[TR] He Devil, Seven Devil Mountains - west couloir 6/3/2007

[Jamin]

Trip: He Devil, Seven Devil Mountains - west couloir

 

Date: 6/3/2007

 

Trip Report:

For the entire week it had been really hot so last weekend I decided to get up high to see some snow. I started out on Sunday the 3rd from Pullman at about 3pm, and the temperature registered 102 degrees when I went through Lewiston. I reached Riggins, Idaho, which is touted as the whitewater capital of the world, at about 6pm. Just past the town of Riggins, I took Seven Devils Road and FR 517 to the trailhead at 7,600 feet.

 

I quickly found out that I had totally underestimated He Devil. I was taking the direct climbing route from Seven Devils Lake to Goat Lake that is mentioned in summitpost. It looked like the only way up to the pass above Mirror Lake was to ascend a steep 45-55 degree snow finger and do a short section of rock. I would rate the moves at high class 3-class 4, but it is probably possible to find an easier route. I found a beautiful, snow-free campsite at the pass, and I set up camp. It was really wonderful. For the past 9 months, I have always camped on snow, and camping on bare dirt was a welcome change. There were great views of The Tower of Babel and the frozen Mirror Lake. I built a fire at the highest elevation in my life, 8400 feet.

 

 

 

I awoke at 6 pm and began the traverse along the ridge to the pass to Goat Lake. I quickly lost the trail, but I found easy traveling right below the gendarmes on the ridge. Once at the pass, it was simple class 3 scrambling to Goat Lake.

 

At Goat Lake at 7800 feet, I decided to try the couloir between He Devil and She Devil because it seemed more interesting. According to Summitpost, this route “did not have any issues.” The couloir was ok. There was a sustained 40 degree snow slope up to the top, but I could have done an easier route to my left if I had wanted.

 

Once at the pass between He and She Devil, I began to climb up the east ridge of He Devil. There was some easy scrambling up to a sort of chimney, which was rated class 4 in Summitpost. I started climbing up it, and I quickly found that it felt like low class 5. I began to have visions of myself downclimbing the route because it terminated in a dead end. I did not have a rope, rock gear, or shoes so I decided to not climb up the chute.

 

At this point, I was a bit disturbed because it appeared that I would not make the summit. I decided to make a descending traverse on the south side of the summit and try to find a way to the easy class 3 route up the northwest ridge. It looked like there were 3 possible routes. An easy snow slope up toward Purgatory Lake was quickly discarded because it just seemed too far to walk. Another route directly up the south face was discarded because it looked extremely steep and scary. The only route that was left was The Couloir. The Couloir is the name that I have given to the route that ascends the westward trending gully up to the saddle about .2 miles southwest of the summit. The fact that some of the contours were cut on the topo map did not prevent me from deciding to try this spectacular route.

 

The 50-55 degree snow on the route seemed to be in great shape, but I was worried about the rock that I could see up ahead. When I got closer. I could see that there were two gullies up to the summit. The one on the left looked like low 5th class, but the one on the right, joy of joys, looked like only 4th class. This gully was extremely narrow, which is probably why it did not show up on the topo map. In just a few minutes of climbing, I topped out on The Couloir and I saw that there was only easy class 2 scrambling left in order to reach the summit. I reached the summit a few minutes later. Most of the lakes that I could see were open, but there were a couple that were still frozen solid. Beautiful views were had toward Hells Canyon and down to most of the lakes in the Seven Devils.

 

The descent back down to the trailhead was uneventful. I lost my camera case to a greedy moat, but nothing else happened. I decended via the class 2-3 route on the Northwest Ridge.

 

Gear Notes:

Bring a helmet

 

Approach Notes:

When traversing above Mirror Lake, stay slightly below the Gendarmes on the ridge.

 

It looks like there is a bunch of climbable rock in the Seven Devils. Does anyone want to try some rock routes.

 

 

 

[jlag]

good TR, nice job keeping your head.

 

 

was there an existing fire ring or did you make one? I hope not. Unless you did it low-impact style(unsul pad underneath the dirt) you created a scar that will be there for a long time.

 

 

[Jamin]

There wasn't a fire ring there, but there wasn't any vegetation there either. I covered the ashes with duff so you probably wouldn't be able to see it if you went up there.

[pup_on_the_mountain]

Good work dude! Looks like you had a fun time.