[TR] South Early Winter Spire- SW Couloir and S Arete 5/12/2006

[scheissami]

Climb: South Early Winter Spire-SW Couloir and S Arete

 

Date of Climb: 5/12/2006

 

Trip Report:

On Friday Bill and I headed up to WA Pass to climb SEWS. Not the most outrageous objective, I know, but it was my first alpine climb so I figured I’d mouth off and share some pics. Feel free to spray away.

 

We left PDX Thursday night and made it to Seattle by 11pm. Had a brief nap at a buddy’s (thanks Annie! ) and then headed to the pass. We made it to the hairpin around 7am Friday. The weather didn’t look too hot during the drive up, with scattered rain showers and a low ceiling, but we were hoping things would start to clear a bit later in the day. By 7:30 we were heading up the snow.

 

Conditions were great and there was a good bootpack heading up from the roadside. The cloud cover was helping to keep the snow firm.

 

SEWS from the SE:

 

SEWS from the south, with both the SW couloir and the S. Arete visible. Not too much snow on the S. Arete… (who’s that loser in the way?)

 

We stashed our packs at the base of the S. Arete and headed up the SW couloir just after 9am. The snow held crampons and axes well—windswept with solid crust. Since I’m a goon, I brought my tools—certainly didn’t need them, but, well, I wanted to play with my new toys. I played around a bit, practicing different techniques. There were even a couple of small patches of water ice in the upper couloir. The climb was exceptionally fun—easy climbing with good snow.

 

Bill in the upper couloir:

 

The scramble to the summit:

 

The enormous cornice over the east face:

 

Looking south we could see a couple of skiers climbing under a giant cornice (don’t know the peak’s name) to ski the backside of the ridge. Was it any of you folk?

 

Skiers just beneath the cornice:

 

We descended the couloir via down-climbing and rappelling (should have just down-climbed) and made it back down to our packs a bit after 1pm. The S. Arete was up next. I decided to climb in rock shoes since there didn’t seem to be too much snow. By this time, the sun had started to come out, though the wind was still gusting occasionally and temps were dropping. The climbing was fun and easy with good pro.

 

Bill nearing the first belay:

 

Bill on the second pitch:

 

Though I ran into patches of snow and ice in some of the gullies, the route was mostly dry. We climbed five pitches but hadn’t planned on summiting again. By this time it was getting fairly late, and I didn’t feel like tramping through the snow in my rock shoes. With temps starting to drop, we called it a day and start to rap down.

 

Our high point on the arete:

 

Views on the way down were spectacular:

 

We made it down to our gear about 7pm. An hour of plunge-stepping later and we were at the car. After a six-hour drive, we made it back to PDX just before 3am (Bill had to be up for work at five—sucky). We’d been awake for 24 hours, but managed to climb two easy but totally fun routes. I am now absolutely stoked to go get after some other easy routes. Thanks to everybody for their help and beta.

 

Gear Notes:

Two ice tools (certainly could’ve just used an axe), crampons

Set of stoppers, set of cams

60m rope

 

P.S.--any way to get the pics to load larger (but not monster-sized)?

[RogerJ]

Nice TR! Glad you guys had a great time.

 

Bill gets double bonus points for his ability to not sleep. I think he had pulled an all nighter the day we did Leuthold's on Thursday before you guys left.

 

-r

[scheissami]

That's right--Leuthold's Thursday morning, short nap, SEWS, short nap, work. Luckily pilots don't need to be too alert for work...

[climbinpilot]

Lots of fun, dude. Thanks for driving and putting up the TR. Let's hit the requisite beer this week.

[John Frieh]

So ... Bill thought he could come to drytool night without a helmet but he gets one for SEWS?

 

Good to see Bill wearing a brain bucket these days! Now if only Erik will lay off the

 

Good job you two! Which one did you guys like better... SEWS or Leutholds?

 

PDX in da hizzouse!

[climbinpilot]

Gotta protect the dome! I've considered another helmet to strap around my waist to protect my junk after Roger got nut-blasted on Leuthold's.

 

I'd been weathered off Leuthold's three times over the winter so it was nice to finally check that one off, and the ski descent was nice, but SEWS was definitely more pleasing to the eyes (and schnaz, for that matter). I'd like to try other routes on Hood. How long does the Sandy Glacier Headwall stay in?

[Weekend_Climberz]

Sweet trip. Sleep deprivation is definately worth the expense of climbing.