1930s Mystery Wall - Do you recognize it?

[Lowell_Skoog]

The Mountaineers recently received a donation of photographs from the family of Othello Phil Dickert. I've been sorting through them and I'm intrigued (and puzzled) by the following location. These photographs depict Wolf Bauer and Jack Hossack practicing rock climbing techniques in the 1930s. I don't recognize the location, but I presume it is in the Cascades somewhere. Does anybody know where this is? It looks like a cool spot!

 

Note: If photos aren't displayed, try clicking refresh.

 

[klenke]

Do you have a bigger version of the one at bottom right?

[Lowell_Skoog]

Here it is again, together with another shot that shows the face in profile. I believe that Wolf Bauer is the climber in both photos.

 

 

I wonder if it might be in the Tatoosh Range?

 

[Mtguide]

Possibly the N.face of Pinnacle Peak?

[olyclimber]

sorry about the image display issues folks. i cleared the forum cache and it seems to have helped.

[G-spotter]

Could it be Das Toof?

[AlpineK]

Possibly. Hmmm

[klenke]

The Tatoosh Range is a good guess. The Northeast Face of Pinnacle Peak would seem like a good guess but there is nothing to Pinnacle's Northwest that is remotely rocky or buttress-like as indicated in the enlarged pictures above. However, the NE Face of Pinnacle has some rock walls that "look" right. See here (Warning: this is a large picture). But then, it is possible the photos are reversed (it does happen from time to time), which would mean The Castle is the rocky peak rising in the background. But I don't think this is the case either: view of The Castle from Pinnacle (note all of the trees). And I don't think the wall is on The Castle: the view of Pinnacle Peak from The Castle.

 

Conclusion: I don't think our mystery wall is on Pinnacle or Castle.

[Tom_Sjolseth]

Having just been up on Pinnacle, I remember the only view you would get from that angle is somewhere around Kautz Gl on Rainier. To me, the background peak looks to rise too rapidly to be Rainier. I also think the rock on Pinnacle is darker than in the photo.

 

Could it be somewhere in the Stuart Range? Or possibly around Mt Index? The rock looks pretty solid for Cascade standards.

[Jens]

Just a guess but....

I think that may be the small cliff that has been used for rock ropework over the years that is seen to the left right above the road as you drive toward the Pinnacle Peak parking lot in MRNP. It is about 1/2-1/4 mile before the lot. I remember seeing some pins in that cliff that looked older than some of the relics seen on Castle Rock in Leavenworth. It looks like the same stone and crack formations.

 

I'm not positive though.

[mattp]

My first thought was that it looked sort of like a small wall I've noticed right above the road headed toward Pinnacle Peak, as Jens speculates. I think the features may have been similar, but I'm not sure that wall was steep enough to allow these views of it. My second guess was that it may be somewhere on Guye Peak or in what Jim Nelson calls the low quality alps, as the ambiance seems to match. I suppose it could just as easily be somewhere on Pilchuck or in the Monte Christo area or ???

 

Great mystery! I bet we can figure it out.

[korup]

Some one needs to consult Fred on this one. 15 sec? Maybe 30?

[DPS]

UW wall. If you look carefully you can see The Coach in the background.

[klenke]

I've checked the web for photos of and around The Tooth and my conclusion is the wall is not on The Tooth. The rock isn't the same type, for one.

[mattp]

I may be on thin ice arguing with the Klenkinator here, but if it was the cliff I'm thinking of, the background in the photo's above would be a hill above Reflection Lakes and would likely not appear in any photo's of Pinnacle Peak (it would actually be below Castle Peak more likely but even still well below the actual peak itself and very low on the approach). I took note of that particular cliff because the rock there did not look to me like the garbage up on Pinnacle Peak.

[Stefan]

I want to say Guye but I know I am wrong.

[Lowell_Skoog]

Question to Jens or Matt:

 

Is the crag you're referring to part of the 5003-ft bump west of Reflection Lakes on the following map?

 

 

Here is another photo that I think was taken at the same location. (The rock looks a bit different, but Wolf and Jack are wearing the same clothes and the photo was found with the others.)

 

 

I could easily be convinced that the background is part of the Reflection Lakes basin.

 

Look again at the upper-left photo at the start of the thread. The climbers are standing on what appears to be pretty thick heather. That doesn't match the ground cover in Klenke's photo of Pinnacle Peak's NE face, which seems to be barren talus. The heather in the picture tells me that the location is within a pretty narrow elevation range.

 

I'm warming to Jens' and Matt's idea. The mountainside in the background in the second set of pictures could be the north side of the Tatoosh Range, on the other side of Reflection Lakes basin from the crag.

 

[mattp]

Is that a glacier in the background of this last photo?

 

I believe the crag I'm thinking of is on the bump labeled 5003 on your topo map but I'm not 100% sure because I never really took sufficient notice to even pay much attention to where it was. I just remember noticing it on the road hike to and from the N. Ridge of Pinnacle Peak.

[Lowell_Skoog]

I don't think it's a glacier. I think it's talus (possibly with some snow) that is very washed out in the picture. These pictures are quite small, just 2 by 3-1/2 inches, but they're pretty sharp.

 

It's interesting that the leader is using horns (corners really) for running protection, but he's not using slings or pitons to secure the rope to the horns. He just flips the rope over a horn and then pulls on it to bring up his second. The upper-right photo at the top of the thread shows this clearly. (In the center photo, he has actually run the rope over two minor horns.) This seems like a technique that you can only use when the rock is just so, but that appears to be exactly what this crag offers.

 

[mattp]

Just fantasizing that we are actually talking about bump 5003, that last photo could be on the rock band that appears in the background of the earlier ones, looking west.

[klenke]

Is that a small lake in the background at the base of the hazy area of your most recent photo upload?

 

I don't think that's glacier, Matt. It seems too low (not alpine enough). But this was the 30s.

 

Based on the licheny-ness of the rocks and the haziness of the background peaks in the other shots, I'm thinking the walls are north facing or even northeast facing. If we look at the first photo (top left) where the guy is pointing, there is a shadow. Assuming this is one of the first shots of the day (in sequence with the rest), then they would need to be on an eastern side or northeastern side to capture the sun.

 

The last shot reveals fairly long shadows formed by the trees. The shadows are pointing roughly away from the camera. If these shots are in the late afternoon, then the wall is west facing or northwest facing. And since the climbers are not in the sun, they must be shaded by a larger buttress or mountain behind the camera.

 

I didn't say it couldn't be in the Tatoosh. I just said I don't think it's on Castle or Pinnacle proper.

 

I PM'ed Mike Gauthier to see if he might know.

[mattp]

Extra points for the Klenkinator! You bring some rational analysis to the table. However, I think we are looking at a S. or SSE facing piece of rock if you assume the first shot with the guy pointing is a morning shot.

[Jens]

The small slaby cliff I'm talking about is granitic and either off that bump you mention or the larger bump farther away from reflection. I'd have to drive it again to jog my memory.

[Lowell_Skoog]

I found more pictures that I think are from the same crag. I haven't been able to match the background with the previous pictures to confirm that it's the same location, but I think it is.

 

 

Could that be Pinnacle Peak or The Castle in the background? Anybody have a photo that would confirm it?

[Lowell_Skoog]

As I look at these pictures and sort through Phil Dickert's collection, I'm awed by the historical significance of these pictures. They represent nothing less than the formal introduction of European rock climbing techniques to the Northwest. Phil Dickert was in the first basic and intermediate climbing courses taught by Wolf Bauer in 1935 and 1936. With instructor Wolf Bauer and fellow students Jack Hossack, Joe Halwax, and George MacGowan, Phil made the first ascent of Mt Goode in 1936 as a "class project". See this NWMJ article.

 

Here are a few pages from a handbook that I found in the Dickert collection. It was published by the Bavarian Alpine Club in 1930. Flipping through it, there are many places where English translations have been scribbled in, no doubt translated by Wolf Bauer. Page 14 (lower-left) illustrates the rappeling technique that Wolf is using in the above-right photo ("suspendersitz").