[TR] Johannesberg - NE Buttress (1951 - Eastern Rib) 7/27/2010

[Tom_Sjolseth]

Trip: Johannesberg - NE Buttress (1951 - Eastern Rib)

 

Date: 7/27/2010

 

Trip Report:

WOW.

 

For anyone who has gazed up in amazement at Johannesberg Mountain from the Cascade Pass parking lot, it is a sight to see. Waterfalls and glaciers cascade down 5000' of sheer cliffs in a chaotic display of objective hazard. Booms and thunks from falling rock and ice comprise the soundtrack of Cascade Pass. It is a sheer, massive, intimidating mountain - no doubt, the epitome of N Cascades mountaineering.

 

A prior trip into climb the NE Buttress had us reconsidering our options not 5 minutes out of the parking lot. On that day, wet brush forced us to go to plan B, and we wound up summitting via the C-J Couloir. When it comes to vertical brush, I prefer mine dry.

 

Fast forward to Monday morning, when Steph Abegg and I connected for what would become a fabulous trip into the mountains. We arrived at the relatively empty Cascade Pass TH at 7AM, and embarked on the 30 minute approach shortly thereafter. We ascended the C-J Couloir for ~800’ before trying to find the best route up dirty slabs to gain the route. After our first attempt fell short due to ugliness, we backed off and reconsidered. Eventually, we found another way that worked. Barely. I led up on some super sketchy, jungle slab with downward sloping holds and abundant lichen. Pro was sparse, and I had to be creative to find it. After about 30 tense minutes, I was able to pull through and belay Steph up. From here, it looked like a steep brush bash with good green belays, so we decided to put the rope away. It never came out of our packs again the entire trip.

 

Lots of steep (vertical) bushwhacking ensued. It was hot, and carrying a full pack made it quite strenuous. Routefinding was tricky, but we managed to find a great, direct line through the dense brush and cliffbands. About 1500’ later, we emerged from the vegetable abyss onto steep but sublime heather slopes and class 4 rock. The rock was solid, and we felt entirely comfortable climbing without the rope. After about 500’ of this, the buttress steepened even more, to some vertical walls. This is where we had heard (from prior trip reports) of loose chimneys and sketchy snow couloirs. We crossed a gully to our right, gained the 1957 (western) rib and proceeded to climb straight up the crest on surprisingly good rock. Could this be our bivy site? It was!! We were amazed.

 

The position of our bivy site was unreal. 3500’ below us was the parking lot. I could see my car and people walking around. Across the valley, peaks like Forbidden, Boston, Eldorado, and Buckner beckoned. Being in camp so early (3PM), we had plenty of time to relax and enjoy the views. We melted snow in Steph’s pack cover, taking advantage of the sun’s energy to supply us with the vital fluid. By 8:30PM, Steph’s camera was operating at warp speed, as the sunset cast an array of beautiful colors on the surrounding peaks. This is what mountaineering is all about!!

 

We awoke at the leisurely hour of 6AM this morning to finish the climb. By 7:20, we were cramponing up the beautiful snow arete that leads almost directly to the summit. An hour later, we were on the summit, enjoying excellent views into the heart of the rugged N Cascades. Upon signing the register, we noticed two parties had climbed the route in the past 4 days. This is a mountain that rarely gets climbed by any route, and here we were looking at three ascents in four days of the NE Buttress – one solo.

 

We spent about 30 minutes on the summit before heading back down. Since I had already done the descent down the E Ridge before, I had the descent dialed. Less than 3 hours later, we had downclimbed the entire ridge and were standing on terra firma below C-J Col.

 

The hike out to the TH via Doug’s Direct was long, but we eventually made it, returning to the cars at 4:30, 9 hours after we left our bivy site.

 

There are trips into the mountains that are great, and then there are those that are perfect. This trip was definitely perfect – one of the best trips I’ve ever been on. Thanks again to Steph for being such a strong partner.

 

 

I was too lazy to take a lot of photos, so only got a few. However, Steph took a ton of [most likely] great photos. She will post them soon.

 

 

 

Stats

TH to Camp: 1 mile, 3500’ gain, 8 hours

Camp to summit: .3 miles, 1100’ gain, 1 hour

Summit to C-J Col: .5 mile, 1400’ loss, 3 hours

C-J Col to TH: 7 miles, 4500’ loss, 1500’ gain, 4.5 hours

Total climbing time: 17.5 hours

[ivan]

love that climb - bet fine pictures are coming along - i'm intrigued at how you skipped the chimney w/o having to do the rap

[t_rutl]

impressive! look fwd to steph"s shots

[mattp]

Yup. We want the shots.

 

You make that climb sound casual, Tom. Despite the low technical difficulty, that was not my impression of it.

[Tom_Sjolseth]

@Ivan.. me too!

 

@MattP.. Not casual, but certainly not epic. I think Steph and I would both agree that this route was a lot easier than we expected.

[Steph_Abegg]

look fwd to steph"s shots

 

Here's a route overlay I've put together. I hope to have some photos ready by tomorrow evening. What a fun climb, thanks for being a great partner for a great route, Tom!

 

Link to larger version.

[summitchaserCJB]

impressive stuff guys.

[Le Piston]

Strong work guys. My partner has been trying to talk me into this climb for this summer. It strikes me as an impressive peak with more than it's fair share of objective hazards and route finding problems. When I was doing a solo trip up Sahale two weekends ago I heard numerous rock and ice sloughs off J-burg...makes you think! I'm drooling in anticipation over Steph's pictures. Maybe I can get inspired to go veggie climbing yet!

[JoshK]

Strong work guys. My partner has been trying to talk me into this climb for this summer. It strikes me as an impressive peak with more than it's fair share of objective hazards and route finding problems. When I was doing a solo trip up Sahale two weekends ago I heard numerous rock and ice sloughs off J-burg...makes you think! I'm drooling in anticipation over Steph's pictures. Maybe I can get inspired to go veggie climbing yet!

 

IMO, the objective hazard on the buttress itself isn't that high. The ice and rocks largely fall on either side of it so you are well away from that action. It's a great vantage to watch from!

[kukuzka1]

in 93 did the 1963 ne rib. the climbing had a few "just ok"" spots but the upper pitches were great. worth doing. and you dont have to fight any brush

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

Nice work, Tom! I'd love to do this route someday... if I can sack up, that is.

[therunningdog]

Nice work, you two! And, thanks for the great write-up, Tom. Now, I'm really excited to get on that mountain.

 

Darn.

[Steph_Abegg]

Okay, I've posted my trip report with lots of photos on my website:

http://sites.google.com/site/stephabegg/home/tripreports/washington/northcascades/johannesburg'>http://sites.google.com/site/stephabegg/home/tripreports/washington/northcascades/johannesburg

 

Here are a few photos:

 

Again, the link to my full TR on my website:

http://sites.google.com/site/stephabegg/home/tripreports/washington/northcascades/johannesburg

[zoroastr]

V-E-R-Y nicely documented! My climbing buddy's done that one, but until now I didn't really have a good sense of what the route entails...thanks for enlightening me! For anyone planing to try the route, your big-rez photos are definitely worth the click-through!

[BirdDog]

Love the verticle brush shot - classic!

[JasonG]

Nice work! The 1951 route sounds like it may be a bit (on J'berg, everything is relative) better than the 1957 line that most (myself included) do. I'm sure my partner would've agreed as he launched out of the chimney clutching a TV sized block en route to a 40' leader fall (as a piece pulled). An old pin arrested his fall but not before he broke three ribs. He was a tough SOB though, and made it out under his own power (although we didn't get out till the middle of the night, the next day), whereupon we drove him straight to the hospital. Oh, and that was the weekend that Giardia hit me full force for the first time. Good times!

 

Quite the bivy, eh??

[mattp]

I've often wondered whether one may be "better" than the other. I thought the "1951 route" made sense to me at the time and was overall a good outing.

 

Where the photo is labeled "steep heather" it is indeed VERY steep and there is only a short bit of technical rock. I thought the tree climbing where Tom is pictured was kind of cool in how the tree trunks made perfect stair steps - but I like climbing in Darrington so what do I know?

[Juan Sharp]

Great job Tom and Steph. Sounds like you had much more fun than Jim Nelson, Bob Davis and I had in 1999 on the 1957 route, which we tried to do in a day and were overdue. I also think it's great that the name "Doug's Direct" stuck to the ridge crossing that Doug Walker insisted we take when he and I were going to the East Ridge some years later. It really is easier than Gunsight notch. Congrats to you both for climbing J'Berg in fine form!