had an email from him somewhere, but I can't find it.)

[dbb]

He is, but last time I checked (about 1999) he didn't sell the winter climbs book anymore. I think this is the route described in there.

 

Mt. Kent is great when it's in condition. so close, and fully visible from I90! nice climb guys!

[Dougiefresh]

I have a copy of the kloke guide but it is packed away in a storeage locker right now. If I rember right the most of the climbs Seemed more like hikes and scrambles the actual climbs. If I’m correct, all the actual “ice” routes are covered in the Washington ice guide. It hits on Kent, Abiel, and I think New York gully on Snoqualmie. I’m moving in a month and will be able to unpack all my books, so if you don’t find a copy before than, you are more than welcome to borrow mine.

[philfort]

A copy of it passed through my hands a few years ago, and was a bit underwhelmed, after all the hoopla people gave it. There wasn't a whole lot of info in there - nothing like Selected Climbs or CAG. You'd do just as well with a topo map and a pair of eyes.

 

Anyway, after all the excitement of getting my hands on it, I didn't think it was of much use, and I didn't even bother photocopying it.

 

(not trying to put down Kloke's work here - but it didn't live up to the hype other people gave it).

[Gary_Yngve]

I got hooked up with a copy two days ago, though I've been too busy to have time to look at it yet.

[mountainhesh]

Nice work with the pictures Mr Cameraman. Looks like it was a fun climb that you don't hear much about...

[catbirdseat]

Gary, I think that I have figured out how you got off track on the approach. There are two railroad grades. The first one is the John Wayne Trail. There is a second one that might have been a logging railroad(?). That one is the one where you should have left the trail and run along it to just past Alice Creek to pick up a logging road that parallels the creek.

[slothrop]

I think we just needed to turn right instead of left where the McClellan Butte trail reaches the second road. That way, you actually meet Alice Creek.

[catbirdseat]

The McClellan Butte trail runs northwest on the Iron Horse Trail for 0.4 mile, crossing Alice Creek, before leaving the IHT (turning left) and running parallel to the creek. After about 3/4 miles the trail crosses another road. Turn left and follow this road another half mile until it crosses Alice Creek. Immediately after the crossing, there should be a logging road branching to the right. It goes east for half a mile before it switches back to the SW and eventually ends about 150 ft above the south fork of Alice Creek. From here you would schwack west to the base of Kent.

[Gary_Yngve]

Brian, our problem was the USGS map that we had showed the apparently the old McClellan trail. We didn't know that it was different than the trail on Greentrails (which matches what you encounter on-foot).

 

Did you check Kent out this weekend?