CascadeClimber Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Trip: Chair Peak - North Face Date: 2/15/2009 Trip Report: Where the heck are all the climbers this weekend? Oh, maybe one of the many places I could see basking in sunshine while I was pummeled by wind and spindrift under cloudy skies on the North Face of Chair. The bottom third is amazing, consistent neve. The middle third has some neve with a good bit of sugar snow and crusty fun-ness. The top third was better than the middle. The descent it is in good shape. The cornice is small so no rap is required. A small ice plug at the halfway point is an indication of how little snow we have right now. Gear Notes: None. I scored a nut, two pickets, and myriad unnecessary slings on the descent, though. Approach Notes: Easy to Source Lake on skis. Glad to have my ski crampons above that. Rumors of easy approaches with no floatation are exaggerated, though a pair of curious folk made it to the Thumb Tack in their boots. More fresh snow that I expected with more coming down as a departed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPS Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 How many time have you climbed Chair now? How was the area for skiing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CascadeClimber Posted February 15, 2009 Author Share Posted February 15, 2009 How many time have you climbed Chair now? Not as many as you How was the area for skiing? Not nearly as bad as I expected or made it look. There is some fresh light snow on the crust, though the wind has moved it around some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattS Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Me and BundledUpSurfer did the Northeast Buttress yesterday. It was nice with valentine's day keeping a lot of people away. A little bit thin on the first pitch. The 3rd pitch has a water ice step that was difficult, but there might be a way around it. Bring lots of nuts - we used a bunch. A good day in the hills - Thanks David for having me along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattS Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 I bet the stuff you scored was from us :-) We descended in the dark, and I had THE FEAR so we rappelled a ton instead of down climbing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belayerslayer Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 way to go! did you solo? I've thought about soloing the ne buttress; might do that when the weather improves Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom_Sjolseth Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Good to see you up there today, Loren. What time did you start out from the car? We climbed the North Face last weekend and had perfect conditions both on the approach and on route. We may as well have used ice skates on the approach to Source Lake, as conditions were firm everywhere, except below N-facing terrain features where there was a lof of wind-deposit. The approach was definitely a lot softer today. TR from 2/7/09 DPS: Conditions were pretty good for skiing. There was like a foot of fresh powder on the N-facing stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CascadeClimber Posted February 16, 2009 Author Share Posted February 16, 2009 I left the car at 8:00. Nice to see you too, Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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