Erin Posted May 21, 2010 Posted May 21, 2010 (edited) Trip: The Brothers - Standard Route - Standard Route Date: 5/15/2010 Trip Report: I'm cutting the BS story and I'm just giving you an accurate trip report with pictures because there isn't one report out here that helped us and we ended up in some jacked up 4th class death gully but still made it to the summit because we're bad ass like that Lesson learned: Do not follow Summit Post. There were other folks out there following the same beta that had the same problem. Only 30% of the people out there that day made it to the summit and we were 2 of them. Anyway, here goes... When you come out of the trees from the end of the trail past climbers camp it will look like this: [img:left]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_2GO7d4_sF7U/S_YXpuaBFhI/AAAAAAAAYtY/btIZmMngXE8/s640/Picture%20027.jpg[/img] You will hike straight and around the cliffs that you see on the left. You may have to cut through a set of dirt and burned trees to get to the main snow field you’ll take up. It will be obvious when you get out there just follow the snow up and to the right. Once you get into the open snowfield and heading towards the peak, it will look like this. You will head towards the chute furthest to the right. However, you don’t go up the chute, you will make a right and head up the shoulder on to the little ridge. [img:left]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_2GO7d4_sF7U/S_YXt-3TnJI/AAAAAAAAYt4/MU_Vyv3UM3c/s640/Picture%20031.jpg[/img] The pic below is hiking the short steeper section to the top of the ridge. [img:left]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_2GO7d4_sF7U/S_YXxhlHn_I/AAAAAAAAYug/Wk4tkYy6dx4/s512/Picture%20036.jpg[/img] At the top of the ridge we rested in the more open area of the snowfield. You will go above the small patch of trees you see in the pic and cut across slope to the left and go straight up the big snowfield/chute. It’s pretty much a straight shot but look at the last pic in this doc and you’ll see me standing with the rocks behind me and if you look close you can see 2 helmets to on the right side near the rocks, that’s the chute you want to take. The chute that is to the left of the tower in that pic. [img:left]http://lh3.ggpht.com/_2GO7d4_sF7U/S_YX-GeMLlI/AAAAAAAAYv8/1UjH7FHwSDI/s640/Picture%20047.jpg[/img] The slope you want to be on is the one I’m glissading down in the 2 pics below. Just remember the last section to the summit is the steepest section of snow you see but it’s only about 50 feet if even that and there could be some exposed rock depending how much that has melted out so it may be scramble for you. [img:left]http://lh3.ggpht.com/_2GO7d4_sF7U/S_YYIKv89AI/AAAAAAAAYxY/sXKOBKP1sZA/s512/30650_394363421563_616011563_4263370_4917993_n.jpg[/img] [img:left]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_2GO7d4_sF7U/S_YYIvyZ7HI/AAAAAAAAYxg/8LH-HHJ4KYs/30650_394363391563_616011563_4263368_212409_n.jpg[/img] Made it to the summit!!! [img:left]http://lh3.ggpht.com/_2GO7d4_sF7U/S_YZkx8pJ4I/AAAAAAAAYx0/gXGuewFfWTg/30650_394363376563_616011563_4263367_1101340_n.jpg[/img] Gear Notes: Ice Axe, Crampons, Helmet, Sit pad for 3k feet of glissading baby! Approach Notes: It says 16 miles round trip but I think it's closer to 18..not sure. It's 3 miles and 1,000 vertical to Lake Lena, 3-4 miles and 3,500 vertical to climbers camp from there. Once you get to climbers camp it's all snow right now other than a short walk in and out of an island of trees. Edited May 21, 2010 by Erin Quote
Dirtyleaf Posted May 21, 2010 Posted May 21, 2010 Summit Post can blow harder than Moby Dick hisself. Thanks for sharing. Quote
Drederek Posted May 21, 2010 Posted May 21, 2010 Thx for the pics, especially up high. Only been up there on a mostly foggy day. We did OK following the OMR guide but got a little turned around at the summit and started down the wrong gully! Quote
mountainsloth Posted May 21, 2010 Posted May 21, 2010 Hey Erin, I was one of the party of 4 guys that almost followed you up the death gully. Solid work on getting up there, and sorry for almost getting you killed! (I was convinced it was easier and less chossy than it actually was) Quote
counterfeitfake Posted May 21, 2010 Posted May 21, 2010 Ha, when I was up there it actually looked like this. Nice job! I wonder if you actually climbed the 5.4 pitch mentioned here? BOLD! I agree the routefinding in that area is difficult for some reason, and there isn't a ton of good beta. For anyone interested in the traverse, I put together the best info I could at mountainproject. Quote
Erin Posted May 21, 2010 Author Posted May 21, 2010 Hey dude, sorry you guys didn't make the summit. No one could have known. We all followed the same trip report and all you can do is eyeball the rock and say "eh, looks doable" and hop on! I'm just glad no one was hurt at the end of the day and that we got a kick ass 3,000 foot glissade! Quote
OlympicMtnBoy Posted May 21, 2010 Posted May 21, 2010 Hehe, I got turned around once up there too in the summer when I missed an omitted turn of the scramble trail in the Olympics guidebook which was camouflaged by tree branches. I did some exciting ~5.2 variant up a series of gullies left of the main route. Nice job getting to the top anyways! Quote
mountainsloth Posted May 22, 2010 Posted May 22, 2010 as I was discussing with my mates on the approach, it is all about the experience. 3 days in the brothers wilderness is 3 well spent days, even without a summit. Quote
mountainsloth Posted May 22, 2010 Posted May 22, 2010 and I couldn't agree more, the 3,000 glissade was one of the best I have had. Quote
summitchaserCJB Posted May 22, 2010 Posted May 22, 2010 You should try Baring in the winter (but not this winter-too little snow). 1,800 feet down the shoots. Epic. 3,000 sounds nice too! Quote
summitchaserCJB Posted May 22, 2010 Posted May 22, 2010 The bro's was my first alpine climb-when I was 10 or something. Didn't make the summit though. Quote
JasonG Posted May 23, 2010 Posted May 23, 2010 Hmmmm. . . .I didn't seem to remember much trouble sniffing the way the couple of times I went up there (once summer, once winter- both successful)- but I didn't do much research (or maybe what's in the Olympics climbers guide is quite good). It is a great viewpoint, nice work! Quote
highhatt Posted May 28, 2010 Posted May 28, 2010 This is one of my favorite mountains in the Olympics! I got turned around the first time I climbed too. Easy to do. But hey, that is part of the adventure, right! Quote
goatboy Posted June 22, 2010 Posted June 22, 2010 Erin, did you do this as a long day trip? What are the road conditions like getting in? Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.