[TR] Early Morning Spire - Southwest 8/15/2009

[jpark42]

Trip: Early Morning Spire - Southwest

 

Date: 8/15/2009

 

Trip Report:

After reading Nelsons description and seeing this peak from the road a couple of years, I had decided to this peak at some point in my life time. When a friend Jon T., well call him JT Ton because I think it sounds cool, had suggested we take a jaunt up to Eldo and do this peak I was excite. Little did I know that an arduous approach followed by scary descent would be reward.

We left seattle to over cast weather which followed us to the North Cascade. We pulled into the park lot and started hiking around 11am

A little foreshadowing?

We were thankful for the clouds because it kept the temps down until we arrived at the base of the east ridge of Eldo. 2hrs of attempting to find the bivy sites at the entrance of Marble Creek in pea soap found us right back at the east ridge for an evening siesta. The next day was beautiful and 3 1/2hrs found us at the base of Early Morning Spire. We found that route finding was a little tricking because the cracks are pretty discontinuous and we found ourselves searching around for cracks that weren't vegetated/wet.

Top of Pitch 3 5.9

A room with a view from Early Morning.

We also found that Nelsons three pitchs of 5.5 to the 4 class ramp in reality is more like 4/5. This caused us to cut up to early and wasted precious time. We finally summited but found out quickly that Nelson's "walking ledges" involved having to jump across a 10ft moat while on reppel and rapping down on to the pocket glacier on the backside of EMS. We barely got to our stuff at the Marble Cir when dark hit. 4hrs of ascending steep snow slopes and glaciers brought us 2200ft back to our bivy gear at the base of Eldo. We crashed at 1 and woke up the next morning to hike out and a good food burger. In closing, I am glad I did this route but I won't do it again. A long approach and descent for one pitch of decent, though wet, 5.9 climbing, a stellar 5.8 finger traverse and tons of 5.5 simu-climbing doesn't really appeal to me.

 

Gear Notes:

Med alpine rack to #2. Found a few placements for a #3 but considering that none of the hard pitches take larger gear and I wouldn't bring it. Glacier travel set-up.

 

Approach Notes:

When Nelson says to 2-3 days he means 3days. The approach is really long with tricky route finding to get to the bivy's/route. The descent involves glacier travel and ascending 2200ft just to get back to the East Ridge of Eldo. You have been warned

[layton]

i've heard from a lot of folks to take this route off the list. too bad, it looks cool and is in such a beautiful area

[wayne]

Yes it gets the nod for position and looks only.

[Lisa_D]

When Jon chose that climb, I was a little jealous since it's one that I had wanted to do. Now I'm kind of glad he did it without me! Most TR's take 3 days for this climb, which might have been more enjoyable.

[jpark42]

Yeah I am really glad I climbed it because the setting is beautiful and super remote but you can find those attributes plus decent climbing on a lot of other peaks in the area.

[sukiakiumo]

Nice in getting it done. I'm glad you guys are back, I was somewhat confused when you didn't respond to a 'lets go climbing email' on Monday.... ha. But you already were.

 

[JasonG]

I guess I'm in the minority, I thought it was actually pretty good. The key is to throw the topo away and climb it late in the year when dry. It also helps to climb over Marble Needle after the climb, leaving you with a couple of rappels and an easy snow walk back to the bivy at the notch.

 

BTW we didn't find any 5.9, the 5.8 hand traverse was the hardest part we encountered. In talking with Lowell, they had to guess at the grade when aiding a wet bit (calling it 5.9). I think I know the part they aided and it felt no harder than 5.8.

 

Don't take it off the list Mike!

 

JG

Edited August 19, 2009 by Heinrich

[NoahT]

We are headed up this weekend. Not off our list. I think you just need to know what you're getting after.

 

Anyone not done the south ridge "variation," and just continued up into what I gather culminates in a big chimney (as per beckey)?

 

N

[ivan]

skykilo did a tr a few years ago of doing this route w/ hannah via marble creek which sounded a good deal more upbeat (but then sky is a high-on-life kinda dude)

[jpark42]

I guess I'm in the minority, I thought it was actually pretty good. The key is to throw the topo away and climb it late in the year when dry. It also helps to climb over Marble Needle after the climb, leaving you with a couple of rappels and an easy snow walk back to the bivy at the notch.

 

BTW we didn't find any 5.9, the 5.8 hand traverse was the hardest part we encountered. In talking with Lowell, they had to guess at the grade when aiding a wet bit (calling it 5.9). I think I know the part they aided and it felt no harder than 5.8.

 

Don't take it off the list Mike!

 

JG

 

I wouldn't take it of your list either I just think that people need to understand what they are getting into.

Our original plan was to climb out of the marble circ via the SW of the Durado Needle but since we couldn't get to the bivy sites on the first day, because of the pea soup conditions, we didn't have time.

Also I disagree about the rating. I climbed the wet pitch clean and I think 5.9 was a pretty right on rating. First: it is wet and from the sounds of it stays wet all year. Second: It is a tricky layback with good gear. Despite the wetness I actually like this pitch and it would be a stellar lead minus the wetness. It was probably one of the highlights of the climb.

[JasonG]

Hmmm, when we did it in September a couple years ago, it was pretty much dry (tiny bit of wetness, but didn't get in the way of climbing). But then again, I seem to remember it as more of an overlap that you move around to the right. It could be that we climbed some sort of variation and didn't climb the same 5.9 layback mentioned above. We just started at the toe of the face and climbed up till we hit the 4th class area where you traverse right.

 

As far as continuing up into the chimney (instead of traversing), it looks hard! I would like to hear what is it like if anyone has done it. . ..

 

JG

[goatboy]

To be fair to Nelson's description, he does not recommend that you climb this route from the campsite you chose. He suggests camping closer to the route.

 

This sounds like a case of going in with high expectations and being disappointed rather than going in open-minded and appreciating the route for what it is.

 

I have heard that it does dry up in late Aug/Sept but on the other hand this was a very hot, dry summer so I am surprised that the wetness persists on the hard pitches. Too bad. I'm sure that impacted your party's enjoyment of the route.

[jpark42]

To be fair to Nelson's description, he does not recommend that you climb this route from the campsite you chose. He suggests camping closer to the route.

 

This sounds like a case of going in with high expectations and being disappointed rather than going in open-minded and appreciating the route for what it is.

 

I have heard that it does dry up in late Aug/Sept but on the other hand this was a very hot, dry summer so I am surprised that the wetness persists on the hard pitches. Too bad. I'm sure that impacted your party's enjoyment of the route.

 

Wow....You are making a huge assumption about me/my partner without even knowing us. This was an amazing experience and I enjoyed myself very much.

That being said there isn't a whole of information out there about this climb and it is good, expectations or not, that people know what they are getting themselves into. So in closing if your goal is hit up a remote destination with amazing views and a long approach then this is your route. If you want all that plus decent rock climbing, I'd suggest looking some where else.

[goatboy]

Hey J Park,

 

Thanks for the trip report and photos and nice work on the route.

 

No offense intended -- I realize my post may have been presumptuous. I certainly do not know you or your partner.

 

Your post did IMPLY to me that you were disappointed in the route, however (lines such as "You've been warned" is one example). If I misinterpreted that, again, apologies to you.

 

Meanwhile, I do stand by my comment that if parties go into this area with high expectations, they may be disappointed (as opposed to going into it knowing that its a long approach for what may be wet or otherwise less-than-classic climbing). That's what I really meant to express, not to cast judgment on YOUR experience. I have personally NOT been into Marble Creek but would like to go sometime despite the mixed reviews.

 

Thanks again for posting conditions and your TR.

 

Regards,

 

Goatboy

[jpark42]

No problems. If you are interested in checking it out, I wouldn't let my trip report deter you. It really is an amazing experience. Also Nelsons descriptions aren't that bad. For the most part his route stuff is right on. The only area that he messed up a little bit is the pitch numbers, there is 4-5 pitches of 5.5 before you get to the ramp, and the descent, there is a repel. The latter I don't blame on Nelson though because I bet when he did it in the 80's you could probably walk right on to the snow. In the end, my report is my opinion and should be taken as a grain of salt. I suggest going out there and making up your own mind then come back and tell me what you think.