goose egg [TR] Tieton - The Bend & Goose Egg - 5/24/2008

[Off_White]

Trip: Tieton - The Bend & Goose Egg -

 

Date: 5/24/2008

 

Trip Report:

I finally downloaded the pictures from my camera, so here's a quick TR from Memorial Day weekend.

 

As you'll recall, the weather was a wee bit dodgy, so after tossing various ideas about, cc.com poster DJ Dirty Ernie and I met at exit 68 on I-5 and headed east to the Tieton, which had the best forecast we could find.

 

We spent the first couple of days at The Bend. I don't know that I've ever been to this crag without encountering at least one snake, and this time was no exception. There were actually two this size at the talus spot before the crag.

 

 

Starting the day with the crag to ourselves, we did Ed's Jam, which neither of us had done before. Just a swell crack, and the upper bit is longer than it looks from the belay at the top of the short first pitch.

 

 

The damp spring and late season meant the area was still quite lush, and whilst belaying I was quite taken with the verdant patch across the canyon, I'm more used to that sunny slope being burnt dry and brown.

 

 

Over the course of the next two days we did a variety of moderate cracks and bear hugging column face climbs, mostly stuff over on the left side.

 

 

I don't have the guide handy, but Alar was big fun, and there was a 10a finger crack above the first part of a 10b face climb on a broken pillar that was, uhm, super fun.

 

We had a little rain on Sunday, and feeling a little weary we made for an afternoon matinee in Yakima. Saturday night we'd spent in one of the free spots along the south side of the river, and the area was more crowded than usual due to the holiday, with kayakers and quad riders clogging up our usual and accustomed. We had stayed at a pretty trashed party spot and spent 20 minutes cleaning up the garbage. Seems like people never fail to amaze me.

 

Anyway, for Sunday night we decided to head up higher to spend the night just off a side road at the base of Goose Egg. Memorial day dawned with weather encouraging enough, so we cast off for Ride The Lightning.

 

What with the attention it's gotten here recently, I'd halfway expected we'd see some others buzzing about the Outer Space of the Tieton, but happily we saw no others on the route, or even on the entire crag all day. Good thing too, since the potential for rockfall is not exaggerated.

 

First pitch was long and entertaining.

 

 

The 2nd pitch was most everything you'd hope for, including the swell crack in the corner and the exposed belay at the edge of the roof.

 

 

 

There was tat in the middle of the first couple pitches that suggested others had bailed out with a single rope, though single bolt rappels aren't really my cup of tea. While there are a number of bolts on these first pitches, this route is most definitely not a sport climb. Dodgy rock demands a level of discretion and delicacy throughout the route, but little is truly alarming.

 

The belay at pitch 2 isn't really set for rappelling, but halfway up pitch 3 there is a station that's clearly intended for the purpose. The guide mentions that this is the place to bail if the rock quality puts you off, but in fact I think you could rap from any of the higher stations as well, though from the 4th belay you'd bypass the single bolt+gear station of the 3rd to go to this station on the third pitch.

 

Though short, the crack right above the 2nd belay was fun. The DJ isn't quite to the rap station in this picture.

 

 

Next pitch is short and dirty, just as the guide suggests, and while not charming, it is not really a problem. The 5th pitch offers the runout on flaky rock to the first bolt, then up to the crux crack. While the moves were most reasonable, I really didn't care for the hollow sound made while removing cams from the crack above the bulge. I'd urge you not to fall from the position in this picture.

 

 

Sure enough, I did get a little lost on the 6th pitch, traversing too far and winding up in a chossy gully with no gear, before climbing the left wall of the gully to get back on route to the belay. Here's a suggestion of the correct way to go: From the belay, traverse right with one piece of gear until you see two bolts above you. Head up the crack past these bolts, and don't fret over the stud with no hanger, there are several more good gear placements in the widening crack, which you'll follow until it pinches down. With long slings on your last couple pieces, traverse right following the most cleaned looking area, looking for where loose plates have been pried off. While runout, it's no big deal. If you wind up looking around the edge at the gully, don't be suckered in by the obvious footprint, but head back left and up to a crack which will lead you directly to a 2 bolt station (one of the bolts is a ways above the first, not super obvious).

 

Last pitch is a bit of loose delicacy followed by amazing hollow clinky shifting talus. We walked across the top, happy to see the occasional cairn, until we found the obvious gully. One rap with slings around a tree partway to the ground makes for a decent descent.

 

All in all, a good adventure route. Here's Goose Egg from across the meadow:

 

 

Driving back over the pass we encountered a positively apocalyptic hail storm that stayed with us almost all the way to Packwood, where some big weekend wahoo involving Winnebagos and and tacky crap stalls was winding down.

 

Here's a link to a big ass photostich of Ride The Lightning.

[Crackman]

Nice pics & TR - you captured it well. My buddy H and I climbed RTL just yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. Beautiful climb in a beautiful setting.

 

 

[sobo]

Excellent work, Off! Glad to see the ol' GE is getting some traffic. Man, I'd like to get up there...

[AlpineK]

Those are some nice pictures.

 

After watching some bad rockfall and hearing stories Goose Egg hasn't been high on my list. Your pictures look good though.