[TR] Dragontail- Serpentine Arete 8/20/2006

[ira]

Climb: Dragontail-Serpentine Arete

 

Date of Climb: 8/20/2006

 

Trip Report:

Serpentine Arete! 14 pitches with a couple of 5.8s, a few 5.7s, and some more 5th class with a bunch of 4th class thrown in. I knew this would be a challenge but felt I was up for it. The big question was speed, were we fast enough to climb the entire route and get back to camp in one day.

 

So I called my friend Stefan and asked if he was interested. He definitely was as he tried to do it last year but work interfered with his ability to get out. We needed a permit for the Colchuck Lake area so we decided to head over Friday night after work on August 18, sleep at one of the campgrounds up Icicle Creek and then hit the Ranger Station at 7:45 AM to hopefully get our permit. Unfortunately, every single campground was full by the time we got there so we found a side road, drove up about 1/8 mile and found quite a nice little spot to set up our tent for the night. Up early on Saturday to get to the ranger station and we were the first ones there at 7:40. Three more people showed and we all got our permits at 7:45. The ranger said there were 37 people Friday morning and most didn’t get permits. We lucked out.

 

Now having lots of time we headed off for a nice breakfast and then when on to Castle Rock which is a little ways upriver. Castle Rock is a good size rock with lots of trad routes and some bolted routes on it. We chose a mid-fifth class multi-pitch trad route as a good warmup to Dragontail. We finished the route and then headed off to lunch/dinner, pretty tough work so far. Had a nice lunch at Gustov’s before we made it to the trailhead, repacked and were ready to roll by 4:50 PM. Not exactly the start time we had planned. We arrived at Colchuck Lake in 2 hrs, 20 minutes but then had to do the long up and down hike around the lake. Stefan thought it would be a good idea to camp well above the lake so we could get an early start on the climb in the morning by not having to hike up so much to the trailhead. Seemed like a good idea. Mistake #1! We climbed up the scree field about 800 ft or so which was absolutely miserable but did find a nice bivy site next to a stream coming out the colchuck glacier and snowfield below it.

 

Up early the next morning for the climb we weren’t sure whether we needed ice axes and crampons to get on route and also to get down the snowfield from the Dragontail Col. We elected to leave the ice axes at camp and only took the crampons. As we approached the route higher up we realized there wasn’t any snow or ice to cross so no need for those crampons. At the base of the climb we decided to leave the crampons, my emergency bivy bag and a few other items behind. Mistake #2.

 

Climbing. First pitch up a ramp with a few small trees is class 3 to 4 but we must have turned up too soon as we got into some 5th class stuff we weren’t supposed to. I belayed Stefan as he led a short section that got us back on route. The next pitch was class 3 and led to the first real climbing on the route, a 5.7 corner system with a big flake that had to be worked around. I led this pitch and it was definitely a challenge. One report said there were ledges off to the left but I couldn’t find these so I stayed in the corner system. This eventually led to a lieback which I could only protect from a few feet below the lieback with a large hex. Made me nervous but once I started I was fine. This brought us up to the crux of the climb, the 5.8 sections on the right side of a big pillar. Stefan decided to leave his pack behind for the lead of this one and it was quite tough. It was particularly difficult getting started as there’s a small crack starting above the head with very little placement for the feet (particularly true when you’re short like me). The crack continues for some 50 ft up to a nice belay station. Stefan lowered the rope, I attached his pack and he hauled it up. I then climbed the route without too much difficulty except for the start.

 

The next pitch is also a 5.8 crack but more in a corner and part way up has another crack about 4 ft off to the right. I led this pitch using the other crack for my right foot and it went quite well. This pitch was also short so I just continued on to the next 5.7 pitch which seemed harder than the 5.8 to me. I finished this pitch, brought Stefan up and he led the next 5.7 or so pitch. At this point another team of a man and a woman were catching up to us. However, we had made it to the ridge top and could now start simul-climbing. Stefan led out but we were going kind of slow so I volunteered to let the other team pass up as they were clearly more experienced and could move faster. A couple of more pitches and the realization that time was moving faster than we were started to become clear. It was probably 6 PM or so and we still had a long way to go. The route description says that if you stay on the right side of the ridge the climbing is class 3 to 4 so we opted for that to save time. We moved right and up into a big gulley (Mistake #3). We simul-climbed this gulley for 2-3 pitches with Stefan leading but it turned out to be really nasty. Lots of falling rock, one big one caught me in the back as I pushed against the rock to avoid being hit in the head. As it turned to dusk we switched leads and I headed off up an angled crack that turned bad. I had to back off and downclimb to Stefan as darkness descended upon us. Decision time. Do we hang from a rock all night in our harnesses or risk rappelling down somewhere in the dark. We elected to rappel down and after two full length rappels found a big ledge to make home for the night. We each found a flat rock about 2 feet long to call a bed. Sure wish I had that bivy I left at the base of the climb. We put our packs and the rope underneath us for protection, put all our clothes on and settled in for a chilly night. After a couple of hours I could see Stefan was particularly cold as he only had shorts on his legs so I suggested we cuddle up for the remainder of the night. He accepted this invitation, how could he refuse me, and that definitely made a difference in the warmth factor. As the sun rose, so did we. We made one more short rappel that allowed us to get back to the ridge where I took all the gear and started climbing for the summit. We simul-climbed the rest of the route and in 1 to 1/1/2 hrs were at the summit. Had we stayed on route we would have made the summit before dark. Drats!!

 

A short time on the summit, it was gorgeous, and down the class 3 trail to the col. Now the snowfield. We had to downclimb the rock a short ways and jump onto the snow. It was pretty hard but not solid. I saw some tracks angling down the snowfield and thought if we can get to them they will probably provide enough footing for us to make it down safely. Sure wish I had those crampons we left at the base of the climb. We backed ourselves down to the tracks kicking steps and digging our fingers in the snow. This worked quite well and we were soon on the tracks and down the snowfield. Water!! I forgot to mention we had both run out of water the day before and were completely parched as we baked in the western sun the last few hours of the climb.

 

Down Asgaard. Now the unfortunate part of mistake 1 and 2 came home. We had to hike all the way back up to get our gear. This really sucked and it took hours as we were really tired, there’s no trail, it’s very steep and loose and it’s the middle of the day. We made it up, got back to the gear we had left at the bottom of Asgaard so we didn’t have to haul it up, repacked and headed on out. A much longer ‘day’ than we had thought but all worked out fine in the end.

 

Now, the bivy was uncomfortable, but manageable. Camping high and leaving our gear at the base of the climb seemed like a good idea at the time but clearly turned out to be a mistake. The climb itself was a lot of fun and I would definitely do it again.

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

6 cams up to size 3; 4 smallest tricams; set of nuts; some smaller hexes and one large one; 12-14 single slings; 4 double slings; crampons depending on time of season.

[Rad]

Thanks for sharing Ira.

It's good to push the limits a bit.

That's how we grow.

[ZONK]

Good Story, But better food @ Uli's

[kevbone]

Sorry you hade to bivy on the route, great story though.

[powdrx]

Great job Ira. You should teach and pass these lessons on to the climbing youth!!! Oh wait...

[chucK]

Good thing you guys didn't decide to leave your hiking shoes/boots at the base of the 5.8 crack (mistake #3)!

 

If you descend down to Colchuck Col instead of Aasgard Pass, then it's easy to fetch stuff from a camp up on the Moraine (and you avoid Aasgard!)

[ClimbingPanther]

Good thing you guys didn't decide to leave your hiking shoes/boots at the base of the 5.8 crack (mistake #3)!

 

If you descend down to Colchuck Col instead of Aasgard Pass, then it's easy to fetch stuff from a camp up on the Moraine (and you avoid Aasgard!)

 

Good advice as long as the glacier is not down to pure ice in the really late season. Then it's downright scary! Although you wouldn't need an ice axe since there's no WAY you'll ever self arrest on that stuff