[TR] Piro's Spire- Route 1, East Ridge 10/22/2006

[OlympicMtnBoy]

Climb: Piro's Spire-Route 1, East Ridge

 

Date of Climb: 10/22/2006

 

Trip Report:

So other plans weren’t coming together like I hoped, and I didn’t want to waste what might be the last nice weekend for a while, so I headed solo off into my favorite range again. For some reason Piro’s Spire had caught my eye in the new guidebook and my info request only yielded one picture from Graywolf Pass (thanks OlympicMountain_Climber).

 

 

I managed to get off work a little early, but lost all that time in a series of misadventures that caused me to miss two ferries (who the f*ck decided that “camping season” is over and they don’t need to stock water purification pills anymore, “camping season” never ends!). I finally made it to the Dosewallips TH/road washout a little after seven.

 

Not daunted by a little dark I hopped on my mountain bike and started the 4 mile uphill ride to the closed campground. Even though my pack was less than 25 lbs, it still sucked. Just try riding uphill with a heavy pack on and you’ll really understand why they invented bike panniers. I got to the campground, made some tea, and settled in under my tarp.

 

The night did not go so well. For one, it’s damp and cold by the river there, and I should have brought a warmer sleeping bag. I was chilly. Eating dinner at 4 probably didn’t help keep the internal heater fired much either. And second, a cute little mouse kept trying to join me in my sleeping bag. It kept running up, standing on my lower lip, and then running away. I should have brought the bivy sack and stayed warm and sealed in, but nooooo, I had to take the tarp and save a pound.

 

I got up late cause the sun didn’t get to my site till late and I was frozen. I locked the bike to the ranger station and then started up the trail. Not quite 4 miles in I left the trail at the very top of the grade before it starts heading down to Big Timber camp. I basically just headed straight up the side of the ridge for 2000 ft. The going wasn’t bad for Olympics cross country, although once I got to the ridge line it got worse.

 

Then I realized my minor mistake. I didn’t bring enough water to stay the night, and I sure hadn’t seen any since I left the Dose. I kept finding hollow spots with very wet moss, but no real water. I kept on up the ridge towards the peak getting more and more nervous. I knew they was probably a snow field beneath the peak and hoped it was warm enough to have some running water under it. I finally got there late in the afternoon to find the snow a solid ice block. I only had my tiny alcohol stove and not much fuel, so melting by that means was out of the question. I also really didn’t want to go all the way back down to water until I climbed the thing, so I decided to melt snow by another means. I didn’t want to camp near the snowfield though as it was a refrigerator and I was thinking of my earlier chilly night nearly 4500 ft lower. I ended up pulling as many plastic bags and stuff sacks as I could from my pack, and then filling them with snow blocks which I chopped from the field with a stone axe. Then I headed back up over the ridge to the drier and warmed south side and making a crappy/lumpy camp near the base of a scree slope. It took me more than 3 hours with my tiny pot to melt enough water to fill my bottles with hot water to sleep with. And of course my water was well smoked and full of ash, dirt, and pine needles.

 

The next morning was nice, the sun came out again and warmed me up (night wasn’t that bad), and I took an almost empty pack to scramble up the peak. I pretty much stuck to the ridge instead of dropping down to the bowl. It was loose but still scrambling terrain. I traversed onto the north side and into a gully below the prominent gendarme, and then followed the gully to very near the top. The last move to the summit block was pretty easy. It only took me a little over an hour from my camp.

 

I was pleased to find a small metal cylinder up top with a summit register. Actually it was THE summit register, having been placed there in 1965 by the Mountaineers. That party was kind enough to copy the text from the first three summits into the register so I got to read the note from the FA party in 1947 dedicating the peak to Bob Piro who died in the Italian Alps in 1946 with the 10th Mtn. Div.. There were no recorded ascents since 1997, and only 3 since 1985. According to the list I was #25. There were also a few routes noted that aren’t in the guidebook including the N. Ridge, and a 13 pitch 5.7 on the SW side (which may be the one referred to in the new guidebook, but I think it was 1977). I had been wondering about some other routes given the vague way the guide refers to it as a rock destination, but it looks like the obvious lines have been climbed (although the SW side might be fun to repeat if I wanted to drag my ass up there again). I should have taken pics of the log but I only have a film camera and little film.

 

I basked in the sun, ate some food, and then headed back down. I got back to camp, packed everything up, and then headed basically straight down the hill as I didn’t see any reason to traverse back on the ridge. I trended east when possible and ended up in a scree gully where I lost 800 feet and cliffed out at the top of a dry waterfall. I headed east some more until I could get down. I finally found a tiny creek to refill my water and then hit the trail again just W of Big Timber camp. The hike out was uneventful, but the bike out to the car was glorious. I no longer regretted the painful uphill ride with a pack as the ride down (especially after the Constance trail) is ALL DOWN HILL. I think had to peddle for maybe 2 mins at the most.

 

It was a great weekend to be out and a good time out on my own. I wouldn’t recommend it as a climbing destination, but it is a pretty peak with nice views from the top.

 

 

Gear Notes:

Mountain Bike, light pack, good boots.

 

Approach Notes:

Road has a super big hole in it 4 miles from the end, in case you hadn't heard.

Edited October 24, 2006 by OlympicMtnBoy

[OlympicMtnBoy]

Pic fixed. I'll try to post some of mine when I get them developed.

Edited October 24, 2006 by OlympicMtnBoy

[mountainmatt]

Nice outing Stewart. I bet you wish I was there, packing too mcuh stuff as usual It seems that the mice like to follow you in the Olypics. Next time, pack a warmer bag, some extra water, and a mouse trap Sorry I couldn't come along for the fun.

[Drederek]

Sounds like a great trip to me. Have you done Constance as well? I was wondering how they compared, timewise, to do. If its similar I may give it go this weekend or next year.

[OlympicMtnBoy]

Constance is easier and faster because there is no cross country travel involved (except above treeline on the route). You can bike (or hike) to the TH in an hour and do the approach in a couple hours (depends on how fast you do 3000+ ft in 2 miles). Then a while for the approach and the route. It's a pretty reasonable weekend trip, but you might be coming out in the dark.

The route on Piro's Spire is much shorter in terms of length and easier in terms of routefinding, but the approach is a bit more of a itch. Does that answer your question?

Go out an do Constance, it's a good peak. The west arete is a great Olympics rock climb too.

[Drederek]

You're right, Constance is a good hike, did it back in September. I'd like to get another one in that general area before the snows set in. Stone was very nice as well but over too fast. I'm looking for something somewhere between Stone and Constance timewise to do. I thought maybe Piro's would fill the bill as it appeared to me that the approach was not so bad but the guide is a tad ambiguous. Thx for the help.

[Drederek]

Well not being one to follow good advice I headed up towards Piros on saturday. Almost turned around at Shelton because the steady misting was threatening to change to rain. But it slowed as I headed north and once I got a few miles up the Dose from the Canal there was nuthin but blue sky! Got started on the bike leg about 8:30 and had my second breakfast at the ranger station an hour later. Quite a bit friendlier trail towards Anderson Pass than the one up to Constance. Found the jumping off spot pretty easily and headed upslope, gaining the ridge proper by noon, still without sight of my objective. I kind of liked cruising along up the ridge and after a while was rewarded with views of a rapidly approaching peak. After a bit of chocolate and another reading of the route description I hiked to the point where "the ridge becomes jagged" Only an hour left to my turnaround time and 1k in elev to go so I thought I'd better get a move on. I traversed down the frozen north side a bit then up to the ridge and then back down and finally found likely looking gully towards the west end of the main (?) massif. A bit tricky due to the frost but passable at 5.0 J2. Regained the ridge and promptly ran into some of the worst rock I've seen in the Olympics. Frankly I don't understand how it can be that loose and that steep at the same time. Yikes! I went up about thirty feet and decided to bail. It just didn't look like it got better to me, altho on the way down it looked a lot less steep on the s side. I was just about out of time and could not smell the summit so it was an easy call to head down the sunny southern slopes to the trail and back down to my truck. I'm thinking I should have traversed a lot further and lower on the north side before heading up. Plenty of solitude on this one, saw two peeps on my way out and that was it.

[OlympicMtnBoy]

Cool that you headed up there, bummer on the summit. It sounds like maybe you took one of the western gullies that the guidebook says blank out. I was on the ridge until that big huge blank gendarme right before the summit (the blank rock in the pic above). I traversed under that to a gully that comes right up to the east of the summit, between the big gendarme and the summit. It would have been sketchy with more frost (there was some already), but it wasn't 5th class except for a move or two that could have been avoided. Anyways, it's not going anywhere for when you want to try again. Im still aiming to post pics but the film still lives in my camera. :-)