[TR] Mt. Goode- NE Buttress 7/7/2006

[Mark_L]

Climb: Mt. Goode-NE Buttress

 

Date of Climb: 7/7/2006

 

Trip Report:

On July 5, David Nicholson and I hiked down the Bridge Creek trail and took a right up the N. Fork trail. The crossing of Grizzly Creek was routine, thanks to a logjam. There will be plenty more of these in years to come thanks to the massive infestations of Spruce Budworm. Here's what they do to the new growth on trees. They also attack pine trees in addition to spruce trees.

 

 

There were lots of interesting clouds and rumbling sounds throughout the day and when we reached the area where we thought we were to ford Bridge Creek, it started spitting. We decided to wait a few minutes to see what it was going to do before committing ourselves to a wet bushwack/slab climb. It rained just enough to soak the brush and persuade us to go back to a comfortable camp at Grizzly Creek.

 

The following day we moved up to the Goode Bivy. The ford of Bridge Creek was routine, the water was considerably lower than the previous afternoon.

 

 

We climbed up the slabs just to the right of the prominent waterfall. It was exposed but easy. (As long as it is dry!)

 

 

We arrived at the bivy site by mid afternoon, which gave us plenty of time to relax, take in the view and get a good night's sleep for the next day's climb.

 

We left camp at about 5:30 in the morning and climbed onto the glacier to the left of the bivy site.

 

 

The crevasses were well bridged, but crossing the bergschrund of the NE gully was getting a bit thin. The transition from snow to rock was simple, you could step right onto a nice ledge from the snow.

 

The climbing was just like everyone describes, thousands of feet of easy rock climbing, getting steeper and a little more difficult at the top.

 

 

 

We summited at about 3:00 and after a short stay we started down the long descent. After rappelling to the ledge that leads to the notch and doing a little more downclimbing, we located the rappell anchor that took us into the descent gully which was mostly filled with snow. We descended the gully on the rock to the (skier's) right of the snow and found a solid, black dike formation which was basically a staircase down the gully. Eventually you must exit the gully on the left side (skier's left that is).

 

We circled around to the Goode - Storm King col and did a rather thrilling freehanging rappell over some very sharp loose rock to the glacier between Goode and Storm King. Fortunately, we had a 60m rope. The glacier descent was fairly straightforward, although the 'schrund seemed to be rather thinly bridged. We belayed across that. The glacier descent is a reasonable way to avoid having to do a carry over on the climb. We were glad to have light packs for the climb.

 

Dave's superior night vision got us across the basin and back to camp and we were glad to be able to finally relax.

 

The hike back to the car the following day was long and hot, but it is much easier to do with a summit under your belt. The Bridge Creek forests are being ravaged by spruce budworm, just like the rest of the East Slope of the Cascades.

 

 

Gear Notes:

ice axe, aluminum crampons, light rock rack. The #3 camalot was especially useful, cams were more useful than nuts because of the straight sided, flaring cracks. A 60m double rope is adequate, although it limits the length of any belayed pitches.

Blue bags are handy for keeping things dry.

 

Approach Notes:

Watch out for the fecal smear that someone left right next to the creek by the bivy site. The mice are also very active at the bivy site.

[climbaround]

Great TR (with important details) and pictures.

[Otto]

Way to go, Mark! It looks like you're having a good summer. Thanks for the environmental report - worms in balance with the trees.

[Blake]

Nice job on the route, especially braving that stream crossing that we spent forever on. I don't want to just be argumentative, but I've done this route 2x in the last 12 months and I think you can sew things up very very well with mid sized nuts. I brought one cam along and never felt run out.

[G-spotter]

Is that really spruce budworm or is it mountain pine beetle?

[goatboy]

I am confused by your gear recommendation:

 

"A 60m double rope is adequate, although it limits the length of any belayed pitches."

 

Do you mean, a 60m rope that is doubled over to be a 30m rope? That would make sense, and would limit the length of belayed pitches...

 

Nice photos of the route. thanks!

[Mark_L]

According to the forest service literature its spruce budworm. I believe that pine beetle attacks the bark. Pine beetle seems to be prevalent in the Rockies. (Both US and Canada) If you want to see what pine beetle did, drive highway 93 through Kootenay National Park between Radium Hot Springs and Vermillion Pass.

[Mark_L]

I am confused by your gear recommendation:

 

"A 60m double rope is adequate, although it limits the length of any belayed pitches."

 

Do you mean, a 60m rope that is doubled over to be a 30m rope? That would make sense, and would limit the length of belayed pitches...

 

That's what I meant, a 60m rope doubled to 30m. It actually worked quite well, since any sections that we wanted a real belay on were quite short and we generally did running belays almost the entire length of the ridge. In hindsight, you could reasonably just solo the whole midsection, but there is always that uncertainty if you are on it for the first time.

[goatboy]

What do you think about the possibility of DESCENDING the NE Buttress via a combination of rappels and down-climbing?

 

I've heard this suggested as a good alternative to the carry-over plan -- though it sounds like the Storm King Col plan helped you avoid this same dilemma.

[mattp]

If you are wearing comfy rock shoes and are even minimally confident downclimbing, it is very easy to downclimb the route with just two or three short rappels.

[goatboy]

Sounds like you could leave your bivy gear, boots, ax, etc at the base where you transition from snow to rock, then.... hmmm....

[mattp]

Yup. I know many people have an aversion to downclimbing, but it really isn't difficult and I believe it is much faster and easier to climb this particular route that way. Without the extra gear and with rock shoes instead of your general purpose approach and climbing shoes on, you'll get up the route and back down off the mountain much faster.

[pms]

why not just climb the route with a day pack, and then return to camp via the south side descent, and then back to camp via Good/Storm King Col. Many ways to do it of course. All good.

[mattp]

The climbing is moderate enough that carrying over is not altogether terrible either. Some have even enjoyed a summit bivvy.