The Mysterious East

[Dru]

PineyK and I went in to the Old Settler on the weekend. We hiked in on Saturday, smoked a bowl, napped, then climbed the W Buttress of the S. Peak (3rd classed - 1 hr up). Back to camp for dinner. Rained a bit on our bivi sax overnight.

 

Sunday we got up in the morning to clouds. Hiked up to the S ridge anyways and wandered over to the unclimbed East side. Picked a line on this side of South Peak before clouds came in. Climbed it - 3 pitches 5.7, 3 pitches of scrambling, then 3 more pitches of 5.7 and some involuntary soloing in hiking boots. This is a really clean and solid route. The rock is a bit different from the west side - it is bluer in colour, steeper and there are more pockets.

 

After this we hiked out then went to the Old Settler pub in Harrison Hotsprings and tried manfully to get free beer for climbing the pubs' namesake but no luck.

[Cpt.Caveman]

[Cpt.Caveman]

I like how the rating changes every time I hear aboot this route

[Dru]

quote:

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Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman:

I like how the rating changes every time I hear aboot this route

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it is rated, and has always been rated, "4th class" which as everyone knows, is a highly scientific grade and commonly applied to obvious gullies and descent routes.

[AlpineK]

I should add we climbed both routes on the Old Settler from an alpine sit start.

[Dru]

I reassert my view that the West Buttress of the South Peak may just be the best alpine rock climb in the world, even if it is easy. I can't understand why it doesn't see line ups every weekend, altho I'm kinda glad it doesn't.

[AA]

How long was the hike in? What's the descent like? Looking to avoid crowds this weekend- sounds like a fun climb, not much traffic either?

 

TIA

[Dru]

The hike in took an indeterminate time, in a haze of smoky timelessness. The road requires a key or a couple of stacked Z-tons to break open the lock.The descent involves going downhill. Look it up in your copy of Alpine Select.

[jordop]

Hmmm, I thought I saw a large plume of smoke over the Harrison area from Chilliwack. You guys hafta call the route "Muir Haze" or sumpin like that.

[Dru]

Dru and Kurt 1; Jordan and Kurt 0

[jordop]

We got rained on damnit! Mind you, according to the Alpinek credit system, we're still paying back for six days of blues skies on the McBride Traverse!