[TR] Flaming Moe's NW Buttface - 9/9/2007

[jordop]

Trip: Flaming Moe's NW Buttface -

 

Date: 9/9/2007

 

Trip Report:

Don and Jmace were headin up to try the N face of Weart, so PaulB and I hopped on with our own idea to check out Mt Moe, a very seldomly climbed thing north of Weart. I had never heard of anyone going up it, despite it being easy from a few sides, and intensive studies in the maproom indicated some steep contours on the NW side

 

Stupid long trail, swore I'd never do it again, but even on busy weekends there's lots of room for a peaceful camp:

 

Nice 4am wakeup call:

 

Started trudging up towards the Armchair glacier in the dark, trying to forget all the bold contour lines:

 

But after a little rest stop, Don was feeling pretty ill, the victim of some killer hoisin sauce the night before, and decided to head back to camp. Jesse, who also partook of the black stuff, ended up wafting some brutal fumes all day long. I had almost ruined a belay the previous weekend, so I guess it was payback.

 

After sunrise we realized that these mountains really have about 6 hour approaches, which is sofakingweetahded. We had a good look at Weart and although the rock start was filled in and conditions were freaking frigid, there had been a whole bunch of debris slides down it which had chunked up the main face pretty good:

 

So we took a look at Moe: NW buttress is left skyline. Some have wondered about a possible W arete, but it didn't look too appealing up close:

 

Deciding we needed to get out of the insane wind, we went for Moe and trudged down to the base of the route where the NW buttress looked good, but was kinda indistinguishable from the NW face. Starting up the rock was pretty good: some loose shit on ledges, but lots of great jugs. Mostly 4th, but some low 5th.

 

Most of the time we stayed just right of the NW buttress and had some great climbing on sound rock, rope still in pack.

 

 

 

At one point Jesse almost took the grand tour when a block he was standing on fell away, but mostly solid stuff up to the summit:

 

Good climb - maybe like a longer, more serious version of the NW ridge of Vayu. Sticking to the ridge proper the whole way would involve some scary knife edges on teetering blocks, so the route is more like a buttress/face combo deal. No idea if anyone's climbed on this side of Moe; it's worthwhile but pretty far away.

 

Pond:

 

The secret ingredient is cough syrup

j8EyvFgd_Kw

 

 

[Ponzini]

Cool! I seem to remember someone mentioning a new spur from Hwy 99 near the dirt bike track that would make accessing the area between Moe and Currie easier, not sure if it's built yet?

[Choada_Boy]

Let's All Go To Flaming Moe's!!

 

"Happiness is just a Flaming Moe away."

[G-spotter]

i betcha sky is gonna ski weart nf yet

 

where is pic of the owls!

[jordop]

Hoot hoot, bring a stickclip for the shrund

 

PB took this cool shot whilst on the buttress:

[Ponzini]

Hoot hoot, bring a stickclip for the shrund

 

I tried to climb the thin gully to the right of the Owls couloir once, no dice, there was a hidden waterfall mid height. If it were frozen it would have been nice WI2. We got onto the rock rib on the right side, which looked like nice easy 5th to that schweet snow arete, but my partner was mentally done from almost getting hit by a rock earlier so we bailed.

[jordop]

I tried to climb the thin gully to the right of the Owls couloir once, no dice, there was a hidden waterfall mid height. If it were frozen it would have been nice WI2. We got onto the rock rib on the right side, which looked like nice easy 5th to that schweet snow arete, but my partner was mentally done from almost getting hit by a rock earlier so we bailed.

 

The following from Drew on bivouac - don't think he can access his own shit anymore, so here's a paste:

 

Verbally reported by Guy Edwards to this author, G.E. soloed the thin ice line to the right of the Snowy Owl couloir in early October that leads up to the Weart-Owls col. (on Select Alpine p 206 this line is visible as a very thin white line on right side of the page). Sounds like some WI4 and mixed from Guy's description. He then finished up by climbing the possibly previously unclimbed NE ridge of Weart to the summit and descended the standard route. GE day tripped this route from the parking lot

The same day, Mike Down and partner climbed a snow and ice line (with some rock?) between Weart N face route and Guy's line, ending on Wearts NE ridge, and also continued off the mountain via the same route as Guy.

 

This makes a total of 4 routes on the north side of the Weart/Owls massif, most are a bit (~100m)longer and slightly harder than the routes on the N side of Wedge, and the crowds are not as bad either. An option worth considering for summer and fall ice.

 

(10/26) Received the following info from Brian Kelsch concerning the line he climbed with Mike Down:

Hi Drew, just a short note regarding the new route that Michael Down and i climbed that you reported. it turned out to be 4-5 pitches from the schrund to the col of alpine ice gr3. it finishes in a great location to head west up the final arete to one of the lesser Weart summits. we were wondering who that was down below us on a nice crisp sunny day solo. we noticed the tracks on the ridge when we topped out and admired the energy of this travler. we called this route the "weart remover".

[PaulB]

PB took this cool shot whilst on the buttress:

It's hard to tell, but where Jesse is standing the ridge is only about 3-4 feet wide with huge drop offs on both sides.

[Ponzini]

Damn! That's a stout day from the car. I didn't see anything that looked as hard as WI4, but then again we made a hasty exit to climber's right at mid-height.

[Choada_Boy]

What's up with the dance floor at base camp?

 

From memory:

 

When the weight of the world has got you down, and you want to end your life.

Dead-end job, bills to pay, and problems with your wife.

Don't throw in the towel 'cuz there's a place right down the block,

Where you can drink your miseries away.

At Flaming Moe's (Let's all go to Flaming Moe's)

Where liquor in a mug, can warm you like a hug,

Happiness is just a Flaming Moe away.

Happiness is just a Flaming Moe away.

"Barney!!"

"How're you doin' Mr. Gumble?"

"Blllaarrrggh.."

 

[PaulB]

What's up with the dance floor at base camp?

BC Parks built a bunch of tent platforms (some gravel and some wooden) around the hut last year.