[TR] Chair Peak- NE Buttress 3/18/2006

[dbconlin]

Climb: Chair Peak-NE Buttress

 

Date of Climb: 3/18/2006

 

Trip Report:

 

Dan (danielpatricksmith) and I headed up to do Chair Peak on Saturday. There were no fresh tracks on the approach and the area had received a moderate amount of new snow, so we had to break trail. This turned out to be quite a wallow in some places even with snowshoes. As we approached, the weather turned quite foul:

At the base of the climb, we debated turning back due to the weather. We waited a while, chatted, and had a snack, and the weather began to clear, so we headed up. The first pitch (up the gully) was delightful:

After that, the climbing was okay, the weather returned to foul, and wallowing was endured for much of the route.

At the 4th belay, a soloist caught up with us and turned out to be Kurt (wazzumountaineer), so we joined forces for the last couple of pitches and the rappel.

The ice step above 4th belay (see route photo) was getting a little thin, but Dan got a couple of screws in and surmounted it with no problem.

The descent went smooth and we returned to the Alpental parking area where the sun was out shining in stark contrast to the conditions we had experience en route.

Overall, a nice route, that would be even better with less snow, more ice, and more sun.

 

Gear Notes:

-flotation for approach

-couple of screws, few pitons, small rack of nuts, and some med-small cams

 

Approach Notes:

snowy wallow above the lake

[scottgg]

Nice job guys! That picture of the first gully is great, and I am guessing the route photo was not taken during this trip!

[dbconlin]

I am guessing the route photo was not taken during this trip!

 

No, I poached it off of a previous TR!

[cicleclimb]

Looks snowilicious.

[kurthicks]

Thanks for sharing the rope guys!

 

I found the route to be easier than expected, but a lot more interesting than the North Face route.