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Posted

Trip: Goat Wall, Mazama, WA - Prime Rib

 

Date: 5/27/2007

 

Trip Report:

Despite good weather forecasts for the weekend, my past experience has led me to never count on good weather for Memorial Day weekend, hence my decision to head east to climb.

 

On Saturday, I rode down to Kent with Trogdortheburninator and spouse to attend Brian Massey's memorial, which was quite moving, with full color guard and bagpipes. I rode back with Weekend_Climberz, grabbed his stuff and then picked up Michael (triggerhappy), got my stuff and headed off for Hwy 20 and Mazama.

 

We arrived at the Mazama store so we could see if there were copies of the topo to be had at the Guide Shack, but they were both closed. We did get to see people walking the road with huge packs, with pickets hanging off them. Could not figure that one out.

 

There were about 20 people assembled at the cabin for the Ski-in, some I knew, some I did not. All were busy cooking up good things to eat and trying to put dent in contents of the keg.

 

Jeff showed up shortly after we arrived so we were all set. AlpineK was looking to do a climb, so we said, sure come along.

 

We headed out Sunday morning about 7 am. After hiking up the scree field, we realize we'd brought two 60 m singles rather than the doubles which would have been better for a group of three, but we made do. Weekend_Climberz and triggerhappy tied in together to one rope and Jeff, Kurt and I on the other.

 

We had Kurt tie in close to the end which worked out fine, except for one long pitch where we needed all the rope. I ran short and ended up belaying from a single bolt (but from a great ledge stance). I probably could have reached the belay, but couldn't see it when they hollered "rope 10 feet".

 

We ended up being a bit slower (okay a lot slower) than those two twenty somethings, but we made steady progress and enjoyed ourselves on the way up. It got windier as we ascended, and it was making my cough flare up.

 

On about the 10th pitch we saw climbers coming up from below. Kurt with his sharp eyes recognized Fern's truck down below, so we guess rightly it was Fern and Julie. One of them was in shirtsleeves. We guessed rightly she was freezing her ass off.

 

Topped out and didn't waste any time heading back down, as it was windy and Scott and Mike had been there two hours already. We did all single rope raps and leapfrogged using the two ropes, which saved maybe a little time.

 

About halfway down we met Blake and Mythosgirl along with MG's friend, Lisa. Still further down we met Ivan and his partner. They'd been up at the pass and hit nasty weather and bailed. Altogether there were 12 cc.com'ers on the route!

 

The two highly motivated ladies (they were cold) actually caught up to us on the descent, thanks to simulrapping. It was much warmer down at the base of the route.

 

This was Kurt's first multipitch route since his severe accident last year. It was quite a jump up from a couple forays to Exit 38. He did great. He seemed pretty stoked. I'd say he's primed for even greater adventures.

 

As for my impressions of the route, it was pretty cool. Good, but not great. It was the perfect place to be considering the weather, etc.

 

If you follow the topo you will not go wrong. If you are wondering weather you are up to the grade or not, don't worry, ratings are soft and the only real 5.9 is on the last pitch. The bolts are really close together wherever there is a move. Two ropes won't really be more useful than one except in one place, getting down pitches 8 and 9.

 

If you are going to turn around, do it after Pitch 8. That's the best one by far. It's sustained 5.8-ish climbing with 13 clips (!)

 

There is a bit of third class downclimbing here and there on the descent, but nothing bad. With the SW exposure, the route could get hot on a sunny day which this was not. Climb in the morning or bring lots of water.

 

Boots would have been nice to have when descending the scree.

 

I'll add some pictures later as soon as I have them.

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

14 draws, or fewer if you like to skip clips.

60 meter rope mandatory

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Posted

I was with Blake and mythosgirl..it certainly was a cc.com party!

The wind definitely made things less enjoyable, but overall I had fun on the climb!

Posted

a good solo too if you'd like to get a lot of excercise on easy terrain - most pitches you could skip 4-5 bolts at a time - an enjoyable backup plan for less than cooperative washington pass weather...

Posted
a good solo too if you'd like to get a lot of excercise on easy terrain - most pitches you could skip 4-5 bolts at a time - an enjoyable backup plan for less than cooperative washington pass weather...

 

Only if you're willing to risk decking in a fall. Assuming this is Prime Rib, the route is well bolted and some might say "over bolted" but what you're saying would be like free-soloing, which is fine if that's what you're into. But lest someone get the wrong impression - you cannot skip 4 or 5 bolts in a row on any pitch on that route and be protected....at all. The longest pitch is 130 feet of 5.8ish and takes 13 draws. I would not climb it with only 2 pieces of pro. But that's me.

Posted

but i thought it'd be so cool to chest-beat about running it out on a .7 sport climb!

 

fwiw - the rock is all real solid and the climbing really easy, that's why i said it'd be a good solo, and yeah, if you skip that many bolts in a row, you'll get hurt when you fall - but if you fall off a 5.easy climb...

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