[TR] Alpental Valley - NY Gully, Chair Peak NE Buttress 12/5/2006

[Gaston]

Trip: Alpental Valley - NY Gully, Chair Peak NE Buttress

 

Date: 12/5/2006

 

Trip Report:

On Dec 5th my partner and I bailed off of the second traversing pitch of NY Gully. The snow ramps of these pitches were pedestrian when I climbed the route in March four years ago, but I found them to be thinly covered choss this time. It was tedious, slow scraping up low angle terrain. I turned back at a step of slabby rock, all thinly snowed, with no opportunities for protection. I am not a brilliant drytooler, and did not feel ready to go for it on the first winter climb of the year.

 

As consolation, we followed easy gullys and short steps up the Phantom Gully, and eventually topped out right where NY Gully tops out. Ski tracks in the slot couloir (I think that's what it's called) made it look like a great ski right now.

 

The next day I went in to Chair with another friend. The final notch accessing the north side was thin snow with a weak ice layer underneath, making for some technical wallowing at the top. Once below the north face, we became increasingly doubtful about the stability of the slope--it was awfully wind loaded, and that weak ice layer we had already encountered was likely still present on the north aspect. We turned back before getting a glimpse of the regular NF start. The rest of the face looked thinly iced and poorly bonded. Intent on exhausting the possibilities, we tried the NE Buttress. As I led up the initial access gully, the ice layer--here utterly hollow--reared its head once more. Finally it cracked halfway up the gully, and the whole thing slid into my lap. What was left was powdery snow on rock. When the climbing route collapses and falls into my lap, I'm usually done, so that was the end of that.

 

I'm convinced that the remainder of the route would have yielded similarly dissapointing conditions--ice that was either poorly bonded to the rock, or worse, hollow and ready to just fall apart.

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Didn't see any ice, anywhere, that would have taken screws. Pins and cams were all I placed. Transceivers would be pretty smart.

 

Approach Notes:

The first thousand feet or so above the parking lot gave humid snow (lots of fog lately, I guess), but above that things improved. I did both approaches on snow shoes, but found myself wishing for skis the second day. A decent ski track leads up both approaches.

[philfort]

A decent ski track leads up both approaches.

 

Much of the decent and well-used ski track up the SW slope of Snoqualmie had been trashed by snowshoers, on the morning of Dec 6th. Once above the forest, the snowshoe tracks headed off towards the notch that drops you below the NW face of Snoqualmie, almost as if someone was going to climb NY gully :-)

 

A+ for effort and getting out, but B- for smashing skin tracks (if it was you). The tree bombs had done their part too though...

 

There were some nice-looking long ice lines on the far far east end of the NW face of Snoqualmie (2 couloirs over from the Slot). Only 50% "in", but it looked like something forms there anyway.

[ivan]

i hate skiiers! mostly 'cuz i'm a mean man and jealous that i have no balance nor grew up in a place where learning to ski was an option. i throw my poo on your ski-tracks! ha!

[Stuart]

Forrest

Was up at Chair today. Wasn't any better today, but thanks for the tracks past the thumb tack. I wish you'd posted this yesterday so I hadn't had to wake up at 5 this morning! What you up to? Fancy climbing something?

Cheers

Stuart

[wdietsch]

i hate skiiers! mostly 'cuz i'm a mean man and jealous that i have no balance nor grew up in a place where learning to ski was an option. i throw my poo on your ski-tracks! ha!

 

you ever going to learn how to ski ???

[layton]

That 2nd pitch was in similar conditions when Marcus and I did it last year. You can get a 1/2 assed pin in that looks pretty when you are above it, but that's about it. Try it again and I bet you'll get it. This route requires little to no ice to climb. Good job on getting after it, you'll get it next time!