gunsight routes - east face? sw face?

[boothhaley]

east face 5.9 skoog route looks awesome -- but various reports say it no longer exists -- what's the deal?

 

beckey puts the SW face of the main peak as a sustained 5.6, but ive seen no trip reports describing that route. Seems to me like a good moderate way to go.

 

I'm looking for a 5.8 or 5.9, ideally, to east north or main peak.

 

seems like the south ridge of the south peak is around that grade, and looks fun. . .

 

 

who can tell me more?

 

 

[dberdinka]

The Skoog Route is gone. A big white scar remains.

 

I thought the SW Face/Buttress of the Main Peak looked beautiful even if it's only 5.6. I know a guy who climbed it and raved about it.

 

The north ridge of the North Peak is really spectacular as well. (I rappelled it) 5.8? maybe a pendulum move? Not sure how you'd get on it. But definitely worth investigating.

 

South Ridge of South Peak is ok and something to do if you're in there. Couple short high quality sections, one scary-ass step across and a bunch of mediocre looseness.

[Dannible]

Blake and I found the N ridge of NE Gunsight to be pretty fun. Grade III, 5.10- but only a few moves of 10- that you could french free if you wanted to. From there you could make a rap and keep going with the traverse until you got bored or ran out of time. You can also go climb Sinister and Agnes if you felt like standing on something that doesn't get climbed much. That 5.6 Becky route looked worthwhile too.

[boothhaley]

are you and blake the "gunrunner" guys? that looked awesome.

 

do you get onto the n. ridge of n. gunsight from the chikamin side or the blue glacier side? sounds like it would be a bit easier than the 5.10 west face route.

 

but maybe the SW 5.6 is just my style. . .

 

yeah, def. planning on sinister and dome in the same trip. this weekend, if the weather is ok. if it remains drizzly as forecast, then off to the enchantments i guess, where i'm curious about a west ridge stuart, west ridge sherpa, west ridge argonuat, tag colchuck, down the glacier -- traverse. seems simple enough, just long, right?

 

 

 

 

[boothhaley]

hi Dan -- i did some more research. you are indeed the dan of dan and blake, just went back and read your TR.

 

the 5.10- you're talking about is the NE peak, not the N peak:

 

"On July 9th we circled around the range along the Chickamin Glacier to the north end, well past the NE peak. We found some great hand cracks which lead to the ridge crest at its terminus and began the traverse."

 

that looks pretty awesome. so were those pitches on the NE peak the hardest of the whole traverse?

 

you mention: "There was one spot while climbing up the the North Peak where we were in a face crack which ended, so we pendulumed to the right to join other features. Apart from this bit of aid, the entire climb was done free, and I think we could have avoided it if we had looked ahead more carefully."

 

sounds like that part might have been tricky -- but you don't talk about any particular tough pitches after the NE peak. were the other bits more straight fwd, except for the pendulum?

 

thanks!

 

Booth

[dberdinka]

If you dig around the TR section for a really old report from Forrest Murphy he apparently climbed the n ridge of the n peak from the west side at 5.8ish. He seemed unimpressed but maybe that was because his ambitions fir the west face were thwarted.

[keenwesh]

goodluck on getting in there, looks like a incredible place, unfortunately I can (will) only do one brutal approach trip a year and that's gonna be the pickets traverse this year. let us know how it goes. I want to know if it really is some of the best granite in washington. I'm a little wary of that billing after hiking in to lucky dog wall...

[Dannible]

There was a bit more 10- and the pendulum that I think was avoided when it was climbed last summer as we thought it would be. Other than that you could do a lot of simul climbing between trickier sections if you are ok with doing that on mid 5th. Others have reported more loose rock than we did along the route but I really don't remember anything worth worrying about. Look for the good rock I guess. Be careful up there, I know the enchantments are covered in deep, not so stable snow in many places above 6000-7000.

 

As for long approaches vs rock quality: there is plenty of really good rock within a couple of hours of the road in Washington. Climbing in places like this is about getting out and having an adventure in a crazy untouched world.

[boothhaley]

n. and s. pickets? that would be awesome. plan to stay on the ridge crest, or climb each peak dropping back down in between?

[keenwesh]

hike 20 miles in from the boat drop off up big beaver creek. climb over challenger arm, drop down to luna lake, climb up out of the cirque go up fury, descend over outrigger to picket pass, head for the notch inbetween twin peaks and himmelhorn? go over the barrier and out goodell creek should be sick! I can't wait.

[Kyle_Flick]

Last August enroute to completing an extension of the Ptarmigan Traverse (started from Stehekin, climbed Gunsight, traversed to Hanging Gardens, Image Lake, Cloudy Peak and finished at Holden Village), we climbed the SW Face of Gunsight and found it a good moderate (i.e.,small,light rack) route up the main peak. At the notch between the north and main peaks, it's a quick two pitches(one pitch of 5.8) to the top of the North Peak as well. I'd recommend it. We considered climbing Sinister, but that should be done earlier in the summer with more snow cover to access the peak.