[TR] Johannesburg Mountain - CJ Couloir 9/7/2008

[rob]

Trip: Johannesburg Mountain - CJ Couloir

 

Date: 9/7/2008

 

Trip Report:

Tom Sjolseth and I hooked up to do the NE Buttress of Jo'burg but when we pulled up to the cascade pass parking lot Sat morning, the brush and ground were very wet. We decided to go to the base of CJ Couloir to take a look. We saw another party (David & Cary) climbing the couloir above us, and we decided it looked like a pretty fun route, so we opted to do that instead of waiting for our intended route to dry.

 

The couloir itself was very straightforward & easy. Tom and I solo'd up to the point where the snow was discontinous, at the base of a small waterfall. We met up with the other party at this point, and they followed us up a detour on 3rd or 4th class rock to regain the couloir at the top of the waterfall constriction.

 

From here, we simul-climbed 2 pitches, but the going was easy and we both decided to unrope.

 

CJ Couloir, above the waterfall -- we unroped near the base of the blue ice patch

 

The top of the coiloir was steeper than below, but very moderate and after unroping, we quickly reached the col. Tom and I decided we were ahead of schedule, so we decided to set up a primo bivy at the col and laze around.

 

Eldo in clouds

 

Looking down to Formidable-Spider basin

 

My view from bivy

 

In the morning, David (from the other party) joined us for the final scramble -- his parter had lost a contact, and decided to not climb. We climbed class 3 rock directly up from the bivy to rejoin the main gulley systems to the top of the crest, where we continued scrambling along the ridge to the false summit. From here, we dropped down to the left slightly to get around a rocky gendarme, where we regained the crest. From here it was easy scrambling to the summit.

 

Snowking?

 

Spider & Formidable

 

Forbidden

 

Sahale

 

Eldo

 

Summit cheese

 

We all downclimbed the route, except for David and I who made two raps near the base. A single full-length rap gets you from the base of the heather field directly to the col.

 

Back at the col, we packed up and headed out doug's direct.

 

Sweet trip! We ran into rangers on the way down, but they didn't check us for permits. And to add to my good fortune, there was no ticket on my windshield, either. A great weekend in the mountains.

[pink]

nice job maverick, is that goose behind you

[Tom_Sjolseth]

Rob on the ascent.

 

David scurrying below looming blocks of ice.

 

The view up from the rock bypass.

 

David climbing in the upper couloir.

 

The view back down to the valley floor from the upper couloir.

 

Looking up.

 

Another view up the couoir.

 

The view down to the Cascade River Road.

 

Spider and Formidable through evening clouds.

 

David and Rob getting into the climbing on the E Ridge.

 

Looking down on camp from the lower E Ridge.

 

Rob and David further up.

 

Views of Spider and Formidable from the lower ridge.

 

Cascade Peak, The Triplets, and Mix-up Peak.

 

The view down the ridge from the false summit.

 

Finally on the summit.

 

The view down the upper NE Buttress from the summit.

 

Views along the summit ridge.

 

Typical downclimbing.

 

Sharkfin Tower, Boston, Sahale, Buckner, Booker.

 

Spider Mountain from Johannesberg's E Ridge.

 

More downclimbing.

 

One last view of the E Ridge route on the way out via Doug's Direct.

 

Gorgeous!

 

Moon over Mix-up and Cache Col with a looming Spider Mountain from Doug's Direct.

 

Downclimbing Doug's Direct

[tvashtarkatena]

Way to bag a nice fat trophy. Strong work.

[ivan]

sweet - but you gotta go back to do the butt!

[goatboy]

Nice work!

 

They don't ticket up there anymore, I don't think, since the hated NW Forest Pass is no longer required at that TH.

 

Correct me if I'm mis-informing, those of you who might know more definitively...

[rob]

sweet - but you gotta go back to do the butt!

 

Oh, I definitely want to go get the butt

[KaskadskyjKozak]

sweet - but you gotta go back to do the butt!

 

Oh, I definitely want to go get the butt

 

you're an ass man, eh?

[wbk]

nice work rob. Was on Forbidden (W Ridge) the same day you were up there and Joburg was calling all day for sure!

[Clarence]

Nice work!

 

They don't ticket up there anymore, I don't think, since the hated NW Forest Pass is no longer required at that TH.

 

Correct me if I'm mis-informing, those of you who might know more definitively...

 

That's correct. No parking pass of any kind is required at cascade pass (or boston basin).

[rob]

Nice work!

 

They don't ticket up there anymore, I don't think, since the hated NW Forest Pass is no longer required at that TH.

 

Correct me if I'm mis-informing, those of you who might know more definitively...

 

That's correct. No parking pass of any kind is required at cascade pass (or boston basin).

 

Well, that explains why I didn't get a ticket

 

The cool thing about this climb was the approach/deproach -- uphill both ways

[JoshK]

sweet - but you gotta go back to do the butt!

 

Oh, I definitely want to go get the butt

 

 

Ummm... that's what she said?

[Buckaroo]

Was the rock detour about 1/2 way up?

 

How long where you under the hanging glacier and how high up were you before you felt safe?

 

did it calve at all while you were in the area?

[rob]

Yes, the detour was about half-way up. There was a chimney that could have gone, if not for the waterfall running through it. The rock detour was about 100 feet down from the waterfall, skier's left.

 

It didn't take us very long to get past the hanging glacier -- we were exposed to icefall while gaining the top of the bypass, and just before regaining the couloir at the end of the traverse. We were able to run through these sections fairly quickly. Not all of the traverse was exposed.

 

There was some minor icefall while we were passing through, but luckily no major calving. But we could hear deep booms coming from within the upper couloir as we climbed it, sending vibrations up through the surface.

[sweatinoutliquor]

Well done!

[Buckaroo]

"But we could hear deep booms"

 

playing alpine roulette

 

wonder if it was a melted out cave underneath, on the verge of collapsing?

 

reminds me of the approach to Woolly Shoulder on Mt Alberta, I'd gone through this one section of terminal moraine about 6 times counting the ups and downs and then a month later it turns out the "moraine" was really rock covered glacier and a huge cave had melted out underneath and collapsed. It was about 500' long, 100' wide in spots and 60' deep.

 

congrats on the summit, now you know the descent for the NE buttress (hardman trifecta) whenever you're ready

 

I was on Index N the other day, just a little bit of wetness will mess that one up, very slippery when wet.

[rob]

playing alpine roulette

I dunno, I felt like the route was pretty chill, and I'm usually a puss.

 

I was on Index N the other day, just a little bit of wetness will mess that one up, very slippery when wet.

I've been on the north face of index before. That route would be a nightmare when wet.

[ScottPick]

Beautiful photos

[Buckaroo]

Thanks to you guys and Ivan's East route TR inspiration, I got up on J-berg on the 12-13th.Sept. It's not worthy of a separate TR because I only got half way up. Having a bad no-summit year. Couldn't even get the false summit like Ivan.

 

Did Doug's direct and found someone's cairn on the ridge. Thought it was sort of a climb unto itself, comparable to the East route but shorter exposure and more direct.

 

Did a couple of pitches up the East route before bivying down at 6,000' by the water at the top of the heather. I read another TR about black bears in the heather south of J-berg. On the approach didn't see hardly any berries so assumed the bears would be gone. But before crashing out I walked down a bit below the bivy to scope the slopes below. Sure enough, saw a black bear about 1,000' downslope. I watched it carefully for about 15 minutes and was relieved when it went further down.

 

I guess being so concentrated on the bear further down wasn't watching nearby. Looked to the right, another black bear about 500' away, oh no. Then looked to the left about 200' down, a brown bear(hopefully black and not a griz), OH S*IT. After being bluff charged by a ma griz last year, sort of skairt of bears.

 

Of course it was getting dark, the worst timing. Grabbed all my gear and headed up to the bivy ring at the C-J col. Spent the night trying to sleep in my boots. Probably being paranoid, didn't get much sleep.

 

The next morning it was tough getting motivated. Getting older thinking either the altitude affects you more or you don't acclimatize as quickly. Forgot the Ginkgo this trip (natures Diamox). Plus no sleep. Finally got going about 9am. Made it about 1/2 way up the route before deciding to bail. Really thought it was mostly class 4, defined by if you come off you won't be able to catch yourself, and it's a death fall. There were also several short class 5 moves, and plenty of loose rock. Curious that Becky doesn't rate or grade it.

 

The climb back out went better, going back over Doug's Direct felt stronger, maybe finally getting acclimatized, and made the car before dark. It's becoming apparent to me that as you get older in order to get things done, you have to give yourself more time and your ducks have to be more lined up.

 

 

CJ couloir icecliff gets early morning sun, it was calving but small chunks.

 

 

 

Looking down the NE side of Doug's Direct

 

 

 

J-Berg from the cairn at the top of Doug's Direct

 

 

 

Formidable and Spider from the C-J col.

 

 

From the bivy in the AM

 

 

 

East face from the approach

 

 

 

East route up close

 

 

SE side of Doug's Direct, goes up the far right side of the scree field, just to the right of the lowest point in the center where the black rock starts.

 

 

 

Climber approaching Cache Col (on the way out)

 

 

 

I wonder why they call it the Ptarmigan traverse?

 

 

 

Rufuse collection on the return. Almost always find these escaped party ballons when spending anymore than 2 days in the back-country. The green is some kind of army surplus tarp/tent, very old.

 

[ivan]

hey man, you can't ever feel shitty 'bout backing off on the big j-berg - that's what makes it such a cool mtn - 'cuz it's fawking scarey!

 

a lot more bear sitings 'round cascade pass this year - josh and i saw just 1 bear on our trip, and i saw none on my sketchy solo (fuck you desolation slabs!)

 

fucking balloons!

[rob]

We saw a couple of bears, too -- 1 while approaching CJ Couloir, and another looking down into Spider/Formidable basin from CJ pass

[Toast]

Nice TR, Great pix.

 

For a sec there, I thought that was KKK in the background. Sorry David