[TR] Cutthroat Peak SW Buttress (aka S Buttress) - 8/3/2008

[hollyclimber]

Trip: Cutthroat Peak SW Buttress (aka S Buttress) -

 

Date: 8/3/2008

 

Trip Report:

After our excellent day on the E Face of Lexington Tower, I wanted to climb a Peak but have at least a little technical moving on Rock, along with some training with a pack as part of my Seattle “get into shape to come home and climb harder” program. (See E Face report here… http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/824431#Post824431)

 

So, we chose the moderate Cutthroat Peak, SW Buttress (also known as the S Buttress).

 

 

I have to admit, while I had a great day climbing, the wildflowers really made the day for me. I spent a fair amount of time geeking out on taking pictures of the wildflowers. I even stopped in the middle of the mud to take a picture of the first pink Indian Paintbrush I have ever noticed. Don’t these only come in orange in Yosemite??!! And, given that my camera was shutting off at the first picture of the day due to “no batteries”, I got a ton of pictures before it shut down about 40 min before the day was done.

 

 

Anyway, the approach was steep and strenuous. I was working hard. It was nice that we had started early (7:20 am) as the cooler weather made for much more comfortable hiking. I had offered to carry the rope while Stewart carried our 6-7 cam rack (ok with slings and some nuts), as I wanted the training weight. Of course, I was slower than Stewart anyway, so I was always lagging behind, but I did my best to keep up.

 

The scenary on the way in was truly gorgeous. The mosquitos were as viscious as the scene was beautiful!

 

 

 

Here is a view of the Peak as we saw it on the approach (although this was taken in the afternoon on the way down).

 

 

By my calculations we did 1 hour to Camp and 1 hour to the start of the route. At any rate, after two hours of hiking and scrambling, we were ready to rope up. Here is me simul-following the first pitch.

 

 

We did the route in two leads, although we moved the belay twice during my leads on the second block. Stewart started his lead with the 5.7 “traverse” up a steep face. No traverse in sight, and really no 5.7 either, but he did put in two pieces of pro, and I did ask him to stop simuling while I removed one of them, so it was 5th class for sure. Then, lots of third and fourth class, but quite a few nice sections of thoughtful 5th class climbing.

 

Near the beginning of the first block, Simul-ing Stewart not in view

 

 

Stewart about ½ in his block on one of the interesting moves.

 

 

Looking down on the route so far…

 

 

At this section here, right where the pro is located, I seriously had a hard time moving right! Of course, trying to jam with my watch on was part of the problem, but hey, aren’t we simul-climbing with approach shoes on (and in my case, my oldest loosest pair). So, I had a bit of a struggle here. It turns out, at some point during this section, Stewart reached the end of his block and put me on belay. Good thing!

 

 

Then, as this cool feature comes into closer, view, I took over the lead, with the goal of moving past this feature to the left and reaching the “two humps” of the false summit. I never got too close to this feature, but it was neat to look at.

 

 

Lots of blocky terrain, but there was a couple of cool 5th class sections, including a short, 4 foot or so bomber hand crack.

 

 

We reached the sandy walking of the humps, without ever noting the pitch that only the Mountaineers pick out and seem to call the Tarzan Jump. No jumping or Tarzan-ing for me. We did note lots of rappel anchors all the way up. Then, its down the first notch, out of which I climbed the “unprotected 5.8 face” (aka 5.2 of happiness), and then down the second notch, where we both came down and moved the belay again.

 

Here's me after the 5.2 face of happiness.

 

 

Here’s Stewart coming into the second notch (I think!)

 

.

 

And, somewhere in the last bit of leading, but before the OW section.

 

 

Now, its up to the top and OW of ease! Here is a picture of the OW!

 

 

It turns out that this is two moves or so, with the first hands being pretty good and once you get your feet in, you are in! Perfect size for my feet with my approach shoes on. Here is Stewart topping out.

 

 

And great views from the top.

 

 

 

 

Lots of single rope rappels to get down, which makes sense since the route is blocky and double rope rappels would probably be hard to pull.

 

 

My shoes were a little worse for wear…time to get out more barge cement since 5.10 re-designed (aka ruined) the 5.10 insight and the current version (Gen 3) are not worth buying!! Got to keep the Gen 1s running before I have to switch to my half-way decent Gen 2 pairs.

 

 

Again, more of the best part of my day…

 

 

 

3.75 hours roped up to the Summit, 7 hours car-to-car. Great day in the mountains and home way before dark with a stop at “Good Food”.

 

[builder206]

Nice photos, thanks for posting. Neat climb, your TR makes me want to jump on it.

[Stefan]

great picture of both climbs!

 

excellent actions shots

[Alex]

nice pics holly, I did that route a few months ago but didnt have camera. the route is really enjoyable as you get to move fast and still see lots of nice views and so on.

[OlympicMtnBoy]

More pics of our climb are online here: http://picasaweb.google.com/matthiesen/SEButtressOfCutthroat

[pinegar]

Thanks, these TRs were a great read, with great pictures!