[TR] Jack Mountain- up the North Ridge, down the East Ridge 7/22/2006

[aheiser]

Climb: Jack Mountain-up the North Ridge, down the East Ridge

 

Date of Climb: 7/22/2006

 

Trip Report:

Trip report- Jack Mountain July 21, 22,23.

 

Executive summary: Two backcountry mountain junkies score another high with a three day trip up and over Jack Mountain: Ross Lake water taxi to May Creek camp, bushwack to the Nohokomeen Glacier, up the North Ridge, down the East Ridge, and out the Crater Mountain trail.

 

Last Thursday the sky was clear, the forecast flawless, and Curt (curtveld) and I set off to climb Jack Mountain. We drove the usual roads (little traffic), avoided the usual speed traps, and started at the Ross Dam Trailhead.

 

The water taxi across the lake worked like a charm, if too quickly, and the activity at the resort classic Northwest recreation: an Outward Bound group of 12-year-old kayakers, tourists, and mountaineers, all with bags milling around in the morning sun. From the boat, our destination seemed invisible through the light of the rising sun, but the west shore of Ross Lake was almost touchable, details fully lit.

 

9am and our day's work was about to begin. At May Creek Camp (1600') our taxi interrupted what seemed to be a living snapshot of the idyllic retired couple's boat-camping vacation. We found the open forest 200 yards right of the trail junction (Thank you obsydian, TR July 03) and had very little trouble ascending to the ridge top. We kept angling left of the fall line through open forest, crossed one small stream of water (still south of Beckey's "seasonal May Creek tributary"), and found excellent game trails through the rock bands (~3500-4100). When in doubt, do as the deer do.

 

We walked the ridge crest (5000') to a nice overlook, took a two hour break/nap, and continued by traversing over to the top of the moraine. Under the toe of the Nohokomeen glacier, and up the left side slabs lead to a fine campsite (~6700', 6:00pm). The evening was clear and warm, the cool wind off the glacier kept the bugs away, and occasional serac fall provided entertainment. We saw neither wildlife nor sign of prior climbers.

 

Friday started at 5:45am with an easy and crack-free ascent to the top of the glacier (8000'). Our exit from the glacier took one pitch of occasionally wet and junky mid-fifth plus some scrambling over wet slabs and through a keyhole onto the North ridge. An easier route to the ridge is probably available lower down, not quite the top of the glacier.

 

The North Ridge is an excellent line and could become the most popular route on the mountain, save for Beckey's overly-daunting description of the approach. Scrambling along the knife edge on solid rock leads to a southerly snow traverse across and below the summit tower. The traverse is exposed but step-kicking was easy and we got occasional rock pro along the upper moat. We finished a final pitch of low fifth directly up the East Ridge and gained the summit at 11:00am (9066'). Jack is well situated for a spectacular view from Fernow to the Chilliwack peaks and eastward as well.

 

Descending the East Ridge was long and somewhat tedious. The rock on the top third of the route is fractured and loose. In the middle third we chose to set up belays more than once as the (our?) route wanders off the ridge to the north. The lower third was, as Beckey describes, excellent class 3-4 rock. And the entire ridge was very exposed.

 

A large bench at the base of the ridge gives ample access to the East glacier (7000'). Crossing the glacier we were lucky, with a thread of snow all along the north side a direct path was available down to the rock slabs. Continuing down and right around a rock band, we reached the meadow and our second camp at 5:00pm (~6000'). Again no wildlife, not even furry critters, but the bugs were more noticeable.

 

Saturday we slept in to 8:00, and exited along the ridge to Jerry Glacier and the Crater Mountain trail where we descended into the weekend heat.

 

Sorry but we have no pictures, as the camera battery died long before we exited the woods.

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Sterno can for heating freeze-dried dinners. No pickets needed, given rock pro along the snow traverse.

[Rad]

Excellent report. Bummer about the batteries.

Welcome to CC!

[curtveld]

Great TR and trip Andy! Being the schmuck that forgot the extra camera battery, I can point out two outstanding Scurlock photos (thanks, John!) that show our route. We ascended the center of the Nohokomeen Glacier just right of the large rock and accessed the North ridge left of the summit tower. We found much more snow cover than shown here.

 

The East Ridge is seen head-on, with the crest closer to the East glacier on the left. The high snow traverse on the ascent is directly below and right of the summit. All in all, Jack has some pretty cool features that don't get much traffic.

[wayne]

Wow you guys should be paid for that beta, thanks.

How about descending the n ridge as an option?

[curtveld]

Wow you guys should be paid for that beta, thanks.

How about descending the n ridge as an option?

Beta for maybe?

 

Descending the N ridge and glacier would be just fine and considerably easier than the E Ridge. If someone was keen on a traverse, I’d probably tell them to do our trip backwards, since I think the E. ridge would be more enjoyable going up. Though I haven’t done it, the standard South route just doesn’t sound like much fun either direction.

[tanstaafl]

Rat and I did this traverse in the opposite direction this weekend. We hiked in through thundershowers on Friday and bivied on the ridge above Jerry Lakes. The bugs are out in full force. Rat thought they weren't that bad, but I was really glad we brought a tent instead of a tarp, and hunted down every one that made its way into our sanctuary and slaughtered it with a cathartic "DIE, motherfucker!"

 

The climbing on the E Ridge is super fun, and only 3 hours from where you access the ridge to the summit. We downclimbed the last little section of the E Ridge and traversed over to the N Ridge on steep snow, then downclimbed the N Ridge to a very cool cannonhole we slithered through, down more steep snow to the Nohokomeen, traversed across it and scampered through a little icefall.

 

A lovely break on a sunny rock was followed by approximately 4500 feet of "straightforward" (if you're Rat) or "character-building" (if you're me) bushwhacking down to the Ross Lake East Bank trail. Spent the night there and had a pleasant hike out yesterday. We tried to hitchhike back to the Canyon Creek trailhead, but ended up just walking the whole way along the highway, which didn't actually take all that long. Excellent alpine scramble with gorgeous views, and we didn't see a soul until we hit Roland Creek on the way out yesterday.

 

[curtveld]

Wow, how cool to see other folks checking out the up-and-over Jack thing! But no crowds as of yet, apparently.

 

Yeah, that keyhole is a nifty little feature – I squirmed though it like a gopher, trying not to dislodge too many chunks onto Andy. And I’m glad you had snow below it because that was the wettest and nastiest part of the route.

 

Your summit day sounds like a long one, ending with the big downhill to Ross. Well done, all around!