[TR] S. Fork Clearwater River - The Fin

[kurthicks]

Climb: The Fin

 

Date of Climb: 10/14/2006

 

Trip Report:

For anyone first venturing into the South Fork of the Clearwater River, the eyes are inextricably drawn to a feature known as “The Fin.” The giant arête is posed directly across the river from Lightning Dome -- the same river that has kept less adventurous souls at bay. Apparently this incredible feature has seen only a handful of ascents, including a forced bivy near the summit.

The Fin. sobo's photo

 

On Saturday, three of us from the WSU Alpine Club headed down to give it the old college try. Why not go when the days are short? Oh, let’s climb in a party of three with only one leader. Let’s be sure to get all the beta that there is…

Call John Crock..."oh there is one piton on route, it’s about 10 pitches"...Sweet!

 

An inflatable kayak took us across the river, though one could ford the frigid waters if the prospect of never feeling one’s netherparts again sounds like your idea of a good time. It turns out that the approach is pretty manageable. Soon enough we arrived at the notch that marks the start of the route. Here we roped up and I took off on the first lead.

 

Kevin gears up at the base of the route.

 

We meandered up fairly full pitches on or very near the crest. We found the third pitch to be the crux; this is also where we found “the piton” that we had heard about. The route had everything including slabs (both clean and mossy), cracks (both splitter and dirty offwidths), bushes (both smooth and spikey) and a nice juggy roof that was surprisingly easy. The exposure was great, though not as much as one might expect.

Justin on pitch 3

 

Me bypassing the final Gendarme

 

We reached the top and took in the most amazing view I have seen to date in the South Fork canyon. A leisurely descent to the climber’s left down the gully took us to the river, which was crossed uneventfully once again, and the car.

On the summit. Lightning Dome visible in lower left.

 

Approach Notes

 

Gear Notes

One in-situ piton on route

[pup_on_the_mountain]

Work sucks donkey balls .

 

Good job fellas . I'll have to try it some time.. getting hold of a boat might be an issue though. Oh well.. I'll wade across.

[Jake_Gano]

Nice work Kurt. That's been on my tick list for ages.

 

How long did the fin turn out to be? I've heard anywhere from 10 pitches to '4 with some simul-climbing.'

[NYC007]

nice work, how does that chimney look up close.?

[kurthicks]

nice work, how does that chimney look up close.?

We missed it on the approach. I wanted to check it out but our ascent trail took us right to the start of the upper part... perhaps on the next trip across the river I will check it out.

 

There are a handful of short, but good looking cracks scattered about on that side of the river. worth a day of exploring for sure.

[sobo]

Nice work Kurt. That's been on my tick list for ages.

 

My sentiments exactly.

 

BTW Jake, I haven't forgotten about your "smorgasbeerd"...

[goatboy]

As an alumni of the WSU Alpine Club, I have to say -- way to represent!

 

We called ourselves "the alpinists of the wheat" back in the day....

 

Nice to see you guys getting out to the S Fork!

 

- Goatboy

[dbb]

one piton for safety?

 

nice, looks like a grantie version of Chumstick snag... only 10 times as big.

[kurthicks]

the pin doesn't even protect the crux rock moves, but it does protect the crux moss moves it's a great A0 piece.

[Alasdair]

Good to see your getting out. Looks like fun.