OlympicMtnBoy Posted September 16, 2009 Posted September 16, 2009 Trip: S. Fork of Tunnel Creek - Nun, Destroyer, Enigma Date: 9/12/2009 Trip Report: A month or so ago I was cruising the local Goodwill on a lunch break and I ran across a copy of the 1981 Mountaineer. Flipping through the journal I found an interesting article on Tunnel Creek climbs including the Nun, Destroyer, and Enigma. Being a big fan of the Olympics and not having visited for a while I decided to go check them out. After a Friday lunch meeting I managed to recruit long time climbing partner and veteran of several Olympics trips with me, Brendan, to come along. The forecast was great and it just wasn’t a weekend to stay home and crag. We hit the trail about 9:30 AM, the bushwhack wasn’t too bad for the Olympics, and we made it to camp in a flattish meadow at the head of the S. Fork of Tunnel Creek around 1:00. Along the way we snacked on plentiful huckleberries and found tasty forest treats for dinner. We worried along the way that we wouldn’t have any water after Tunnel Creek disappeared into it’s final tunnel a long ways down the hill, but were lucky to find one small clearish pond still in the meadow. We stashed the bivy gear, hung our food like 30 feet off the ground (Brendan was worried about tall bears), and set off up the hill to the base of the E. Ridge of the Nun. Only a few minutes from camp in the valley and we hit the base and began the mossy 4th class scramble up the ridge. Staying on the ridge proper gave lots of secure“green” belay options, although Brendan opted for the mossy slabs at points. A few old slings were passed in the trees and we soon made it to the base of the summit block. The original route had a long downward traverse around the difficulties, but the summit block direct route looked pretty good and was supposedly only 5.0. I racked up with my meager rack and headed up. The pillow lava on this pitch was actually pretty good and allowed for a couple of small cam placements and a big hex, then the difficulties were over and we were scrambling the ridge over a small false summit to the top. The views were great and we even found an old film canister summit register containing the entries of six other parties including the FA in 1978. After basking in the afternoon sun we headed back down the ridge making one rap on my 67 meter rope (60 would be fine if you go from the right spot) to the base of the summit block, then three more raps down the mossy slabs off of trees. We were soon back at camp cooking dinner with our tasty forest treats. - The East Ridge is the left skyline, although the final pitch is not as steep as it looks from this angle. - After a good sleep and leisurely morning we started up the other side of the valley for Destroyer and Enigma. The hidden rock chute above the boulder field was pretty easy to follow to the upper bench, then a long scree traverse to the base of Destroyer. We had some debate about the proper “ramp” described in the guidebook, but I think our chimney scramble from directly below the summit up and left was correct. Another short steep pitch with some actual cracks and almost decent rock got us to the notch, then another scramble up to the “platform” at the base of the summit pitch. The 1980 piton is still there (as mentioned by Bremerton John), but is of marginal utility. I tied it off and climbed up making a few mid-fifth moves on crappy rock. I had pins and a hammer but I opted for a crappy cam, a decent nut, and a fished through slung hole before reaching the top. Pins would be safer, but the moves were easy. We found the top still slung with a rotting and chewed on red cord and backed it up with another cord. Forgot to bring a summit register, doh! - Destroyer is the obvious pointy thing, Enigma is the unobvious blob just to the left. - - The steep second pitch. - - Brendan enjoys not having led the final pitch. - After enjoying the views and taking pics of Constance (is there an old plane wreck in the canyon there, looked like shredded fiberglass?), we did a single rope rap (60m would be fine) back to the base of the summit tower. We belayed the 4th class move to get around a gendarme to the easy scramble up to the top of Enigma. I guess I didn’t look hard enough, but I didn’t find the summit register there, probably under a rock I didn’t move. We scrambled back down to the Enigma-Destroyer notch and did one more rap to easy ground to the base. The scree was much faster on the way down, and we snacked and packed and booked for the car (not missing bringing a few tasty treats home along the way). Overall another great Olympics rock climbing trip! Maybe not quite as classic (for the Olympics) as Mt. Cruiser or the W. Arete of Mt. Constance, but still a fun trip to a remote spot only a mile or so off the trail (I did hear voices at one point, but never saw anyone else). Thanks to the 1981 Mountaineer and the earlier TR for inspiration. Gear Notes: 4 cams, 5 nuts, 2 hexes, 5 pins, 67 meter rope, lots of slings, string bikini harness. More than enough! Approach Notes: Follow S. Fork of Tunnel creek to just past the Shelter, then follow the creek bed up to campsites at ~4900'. Turn left for the Nun, right for Destroyer. Quote
olyclimber Posted September 16, 2009 Posted September 16, 2009 cool! been meaning to do this for tour for a while now...thank for the stoke! great picture!! I have a picture looking the other way from up on Constance that I posted in one of the other Destroyer TRs (I think Bremerton John's?) Quote
OlympicMtnBoy Posted September 16, 2009 Author Posted September 16, 2009 Thanks Porter, It was a lot easier to get in there than I thought. Either peak is doable in a day pretty easily. Brendan gets credit for all the good pictures BTW, I took the less cool ones. I think we'll have some more up soon. Quote
AJScott Posted September 16, 2009 Posted September 16, 2009 rad looking trip! cool seeing my uncles name on the summit register photo! Quote
chimbo Posted September 16, 2009 Posted September 16, 2009 Nice seeing a TR from the Olympics. Even though the climbing is marginal the trips always seem to be memorable. I've definitely heard people talk about a plane wreck in that area but don't know about the details. Quote
olyclimber Posted September 17, 2009 Posted September 17, 2009 here is the pic i mentioned...from a trip up contance a few years ago... Quote
mountainsloth Posted September 17, 2009 Posted September 17, 2009 (edited) Olympics are so cool. who cares if the rock is crap right. Plus as you mentioned, forest treats! Great photos! Edited September 17, 2009 by mountainsloth Quote
OlympicMtnBoy Posted September 20, 2009 Author Posted September 20, 2009 Thanks Porter, it's kind of cool to see that view. I'm sure I've looked across that way from Constance as well, but I don't think I ever realized I was looking at Destroyer until this trip. Quote
Lazyboy Posted September 20, 2009 Posted September 20, 2009 Wow, nice report and pictures. There was a plane crash in that area in 1975. Link Quote
mountainmatt Posted September 21, 2009 Posted September 21, 2009 Awesome Stewball! Glad you got to take another trip out there. Quote
OlympicMtnBoy Posted September 22, 2009 Author Posted September 22, 2009 Wow, nice report and pictures. There was a plane crash in that area in 1975. Link Thanks for the link, that is a nice write-up that I hadn't seen before. That crash however was over near Warrior Peak and Inner Constance. I believe that was also a metal skinned aircraft. What we saw looked like shredded fiberglass and was down from the notch on Constance Route 1. Maybe Brendan has a better picture. Quote
olyclimber Posted September 23, 2009 Posted September 23, 2009 there was a post by a guy who was "the Olympic Peninsula Airplane Crash Expert" here a few years ago. i haven't found the link yet. Quote
olyclimber Posted September 23, 2009 Posted September 23, 2009 (edited) http://www.freewebs.com/elderbob/ELDER/ONP_HISTORY.html#EL8 database of all reported crashes http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/query.asp Edited September 23, 2009 by Jake Porter Quote
OlympicMtnBoy Posted September 23, 2009 Author Posted September 23, 2009 Yeah, not one of the three crashes listed in the first length, all military metal skinned planes and only the one on Constance and the opposite side. The other link shows 9 accidents near Quilcene, most of them smaller craft, could be one of them. Quote
pacific_mtn Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 Finally got around to posting some of my pictures: The Nun, Destroyer, and Enigma Quote
bremerton_john Posted October 28, 2009 Posted October 28, 2009 Great work guys! I see you enjoyed Destroyer as much as we did a couple years ago. Not sure what happened to the register on Enigma. It was there when we did it (see pictures from my TR). Maybe somebody has been up there since? Oh, and I second the compliment on that rappel photo off Destroyer. John Quote
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