Yoakum Ridge

[texplorer]

Greetings hardboys/girls,

I am looking for a solid partner to get on the Yoakum ridge this next winter. If your into climbing frozen choss then give me a pm or reply here.

[Big_Wave_Dave]

It's Yocum. And that's as close as I'm gettin' to it.

[mattp]

Tex -

You probably know this but I would suggest that you don't even consider the route if the choss is still in sight. It is rime ice you're looking for on Yocum Ridge. Aim for late winter (like maybe March or April), wait for it to be fully coated, and don't go for it on a warm day. In the right conditions, the route is quite enjoyable and not all that hard. In the wrong conditions, it can be a horror show.

- Matt

 

[ 10-10-2002, 06:16 PM: Message edited by: mattp ]

[iain]

I'm in. Ready for some ice tool belays?

[Terminal_Gravity]

I have been known to under-estimate difficulties and over estimate my abilities in the past. So I post this with a bit of trepidation. The yokum is high on my "want to climb soon" list. (Tex, maybe we should talk.)

 

Mattp, is the choss really all that bad? I've scoped the route pretty close and it seems do-able even with choss showing. Maybe I'm being nieve or just plain stupid, but I was considering a late November ascent, thinking the choss would be firmed up. Does anyone know if it has it seen a summer ascent? (Kind of an ironic question, huh?)

 

Spray me if you think I'm dumb. I'd rather be embarassed and alive then...

[iain]

Yeah it's been done in summer, so I've overheard. I would consider it too much of an uncontrollable objective hazard, but that's me. I can vouch for the instability of at least some of the rock as I was pelted by stuff on the Sandy HW approach 2 years ago. Might not be a bad solo objective considering how marginal many of the belays appear to be and the speed at which you must move.

 

-Iain

[Don_Gonthier]

I heard it was soloed in winter and again in summer by the same person. Ask wayne1112 about it, he knows the guy better than I do.

[rbw1966]

hey Tex--

 

Drop me an email if you are still looking for a partner. I've made one attempt at it in winter but bailed from the first genderame due to weather (got some great pics). I know someone who climbed it in August (totally bare) and its a total choss pile. Personally I have zero desire to climb it barren.

[wayne]

Ya, Kiwi-Steve Elder did it twice in summer and winter. It is my opinion the ice is best in may or after a really warm rainstorn/ pinnapple express.There are much better routes on Hood/ Illumination

[texplorer]

Thanks for all the beta everyone. It seems to fit along with everything else I've heard -some say its choss only realistic when covered with ryme, others have done it in summer. I was planning on heading up later in the winter maybe as early as thanksgiving if conditions look good. I am also intesested in some of the north side routes but I am not sure if those are in season this time of year.

[mattp]

TG:

I don't know whether it is "really all that bad" or not but that would certainly depend (among other things) on what you are comparing it to. However, it has been known as a classic climb for thirty years, and I believe that everybody who has ever come back and said they enjoyed the climb did it when it was fully rimed. Wayne may be right that there are better routes nearby, but Yokum Ridge IS a great climb in the right conditions and I find it hard to believe that the scenery and location could be any better on Illumination or any of the other Hood routes. And I would agree with Wayne that a pineapple express would help the route -- if it didn't cause the rime to fall off.

[Terminal_Gravity]

Thanks for the response, mattp. I'll post a TR when I give it a go.

[mattp]

By the way -- that rime makes fun climbing but it is not all that secure and in about 16 pitches of exposed climbing we found one solid anchor. At the gendarme just below midway on the route (some parties continue on the crest but most rappel to the N.) we chopped the ice away far enough to be sure we had the cord around some rock and not just rime. Screws and pickets were pretty much a joke and the most secure anchors were to be had by hacking a hole in the surface and sitting in it.

[rbw1966]

I'll second Matt's assessment. On the first gendarme I got about 3/4 of the way up before running out of rope. I looked around, dug around but couldn't find any place to set an anchor. Best bet: watch your partner carefully and jump off the opposite side if he/she falls. ;-) In hindsight, I'd set the belay closer to the flank of the first gendarme and just run it out to the top.

 

Pickets came in handy for the rapell of shame when we bailed due to weather.

 

Rob

[Terminal_Gravity]

Tex, did you find a partner? If not, are you interested in a November attempt. I will be in PDX on the 14th and could spend the 15th through the 18th giving it a go. Waddaya think?

 

BTW, I like your spelling better.

 

[ 10-18-2002, 08:39 AM: Message edited by: Terminal Gravity ]

[iain]

no one cares if you climb Dwight Yoakum ridge do they?

[b-rock]

quote:

---

Originally posted by iain:

no one cares if you climb Dwight Yoakum ridge do they?

---

Dwight Yoakum might.

[Terminal_Gravity]

quote:

---

Originally posted by iain:

no one cares if you climb Dwight Yoakum ridge do they?

---

 

Hey lighten up, iain. Tex just is spelling it phonetically (with a Texan drawl).

[texplorer]

Maybe I have been hanging around sk for too long.

[ryland_moore]

When I was up there in April, watch an Asian dude flying up Yokum and on to the summit. Anyone know who he was. We encountered him at Base of Queen's Chair. He looked like he was just out for a morning workout! And yes, everything was rimed up.