[TR] Chair Peak - NE Buttress 12/27/2009

[keenwesh]

Trip: Chair Peak - NE Buttress

 

Date: 12/27/2009

 

Trip Report:

beautiful bluebird skies and only one other party on route!

sitting on the summit for the 2nd time in less than a month! did the N face last time and ended up rapping in the dark

nice sunset though.

 

anyway, back to today.

top ice step was in nice, it's vertical, but only for a dozen feet maybe.

didn't get any pics of the first pitch, but we went up through the right side, it wasn't in the last time I was up here. it was my favorite pitch, clip the tat, climb 30 ft, place a nut, and run it out to the trees!

made 2 raps, we had half ropes, but they're 50's so why not savor it, after all, the time before I was forced to stop mid rappel and untangle the mother of all clusterfucks, who knew how badly a butterfly coil could get tangled when thrown into the wind?

 

right now crampons are need to descend down to where people ditch their poles, it's icy hard compacted snow.

 

overall a fantastic day in the mountains.

PS, who were you, solo reconnoiter, that we talked to on our way up? your beard was frozen.

 

 

Gear Notes:

1-2 pickets, 2 screws, shorter are better. I only used one #7 nut on the first pitch. a 60 single or half ropes.

 

wind repellent

 

Approach Notes:

no flotation req. although there were a pair of perfectly good snowshoes sitting next to the approach trail when we walked by them in the morning and still there around 3 when we left, who knows?

Edited December 28, 2009 by keenwesh

[keenwesh]

why does it look like that????????!!!!!!!

shiiiiittttttt.

[keenwesh]

fixed.

[ilookeddown]

As I was touring by today a got a few shots of your party and the other one. Looked a little windy up there at times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kinnikinnick]

how stable were the upper snowslopes?

[keenwesh]

cool shots! upper slopes were totally stable, hard, icy snow. there was hoar everywhere though, especially in the trees, be careful after the next storm.

 

it was windy as hell up there!

it tapered off when we hit the summit though.

[pdk]

no flotation req.

 

really? We went up on the 23rd to do the north face and got turned back by knee to thigh deep postholing.

 

Nice work.

[Le Piston]

I was also up there on the 27th. I went up the slopes below the East face...it was posthole city through surface crust up to knee level. A few other pics added.

[YocumRidge]

I was also up there on the 27th. I went up the slopes below the East face...it was posthole city through surface crust up to knee level. A few other pics added.

 

Oh, you were the soloist then who followed us to the base? These are our asses you took the pics of.

 

How far up did you get the East face?

 

We got to the start of the NF but had to turn around due to a party stuck on the P1.

 

 

[keenwesh]

I think all that new snow slid, because there was a fracture up high, and bare old icy snow. all the new snow we had a week or so ago is gone, at least on the broad slope below the rap gully.

[keenwesh]

but there was a 200 ft section below the E face that was leg breaking postholing with thick crust.

[Le Piston]

I only got half way up...got tired of postholing and saw enough of the Northeast Buttress to satisfy me. You have attractive asses for pictures at least (more than I can say for mine!)

[YocumRidge]

[Bug]

Anyone been up there today?

[Bug]

Ed Hobbick, Brandon01 and I went up there yesterday but didn't summit. At the top of the third pitch it was about 2PM and the wind was howling. The gulley was kind of thin and I hadn't been on terrain like that for a few years so I beat us up with a long lead. Everything was iced and rimed making rock protection difficult to find. I got two stubby screws in and a few slung features. Above that was sugar snow with a 2" crunchy crust.

A scraping off or consolidation period would be good for the face. More ice would be good for the gulley. The step was in really nice though.

A couple guys rocketed past us and did the NF. They were back down before we started rappelling. They said the NF was pretty consistent.

Edited January 8, 2010 by Bug

[Le Piston]

I went up loaded for bear (tools, rock and ice pro, partners) Sunday and found little visibility and horrible snow conditions (crust over slippery powder). We called it a day before even getting on the Northeast buttress...should have looked at the North Face, but I figured we'd be digging for pro placement. Hope the conditions improve before my next weekend off.

[justinp]

Anyone that headed up to the Chair Peak area last weekend want to chime in on the snow conditions after the recent snow/rain fall?

[Bug]

I was up in the Commonwealth basin Sunday and there were 2" fresh powder and no wind.

I imagine last night's winds loaded the leeward slopes pretty badly though.

Saturday, there was some melting up to about 5000.

[CascadeClimber]

Just a reminder about these two popular routes: The descent route is very prone to sliding, especially after you exit the second gully into the broad basin. Indeed, the tallest avy crown I've ever seen was in the basin, well over 15 feet in places. That day there were truck-sized blocks of snow not far from the Thumb Tack.

 

I've also heard, but not seen first-hand, of the lower part of the north face fracturing and sliding to the rock below.

 

Lastly, though the new approach route that goes right into the trees above Source Lake before the bottleneck in the gully is safer (used to go directly up the gully), that gully slides into the flats just above the lake with some frequency, across the approach.

 

Have fun out there...and be safe.

[Bug]

 

NW Avalanche forcast site

[justinp]

 

NW Avalanche forcast site

I suppose a 3 is better than 4

[Bug]

It is all very general.

With wind loading like we've had in the last 24 hours there will be very localized extremes.