[TR] Three Finger Jack- South Ridge 10/7/2006

[illbelayya]

Climb: Three Finger Jack-South Ridge

 

Date of Climb: 10/9/2006

 

Trip Report:

Three Finger Jack

7,841 feet

South Ridge

10/7/06

 

Car to Car: 8 hours

Start: 6:00 am

 

We arrived at the PCT trailhead on Santiam Pass around 5:45am on a crisp and dark October morning. By 6:00am we’d collected our third and started our walk north on the PCT. The moon shined bright and walking was easy on the frosty sand. We were most of the way through the burn area before the sun rose.

 

The PCT is not blazed, but the trail was obvious. We passed 2 junctions before reaching the cairn that marked the ascent up the south ridge. Up to here the trail gradually gained elevation. The guide says it is 5 or 6 miles, it took us 2 hours. After the cairn the trail steepens before gaining the south ridge. The guidebook said to avoid going up the scree field and to head towards the low-point on the ridge. The scree would have been an ugly choice.

 

Once on the ridge we traversed north, passing the first few gendarmes on the left. Footing was loose on the typical Oregon choss and in a few places the ridge was very narrow. The guidebook is a little vague at this point and we crossed the infamous ‘crawl’ without hesitation. Yes, there is a bit of exposure, but having read other trip reports I’d imagined something totally different and scary. We probably would’ve roped up for this part had we known we were there, our third we’d anticipated being a little wary, but ignorance paid off. There is one ring-pin and one piton protecting the traverse.

 

After the ‘crawl’ we put on our helmets at the base of the summit pinnacle. I had read that it was ‘smith rock like tuft’. It is full of large questionable nubbins, but it is not tuft. Also, the pitch is a lot shorter than it looks in most pictures, maybe 30feet. There is a crack on the right side of the chimney and we used 2 larger nuts to protect the climb. Instead of belaying from the rappel block, the leader led to the summit. Note: there is no ‘anchor’ at the summit. We used a hip belay and a decent stance. From the base of the summit pinnacle to one of the summit blocks it is about 125feet.

 

We spent about 20 minutes on the summit. The knife-edge was almost intimidating, but a hand traverse on ‘good’ footholds made it accessible. Weather wise we were experiencing inversion and the low clouds created a sensational effect on the surrounding mountains. To our west the blanket was thick, but closer to the mountain we could see the wispy leftovers.

 

From the summit, again with a hip belay, we downclimbed to the rappel block. There were 4 newish looking pieces of webbing and the block looks mostly solid. We backed up the rappel block with a nut.

 

On the way down we took the time to rope up for the deadly ‘crawl’. On the other side we took our harnesses and helmets off and prepared for the fun of the scree field descent. Here we were passed by a group of 6 teenagers wearing jeans and bike helmets on their way up. Nobody ever regrets an early start and I was pleased that we were never stuck behind any slower parties, especially goofy looking ones. Loose chunks of rock randomly crashed down from the gendarmes as the sun warmed them. In retrospect we should have kept our helmets on until we were off of the ridge.

 

We plunged our way down the scree field and rejoined the trail. For the first time all day we took a long break and ate lunch near the cairn. It was about 11:30am. 90 minutes after we finished our lunch we were back on the car.

 

 

Gear Notes:

Carried: 1 set of nuts, 4 slings, 1 cordelette, 3 locking biners, 3 belay/rappel devices and 60meter rope.

 

Used: 2 medium nuts, 2 slings, cordelette, biners, belay devices and rope

Edited October 10, 2006 by illbelayya

[Kevin_Matlock]

6 teenagers wearing jeans and bike helmets

bike helmets by Petzel, jeans by Mountain Hardware????

wonder if their rope was off of their mother's clothes line... oh yeah, you didn't mention anything about rope.

 

 

good job on your summit.

[dinomyte]

Nice one indeed. Seems like all you were missing were the butterflies (real ones I mean - not in your stomachs). They were all over the place a couple months ago!!

[rbw1966]

Car to Car: 8 hours

 

I was pleased that we were never stuck behind any slower parties, especially goofy looking ones.

 

I bet they were glad they weren't stuck behind YOU. I'm not trying to spray on your accomplishment here, but to talk smack about someone else when it took you EIGHT HOURS to do three-fingered jack just stinks of hypocrisy.

[dinomyte]

It sucks to be STUCK behind anyone, but perhaps this guy was just saying that the group that he passes was not adequately prepared for the mountain. We've all passed folks heading up Adams or some other popular mountain that, from experience, we knew were underestimating the degree of difficulty. Or, at times, maybe WE have done the same.

 

Plus, I'm not sure 8 hours is that ridiculous. I think it's 5 or so miles in bfore you start climbing, then rope-up time, some breaks, etc. They may not have been trying to set a speed record.

 

In short, I doubt the fellow was trying to talk smack. As far as time goes, he may have just been trying to provide some insight for future climbers.

[illbelayya]

Some people have too much internet time on their hands.

 

I apologize if I offended anyone with my comment about hypothetical goofy looking slow people climbing mountains. It wasn's a direct comment to the group of kids I saw on the mountain. They seemed to be moving right along. And as for their jeans, lots of people survive a day in the 'wild' in jeans. there was zero chance of rain that day, so the $$$ patagucci pants weren't exactly necessary. Infact, even though these kids may have looked 'goofy' i still applaud them for doing something other than staying home playing videogames, eating junk, smoking cigarettes, procreating, or responding to TR's on cascadeclimbers.com.

 

Regardless how fast or slow my party was moving it still would've sucked big time to be waiting before the crawl and the other 5.1 pitch. And dinomyte is right, it is 5 miles in EACH direction to the climbers trail and NO we weren't trying to set any records.

[bobinc]

It DOES suck to get stuck behind people on that climb, either at the Crawl or at the summit block (mostly because distances aren't great up there and it is easy to get impatient plus there tend to be beginners who take a very long time). But 8 hrs is probably an average time given the approach distance and the need for some care when treading on exposed kitty litter near the top. It might be possible to do the thing car-to-car in 4-5 hrs, but what woudl be the point? There is a lot to see and enjoy in that area so hurrying (except for the sake of hurrying (Hey, jsut did S Ridge of 3FJ in 3.888 hrs.!..)) seems ridiculous.

[tradclimbguy]

I can relate to the problems of getting behind a slow party. Did that route about 15 years ago and ran into a huge group of boy scouts on the final crawl section. They ended up fixing lines all the way to the final pitch, and then took a huge group to the summit block. We ended up getting all the way to final pitch and had to turn around as they were taking a very long time. Although the exposure on the crawl was spectacular, I have not returned since for the final crappy summit pitch.