[TR] Winter Ascent up Vesper Peak - Standard 2/7/2010

[Josh Lewis]

Trip: Winter Ascent up Vesper Peak - Standard

 

Date: 2/7/2010

 

Trip Report:

After an intense Adventure up Middle Chiwaukum, I was trying to decide that night wether I should go to Vesper, my legs were a bit tired, and I did not want this to end up like it did my second round on Jolly Mountain. I knew if I did this that even the next day at school would be a tough one, but at the time I also wanted to appease my friends, I did not want them dissapointed if I bailed, I pondered on this for a while, but for reasons I cannot fully explain I decided "I'll go for it". Fortunatly it was the right choice.

 

When I got home from Chiwaukum around 10 P.M. I had to do a bunch of last second planning to make sure that the trip was solid. So on this trip I once again went with the Pacific Northwest Teenager Climbing Group which had me, Mark, and Collin. Stewie could not make it this trip, but mabe next time. Michael and Eastking were not in favor of this trip, I think Michael thought it would be out right crazy, if I went through with this, I would be gaining more elevation this weekend than if I climbed Mount Rainier. Collin picks up both me and Mark and we go to the sunrise mine trail. The visibility was better than what it would seem like. Morning Star was coming out of the fog and was looking very sharp. On a normal year I would not even consider doing this during the winter due to avalanche danger but the snow fall was just so low that it was doable. We made it speedly though the forest without too much difficulty. To my amazement when we came to the river it was hardly much of one, and was easily crossible, perhaps the opposite of what I expected.

 

View from the Trailhead

 

Looking Towards the River

 

Bottom of Morning Star

 

After crossing the river I was still once again amazed at how melted out the place was, there was no snow until Waltz basin! I took up the lead while treversing the lower part of Morning Star because I was tired from the day before it would be wise to have the slowest guy first. Fortunatly I believe the group agreed that I had a good pace. In the valley I was starting to drip sweat because it acually felt warm, although it was mostly our pace that created that effect. Once in the Waltz Basin we started to encounter snow. We noticed something interesting about the place so Mark yelled out really loud "Echo" which would indeed echo throughout the place. Also we saw a cave on the way up which if we had time later we would explore because it looked rather interesting. The valley had a nice soft mist feeling to it, but still had some views of some of the peaks though the clouds.

 

 

 

 

Collin on the Trail

 

Sperry Above

 

Waltz Basin

 

Looking North

 

Mark and Collin

 

Mist in the Valley

 

Morning Star

 

B&W Morning Star

 

As we head up we let Mark take the lead on the snow, Collin also leaded as well when going up which I am thankful both of you did this. We start nearing the bottom of Headlee Pass but because of all the snow it made it confusing which one was acually the real gulley? There was foot prints that went up one, but something did not look right about it. I'm glad I went with my guy instinct and we headed over for the one on the far left which was the correct one. Good think we did not bring a rope and such because Headlee Pass was acually safer when snowy than it is during the summer, I found it interesting how good of time we were making going up. I was a little worried about avalanche danger but fortunatly it seemed good, although on Morning Star I did hear an avalanche. Before the trip I thought about us doing Morning Star Mountain but thought of Cornice Dangers, glad I did not decide on it. The atmosphere was wonderful, it started to snow all around. Soon we were at the pass.

 

 

 

 

From the pass we treversed below the bottom of Sperry and hurry to avoid the gulley which had some potential for avalanches. There were a few moment were we plunged through the snow, but for the most part getting to Vesper Creek was easily navigatible. Crossing the creek we had to be a little careful because the creek it self looked like you could fall though so we had to go across a strong looking snow bridge. This now was the beginning of the summit ridge which we were eager to make the summit. The fog picked up more the higher we went, the snow also got deeper but not quite deep enough for snow shoes which we brought. I been to this place twice already but in these conditions it was a little hard to nagivate. Some moments it would be like "Don't go to far to the left" or others it was like "stay away from the cornice ridge" which blended in with the fog.

 

 

As we went up we got above the tree line it started to turn into a white out, completely white all around, kinda like how it was on Rainier, but atleast this time we had decent foot prints that would help on the way down. There was a rock that stood out in the fog that we thought might be the summit and we would go towards it. We would soon find out we were aways from the summit. There were a few iffy spots that we worried about avalanche danger so Collin spent a few mintues digging at the slope to test for avalanches, fortunatly the results were that it was not too bad. As we get almost to the summit I realize we were too far to the North which ended up not being that big of a deal, but I have a photo taken in 2008 that looked just like where we were.

 

Sperry Vesper Traverse

 

The Rock through the Fog

 

Pretty soon we saw the summit which was very close at hand. The last 20 or so feet for me were the most worrysome part of the trip, it was icy snow, and no telling what the cornice below me was. After I crawl over this last snow bend we all obtain the summit. The two summit rocks were visible which we touch, but in front of us, just as I had predicted, was a cornice of snow and beyond it was a huge cliff. The room on the top felt limited so I had to built myself a platform and then have some snacks.

 

Mark on the Summit

 

I decided to put on crampons for the way down which indeed helped me. The Whiteout Atmosphere acually felt quite good, we knew where we were going, but at the same time the place had it's own kind of beauty. Once we got out of the white out and a ways down the ridge we felt better because pretty much all dangers were out of the way. The decent was pretty legit, we made good time heading to Headless Pass which we started to get out of the clouds by this point. /doing down Headless Pass was some of the best glassading I have ever had in my life! Not only was it beautiful, but I just gained so much speed, I did not have to fear going down because I knew that it later leveled out, although I did slow down once or so, but not once did I have to do an ice axe arrest. Huge snow balls were formed as I was going down, it almost seemed as though there was an avalanche all around me from all the snow balls I knocked down, but I knew that it was ok.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the great glassade, we decided we made great time going down, so we went to the bottom of Sperry to go check out the cave. We kept going through areas of rock and snow looking for it but no luck. After a while of looking and no results we headed down to the bottom of the valley. Mark and Collin spotted the cave, so I stayed back and relaxed because I did not feel like going back up, they checked it out and then we all headed down together. Getting back to the car was easier than I had thought it would be, not to say that it was easy but within that weekend I had gained about 9,400 feet of elevation gain, 4,200 or so feet that day, 24 miles of hiking through snow, and had an awesome weekend. Thanks Collin for driving and thanks both of you for kicking in steps and being an awesome team! This weekend will stand out in my mind for a while, among my greatest weekend of the year... so far. Unfortunatly the next day as I predicted it took its toll on me at school which from then I went through some strange times. But the good part was that it was well worth it!

[RokIzGud]

I thought I would add our summit video on here too... I had a great time!

 

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H3h8PtuXNk&feature=player_embedded

[marc_leclerc]

Nice one doods!

[EastKing]

Good job. 9400 feet of vertical gain on a weekend is always a good weekend.

[Pete_H]

Fawk yeah Josh Mark and Collin. Way to get after it !!