[TR] Destroyer & Enigma

[bremerton_john]

Climb: Destroyer & Enigma

 

Date of Climb: 8/11-12/2006

 

Trip Report:

Last weekend JonnySnakeSlayer and I went up tunnel creek in search of Destroyer. Frankly neither of us knew exactly what it was, despite having looked over towards it several times from the next ridge over. The visual trouble is that from that perspective (April, bump above Harrison Lakes), Destroyer kind of blends in with the other rock in the foreground of Mt. Constance. But the approach description sounded simple enough so we exited the tunnel creek trail as prescribed and found our way up through the forest and boulders to the level area at 4900 feet. To our right the boulder field and cliff band was obvious (photo below). The approach went up a choss-filled gully on the right side just out of view.

 

 

Yeah, the visibility was at its best this Friday afternoon when I took the picture above. It mostly socked in for no views at all, which meant finding the spire we hadn't really seen before was shaping up to be a challenge. We sidehilled through the scree below the cliff bands looking for something when eventually through the mist the pointed rock of Destroyer appeared ahead of us. We made our way over, geared up and went up what at first seemed to be the 50 foot sloping ledge. Upon reaching the top (which was like 90 feet up), we realized quickly this was not the intended ledge, and we were greeted by a sudden maelstrom of hail peening off our helmets and knuckles. We bailed.

 

 

The rest of Friday was shot drying out. After bivying that night we awoke to clear blue and a dry ridge. Enigma on the left side and Destroyer the right.

 

 

After walking up we quickly found the correct ledge. SnakeSlayer led up the easy start but then got snarled by rope drag as the pitch neared the notch on the SW side. I came up and led up a short, nearly vertical section containing a crack to the notch which was certainly a bit harder than 5.4. But standing at the notch the broad, downsloping ledge on the backside was found, summit getting closer.

 

 

The book describes a knife-blade being used on the final lead. It's still there, with a thick coating of rust. Thankfully the hammer I brought and knife-blades protected our ascent.

 

 

No summit register on top, nor anything manmade. I guess you hardmen that first climbed it just slung the summit horn with the rope. We gave it some thought, but decided to leave a runner.

 

SnakeSlayer on top: (by the way, N. Fork Tunnel Creek approach of Route 5 Constance down there on the left side of pic)

 

A short traverse across the ridge leads to the block that is Enigma. Here there was an old film canister which contained the following.

In addition to those signatures, on the back of the first ascentionists page (left one) was written "returned 01". That little page looked like a photocopy of the original. It wasn't clear who had returned the page in 01. But whoever it was, you didn't leave a pencil!

 

Oh, the view of Constance from here is just damn amazing. Here's a stitched shot taken from Destroyer. You can see nearly the entire standard route. PM me if you want a higher res copy.

 

Also, the scree chute of route 5 on Constance was directly across from us. It does look like a choice alternative, but the decision must be whether to go basic Route 5 via North Fork Tunnel Creek (I haven't done this approach yet) versus Route 5B via South Fork Tunnel Creek. After getting down from Destroyer, JonnySnakeSlayer and I backtracked our way down to the 4900 ft level area, then continued up the valley until we reached Cunningham Pass (sorry, no pics!). Right now it is scree-hell. There's a moderate amount of bush-wacking to go this way, but it is shorter in distance than the other approaches. Oh, and one final piece of info, we attempted to continue SW down the ridge from Destroyer to gain Cunningham Pass directly. It looked promising at first, but when you get within 1/4 mile it cliffs out and there are several gendarmdes guarding the way. Thus the backtrack.

 

Gear Notes:

Hammer and 3 blades served us well, plus a couple cams/nuts.

[cs]

Did you leave the blades? What is the best bet for geear? Did you only have one 60 m line.... This is looking good... PM me if you want to give away any good info.... Oh, the easy life...

 

Chad

[JonnySnakeSlayer]

Nice report John. Thanks for the great trip!

[bremerton_john]

All the pitons we took out with the exception of one which was left to hold the rappel sling in place. Oh, and we left the 1980 piton there too. Judge for yourself whether to trust it anymore. I gave it a couple of wacks with the hammer and it sunk another inch into the rock. It's located only a few feet above the platform anyway, so its usefulness is limited.

 

Yes, a single 60m was used. After dropping down the summit pitch of Destroyer and scrambling over to do Enigma we rapped off the SW side of Enigma. The traverse between Destroyer and Enigma by the way has some suprisingly slick lichen/moss covered rock on otherwise easy terrain, with serious consequences for slipping.

 

Have fun!

 

John

[JayB]

Cool. Glad to see the Olympics getting some attention.

[beecher]

Looks nice, John.

thought I recognized you from the picture. You musta left the boys back home in the lobster kettle.

Nate

[AJScott]

Nice climb! Jack Barnes eh? I will have to tell him his autograph is on the internet now...he will get a kick out of that.

[Randy_Nelson]

John, I'd appreciate a jpeg of the Constance face you mentioned. also, If you want to go into Tunnel Creek and go up routes 7 or 8 on Constance, let me know...

 

We got up Enigma pretty easy in 1979 and to also just below where the knife blade is that Pete Regen left on the climb of Destroyer in 1980. I had just moved out here from climbing in the Gunks and had brought a couple of 5 and 6 hex's in my rack...no pins. After a couple of pieces of great Olympic rock broke off in my hands while I tried to set the nuts, I bailed and so we didn't finish the Destroyer climb in 1979. Pete and Frank came back the next year (Mac and I had to work) with some pins and it went. And I think you are right...Frank told me they had just slung the rope and rapped off. Frank died a couple of years ago...lot of good memories of climbing with him over there.

 

Nice job and great shots.

thanks,

Randy

[bremerton_john]

Randy, thanks for the FA information. You probably got a kick out of seeing that summit register photo. Protection is definitely sparse on that final pitch on Destroyer. We would have bailed too without the hardware.

 

During the process of revising the guidebook with OMR I've met a number of climbers from the "early years". Perhaps you were even contacted by Keith Spencer or one of the others? It still amazes me that these spires (and a few others) were not climbed earlier. One of the appeals to climbing in the Olympics for me is that there are quite a few folks around still you can talk (and climb) with that have intimate knowledge of the range and its history.

 

I'll get an e-mail out to you with the higher res pic of Constance.

 

John

[Randy_Nelson]

John, thanks for the pics in advance.

 

Keith Spencer and I talked a good bit before OMR embarked on the newest edition...I'm very grateful for the kind acknowledgement he gave me in the preface of the new edition.

 

Best,

Randy

[olyclimber]

nice! i've been meaning to go climb that since i spied it from when climbing Constance.

opposite view from your pano:

[bremerton_john]

Hey, cool pic Oly!

[OlympicMtnBoy]

Anybody happen to see the Nun when you were up there? Anybody been up that way since? I just ran across a 1979 "Mountaineer" that details the Nun FA and was intrigued. Who wants to go for it?