[TR] Bryant Peak - East Gully 2/1/2009

[belayerslayer]

Trip: Bryant Peak - East Gully

 

Date: 2/1/2009

 

Trip Report:

How does one cure the common hangover? By taking a trip into the alpine!How does one manage a sunday ascent somewhere without putting superbowl plans in jeopardy? By heading over to the Tooth's nearest neighbor - Bryant Peak. While not so much a climb as it is a jaunt and considerably less technical than others in the snoqualmie area, Bryant offers a feeling of seclusion that you won't find on the other local peaks. Plus it offers a great alternative when Chair and Tooth's classic winter routes aren't in shape.Still woozy from the night before, I hit my 5 a.m. alarm and managed to squeeze in 2 more hours before guilt overcame my tired body and I dragged myself up. My sister had readily agreed to join me on this little trip, so we packed and left in a hurry.Drove up to alpental and began hiking by 9:30. Light snow falling, but the local peaks were fully visible. Lots of people out. Bryant Peak between the trees   

Made it to the great scott bowl in just under an hour, followed some ski tracks which brought us just before the slope, then kicked steps up to the gully entrance. 

Large party across the valley - heading to snow lake? 

Took a quick water break at the base of the gully and ditched snowshoes/poles; slapped on crampons and pulled out ice axes. The gully isn't very long, but it narrows and steepens near the top - prob. 45 degress at the most. Snow was deep early on, which made step-kicking hard, but thickened toward the saddle 

 

From the saddle, the summit lies maybe a quarter mile toward the north. We veered to the right immediately, staying in the trees, while gaining the ridge, which we followed almost all the way to the summit. The ridge is interesting, with steep sections of rock and snow/ice gullys. We hiked up steep snow along the ridge, weaving between trees and climbing over short rock bands. Early on there is a steep gully (50 deg) that cuts up between the rock bands, which could be bypassed by dropping down low and around. We shot straight up it - mostly snow, some ice, lot of fun! 

 

 

Once up that gully, take path of least resistance to the top. Plenty of options. Easier ground, with more exposure, is on the ridge proper, which we took straight up and over a short rock step, then cut across steep slopes to the narrow summit

 

 

Becky, with the twin mountain crowns of Chair and Kaleetan 

From the summit, we could see many skiers in the great scott bowl, as well as a fairly large group directly below the summit. It felt nice to be this high up and isolated from the usual crowds in this area. On descent, I noticed a couple trees wrapped with slings near the entrance to the gully. And while steep, rappels felt time-consuming and unnecessary for descent. But perhaps with changing conditions it gets more icy and hazardous? One thing to mention - it is possible to bypass the exposed ridge by dropping down lower into the trees from the saddle, then traversing north for a ways until the rock bands above yield a large snow gully with trees scattered in it; a direct ticket to the summit. This avoids any troubles on the rock, steep snow and ice that the ridge offers but greatly reduces the alpine feel and quality to this trip.Back to car by 3:00 pm - just under 5 hours round trip. Great time, great partner!

 

Gear Notes:

ice ax, crampons, no special gear

 

Approach Notes:

via standard great scott bowl approach

Edited February 2, 2009 by belayerslayer

[scottgg]

Nice Lukey! But whats this hangover business? You could have been training!!!

[plexus]

That actually looked really fun. Glad you two had a great day out.

[keenwesh]

I just did this route today after reading your tr.

It was a lot of fun, and I brought way too much gear expecting it to be icy and scetchy on the ridge. as of now nothing more than a ice ax and crampons.

[Marko]

Nice Lukey! But whats this hangover business? You could have been training!!!

 

But of course that is training

[belayerslayer]

Nice Lukey! But whats this hangover business? You could have been training!!!

 

But of course that is training

 

ha ha ha

[Ian in Seattle]

Great TR, we followed this for an attempt on Bryant last weekend.

 

Here's my newer TR: Bryant Peak TR 12/30/12