scot'teryx Posted October 7, 2002 Posted October 7, 2002 Prusik Peak West Ridge (II 5.7) Left Snow Lakes TH at 1130am on Saturday morning heading up to Upper Snow Lakes for our camp. Arrived around 4pm and found a nice spot on the beach that was nice and soft on the sand. The weather was nice, but once the sun went down it got cold fast, especially being right next to the lake. We awoke at 5am on Sunday morning and headed up to the Lower Enchantments, once we reached Lake Viviane, we followed the climbers trail heading north (right) side of the lake, and then up and to the left of Prusik Peak's South Face. We reached Prusik Pass after some scrambling, and then at the last minute some other climbers ran past us to get on the route first, not sure what the hurry was. A very nice vista of the enchantments from here Prusik Pass was very windy with gusts up to 30mph or so, so we found a small bench below the pass out of the wind and got ready to go. We climbed some class 3 ledges up to the base of the climb where the other group was still at (party of 3). From this point on I had no camera as it fell out of the case somewhere later to be recovered at the base of the climb. I started a variation of the 1st 5.6 pitch, and started right and made my way up some lichen slabs to a 5.7 move that eventually made it up to the belay station. From here Sergio took the next pitch and we started the famous "5.7 unprotectable exposed slab". There was a fixed piton at the base above the belay, but nothing until 10 feet of slab of climbing was accomplished, and then Sergio plugged in a small cam on a flake and continued the climbing on a narrow and exposed ridgeline. The wind was heinous, blowing me back and forth, unable to hear him even with a radio, and rope drag was so bad that communicating via rope was difficult. I followed and met him at the next belay. I started the next pitch up a 5.6 corner, gained a ledge, hit the 5.6 flake which eventually led to the 5.5 chimney on the s. face of the summit. The 5.8 chimney was tempting, but not leading more than (2) 5.8 trad leads I decided to go the easy way up. After inching up I gained the summit and belayed Sergio up with some bad rope drag. John & Craig were following us on another rope and had a few problems of their own as well, but we all made the summit by 1130am. The rappel route is on the North Side and is about 4-5 single rope rappels, with some rap stations not easily seen from the 2nd and 3rd rap stations. After the rappeling we went back to Prusik Pass and got all of our gear. We downclimbed towards Prusik Pass proper, and headed towards Gnome Tarn for some classic pictures of Little A and Prusik and then down to Lake Viviane and went around the south portion of the lake which forced up to do some low 5th class climbing on a short 20 foot ledge to gain a ridge to get us back on trail again. The way out was long and tiring, especially after packing up camp and hiking out the 7 miles with full packs on, and a small portion of it at night. A long weekend, but an awesome alpine summit on a beautiful day in the most incredible area in Washington Quote
Cpt.Caveman Posted October 7, 2002 Posted October 7, 2002 Yeah that is a killer peak (wonder why I did it 3 times in 12 months ). Dru you ever gonna climb it or what The tree colors add to the photo quality. [ 10-07-2002, 11:47 AM: Message edited by: Cpt.Caveman ] Quote
Lambone Posted October 7, 2002 Posted October 7, 2002 nice photo's scott, but didn't anybody teach you to camp at least 200ft back from the lake??? Shit next thing you know we will see you smoking pot in a federaly regulated wilderness area nice climb. you should check out the sierras, it's all like prusik peak down there. Quote
Dru Posted October 7, 2002 Posted October 7, 2002 Larches are cool. I think Fern still wants to drag me up it as a 1 day trip this weekend but we will see. I thought you downclimbed N side, what is rappel route, optional or what? To keep with cc.com tradition I will ask Scotty if he saw any cougars up there????? Quote
fern Posted October 7, 2002 Posted October 7, 2002 thanks for the TR Scott. I think it's the first one anyone has posted here for that route and answered some questions I had. I like the photos. Quote
scot'teryx Posted October 7, 2002 Author Posted October 7, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Dru: I thought you downclimbed N side, what is rappel route, optional or what? To keep with cc.com tradition I will ask Scotty if he saw any cougars up there????? Downclimbing the North Side would suck, and we had to do that inbetween one rap station but that was it. There were a few goat trails but I think they were for goats only No Tigers, and no mountain goats as well, I have still never seen a mountain goat Quote
Cpt.Caveman Posted October 7, 2002 Posted October 7, 2002 quote: Originally posted by fern: thanks for the TR Scott. I think it's the first one anyone has posted here for that route and answered some questions I had. I like the photos. You never asked Can I join you and Dru or are you two lovers not allowing the Canadian American ascent. Quote
scot'teryx Posted October 7, 2002 Author Posted October 7, 2002 quote: Originally posted by fern: thanks for the TR Scott. I think it's the first one anyone has posted here for that route and answered some questions I had. I like the photos. I plan on getting a good tr up on my site soon as I can, as other tr's are kind of vague, but Nelson's book is the best, but as much as I thought having beta for the route was necessary, it isn't. You just climb the ridge and that's it. Variations are there, and there was one crack i really wanted to do but it looked 10a or something. Does anyone know? Its on the last pitch below the 5.6 flake pitch, and is on the south side, total handcrack in a dihedral with little feet it looked like, and it gains the ledge below the summit. Quote
Crackbolter Posted October 7, 2002 Posted October 7, 2002 quote: Originally posted by COL. Von Spanker: I wa glad I brought my down jacket. I see why they call them belay jackets. This is when you are supposed to say, "I was glad I brought my 800+ fill goose down Feathered Friends down jacket with Epic by Nextec shell fabric. Man, you guys gotta get one!!! I see why they call them belay jackets" Quote
Dru Posted October 7, 2002 Posted October 7, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Crackbolter: quote:Originally posted by COL. Von Spanker: I wa glad I brought my down jacket. I see why they call them belay jackets. This is when you are supposed to say, "I was glad I brought my 800+ fill goose down Feathered Friends down jacket with Epic by Nextec shell fabric. Man, you guys gotta get one!!! I see why they call them belay jackets" Horsecock will keep you warmer than down over the long term. Quote
COL._Von_Spanker Posted October 7, 2002 Posted October 7, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Crackbolter: quote:Originally posted by COL. Von Spanker: I wa glad I brought my down jacket. I see why they call them belay jackets. This is when you are supposed to say, "I was glad I brought my 800+ fill goose down Feathered Friends down jacket with Epic by Nextec shell fabric. Man, you guys gotta get one!!! I see why they call them belay jackets" Yeah, that's what I meant. If my jacket doesn't have the patented Feather Friends proprietary YKK hood zipper can I get one added on? I am planning on doing the half-bag jacket combo. Quote
scot'teryx Posted October 7, 2002 Author Posted October 7, 2002 More images are now available here: http://www.nwog.org/images/prusikwr100602 Quote
ivan Posted October 7, 2002 Posted October 7, 2002 west ridge is definetly doable as a car-to-car...joshK and i did it two weeks ago in 14 hours from snow creek...certainly no sense in using 2 ropes, and bringing a short rope might do just fine as the total amount of face requiring a serious belay is probably no more than 60-70 feet...a gorgeous area, and the south face looks incredible, but i found the w ridge pretty ho-hum after the long walk in (might have been spoiled by doing the w ridge of forbidden and n ridge of stuart in the preceeding month) Quote
Greg_W Posted October 7, 2002 Posted October 7, 2002 quote: Originally posted by ivan: ...but i found the w ridge pretty ho-hum after the long walk in... This can be alleviated by continuing Eastward from the summit and climbing Flake Tower and The Monument (take prusiks). This makes the long walk much more worth it. One can also continue to The Boxtop, if desired. Quote
Cpt.Caveman Posted October 7, 2002 Posted October 7, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Dru: Can we do them all in 1 day? You might be fast pressed to fit in the Boxtop (if your Gumby level is similar to mine) but I am sure it can be done. You can bail almost at any time from the ridge anyway. There are several short 5.8 jamcracks on each formation. Might need a little more gear depending on your comfort. I recommend heading over to the Monument at least. [ 10-07-2002, 03:41 PM: Message edited by: Cpt.Caveman ] Quote
klenke Posted October 7, 2002 Posted October 7, 2002 "Can we do them all in 1 day?" Yeah, with a helicopter you can. [ 10-07-2002, 03:44 PM: Message edited by: klenke ] Quote
Cpt.Caveman Posted October 7, 2002 Posted October 7, 2002 quote: Originally posted by klenke: Yeah, with a helicopter you can. I wouldn't say it's quite that far fetched. There are a number of people around here that have climbed for instance the Serpentine Ridge then W R PRusik then down snow creek in a day. That's just one example and there are plenty that have done a little harder too. Quote
klenke Posted October 7, 2002 Posted October 7, 2002 Oh, I was referring to ALL the peaks on the Mt. Temple Ridge. Certainly, Prusik, Flake, Monument, and Boxtop could be done in a day. Quote
Cpt.Caveman Posted October 7, 2002 Posted October 7, 2002 quote: Originally posted by klenke: Oh, I was referring to ALL the peaks on the Mt. Temple Ridge. Certainly, Prusik, Flake, Monument, and Boxtop could be done in a day. I think that (in and out) would only be done if you mostly soloed them all or were just supercroft Quote
texplorer Posted October 8, 2002 Posted October 8, 2002 quote: Originally posted by scot'teryx: quote:Originally posted by Dru: I thought you downclimbed N side, what is rappel route, optional or what? Downclimbing the North Side would suck, and we had to do that inbetween one rap station but that was it. There were a few goat trails but I think they were for goats only I guess going up and down the "sucky North Side" in running shoes would be kinda stupid then . Quote
fern Posted October 8, 2002 Posted October 8, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Dru: I think Fern still wants to drag me up it as a 1 day trip this weekend but we will see. we will see ... this is what they call chestbeating in advance. now everyone will laugh when we fail. It would be cool to have you along Ray , ... if we go. Your other comment is inaccurate. [ 10-07-2002, 12:03 PM: Message edited by: fern ] Quote
Jim Posted October 8, 2002 Posted October 8, 2002 If you're talking about the crack throught the face left of the ridge that goes through black lichen I thought it was a stiff 5.8, but I lack finesse on cracks. Quote
COL._Von_Spanker Posted October 8, 2002 Posted October 8, 2002 Great day huh? I was one of the twoin the party that was behind you. Did you take the direct route on the final pitch? The guide books said there was a 5.4 chimney and I looked for it didn't see it so I went direct, it seemed to go at 5.8ish. After doing some research I read the 5.4 chimney is to the right, but that seemed to drop off the s. face. The weather coudn't have been better. I wa glad I brought my down jacket. I see why they call them belay jackets. Quote
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