[TR] St. Peters Dome - South Face Direct (?) 4/26/

[fgw]

Trip: St. Peters Dome - South Face Direct (?)

 

Date: 4/26/2008

 

Trip Report:

 

Photo: East face of St. Peters Dome. Photo is by Tim Olson & was posted & hyperlinked here with his permission (all copyrights are Tim's - thank you!).

It's long - sorry, was excited to live through this shit.

 

Summary.

St. Peters Dome is a large basalt pinnacle on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge. On the shorter uphill side, it is 350 feet of severely exfoliating and decomposing basalt between the saddle and the summit. The Dome is located 35 miles from downtown Portland and is plainly visible to all who drive by on Interstate 84. The approach hike though tedious is short and mostly straightforward. Despite these facts, the Dome is known to have been climbed by only 20 different parties prior to our ascent. (Ref. Mazama Annual 2007; other parties may have reached the summit but chose not to leave any record). The first ascent was done by Everett Darr et al in 1940 (Ref. Mazama Annual 1940) and the bulk of the subsequent ascents occurred during the early 50s to early 70s with no recorded ascents in the 1980s. The 90s saw a resurgence in Dome’s popularity with Wayne’s (Wallace) first solo ascent (!!) of the Dome – #20 and the last known ascent prior to ours. The Dome has at least 3 routes established on its south face and one line on the east/northeast face - all require thin expando nailing of disintegrating basalt "cobblestones":

 

Darr Route a.k.a. South Face...though really on the SW face (FA 1940 by Glen Asher, Everett Darr, Ida Darr, Joe Leuthold, Eldon Metzger, and Jim Mount)

Alpenjaeger Route (FA 1947 by Don Baars, Floyd Richardson, and John Morris)

Kirkpatrick Route (FA 1968 by Glen and Don Kirkpatrick)

Pearly Gates Route (named so in honor of the guys who died on it) a.k.a. Northeast Face Route (FA 1958 by Dave Bohn, Dave Nelson, and Art Maki)

 

The first attempt on the Northeast Face Route ended in the deaths of both climbers. The 2007 Mazama Annual (article by Don Baars & Jeff Thomas) provides the most comprehensive account of the climbing history on The Dome (FA summary above is based on that article), including Don’s TR from the second ascent in 1947.

Photo: South face with Little St. Peters Dome silhouetted in the foreground. Those trees up on the grassy ledges are "full sized" though they might not look it from here!

After more than three years of obsessing about it my wife Shirley & I climbed St. Peters Dome via a somewhat direct line from the south saddle. Following a scouting hike up in the winter of early 2005 and a half-hearted attempt a month later, we did not return until April 12th of ‘08. We started up the 1947 line (Alpenjaeger Route) but we then most likely veered onto what was first climbed by Glen and Don Kirkpatrick in 1968 – though many options exist for this upper pitch of the line and having found no fixed pieces on the 60-foot upper band we’re not sure what we were on. Two pitches of aid and one pitch of easy but very loose free climbing were required to reach the summit. Pitch 1 aid was done almost exclusively on thin, short knifeblades.

Photo: Rack (photo by Jeff Thomas).

The crux pitch 2 was about 2/3rds clean aid and the rest consisted of nailing of a mix of things. We climbed the route over the course of two Saturdays two weeks apart (a pace limited more by lack of courage than time). Two additional trips were required, one to replace our rope on pitch 1 and one to take down our ropes. I found the experience scary and generally life-threatening for all involved. On day 1 we had help from our friend Pat Clinton (who had climbed the Turkey Monster with us last summer) in carrying the junk up to the saddle – thanks man (esp. for encouragement)! On day 3, we had the privilege of meeting Jeff Thomas and John Leary. Jeff summitted along with us while John shot some wonderful photos from the Mystery Trail all day long. I’ve indicated those that belong to him. On the final day, Jeff Thomas and George Cummings hiked up with Shirley and me. Jeff & I then cleaned the ropes and gear and rapped down the Darr Route. Having done the climb, I stand in awe of the people who went up before us: those who went up it first; those who climbed it with home-made gear; those who put up additional terrifying routes (esp. Northeast Face!!); those who climbed it multiple times; those who’ve done it in a day; and Wayne who’s done it alone. Many thanks are owed to John Leary for great photos. I also wish to thank Don Baars for sharing his Dome experiences with us freely during our many email exchanges and generally encouraging us to try this climb. The account below is long winded. Sorry.

 

Day 1, Saturday April 12th.

Though it’s never been fun, the approach to the backside saddle has worsened as a young forest sprouted over the landslide area above Dodson in 2006-07.

Photo: 2005

Now more bushwhacking is required although the shrubbery is not very dense.

Photo: 2008

On Saturday morning, Shirley, Pat, our two dogs and I hiked up to the saddle. I’ve had knots in my stomach since the night before and got little sleep. Seeing the choss of the lower bands again did not ease my mind. The plan was to start at the highpoint of the saddle instead of scrambling the vertical boulder field to Furrer’s Cave on the Darr Route. From the looks of things, calling (as Dodge does) the standard route A2 and our variation A3 seems meaningless as you cross the same deteriorating bands of choss. The first 20 feet were educational for me.

Photo: The Nightmare Begins.

I’ve learned to test the cobblestones with the hammer for relative looseness (ALL are loose).

Photo: Vertical Cobblestones.

I’ve also learned that I’d have the best success by forcing short, thin KB’s into incipient seams in individual cobbles versus forcing longer KB’s or LA’s in-between cobblestones.

I led on double ropes placing two pieces at roughly the same level – slower but felt safer. In retrospect it was a good call as we later discovered severe damage to one rope likely from continuous rock-fall.

Photo: Shirley & our friend Pat (with his dog Roxie) at base of "South Saddle Direct".

The first 15 feet is where I had all my bounce test failures too. A spark would fly every time a KB zinged out. I either got better at nailing KB’s or rock improved higher. About 30 feet up I found an old “bolt” with a rusted-shut biner (“Ace Hardware special” per older Steins Pillar TR). Below, Shirley was ducking the loose rock I was knocking down continuously.

Photo: View down from pitch 1 - lots of aid screamers, two ropes...all the chickenshit tricks I could think of.

Higher, I found 2 or 3 old pins driven behind loose blocks of basalt. These indicated that the last party veered east at about 35 feet up. I followed. The rock got really loose as I was within sight of what looked like an old belay (another Ace Hardware bolt).

Photo: Old Belay.

I could find no further placements to support my weight. Shirley sent my rock shoes up and I reluctantly did about 10 feet of easy but loose free to a mossy 6 inch wide stance next to a solid slab. Someone probably used this as a belay and I was guessing that the route veered back west from here. I clipped my fifi to the “bolt” and tried desperately not to weight it while tip-toeing the mossy, deteriorating stance. I drove a large angle in – OK but not great. I hand-drilled a belay bolt into the solid basalt. This stance is about 15 feet below “96-foot band” though I like Jeff Thomas’ term of “96-foot nightmare” much better. The pitch took me four hours to lead. We fixed ropes and called it a day. We left the pin rack at the base thinking we’d come back next day. As a bonus, I bruised my ribs on the “hike” down as a large, moss-covered boulder shifted under me and I went tumbling into it.

 

Next morning neither one of us (dog included) had the least inclination to go back up. We knew however that we did not secure the stuff for long term keeping and needed our good rope for a trip to Moab during the coming weekend.

 

Day 2, Thursday April 17th.

On Monday, a weather front moved in and soaked the Northwest. Forecast called for improvement starting on Thursday and so I figured I’d wake up early, get our stuff back and be at work before anyone noticed. Our dog Blondie & I got to the trailhead at 4am to find not only darkness but a steady drizzle also. We got out of the car and looked at each other and a miracle happened. Our dog spoke to me in a human voice, saying “Fuck this shit!” I concurred and we drove home without another word. Instead, I got out of work early in the afternoon and Blondie and I hiked up to the saddle in drizzle but at least in daylight and retrieved our stuff.

Photo: Hike Up.

Photo: Rapping from P1 (photo taken using timelapse feature on the camera).

 

Knowing that Don Baars and Jeff Thomas were working on an article on the climbs of St. Peter’s Dome, I called Jeff to ask if he had any knowledge as to where our route went above. Jeff did not know but was very interested in joining us on the return to The Dome.

 

Day 3, Saturday April 26th.

Two weeks later we were back at it again this time we were joined by Jeff Thomas and John Leary whom Jeff asked to take some photos. Not sure if John knew what kind of screwed up hike he was getting himself into but he generously shot photos all day long. Shirley and I jugged up pitch 1 and Shirley made herself comfy with a belay seat – a good call as pitch 2 would take me 3 hours to lead. I started by traversing west to an adjacent trough on good rock.

Photo: Looking back towards Shirley atop P1.

Photo: Starting P2.

Photo: Higher on P2 with Shirley belaying. Photo by John Leary & posted with permission.

Photo: Shirley bleaying from top of P1. With her epxerience on day 1, she brought a belay seat for this one. Photo by John Leary & posted with permission.

This would keep any shit falling from above (& there was much) away from my belayer. After mostly clean aid I was soon at the top of the 96 foot band. I traversed the intermittent ledge west 20 feet to the base of what I guessed would offer best passage through the upper band. What looked like a decent splitter from below now had some warning signs of an expando flake.

Photo: Starting Up Above 96-foot Band.

I would bounce extra gently on the small cams for the next 20 feet as I thought I might peel off the whole 20 foot column of basalt off of the face. Above the column the rock deteriorated drastically to its worst so far. I did a leftward run-around a loose façade above me – a 10-foot “wall” of rock separated from the dome by an inch of airspace. The rock around this was crap too: body-weight KB placements in deteriorating shit. Each subsequent placement took longer to find and would not take bounce tests. I kept thinking that the rock façade to my right was gonna go and sever my rope should I hit a KB too hard. I finally got a mid-size angle in shit rock that held a gentle bounce. I could top-step in my aiders. Nothing looked good until I started digging out carpets of moss. I found what looked like a yellow Alien slot. I placed it – two lobes engaged, two not so much. I wondered what would stop my fall. I eased onto the Alien and it held. Above, more mud and moss digging produced a solid-looking crack. Only now did I notice the horrendous rope drag that my run-around was causing. I could hardly move. I knew that the mantle would require free climbing on moss and loose boulders. It took me half an hour to pull up 15 feet of slack 2 inches at a time. When I finally had enough, I went for the free top-out – pulling on moss, blocks, branches and crawling through mud and moss of the lip.

 

Photo: Mantling onto boulder field above upper band. Shirley (yellow jacket) is at P1 belay.

The approach gully below was getting carpet-bombed with hundred-pound rocks. And then my feet were over the edge on the 25-degree mossy boulder field atop the upper band.

 

Photo: Mantling up onto the boulder field atop 52-foot band. All those blocks at the edge now grace the base of the route. Photo by John Leary - all copyrights belong to him (thank you!).

 

Photo: Self portrait atop the 52-foot band after my moss & mud excavation work - a truly fucked up pitch.

There was a large block at the edge of my reach. It seemed fixed in place. I hand drilled a belay bolt, clipped it, dug my feet into the moss and boulders and yelled off belay. The suffering continued as Shirley had to jug on the rope hanging from my harness. Even the belayer takes on risks on this nightmare. Shirley dislodged some rocks (fixed line above her did) which grazed her helmet and cut her earlobe while jugging. Once she topped out, she further cleaned the edge of big blocks. We hiked up and left to a huge tree 40 feet further and fixed the rope for Jeff, with our lone bolt keeping the rope off of the worst of the boulder field. The last pitch is lower angle on giant boulders securely held in place by moss. I led it, Shirley followed and Jeff free-soloed.

Photo: Shirley starting the final pitch atop the 52-foot band. Photo by John Leary was posted with his permission (all copyrights belong to him).

 

Photo: Booty!

 

Photo: Shirley on final low 5th class choss pitch (photo by Jeff Thomas).

Soon all three of us were on the summit flipping through the pages of the summit register.

Photo: Shirley & Jeff signing the summit register. Previous entry belongs to Wayne from his 1994 solo of the Dome.

 

The partial register starts with a 1967 ascent by Bill Cummins and co. and ends with Wayne’s 1994 solo ascent. We took photos of the 5 entries and posed for summit shots for John on the Mystery Trail.

Photo: The 3 of us on the summit. Note Shirley's blue belay seat hanging atop pitch 1. Photo credit & copyrights belong to John Leary (thank you!) - posted with permission.

Photo: Starting the descent off the summit.

We rapped down to the top of the upper band but then decided to leave ropes fixed in place for the following weekend as we wanted to rap down the Darr Route to scope things out.

 

Day 4, Sunday May 4th.

And so the same routine went down again though this time we were joined by Jeff Thomas and George Cummings. George had tried the Dome in the 1960’s twice but did not go above the 96-foot band. George climbed with Dave Jensen on the FA’s of some of our favorite routes at Smith including Sky Ridge and Sky Chimney (rest of our Smith favorites it seems were put up by either Jeff or Jim Anglin, rest in peace) and so Shirley had a good time hanging out with him at the saddle while Jeff & I cleaned off our fixed shit. I left about 2 or 3 of our pins fixed high on pitch 2 mainly because I thought that messing with those might bring half the Dome on top of me (and to mark our passage).

Photo: From the safety of the aiders, snapped this shot of what I mean by vertical boulder field.

Photo: Jeff atop the 52-foot band on our "clean-up" 4th day.

Photo: View of roughly same time taken by our timelapse camera - red dots atop the 52-foot band.

We rapped down the Darr Route in one shot maxing out our double 70 meter lines. Once both ropes were on the ground, I felt as though a weight had been lifted off my shoulders – The Dome had allowed us to climb her and to live through the ordeal. We hiked out happily knowing that we’ll never have to do that approach again!

Photo: Yellowjacket Bite.

Photo: We're free at last! Jeff Thomas, Shirley, & yours truly at the saddle after the ropes were pulled off and everyone was still alive. Photo courtesy of George Cummings.

 

Gear Notes:

Patience. KB's....lots and lots of KB's. Lots of other stuff too.

 

Approach Notes:

Get off at Ainsworth, park at end of ramp & bushwhack up.

Edited May 20, 2008 by fgw

[billcoe]

Holy friggan crap. I'm in an office and I think I shat myself reading that. Big props to Shirley and the wonder dog. What troopers. Great TR....my palms are sweating.

[Off_White]

Yikes! What a great TR.

[olyclimber]

wow. that thing is a pile! nice work.

[powderhound]

Sick, can you post photos of the summit log, I always find them exciting.

[fgw]

Thanks for good word guys!

 

About the summit log...I could post it (all 5 of most recent entries) but wondering if Wayne would be alright with that (don't know if people signing it meant it for general online distribution). If Wayne's fine with it, I will given that the rest of the guys in there probably don't care much about online forums??

[billcoe]

I think Wayne already pretty much detailed it earlier. (solo sickness!)

[wayne]

Wow !! (!!) Congratulations! You got it guys and gals!

I knew someone was. There was such a buzz about this thing,> There were others looking at that thing too. Dang glad it went well. Very happy to see Mr. Thomas in on the shenanigans. I am now clear on the differences between your line and the Darr. I am looking at this as one of the all time trip reports from Oregon, Thanks for doing us proud and ALWAYS be careful on that crap! Wayne

 

ps, I would like to post a link of this story on my site if you please,

 

pps, And Jeff,please, is there a way to get the Mazama Article posted on-line?

Edited May 6, 2008 by wayne1112

[fgw]

Thank you very much Wayne. What an effort on your part!! I've posted same tr on SP as well with more photos (better fromatting options there). Thank you for including the link!

 

I am not clear on the differences between your line and the Darr.

From my understanding, the original/Darr route went up further west of the saddle up to Furrer's Cave and then up 96 foot band (saw an intermediate belay station about 15 feet below top of band when we rapped that line & of course stuff in Furrer's cave and on top of 96 band). Then westward hike on the grassy ledge followed by 52 foot band on the west face. The line we went up started at highpoint of saddle then traversed east to what I think was someone's belay 15 feet below top of 96 foot band. From there, back west about 30 feet and straight up the 52-foot band almost directly in line with high point of saddle. Same low angle final pitch in both cases. we found old "bolts" & pins up to top of 96 foot band and then nothing on the final band (stuff probably falls out pretty quick out of that loose shit though).

Edited May 6, 2008 by fgw

[wayne]

So did you do a direct finish to the 1965 Bill Cummins route?

 

Here is the thread from a while back

 

Updated my Oregon Page

 

Every ascent of that thing is a new route!

 

..And whats next? Have all the Nightmare Choss Formations been climbed it this decade?

 

Just thought of one, but cant tell you what it is....

Edited May 6, 2008 by wayne1112

[fgw]

Wayne, I'm not sure & Jeff was not sure either what we were on up on the 52-foot band. As you mentioned some time ago, pin scars do not show on that thing so unless the pins are still in place it's hard to tell what's what (we found nothing on upper band where we went). There is some confusion as to who first did "Route 1V" in Dodge book and when. "1V" seems as what Don Baars describes as their 1947 route (straight up & traverse west at top of 96 foot band to rejoin FA line). Per Don's & Jeff's research, the Kirkpatrick brothers shot straight up reportedly from saddle highpoint (initially following 1947 route?) & linked 96- and 52-foot bands into one pitch. Jeff is following up with them I think. The line we were on is (I think) way too meandering to really do in a single pitch.

 

It's also interesting - the only entries (5) we saw in the register were the last ones you mention in the other thread:

5-6-67 Mazama Adv School: Bill Cummins,Larry Sandstrom, Art Revel,Thomas Plaaman, Jim Nieland, Scott Arighi, Robin Baker

 

9-28-68 Glen and Don Kirkpatrick

 

9-16-72 Dean Fry, Paul Fry

 

6-17-77 Dave Zimmerman, Will Tuttle, Ted Mayfield

 

6-19-94 WW solo

 

 

Edited May 6, 2008 by fgw

[wayne]

The rest of the entries werent there? I am not known for having the best memory, Did I give them to Jeff? I thought I left everything there. Weird. So was it just a single page in there?

[dan_forester]

living the nightmare! congratulations, you guys.

 

great TR, awesome pictures.

[Crackman]

WOW - now that's a climb!!! Inspirational choss & moss TR at its finest. My utmost respect for you and your predecessors on the strength of your mental game. Thanks for sharing.

 

 

[Don79]

Great job, Radek!!! Love your descriptions and great photos! Sounds like you did roughly our 1947 route through the 96-foot mess, and Wayne is right, every climb is a new route. Glad Jeff went along. He really got into the history for our Mazama article! Anyway, I knew you could do it. I had faith in you and your wonderful wife! Did your dog mark the summit?

Don Baars

[fgw]

thank you & thank you again Don for the encouragement! The dog sat this one out (probably smarter than me)

[dberdinka]

That looks sick! Particularly sick for 1940!!!

[Blake]

Everett and Ida Dar were pretty ambitious and as a female climber, she was way ahead of her time! They owned "The Mountain Shop" on Broadway in PDX, and also had property in Stehekin for many years. They did the first ascent of several major peaks and routes in the NCNP, including Tupshin Peak, Devore Peak, Martin Peak, and the E ridge of Buckner. They also made multiple attempts and near-FAs of Bonanza and Goode. This was all in the late 1930s and 1940s.

Puts 'Beth and Tommy' to shame...

 

The 1939 business cards for "The Mountain Shop", placed by Ida and Everett, are still sitting on top of Tupshin and Devore.

[fgw]

Their account of the FA in the 1940 Mazamas Annual is an interesting read. It took them a while to decide on where the logical line up should go. They initially did some route cleaning on the west face that included crow bars (mining for solid stone deeper under the surface - found none apparently)

[wfinley]

Holy Choss!! I find it less of a miracle that your dog actually talked to you then your wife repeatedly joined you on these outings!!

[markd]

nice job fgw. way to go out there and be a 'real' climber. it seems you've found enough adventure up there for all of us. again, way to hang it out there and make memories out of your biggest dreams.

[fgw]

The rest of the entries werent there? I am not known for having the best memory, Did I give them to Jeff? I thought I left everything there. Weird. So was it just a single page in there?

 

Wayne - my bad. I talked to Jeff & there were the other entries (like your list, starting with the '62 ascent) in the summit box except the other ones were on loose pieces of paper apparently. Jeff went thru. those but I did not see them; other 5 I mention were in the notebook. I'll modify the tr.

[KingsMM]

sweet! I'd say this is the all time best Oregon TR!

[wayne]

Cool Radek, Now about the Mazama article...Is it available to post?

sorry for being such a circle fly.

[kevbone]

Amazing.....I have wondered about that piece of rock for a while.....now I know.