raylax Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 (edited) Trip: Mt Washington - Chimney of Space into West Ridge Date: 7/20/2008 Trip Report: I’ve been meaning to climb Mt Washington for some but there have always found reasons not to. Finding an open weekend on my hands, I called Bernie to see if he was up for “...a quick alpine rock climb... I read that there actually is some decent rock on Mt Washington if you just know where to look”, well that’s how they all start, right? Sunday July 20th I met Bernie @ his place around 6AM for the 3 hour drive down – after a quick coffee and some packing, we were off. The weather was looking perfect and I figured we would be up and back in time to toss something on the grill for dinner. We got to the Big Lake campground, parked, sorted gear, loaded up and started hiking 9:30. At this point I began to notice the mosquitoes but used some deet and was able to ignore them. We hiked about 20 minutes before we realized that we had parked in the wrong location (there were road closed signs but apparently that was for a different road). After hiking the extra mileage and taking time to figure out the trails, it was 10:30 before we hit the climbers trail cutting off of the PCT. Fine, no worries, so we are a little behind but we are on a good trail and ready for the climb... that is, until the trail disappeaeds under the snow. No worries, we know the general direction so off we go! Let me say that usually when you use the words “bushwhacking” and “Bernie” in the same sentence, you are probably already knee deep in an adventure – that said, we made decent progress hauling up what we figured out was the north ridge the hard way. After about an hour, we managed to meet back up with the trail as it came up on the west side of the north ridge... and our first real view of the mountain since the lake. It was a nice site but dang it seemed far away, especially for all the bushwhacking! No worries, we were back on the trail and our goal was now in sight! Oh, it was now about 12:00... hmmmmm... The ridge was nice, the weather beautiful and we made progress. Our goal was the NW face to climb either the “excellent” West Face route (5.6) or the “joy to climb” (5.8+) Central Pillar (descriptions from Oregon High). At 1:45 we were having lunch in front of the face and debating which route to actually climb. I was leaning towards the Central Pillar but since we left the #4 in the car (the one sentence I missed in the description down at the car), Bernie got his pick... King Rat (5.9+). I climbed the first scramble pitch to some sling anchors and got the first look @ all the climbs close up... “Hey Bernie... I dunno... King Rat looks waaaay harder than a 9+... and the one good flake you need looks like it’s going to pop just by looking at it...” as to which Bernie responds, “mmmmm, bring me up, it can’t be that hard!” Let me say that Bernie is a persistent climber and I’ve seen him do some amazing (and very crazy) things, but I can honestly say I have never seen him down climb as fast as he did as that flake did everything but drop when he committed to it! So on to the next line! Bernie getting a wake up call! More discussion about Central Pillar, which didn’t really look all that much of a “joy to climb” so we decided to do Chimney of Space (5.8) which tops out into the top pitches of West Ridge. At this point, all I can say is ratings definitely don’t account for loose manky rock! Bernie took the next pitch and got about 40 feet up before figuring out that we only had 9 slings (seemed like enough to me!) unfortunately this was right in the middle of the first off width section. Luckily, he was able to build a decent anchor out of a downward facing rusty old piton and 2 cams jammed between some questionable flakes (let me say, everything up there was questionable!) and brought me up... At this point, I’m going to gloss over some of the details to protect the innocent but suffice it to say that that belay station was scary! After much rope management, breath holding, praying and generally keeping myself out of mortal danger I was able to grab the rack and take off for my pitch (#3)... This was actually a fun off width pitch with some good holds spaced far enough to keep it exciting. The stemming was pretty solid and if you were careful not to pull on the loose stuff, somewhat protectable. I topped out on a small pillar (which moved and would probably crash down if yarded on), set another anchor and brought Bernie up. Bernie took the next pitch (#4 and the last on Chimney of Space) which took us out back into the sun and to the top 2 pitches of West Ridge which were 5.4ish but really fun to climb! If the bottom of the West Ridge is anything like the top (but harder) it might actually be worth the slog up and across the scree field. We topped out, rapped down the North Ridge and were back to our packs before 6. The rest of the trip was somewhat uneventful except for when I lost my balance on a snow slope (and consequently slid into a large rock with my tailbone), losing the trail, again (there is still a lot of snow up there... glad we had a compass) and dealing with mosquitoes that seemed to drink deet like it was tequila on a Saturday night! With the extended hike, we got back to the car @ 8:15, Aleve’ed up by 8:16, on the road by 8:30 and back to Portland by 11:30! All in all a fun trip – though I can’t wait to get on some real rock again! pics from trip... Cheers -- //ray Gear Notes: more deet... Approach Notes: park at the LAST parking lot! Edited July 29, 2008 by raylax Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dinomyte Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Pussies!! Nah, just kidding! Way to go guys. When I was up there with a buddy I coudn't stop shivering till we were up top! A bivy on the summit there is high on my list. Though we may rig a hauling system! Oh, and no lightning please. That place is a rod! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mountain_Shots Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 I remember it was kind of hard to know what route I was on, wasn't ment to be, but ended up on Chimney of Space. Entering the Chimney was the crux moves. Good TR, brings back memories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10497 Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Your third photo down shows why no one should try climbing the West Face, Central Pillar, or King Rat as marked in Oregon High. The reddish rock in the left side of your image shows where parts or all of those routes USE to be. A huge piece of rock came off in the late 1990s and what is left can hardly be called rock. I thought the word had gotten around to avoid those lines. Anyone thinking of trying them should stop thinking about them right now. Read the thread on the deaths of two climbers in 2004 starting with #379129 - 07/31/04. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winter Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Aw yeah, the Chimney of Space. Also brings back not so fond memories of dodging small boulders at the belay station at the base of the chimney. Walls dripping with wet moss. Piss poor protection except for that one bong jammed in the back of the chimney. The lose block at the top that almost pitched my partner off into "space." And then the killer finishing pitches on much more solid rock up the west ridge. Good adventure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevbone Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Nice pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billcoe Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Way to go dudes! Must be something screwy about the snow over there, I did the exact same thing except slammed the rock with my feet instead of my ass. Very jarring. The best policy is to avoid that place and climb on solid rock eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbw1966 Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Adventure climbing at its mankiest! Good job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crimper Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 i climbed the west ridge last summer and the whole west face looks terrifying, at least from above, below and the side! like 10497 said above, most of the routes simply don't exist anymore. i also found the "dinner plate traverse" on the ridge proper to be as loose an experience as i need, and it's hardly even fifth class. anyway, just wanted to plug the west ridge as a long and worthy adventure climb here in oregon. if you can lead 5.8 and like exposure, it should be on any oregon climber's short list (and it's much more rewarding than the more popular, much shorter and easier north ridge). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winter Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Haha! I remember RBW trying to kill me on the south face of the west ridge as well. Huge dinner plates smashing on the rocks in front of me with shrapnel flying on both sides. Good times. So anyone have any good stories of the East Buttress? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raylax Posted July 23, 2008 Author Share Posted July 23, 2008 > The reddish rock in the left side of your image shows where parts or all of those routes USE to be... well that explains a lot! > Piss poor protection except for that one bong... that bong is almost compleetely covered over by moss -- was really happy to find it though. The whole route was an exercise in "find the hidden piton"! Sitting here now, the climb was a blast -- now off to Squamish for 4 days of real rock! cheers -- //ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
111 Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 So anyone have any good stories of the East Buttress? Not a good story, but another account of that wall. We tried one of the 5.8s there and bailed after 1.5 pitches. Just gnar. Everything was loose, including some big flakes. We turned around at the bottom of a giant hanging plate about 10 ft across that was "wiggly" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocky_joe Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 Sounds like a rad trip...not to different from some kinda adventure I'd expect...sketchy is my business. Nice summit. ISo does anyone know how many pitches is Chimney of Space typically done in? What range of pro? What is the easiest most straight foward way up the peak? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckler Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 So anyone have any good stories of the East Buttress? Can't really recommend the East Buttress, but I survived it. We even did the "not recommended" variation "back into the rotten gully" according to OR High. There was about a 30 foot section of good rock as you gain the Buttress proper. Everything else was loose - we were there late season, and the starting gully was bare. "Loose" doesn't do it justice. As I was following the first pitch, I kicked a microwave-sized rock down onto the exact spot I had been belaying from. We weren't sure how much good the rope would have done either of us, other than relegating us both to the same fate. Saw a lot of bail gear, including a Stopper that had fallen out of the rock. A couple of my friends did the route this year, and said they had fun, although I didn't get the full report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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