[TR] Lake 22 - W. Couloir 12/12/2009

[mountainsloth]

Trip: Lake 22 - W. Couloir

 

Date: 12/12/2009

 

Trip Report:

After months of not getting out to the mountains, I could not let this cold streak escape me without getting on some sort of ice.

 

We discussed heading to the Alpental area to do Chair Peak or something similar, but fearing major crowds we decided on a place a little less known. Remembering Hanman's TRs about the Lake 22 North wall, I had a good feeling there would be something new to mess around on, especially given the epic snow and ice conditions.

 

As we hiked within viewing distance of the North wall above the lake, I knew we had made a good decision.

 

 

 

 

The lines are long and somewhat thin, as you can see. Being fairly new to ice climbing, I knew we had no chance at these intense looking lines, so we opted to check out a West facing couloir between the 2nd and 3rd towers along the West ridge which separates Lake 22 from Heather Lake.

 

 

The couloir was super fun.

The first part was about 3 pitches of 40-50 degree snice, absolutely perfect for axes and crampons.

 

 

We reached an ice step and decided to pitch this one out.

 

 

This pitch ended under a chock stone that we bypassed by climbing up and behind it through a hole just big enough to squeeze by.

 

 

We then reached the upper portion of the climb which consisted of approximately 3 pitches of steeper snice up to 70 degree steps and very short bits of rock.

 

 

the climbing just got better and better as we worked our way up, every stick super solid.

 

The route was longer than what we thought, and we topped out much later than anticipated.

After discussing our decent options, we decided to explore the other side of the ridge for a passage around the two towers south of us. We got cliffed out and had to ascend steep snow to the top of the middle tower in hopes of an easier way down its West face.

It was now 3:15 and we were still not sure exactly how we were going to get down.

 

 

We found gentler slopes and began downclimbing and rappelling off of trees. We made steady progress, but realizing we were still too high up, and the sun too far down, we knew we would soon be doing this in the dark.

 

 

Over 4 hours later, over a dozen rappels in the dark off of less than secure trees and a rock horn, we reached the snow field below the 2nd tower. At this point, we were spent. We had run out of the little water we carried and had not eaten much all day. We worked our way back to the base of the couloir to find our packs. We drank and ate heavily, happy to have successfully deflected the near epic attempting to ruin our great climb.

 

We crossed the frozen lake in the dark thinking of the 3 people we saw ice skating on it earlier in the day. Aside from them, we had the entire basin to ourselves, had ascended our first couloir, and successfully found our way off in the dark.

 

We felt lucky for all these reasons.

 

We got back to the car around 10:30pm. I was concerned about how late we were getting out because I knew my girlfriend would be worrying. Little did I know at the same time, she was in the process of calling search and rescue! We were able to call her in time before they had started putting together a rescue, thank sweet Jesus!

 

I would highly recommend this line for anyone looking for a moderate couloir climb.

II WI3 70 degrees.

 

Our route in red, approximate descent in green.

 

Anyone know if this route has ever been done?

Hanman, what was your 2nd route up this wall? I know the first one ascended the couloir to the left of ours.

 

The descent is obviously a problem and looking back I would recommend rappelling the route using mostly V-threads and bollards as it is devoid of trees and the rock lacking horns and cracks. The bottom portion can be comfortably downclimbed.

 

For all you hardmen, go get those steep ice lines! They won't be in much longer!

 

Gear Notes:

1 picket(could have used more) and 6 screws

 

Brought a set of nuts but found no cracks.

 

Thermos of green tea

 

Approach Notes:

2.8 miles from Lake 22 trail head off of the mountain loop highway.

[Pilchuck71]

Right on Sloth!

[Alpinfox]

Sweet. Nice work!

 

I can hear a bunch of salivary glands at work right now.

[unklehuck]

Nice work. Chair was a shitshow - good choice.

[cbcbd]

Sloth... nice work and thanks for making me drool all of the keys, man!

[layton]

could someone with knowledge of the area mark the other routes? Looks like some serious shit, and some seriously long shit!

 

 

[JoshK]

Looks like a pretty damn stable day is needed to climb those, that big snow field right above all the drips is rather...intimidating.

[mountainsloth]

This is a pic hanman's first climb, but I don't know where his other climb went.

 

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/504/3243Lake_22_overview.jpg

 

 

This is his TR

 

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=544161

 

I am blown away at the difference in conditions. They probably won't show up too often.

 

I also got an email from Dallas Kloke who seems to know the area quite a bit, but knows nothing about the ice lines. My guess is all of that ice rarely forms and is quite virgin.

Here is what he said.

 

Hi Jeremy,

"I saw your trip report; sounds like a challenging climb. I've climbed in the area several times and thought I'd send you some information. In 1997 I did a small guide called: WINTER CLIMBS - One Day Ascents. The three towers I called the Eagle's Perch Towers. Beckey in his guide calls the knobs on the summit ridge east, "East Knob" 5120' and "Eagles Nest". The highest of the three towers I named "Talon Tower", the second, "Beak Crag"

and the lowest one, "Carrion Crag." In February 1997, four of us did "Eagles Perch" via the southeast/east ridge. It was mainly steep snow. On January 27, 2001, Chris Weidner and I climbed

Carrion Crag. We followed some of the descent route you did, in the gully but up a forested rib, then back into the gully. 7 hours up from car and 3.5 hours down. On February 24, 2005, Steve Trent and I climb Beak Crag. Our route was up the

flank between the two gullies. Six pitches of interesting rock/shrub climbing. From the base it took us 5.5 hours up. Round trip from the car was 11.5 hours. We did 13 short raps on the descent.Your gully climb of Beak Crag is probably a first ascent. Talon Tower probably hasn't seen an ascent in winter from Lake 22 or maybe even in the summer. Rock looks steep. A couple years ago we went to try it but it was foiled by the weather. I not a true ice climber so I haven't tried any ice there. Over 10 years ago, I received information about this guy who did the north face of Eagles Perch. I might go in there after the first of year to do your route."

 

Dallas Kloke

[hanman]

Hey Mountainsloth- nice work!

 

That place is a treasure for long alpine ice. Those flows to the left of the cirque look as fat as I have ever seen them in a decade. February has always been pretty reliable, but DECEMBER Our second climb on the main face was direct up the middle, but at 2/3 height, we met up with a bare rock band and had to skirt the difficulties to climber's right, eventually meeting up with our original line, which we rapped.

 

Again- excellent work- looks fun!

 

 

M. Hanna

[mountainsloth]

Thanks for the info Hanna, and thanks for the motivation!