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Snow Creek Wall mission/rescue?


sobo

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Anybody know anything about this? Woulda started this morning around 5 a.m. Kyle?

 

Background:

I stopped in to Homefires Bakery on my way home from Der town this morning (after doing Orbit with Kurt Hicks yesterday) and Kyle's wife Linda told me that he headed out this morning for a mission at SCW. When Kurt and I descended yesterday evening, we noticed a shirt, a pack, and some boots stashed below Outer Space, but no one was on the wall that we could see. We figure whoever it was spent a chilly night up top. Seems like it coulda been worse than that...??

 

In other SCW news:

Earlier in the day, while we were gearing up at the base of Orbit, someone trundled a microwave-sized block off Two Tree Ledge while lowering someone to the ground. Made a huge racket, but we didn't hear any screaming or yelling, so we figured everyone was OK and we set out for our climb. Anybody know anything else about this one that they care to share? I don't think the two incidents are related.

 

PS: Orbit was a fucking h00t!!!1

What a ride, man. Please note, at the bush belay above the 5.9 finger crack, DO NOT GET SUCKERED INTO GOING LEFT toward the fixed ring pin on what appears to be easy ground. It turns into polished, featureless granite after you turn the corner and ascend a bit (just ask Kurt). Instead, go right around the corner and up the golden ramp to find the bolts that "tame the roofs" per the Nelson/Potterfield guide. We wasted an hour on the left side. D'oh! :crazy:

Still, we managed to do the climb in under 9 hours, car-to-car. My calves sure are tight...

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Sobo,

The two fellas were in relatively good shape mentally and physically after spending the night out due to having adequate clothing to avoid hypothermia. They got a late start the day before and discovered that their headlamp was misplaced and not in the pack when they needed it; so they had to stop when it got dark. They were too cold this morning to continue up so they rapped down to Two Tree Ledge from the Pedestal pitch using a single rope (3 raps). Apparently the stations aren't entirely set up to allow for a single rope rappel. They had to back up the single bolt (anchor?) above Two Tree Ledge.

Once they arrived at the Ledge, we had fixed a line down the ledges, climber's right, to the next rap. Once they clipped in to the line, they downclimbed on their own to the rap station where we had set up a single line rap from there to the ground. So it ended well.

Insofar as the rockfall you heard yesterday, that was caused by the third in our party stepping on loose rock after she completed the traverse of Remorse. Thankfully no one was at the base in the line of fire. Incidently, there is debris left on the sloping ledge of One Tree Ledge and at the base of the wall from a car sized block that fell this past winter from what was formally part of the anchor/top of the 3rd pitch of Iconoclast.

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Thanks, Kyle, for that synopsis, and also for getting back out there to help those guys out.

:tup: :tup:

 

So were Kurt and I wrong about someone being lowered off Two Tree Ledge? We thought we saw someone coming down from there to the ground about 11:30 to noon or so, just before the rock fell.

 

And we didn't see anyone on route up high as we walked out. We stopped to look pretty hard for a few minutes, since we saw the gear at the base and were concerned. When we didn't see anyone, we figured they had topped out.

 

Just curious, rapping from the Pedestal down the chickenhead pitch, are there natural anchors (other than at the Pedestal itself) that are sufficient upon which to bail if you only have one rope? It's been a lot of years since I last did OS, and I don't recall any features on Pitch 4 that I would trust a rap from, unless there are new bolts or something. And I don't remember how long Pitch 4 is...

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PS: Orbit was a fucking h00t!!!1

What a ride, man. Please note, at the bush belay above the 5.9 finger crack, DO NOT GET SUCKERED INTO GOING LEFT toward the fixed ring pin on what appears to be easy ground. It turns into polished, featureless granite after you turn the corner and ascend a bit (just ask Kurt). Instead, go right around the corner and up the golden ramp to find the bolts that "tame the roofs" per the Nelson/Potterfield guide. We wasted an hour on the left side. D'oh! :crazy:

Still, we managed to do the climb in under 9 hours, car-to-car. My calves sure are tight...

 

Glad to hear that everyone was ok!

 

Sounds like you had an awesome day, Sobo. Good to see you racking some mileage and and gettin' all core for next season. Found me a ropegun! Wooot! :moondance:

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Good to see you racking some mileage and and gettin' all core for next season. Found me a ropegun! Wooot! :moondance:

Well, not so much a "ropegun", Shugga. Kurt did all the leading, much to my pleasure (and his). I just provided "boat anchor" duties and returned his gear every now and again... :)

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PS: Orbit was a fucking h00t!!!1

What a ride, man. Please note, at the bush belay above the 5.9 finger crack, DO NOT GET SUCKERED INTO GOING LEFT toward the fixed ring pin on what appears to be easy ground. It turns into polished, featureless granite after you turn the corner and ascend a bit (just ask Kurt). Instead, go right around the corner and up the golden ramp to find the bolts that "tame the roofs" per the Nelson/Potterfield guide. We wasted an hour on the left side. D'oh! :crazy:

Still, we managed to do the climb in under 9 hours, car-to-car. My calves sure are tight...

 

We did Orbit a week ago Saturday, and second on the burning calves...I don't think my calves have ever been that wrecked after a day of climbing.....lots of face climbing and semi-hanging belays to thank I suppose.

 

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I don't think it was the climbering that wrecked my calves for me. I believe it was the high-speed grind up the SCW trail (keeping up with Kurt) and the interminable "downwalking" off the descent trail on the backside of the wall that did my legs in.

 

The semi-hanging belays on the wall were righteous. I sure wish we had a camera for a couple of those. They woulda made great Christmas cards to send to the 'rents. :laf:

 

BTW, if anyone finds a nice pair of polarized sunglasses on the backside of Snow Creek Wall, I'd really appreciate getting them back. I lost them along the descent trail, somewhere between the summit and the Orbit start, most likely on the short rap about 200 feet climber's left of the Orbit start. There's a 6-pack of your favorite malted beverage in it for ya if ya return them. :brew:

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BTW, if anyone finds a nice pair of polarized sunglasses on the backside of Snow Creek Wall, I'd really appreciate getting them back. I lost them along the descent trail, somewhere between the summit and the Orbit start, most likely on the short rap about 200 feet climber's left of the Orbit start. There's a 6-pack of your favorite malted beverage in it for ya if ya return them. :brew:

 

Kyle? Maybe you can gather the troops and mount another rescue?

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Just curious, rapping from the Pedestal down the chickenhead pitch, are there natural anchors (other than at the Pedestal itself) that are sufficient upon which to bail if you only have one rope? It's been a lot of years since I last did OS, and I don't recall any features on Pitch 4 that I would trust a rap from, unless there are new bolts or something. And I don't remember how long Pitch 4 is...

 

The first time I did OS, there was a slow party starting up the original start that we bypassed by doing the RPM (or is it Remorse, I can never remember) start. They made it to Library Ledge by dark, and as we were walking out by headlamp we saw them rapping (by headlamp) straight down the face. From the evidence of their bail, it does seem like you can back off Outer Space with just one rope, as long as you don't mind leaving your whole rack behind.

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