[TR] East Wilman's Spire - Beckey-Staley 7/11/2010

[KaskadskyjKozak]

Trip: East Wilman's Spire - Beckey-Staley

 

Date: 7/11/2010

 

Trip Report:

 

Ever since I saw this route in one of the Nelson's books I thought it would be fun to try and roped in three friends (aclark20, LB, and SS) to come-with. Coming off a trip to Europe, it seemed to fit the bill for this past weekend as a moderately-strenuous, fairly non-technical one-day trip.

 

We biked in to Monte Cristo, and approached via the Glacier Basin trail, rather than other alternatives. Lots of snow and melt-off on the surrounding mountainsides. Only downside - it was quite hot until late afternoon, which slowed us down a bit.

 

The talus field up to the snow ramp was mostly continuous snow with one or two sections of obligatory nastiness to overcome. The gully itself had good coverage up to 20 feet below the notch.

The scramble from the W notch to the E notch was dry, as was the climbing route itself.

 

We climbed the steep snow to the notch unroped. We all had crampons (optional, but recommended) and a second tool (also optional) which made for easier going. We roped up at the E notch, which involved two pitches of 5.fun, two rappels, and a downclimb on lead, and we were done with the best fun. Two of our party were a little nervous about the downclimbing on the snow (it was around 6 pm and cooling) so we tied our two 60 m ropes together and lowered one (LB), and let the second rappel (SS) on the joined ropes (and pass the knot). My other partner, aclark20, downclimbed. I went last, dropped the ropes and downclimbed (I opted for crampons). We almost had the route to ourselves; we ran into one other party (of 2).

 

As we were about to descend the snow gully we witnessed several huge blocks of snow slough off of the peak next to E Wilman's. It was an awesome sight to behold!

 

The hike and bike out went well. Lots of waterfalls to look at, nice temps, cool breezes.

 

Now for the pics.

 

Approaching Glacier Basin:

 

Ascending snow-covered talus:

 

Ascending the steepest part of the snow-gully:

 

Aclark20 downclimbing the first pitch on lead:

 

View up talus and snow approach (taken on descent):

 

Gear Notes:

Small alpine rack, crampons and ice axe, 2nd tool optional.

 

Approach Notes:

Snow-free until glacier basin; at least 50% coverage on the talus field below the spire; approach gully snow-filled.

[Otto]

Very nice, that's a cool spire. Thanks for the good TR. Under the snow on the steep approach gully is a mine shaft you can look down into, with yellow tailings all around.

[MLHC]

Nice Work. Is there still a tcu stuck at the beginning of the left traverse above the notch?

[KaskadskyjKozak]

Nice Work. Is there still a tcu stuck at the beginning of the left traverse above the notch?

 

Yes! Also a small sling pinched off in a crack just to the right of it.

[MLHC]

I don't remember the sling, the cam we placed I think in '05. Rappeled off that loose shelf, and then climbed back up to try to free it with no luck.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

I don't remember the sling, the cam we placed I think in '05. Rappeled off that loose shelf, and then climbed back up to try to free it with no luck.

 

The sling looked newer. I'm not sure if the cam I saw was a TCU or something else. It had a white sewn runner. I didn't even try to clean it... figured it was stuck for good based on the apparent age/weather wear. Five years sounds about right though.

 

There was also a rope hanging over the shelf, which was tied around a boulder at the top of the first pitch. The other party we saw pulled the rope up and I think they may have carried it out (something about making it into a rug).

 

[mountainsloth]

nice looking outing. thanks for sharing.