tivoli_mike Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 Climb: Mt. Garfield -Infinite Bliss AKA Losing my nerve Date of Climb: 7/7/2006 Trip Report: Alright then, OlympicMtnBoy and I headed out Friday after work and after dealing with traffic from my house all the way to Taylor River Bridge ( stuck behind FIVE cars on the Middle Fork road for 12 miles! ), we hit the trailhead a little after seven. Of course, in the time of getting geared up, we realized that my partner's rear left tire was giving up the ghost, we decided to deal with that later. 50 minutes later we were at the base, roped up and headed up to our bivy ledge on top on pitch 6. Slabs are a little more difficult to climb with an overnight pack and diminishing sunlight ;-). Sacked in under a clear night with a good cigar ( pipe for the partner ) and a Guiness. Up at 7 and headed out at 8, made good progress up through the 5.4 ramp and the following 5.9 and 5.10+ pitches. Sun did catch up with us on the higher pitch , around 12 , and really started to heat things up. This is also where the climb changed. I found the 5.1 pitch slightly annoying in finding the anchors, I spent more time leading that pitch because of routefinding than I did the 5.9. The following two pitches, were truly annoying for that same reason. However it was up , halfway the fifteenth pitch that I froze. Yep, the fourth-class, chossy, traverse. Perhaps it was the heat, my diminishing water supply, or just plain nerves, but I was 100' up on the choss and I had worked my way into a low fifth class section and I just froze. I would move up a few feet and then stop for a minute. I didn't have problems with the previous pitches, but this scramble unnerved me. I downclimbed to the rap station on the fourteenth pitch, belayed my partner up and we chatted about it, decided to back off and spent the next four hours or so rapping down. We came across a party of three who were still working their way up the slabs. Thanks for offering us a ride ladies! Got back to the car around 5:30pm, dealt with the flat and after a surreal stop by a King County deputy, who mistaken me for mass murderer we dined in North Bend and headed home... This route takes some commitment and I probably underestimated the exposure up there. The 13th and 14th pitches are a bit sloppy and if you weren't forewarned you could spend a fair amount of time routefinding... We had some water on our bivy ledge and found more higher up, but I would believe that any later in the season, you would be hardpressed and the SW aspect of the route, be ready to be cooked if its hot out... Gear Notes: 24 draws, couple of TCUs, one rigid-stem friend, two 60m ropes Approach Notes: Steep trail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlympicMtnBoy Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 Hey Mike, it was a good climb anyways though, thanks for going along with my crazy idea to bivy on the thing, it's a beautiful place to camp up there. We'll have to go up there again when you're feeling up for it. For anyone else, just be prepared for the traverse. I was feeling good, but we really slowed down on the last couple pitches where it gets chossy and vegitated. Next time I'd just simul climb everything after the first 5.10 pitch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tivoli_mike Posted July 11, 2006 Author Share Posted July 11, 2006 I would agree on that, simul climbing everything other than the 5.9 and 5.10 would be good. The 5.1 I would recommend just heading straight up and protect on flakes along the way ,rather than angling right to the anchors. Remember where the anchors for rapping, but they aren't too obvious on the way up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 I had heard this route called 10b. Which pitch did you think was 10+? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlympicMtnBoy Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 The topo we had (from supertopo.com in the oddities section) lists the long pitch (and the overall route grade) after the 4th class bit as 5.10+. We didn't get that far, only climbing a pitch labeled 5.10. I've heard it was 10b too, but can't say since we didn't finish it this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt_m Posted July 14, 2006 Share Posted July 14, 2006 (edited) It's 10b not 10+. Up high too on the 2nd 10b pitch. Really nice long face pitch. Another 10a (IIRC) near the very top as well. Edited July 14, 2006 by matt_m Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 No kidding about the heat, sun, dry. I did it with chucK in May this year and I was slurping water out of the runoff dribble toward the end of the rappels... Good job on the foray, guys, you'll get it complete next time! That face pitch is worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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