[TR] Colchuck Balanced Rock - The West Face 7/19/2009

[jpark42]

Trip: Colchuck Balanced Rock - The West Face

 

Date: 7/19/2009

 

Trip Report:

I've been eying this line for years and when I finally found some one dumb enou....I mean crazy enough to follow my ass up this route I jumped at the opportunity. Boy were we in for a treat.

In our infinite wisdom, we attempted to do the whole thing in a day from Seattle, rather then crash in the Colchuck Lake parking lot and get a early start from their. We would pay later for our lack of foresight as will be shown. We arrived at the Colchuck Lake trailhead around 730am packed up our "light and fast" packs and headed towards the climb. We made good time and made it to the basin below Balanced Rock around 12pm. We got our bearings on the route and started climbing

 

 

Pitch 1 is rated 10b but it is really just a one move wonder to a huge jug. It is also about as short as a guys member after getting out of a cold pool. Pitch 2 involved a 5.7 chimney followed by a sweet (Pitch 3) 5.9 corner crack:

 

 

Some root pulling and tree climbing (Pitch 4) got to the base of the money pitch. I am not sure if I can describe in words how unbelievable the 5.11 crack on pitch 5 is. The crack is a thing of beauty with unbelievably solid hand jams straight up.

 

 

Hanging once, I need to get back out there to do it clean, I finish underneath the huge gaping maw that is the start of Pitch 6. If Pitch 5 is the spiritual uplifting pitch then pitch 6 is the back to earth, dude we are really fricking high, and underneath a really big f***ing roof pitch. I tried working the awkward moves on it but seeing as slab climbing while grabing sloppy holds and placing gear at the same time didn't really appeal to me(Read: I am a wuss) I did the next best thing and aided the bastard.

 

 

Pitch 7 climbs a fun but a little awkward 5.9 crack to 5.12/C-1 roof. Don't underestimate the chimney on Pitch 8. I laughed my ass off watching my partner clutch and claw up up this thing until it was my turn and found myself whining like a little baby as well. Now here was the fun part for us. Seeing as we got such a late start we didn't top until dark. Which made route finding to the summit problematic. We prevailed and it was at this point that we got Nelsoned. Nelsons guide book neglects to say anything about rapping anything. Not a huge issue if you can see but not expecting a repel we were a little dumb founded until we noticed the slung chicken heads. Also Nelson's guide says descend sandy ledges south. Where south? Directly south towards Coluchuck Lake and off a cliff, south and left towards Asgards Pass, or south and right towards the base of the route, where south? (Just a note: I realize that none of this would have been a problem if we had given ourselves more time to do the route, in the light, rather take our sweet ass time and finish it in the dark but hey whats a TR without a random rant about Nelsons guide books.) Needless to say we paid for our lack of vision, literally and figuratively, and spent most of the night meandering around until we found the way down oh around 6am. From that point it was grab our shit and make b-line for the Sleepy Lady and their amazing bacon breakfast burritos.

In closing, this route is probably up there with one of the best routes I've ever done. Beautiful scenery and amazing climbing will be had if you choose to do this route which you should.

 

PS: All photo creds go to my partner Dan E. Sorry I took such crappy pictures, I'll try and do better next time Dan. And I know my grammar is bad so deal!!!

 

 

Gear Notes:

Double sets through #3, 1 #4 and a set of micro's if you plan on aiding the 5.12 roof.

 

 

 

Approach Notes:

Easy. My only suggestion is bring an I-Pod for the hike in because the approach trail to Colchuck Lake kind of blows (It is actually very beautiful hike but this is my third time hiking in on this trail and I needed something to take the edge off)

[Sol]

Nice!

 

I feel the same way about the trail.