MCash Posted June 6, 2007 Posted June 6, 2007 Trip: Mount Chossington - Chosseast Ridge Date: 6/2/2007 Trip Report: After climbing the Winter Direct route on Washington earlier this year, Sergio Verdina and I came up with this bright idea. Let's come back and do the Southeast Ridge route. It sure looks nice from afar following a sharp arete then up and over many gendarmes to reach the summit. This route had been recommended by Olympicmtnboy and is featured in the rockclimbing section of the new Olympics guidebook. So Bruce, Sergio, and I met up in Federal Way and drove over there this past Saturday. The approach follows the steep climbers path for route 2 in the guidebook before hitting the base of the lower ridge. We followed the path until it deadended in a low 5th pitch of kitty litter rock well below the actual start. I lead up this then we had to traverse a snow slope around to the right to get to the actual start. It was low angle but had a big dropoff below. We made it up to the start and I saw a bolt above that matched the description. I lead up the first pitch which was rated 5.6 and had some decent rock and pro. Sergio and Bruce following it... The next pitch was steeper 5.7 and the rock turned to crap with chunks falling off when you grabbed them. I had to test each hand and foothold before weighting them. This pitch was also runout with about 70 feet between placements in 1 spot. Hoping it would improve, we continued on. The next 5 pitches consisted of 4th to low 5th class choss rock with almost no protection. On one pitch there was only 1 micronut placement on a 200 foot pitch. Also, one of the belays was semihanging with 2 equalized micronuts in a chossy crack. The best part was dodging all of the rockfall caused by your partner even touching the rock. After 7 pitches we topped out on a tower than climbed 2 pitches of crap rock and scree to get to the first rappel station. After rapping about 80 feet into the notch, we climbed out the other side for a few more pitches of 4th to low 5th on horrible rock. My $200 Mammut rope took 2 core shots from all of falling debris. We reach the second rappel station and rapped into the second notch. 3 more pitches of 4th to low 5th garbage rock brought us to the top of another tower. The guidebook talks about some 5th class downclimbing to reach the 3rd notch, but we wanted no part of that. We down belayed than rapped before climbing 1 more pitch (5.7 no pro) to reach easier ground and the standard scramble route. Looking down the ridge, we nicknamed it Endless Choss. Sergio on the summit. Finally getting to the summit and still being alive was quite a relief. III 5.7X, 14 pitches. If you are looking to kill yourself, destroy your rope, maim your partners with rockfall, and generally just have a bad day in the mountains, I highly recommend this climb. Gear Notes: Cams, nuts, rope, ice axe. Approach Notes: Trail deadends in choss towers. Quote
Dannible Posted June 6, 2007 Posted June 6, 2007 Sounds like a full dose of Olympic fun. Thanks for reporting on this, I was thinking about either soloing it, or bringing some gym climbers along. So much for that. If you are really feeling down in life, go climb the South Ridge of Mt. Buckhorn... Sorry about the rope. Quote
Sherri Posted June 6, 2007 Posted June 6, 2007 Doesn't sound like good times. Glad you lived to tell the tale. Quote
Lisa_D Posted June 6, 2007 Posted June 6, 2007 I will be sure not to do that one...glad you escaped unharmed. Quote
Dannible Posted June 6, 2007 Posted June 6, 2007 Sounds worse than Johanesburg. Generally speaking I'd say that Olympic choss makes North Cascade choss seem pretty nice. There is a pretty good reason why the more technical routes are not very popular in there. Quote
OlympicMtnBoy Posted June 6, 2007 Posted June 6, 2007 Oh sure, blame me right up there in front! I would just say you ought to climb some more Olympics rock, this is far from the chossiest climb I've been on out there. I can't entirely agree with your description though, maybe you just ended up on a slightly different line than I took last year with sjwages. I found the second pitch the worst and won't argue with the choss there. After that we mainly stuck near the ridge crest and I was able to find decent-mediocre pro the whole way up. We managed to find good ledges for belays right on the ridge crest, I don't remember anything being semi-hanging. Anyhow, glad you made it up and down safe. I'd happily do the route again myself. It's not a good route for a new leader or someone not confident on 5.6 but I thought it was great for moderate multi-pitch in the Olympics. :-) Let me know when you are ready for more! Quote
Animal Posted June 6, 2007 Posted June 6, 2007 Great trip report! As the Olympic brush monkeys like to say, real climbers chose to climb loose Olympic choss. I have also hear that this is one of the more solid climbs in the Olympics. Nice pictures! Quote
bremerton_john Posted June 6, 2007 Posted June 6, 2007 You guys should probably stay well clear of Jupiter Cliffs. Quote
Off_White Posted June 6, 2007 Posted June 6, 2007 Yeah, I'm thinking maybe you should go back to routefinding school? I must have climbed an entirely different line on this buttress in 1988: no bolt, no scary runouts, no rockfall, solid rock, no rappels, and a happy day in mountain boots as a party of three. Perhaps we started farther right? It must have been an easier line, because we did have a goat follow us up the first couple pitches. Maybe one should just discard the guidebook and look for the reasonable line instead. I recall one bit of slick 5.7 between a couple towers, and using something like a #4 friend more than tiny wireds. Quote
MCash Posted June 6, 2007 Author Posted June 6, 2007 We followed the description in the guidebook exactly, our routefinding skills are good. The guidebook specifically mentions 2 rappels and we found obvious anchors with lots of webbing on them for the raps. The route is exactly as it is shown in the new Olympic guidebbok, only the rock is awful. I think the Olympics are a nice range of peaks with some good class 3 scrambling, nice glaciers, and beautiful rainforrests, but I can't say I'll be back for more technical climbing. Quote
Off_White Posted June 6, 2007 Posted June 6, 2007 I should have put one of the jokey faces next to my routefinding comment, as it wasn't serious, but the guidebook description does not remind me of what I climbed on the same formation, and I was left with the feeling that, "hey, I'd do this again." Makes me curious to go back and see if I can figure out what we did. Seems like I've heard someone else's tale of hairy times on the route you did. You are probably right about the Olympics in general being best as a class 3 mountaineering range. Quote
Weekend_Climberz Posted June 6, 2007 Posted June 6, 2007 I think all those days at Index has spoiled you. Quote
bremerton_john Posted June 6, 2007 Posted June 6, 2007 Technical climbing in the Olys is not for the faint of heart (not suggesting you are - just being philosophical). From your TR and photos I'd say you were pretty much on route. The approach can get tricky as you near the gendarmes. It took me two tries to find the way. As for the rock, well, it certainly is loose in some places, but believe it or not, compared with other peaks in the range it is better than average on this route. We didn't have the torrent of choss falling on us you describe, but we found loose holds and we had to be creative with protection in places. If you're accustomed to climbing in the Cascades the stuff over here can be an eye-opener. Thanks for sharing your trip and the pictures. Quote
bobinc Posted June 7, 2007 Posted June 7, 2007 I recall this route. Mostly I recall lots of 3rd and 4th class with no protection but maybe we were there after an earthquake since I didn't note as much loose rock. We did find a piece of plywood with roofing nails which must have served as a primitive crampon... The technical crux as I recall was descending. There was a moat and short snow slope with bad run out and we had nothing resembling an ice axe. Once we committed to the slope, we had goats watching and kicking down rocks. Good times. Quote
mattp Posted June 7, 2007 Posted June 7, 2007 Don't even think of going to the Canadian Rockies - at least not for one of the rock routes. Even on the ever-popular East Ridge of Cavelle, where one would expect the route to have been cleaned from the constant traffic of Fifty Classics status, the entire thing from bottom to top is vaguely suspect and there is stuff falling down after being swept by your leader's rope every time he moves right or left. Quote
bobinc Posted June 7, 2007 Posted June 7, 2007 (edited) Yes-- also true in Colorado Rockies in many cases. Better to avoid using the rope, if possible. Edited June 7, 2007 by bobinc Quote
Animal Posted June 7, 2007 Posted June 7, 2007 but believe it or not, compared with other peaks in the range it is better than average on this route. If you are up for a great bush climb and some superb isolation go to the Valhallas. bremerton_john and myself found the rock, sandstone I believe very solid for rock in the Olympics. It was very grippy on the boot. There is still a lot of climbing to explore in that area, but I am sure a lot of loose rock to clear with the side sweep of a rope too. Quote
jhamaker Posted June 7, 2007 Posted June 7, 2007 Been meaning to get into the Valhallas. Drop me a pm if interested. Quote
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