[TR] Chair Peak - N Face 2/20/2010

[KaskadskyjKozak]

Trip: Chair Peak - N Face

 

Date: 2/20/2010

 

Trip Report:

 

My partners mkporwit, CS, and SR met at the Eastgate P&R at the ungodly hour of 4 am to try and beat the crowds the surely must be descending on Chair Peak on a glorious Sat. We succeeded; we were the first team on the route. Unfortunately this plan backfired in that we had to deal with the sugar snow coating a lot of the ice.

 

We had two rope teams. SR and I led pitch one. We got to the pitch by traversing right above a snow bridge crossing the moat. I am not sure if this is the "traditional" start of the pitch or not. We found the ice to be aerated and interspersed with loose stuff all day. Most ice screw and picket placements seemed suspect and anxiety levels were consequently high.

 

Pitch 1: I used 4 ice screws. I set up a belay with 2 pickets and tool. Maybe 3/4 rope length.

 

Pitch 2: My partner used 3 screws and a picket. We stayed middle right. Full rope length.

 

Pitch 3: I girth hitched a couple trees, placed a green alien, and at least one screw. Belayed from a tree. Full rope length.

 

Pitch 4: Just deep snow. Very short.

 

I had pitons and nuts and never used them.

 

Descent: downclimbed to equalized-piton-rappel station. Single rope rappel partially down gully. Downclimbed the rest (sugar snow).

 

Approaching the moat:

 

Upper half of pitch 3:

 

View down from belay at top of pitch 3. Not climbers on route:

 

If you stayed home today you are insane!

 

 

Gear Notes:

4 pickets, 6 screws, green alien, double runners.

 

Approach Notes:

Icy in the morning, soft crud on the descent.

[alpinebumm]

is the rap on the decent need a double rope or a single

[KaskadskyjKozak]

is the rap on the decent need a double rope or a single

 

we did a single rope rap and downclimbed soft 50 degree snow (the angle gradually gets easier)

[Going up?]

Did anyone climbing Chair Peak today come accross 3 white males, mid 20's? I should have heard from my hubby by now-according to him. Just asking you guys first before I contact anyone else.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

Did anyone climbing Chair Peak today come accross 3 white males, mid 20's? I should have heard from my hubby by now-according to him. Just asking you guys first before I contact anyone else.

 

we were the first team up and summited around 2:45 (cars at 6). There were 4-5 people on the route below us. There's almost no way they'd be home yet, so I would not stress for a couple hours.

 

[Going up?]

cool. Thanks. glad the climb was awesome. from your pics, I know what they saw

[summitchaserCJB]

Nice photos. They look familiar.

[SkiMD]

Going up- If they were the group from Spokane, then yeah we saw them. They were behind us and we didn't see them again after the top of the 3rd pitch. We topped out around 4:30 and weren't back to the car until 7:15 - the ski out by headlamp took a while. I wouldn't expect to hear from them until late.

[Going up?]

KaskadskyjKozak,

Thanks a lot for getting in front of everybody and moving slow. Alpinism is moving fast and light not slow and light. Seriously everybody was jammed up because you were climbing at a snails pace.

 

[denalidave]

KaskadskyjKozak,

Thanks a lot for getting in front of everybody and moving slow. Alpinism is moving fast and light not slow and light. Seriously everybody was jammed up because you were climbing at a snails pace.

[spiderman]

On a route like that, there are alot of different lines. The route is 30 feet wide! You should be able to blow right by slow parties. If you don't have the skill set to blow by unbearably slow people on a route of this difficulty, you should wake up earlier.

 

If you were on a crack route in the Valley I'd understand your dilema, but you're on a WIDE open face with lots of different lines to be had.

[summitchaserCJB]

" but you're on a WIDE open face with lots of different lines to be had."

Indeed. We weren't a slow party (by my standards at least) but another team opted to take a line like 100 feet to the left of the standard line before they even started the route on Thursday. They went basically the same speed as us but we had three people so they summited ahead of us. Like Spiderman said, if you have issues, start earlier or pass the team.

Edited February 21, 2010 by summitchaserCJB

[KaskadskyjKozak]

KaskadskyjKozak,

Thanks a lot for getting in front of everybody and moving slow. Alpinism is moving fast and light not slow and light. Seriously everybody was jammed up because you were climbing at a snails pace.

 

The first pitch was a bottleneck. I led the second rope team up, and there was a lot of waiting. The first leader had to break trail - cleaning off a lot of sugar snow (you should be grateful, it looked nasty).

 

There were at least 2 lines possible on pitch 2, and even pitch 3. A party almost caught up to us on pitch 2 (the leader caught up as I was belaying my partner). But they never seemed to want to, or be able to pass - was that you? Looking down from pitch three I certainly couldn't see anyone in "danger" of catching up - see third photo above.

 

In any case - this is a trade route. WTF do you expect? Get up earlier, or pick a different line. Hell, pick a different route. A "fast and light" group like you surely could have run up the East Face - nobody was there.

 

 

[KaskadskyjKozak]

On a route like that, there are alot of different lines. The route is 30 feet wide! You should be able to blow right by slow parties. If you don't have the skill set to blow by unbearably slow people on a route of this difficulty, you should wake up earlier.

 

If you were on a crack route in the Valley I'd understand your dilema, but you're on a WIDE open face with lots of different lines to be had.

 

Amen. Pitch two was wide open with lots of belay trees for the third pitch - or even a running belay. If anyone was near me I would have encouraged them to fly by.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

Going up- If they were the group from Spokane, then yeah we saw them. They were behind us and we didn't see them again after the top of the 3rd pitch. We topped out around 4:30 and weren't back to the car until 7:15 - the ski out by headlamp took a while. I wouldn't expect to hear from them until late.

 

Were you the guys that just caught up to me on pitch two, and set up a belay immediately to my (climber's) right?

 

 

[sunnyrem]

A side note: I found a Marmot jacket just above Source Lake on my descent from Chair Peak yesterday. Thought it might belong to folks who climbed Chair yesterday (I also posted this on the lost and found.) If you can tell me the color of the jacket and the name of the movie that was on the ticket stubs that were in the pocket of the jacket, you can have it back. 206.354.8518

 

FYI Chair partners - SR is, in fact, going to lose the toenails off of both big toes. Ouchy Wowchy.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

FYI Chair partners - SR is, in fact, going to lose the toenails off of both big toes. Ouchy Wowchy.

 

Sorry to hear about the toes, sunnyrem. When do you want to get out on ice (or mixed) again? Lane Peak/Lover's Lane is looking great right now :-)

 

[JZickler]

Would have been an asshole move to "blow by" any team on the first two pitches by my estimation. It was an icefall shit storm as is without trying to climb on top of other teams. At the top of pitch two we opted to simulclimb right of the rock band up an unknown (to us) chute and found some spicy mixed climbing just below the summit. Sure the first team was painfully slow but it's not reasonable to expect to have that route to yourself on a sunny Saturday. We were back to the car around 10pm and bobbed for cock the whole drive home. If nothing else, the slow party compelled us to explore new territory and had a great time in the process.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

Would have been an asshole move to "blow by" any team on the first two pitches by my estimation.

 

If any party had caught up to us at the top of pitch 1 or 2 and set up a belay (or tried to do a running belay) fast enough to pass us I would have had absolutely no problem with that.

 

 

[NoahT]

I want 'going-up' to lecture us more about "alpinism," and how it relates to chair peak! Start with getting up....earlier...

[Ed_Hobbick]

KaskadskyjKozak,

Thanks a lot for getting in front of everybody and moving slow. Alpinism is moving fast and light not slow and light. Seriously everybody was jammed up because you were climbing at a snails pace.

Sounds like somebody could use a bong-hit

[BirdDog]

KaskadskyjKozak,

Thanks a lot for getting in front of everybody and moving slow. Alpinism is moving fast and light not slow and light. Seriously everybody was jammed up because you were climbing at a snails pace.

 

ooooh, sounds like someone was late getting home (tavern?) and got their ass chewed; might as well blame some slow pokes on the mountain....

[genepires]

I found a pair of glove liners below chair peak today. Shoot me a PM if you want them back.

 

We were on chair N face today and had it all to ourselves. There was another team who got on while we were on the last pitch. We got up early. They got up late. It worked out well. Thanks for the boot trail!

 

To the haters who claimed to be held up by the first party, chill out. It is only climbing. plus what others already said.

Edited February 22, 2010 by genepires

[Jim]

Nice one K. I couldn't find a partner for the NF so I went for a solo ski up there and saw you guys waaaaay up there. Awesome day. I was surprised as the amount of snow still plastering the route. Gotta get up there before the end of the season.

[JZickler]

We weren't trying to break the Chair Peak speed record, just wanted to summit BEFORE we were eligible for social security.