[TR] Colchuck - NE Buttress (Kearny) 7/26/2009

[jordansahls]

Trip: Colchuck - NE Buttress (Kearny)

 

Date: 7/26/2009

 

Trip Report:

The weather looked to be on the fence again this last weekend, it seems that my good luck streak is still rolling, as we had no problems excepts a few menacing looking clouds that decided to blow out as soon as they came in.

 

my friend, Brian, and I decided to drive up and sleep at the Stuart Lake trail head Saturday night. We rolled in around 11 and set up the tent. We talked about what time to get up. I thought, that with the possibility of afternoon thunderstorms, that we should get up around 3, that way we would be on the route no later than 6. We both groaned at the thought of getting up that early, and eventually decided to say "to hell with the weather forecast", and I set the alarm for 4:30am.

 

Everything looked nice early Sunday morning, we packed up and started moving. We reached the lake around 7, and were at the base of the route at 8ish. We decided to bring our ice axes, but leave our crampons and boots at home. One looking up at the col made me start to regret that decision. It looked like it had an ice sheet crossing the whole width of the couloir. "what do you think" I asked Brian, "Looks shitty" was his response. Oh well, we both agreed that there was bound to be some spot to pass, so we put it from out minds at that time.

 

Anyway, we had heard that getting on to the Kearny variation can be a pain at certain times of the year due to a large moat. lucky us, We had a nice little snow bridge that gave us safe passage.

 

Instead of writing about the climb, I think I will let the pictures do the talking. Lets just say that with the exception of maybe 1 loose pitch, the climb is solid, beautiful, and lots of fun.

 

 

Icy col

 

the NEB

 

Up up and away!

 

Kerchow!

 

 

Brian on pitch 2

 

exiting onto the class 4 ledges (this is were the Kearny route and the Beckey route meet up)

 

pitch 5ish, I stopped counting at this point.

 

the slabs, very few holds, and even less pro.

 

exiting onto the ridge proper.

 

running belay to the top.

 

Less than flattering rock star summit pose attempt (fail).

 

 

 

Heading down was a little interesting, but we found that we could follow the moat that hugged the Colchuck side of the col which eventually lead us to a rap anchor that got us around the icy section.

 

It took us 10 hrs from the lake to the top, which is a little slow (if you haven't guessed that already). We ended up slowing ourselves down a bit with a few route finding errors, and some poor gear placements that caused serious rope drag, which resulted in shorter pitches. A smart party should have no problem doing this route in 7 to 8 hrs.

 

All in all, it was tons of fun. The route boasts lots of clean granite, engaging route finding (at least for us), and a whole variety of rock, everything from splitter hand cracks, to friction slabs. Go out and get it done!

 

 

Gear Notes:

Medium rack with doubles in the 1-2.5" range, a few bigger pieces helped out a lot (we brought a Metolius medium super cam, 2 would have been nice).

 

Approach Notes:

Follow the trail.

Edited July 29, 2009 by jordansahls

[BCross]

Jordan, Very nice... I didn't feel like I worked too hard, but my legs are still sore.

 

Also the super cam is actually the small size, not the medium(but the medium would have been bomber as well).

 

 

[lunger]

good work--entertaining write-up. failing on a rock-star pose, ha.

[Reid]

What would you say the slab (the one with few holds and even less pro) goes at?

[jordansahls]

I would say it goes around 5.9. It seemed like the pro was there when it was really needed, which was nice.

[skykilo]

I thought that was a good route, too.

[Pilchuck71]

Nice work fellas.

Pictures are sweet.

Even the rock star pose!

[Pete_H]

That root has better looking rock than I thought it would.

[jordansahls]

Yeah, with the exception of maybe one area, the rock is generally very good.