Mt. Washington gear list...

[goldgod]

Wanting to lead first summit attempt at Mt. Washington soon and was hoping for gear suggestions. Likely party of three. Have full gear box but not wanting to haul it all up there if all I need is a couple of cams. Any help appreciated! And thanks in advance.

G

[goldgod]

I should have added that we are planning what appears to be the most common route, the North Ridge. Thx!

[Teh Phuzzy]

I haven't made it up that way yet. Planning too though.

 

I would also love to here what you fine cc folks think

[crimper]

i think i placed 2 cams and maybe 1 nut in a 100 foot pitch from the saddle. and slung a horn. that was the only pitch we roped up for. i remember thinking the gear was mainly for appearance's sake. so one hand, i don't think it matters what you carry because you are absolutely not going to trust any of the gear. in my my humble opinion. but it's possible others have gone a different way than i went....

 

also, the west ridge is a way better adventure on usually better rock, for what it's worth. but you'd need to be solid at 5.8 in the mountains.

[psychobikere]

As I remember, the "crux" piece that was actually solid was a red camalot.

[mountainmandoug]

I haven't been up Washington but I've lead a fair bit of Olympic choss and this is what I've found works for me on that sort of rock.

 

Don't fall!

 

Avoid using a rope as much as possible because it pulls loose rock off, skip simul-climbing on easy terrain because it can make it more dangerous.

 

Don't fall!

 

Don's sling the detached rocks, I've found that I never really like slinging anything that will fit inside a double runner. On ridges it's nice to have several cordalett's sometimes, since you can sling a big enough piece of mountain that it might hold you. I think the tendency to sling small horns in the Olympics is bad and should be avoided.

 

Don't fall!

 

Take small gear, little nuts and small cams and a pink tri-cam. When everything is broken often you can place gear in the horizontal crack underneath a large boulder or horn in such a way that force on the piece will try to lift the rock. I think this is a better bet than slinging the thing and having the leverage force wanting to pull it loose.

 

Don't fall!

 

I generally have used nuts from say a BD #4-#10 or so, and Metolious cams less than an inch (smaller than yellow). The most confidence-inspiring cracks are often tiny. I have not found that I use bigger cams at all. On a serous rout I'd be very inclined to take small pins

 

And most importantly of all, don't fall!

[Nitrox]

You only need a few slings and a few medium'ish hexes and nuts. They're short pitches so you'll only place four or five pieces total. I'd take extra webbing and rap rings in case the stuff up there gets cut.

 

 

[111]

the red camalot is the only cam you'll need

[goldgod]

THanks to all replies to my query. Love Mountainmandoug's tag line! Consensus seems to be one rack of nuts, maybe a couple small cams and some long lengths of strapping would be all the gear necessary if roping. Mainly...don't fall

[gruntpltleader]

just got back last night. all I hauled was webbing and somerunners. I think I placed more than what was needed,but it was my first time. the Rap slings are very new and bomber.

[goldgod]

OK, did the trip on a Bluebird Monday, yesterday, and had a very pleasant climb. Except I'll never understand why the hike out is always so much longer than the hike in!!!

Here's my brief equipment report. People here are correct in that slings and a few quick-draws are the only thing really needed. Webbing is already placed for belay anchors and rap retreat. I placed one sling on a horn on the first technical pitch, having started from the top of the angled ramp at the end of the North ridge approach climber's trail. I think I placed one cam, a green camalot, on the second pitch, which is mainly a scramble anyway, and the placement sucked, call it practice... Other than slings, the only real solid placement I got was with a yellow camalot on the third, (last) pitch on the summit block.

Not knowing what was up there, I took two lengths of webbing with me for retreat and since the second and third belay/retreat placements only had one each already installed, I left one of mine on each of those horns to double that protection. The first (lowest) pitch already had three runners on the horn and they all looked pretty new so it was bomber already. I hauled a set of nuts but they were totally unnecessary and would probably have been ineffective on that rock anyway. Thanks to everybody who responded here and I hope my report will help the next guy who hasn't already been up there!