scottgg Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 (edited) Trip: Jabberwocky Tower - East Face Date: 12/30/2007 Trip Report: Sunrise at Camp 1 After a leisurely breakfast of cold cereal, fresh fruit, and strong coffee, we left our friends house in Leavenworth and headed up the Icicle. The Home Fires Bakery is no longer open, so it was with half full bellies and very full packs that we headed up the gated road leading to Stuart Lake Trailhead. We were soon cruising on fresh tracks, happily wondering if they would take us all the way to Colchuck Lake, or just to the cutoff. Well, they didn’t even stretch to the trailhead, and we were soon swapping trail breaking duties through disconcertingly deep snow. But the weather was nice, and the air cold, so spirits were high. We reached a nice camp on the south side of Colchuck Lake the next afternoon, and promptly headed up the Colchuck Glacier to check out routes on Dragontail north-westerly face. I never once saw the sun light up the face, and the air was quite cool, so none of the snow on the face had melted. So after giving up on our Plan B, Mark mentioned that Jabberwocky Tower could make a nice Plan C (or was it F). My brother Luke had been getting progressively sicker throughout our trip, and his misery-meter pegged out when we woke up the next morning. But he dug deep, and started leading us toward a large gully south of The Tower. The snow was nice and compact, in sharp contrast to the bottomless fluff on north-facing slopes, and we soon gained a notch below Jabberwocky’s east face. Luke coming up the gully Luke belaying Scott on first pitch My paper beat Mark’s rock, so I headed up the first pitch until stopped by a large rock teetering precariously directly in my path. I launched it off, freaked out Mark and Luke, and then continued up to a belay below the Final Headwall!! Luke following Mark enjoying the first pitch Crux Yee-Haw! Mark took the sharp end, fashioned some aiders, and mantled up onto the summit! Luke and Mark on Top Luke on Summit On the hike out, north of the lake, we discovered a sweet wall with discontinuous ice lines across its breadth. Mark led a cool line, and then we did some top-roping before hiking out. Defiantly has “destination crag” potential. Great weather and awesome partners! Mark was a great teacher, and was upbeat, and funny. Luke had a big heart, and kept persevering. I love going to the mountains with both of ‘em! Edited January 6, 2007 by scottgg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpinerack Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 Sounds like a fun trip with great people! Thanx for breaking trail for the rest of us!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekend_Climberz Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 Nice TR. I'm loving these futuristic reports. Sounds like the skiing up there would be off the hook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle_Flick Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 Great trip guys! My wife bought Home Fires Bakery and will reopen it at Prey's Fruit Barn just east of Leavenworth in February. Come check it out. No reason to go into the high back country hungry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 fun route, not that i've done it in winter - saw it once in winter where it looked like you could follow ice and mixed ground all the way from the lake to the summit of jabberwocky - very funky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbconlin Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 Nice work guys. I was wondering how all the recent snow would affect your plans! Sounds like you made a good go of it anyway. Right on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeyT Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Yeah, no sweat breakin trail for you guys! Has anyone been up there yet for anything? Mmm, that Home Fires Bakery sounds good! Definitely a place to stock up before future climbs! How far east of Leavenworth? Off of Hwy 2? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbb Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Great trip guys! My wife bought Home Fires Bakery and will reopen it at Prey's Fruit Barn just east of Leavenworth in February. Come check it out. No reason to go into the high back country hungry. I have fond memories of the home fires as a kid. "are we there yet? when do we get to the bakery???" definitely post something when you get it back open Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHarry Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Great trip guys! My wife bought Home Fires Bakery and will reopen it at Prey's Fruit Barn just east of Leavenworth in February. Come check it out. No reason to go into the high back country hungry. Wow Kyle. Interesting turn of events. Good for you!! The old location was way cool though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle_Flick Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 The old location along the Icicle was great. The previous owners decided to make that place their home. The new location at Prey's Fruit Barn along Highway 2 just on the outskirts of Leavenworth will be very convenient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telemarker Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 The old location along the Icicle was great. The previous owners decided to make that place their home. The new location at Prey's Fruit Barn along Highway 2 just on the outskirts of Leavenworth will be very convenient. So, since you'll be working there on the w/ends, it doesn't leave you much time for climbing. Bummer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHarry Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Joining the circus at Prey's. Maybe you can costruct a goat maze with different levels like at Smallwood's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telemarker Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Joining the circus at Prey's. Maybe you can costruct a goat maze with different levels like at Smallwood's. My thoughts exactly, and sell 27 different flavors of marmalade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bug Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Back to the climbing... not that a big frigin cookie wouldn't bribe me to keep drifting..... How did the Triple Couloirs look? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottgg Posted January 10, 2007 Author Share Posted January 10, 2007 TC didn't look fun. The runnels had no ice, and the snow in the couloirs was bottomless fluff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 " the snow in the couloirs was bottomless fluff. " Where's Ross!?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archenemy Posted January 21, 2007 Share Posted January 21, 2007 Great pics. Congratulations on getting the first climb done on the last day of this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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