W. Face of Concord Tower (WA Pass) - done it?

[crimper]

Last Friday we tried this route after a great time on the SW Rib of SEWSpire. We went up and down the gully between Concord and Liberty and followed the only "broken rock" to the "large shelf" on the west face, but simply could not find the "left-arching flake" that goes for 140 feet and is supposed to be Pitch 2. We even walked around the shelf all the way further West and saw nothing like the description. Eventually my friend led about 80 feet up to a licheny and unprotected lieback that he found harder than the "5-8 or 5-9" (whatever that means) flake we were supposed to climb.

 

There was a fixed tricam below the flake where he bailed, and a small tree with webbing just below that, indicating that at least a couple parties have been this way and bailed at about the same spot.

 

So....has anyone done this route, and were we really on route? i've done some google searches and only found one ambiguous TR so far. Have a good one, Bryan.

 

PS - we did redeem ourselves the next day on the West Face of NEWSpire so we drove back to Portland feeling a bit better...

[ericb]

Blake and I did it two summers ago....here's my recollection of the route we took

 

 

Blake can add some color but it felt as advertised to both of us....If I recall, we traversed some on the lower pitch to avoid a hornet's nest that made the more direct route undesirable

Edited September 11, 2008 by ericb

[crimper]

hmmm. we started a couple hundred vertical feet up the gully waaaaay to the left (north) of what this picture shows. and we were facing to the south, or right according to this picture as we climbed (if that makes sense)

 

so where and what we climbed is just out of the frame to the left. i also think we started at least 200-300 vertical feet higher than what your drawing shows. we had a feeling we were on the wrong route since we were essentially starting on the northwest side of the tower, not the west face...but the topo had said to scrammble a third of the way up the gully to start....

[ericb]

Ahhh...dang....based on what we found, I'm pretty sure we were on the right route...funny....we did it as a bonus route after the SW Rib as well...a little more interesting than the routes further up the gully but still a fast route for a bonus summit.

[crimper]

thanks again.

 

and just to make sure i'm not confused - did you start from up in the gully? or at the toe of the tower, to the right of the gully at the very bottom of the tower? we started hundreds of feet higher than that toe.

[Sol]

what about the unclimbed e face of concord tower. anybody ever venture past minuteman?

[ericb]

We started from the gully

[crimper]

hmm again...if you did start from up in the gully, then maybe we did start at the same spot, as the more i looked at your photo the more familar it looked (i think the greenery threw me off at first since it was dirt brown last week in that gully).

 

my partner bailed at what he called an undercling/lieback about 20-25 feet above a small tree with slings. he said the "crack" wouldn't take any gear, and seemed a lot harder than 5-9. the left wall he'd have to stem off was covered in lichen also, he said. he is pretty solid at 5-10 as well and hates to back off anything, but he was concerned that he'd hit a ledge below if he blew the moves. and being that he is 6 foot 5 and must weigh over 200 i wasn't too psyched about a potential self-rescue!

 

so, not to obsess over this, but does this sound familiar, and is that crux just kinda dirty and a bit spicy? - meaning that we were in fact on route?

[rat]

what about the unclimbed e face of concord tower. anybody ever venture past minuteman?

 

doug klewin & mike martin, late 1980's, A3+ish.

[Sol]

what about the unclimbed e face of concord tower. anybody ever venture past minuteman?

 

doug klewin & mike martin, late 1980's, A3+ish.

 

cool, thanks.