[TR] Mt Terror - West Ridge 8/1/2010

[Raoul]

Trip: Mt Terror - West Ridge

 

Date: 8/1/2010

 

Trip Report:

Our group of three set out Friday morning on a four-day trip into the Southern Pickets with the goal to climb Mt Terror and maybe something else as well. I had seen my plans get paired down before up there by the tough approach but still put in 7 lbs of rock gear in hopes of climbing the NE ridge of the Chopping Block while there. There were two other groups up there climbing Terror on Saturday so we thought we would not crowd the mountain and go for the Chopping Block on Saturday. Our plans were dashed by rain so we all spent the day in the tent napping and listening to the rain and thunder. A rest day seemed pretty nice after all. One of the other groups bailed on their climb and the other group must have had an epic day on Terror’s East Ridge. We didn’t talk with them but saw them coming back across the basin in the early evening.

 

The rain stopped Saturday night so we were all set to climb Terror on Sunday. We awoke to a wall of white fog on Sunday morning but felt that it would clear off as the sun came up. It stayed pretty foggy as we headed across the basin and we actually walked past the west ridge couloir but eventually found our way to the proper spot. The couloir is still full of snow which made the ascent pretty straight forward. It is steep (like a ladder in the steepest part) but the snow was good and we had no need to rope up. At the top, we went around the corner and into the moat, changed into rock shoes and climbed a short crack (5.5?). There was a fixed nut here so I figured it was the place to go. Up above, I continued past a rap anchor to a second anchor higher up to bring up the other two. From here, we were able to scramble the rest of the ridge to the summit and almost get out of the fog. We brought a rope up and belayed each of us 20 feet or so to the true summit (probably not really needed but it is pretty exposed up there). We spent an hour or so by the summit looking around and taking pictures before descending. We downclimbed the ridge and did one double-rope rappel from where I belayed earlier to get us down to the notch. From here we backed down the steep couloir and headed back to camp. We hiked out on Monday in clear weather.

 

I’ll have to see if I can figure out how to post some photos.

 

 

Gear Notes:

Two 7.8mm x 60m ropes

A few nuts and tri-cams

Crampons and ice axe

 

Approach Notes:

The trail into Crescent Creek basin is better than I expected down low. We could follow it all the way up to the top of the Barrier at 3500 ft. I had hoped it would open up from there. On the Barrier ridge the trail came and went between bashing through the brush and crawling over downed logs but we really only had to stay on the ridge until we hit snow.

 

[goatboy]

I've heard parties report trouble finding the crescent creek trail, though you found it easily I surmise.

 

I hope you can post some pics.

 

Have been eyeing that NE Ridge on the Chopping Block too, wonder how often people actually climb that?

[JasonG]

We did a couple years ago. Steep and fun- Highly recommended.

 

 

[Raoul]

The trail was great up until the turnoff to go up to Terror Basin. From there it is rough with lots of downed trees, brush and rocks to go over but never too hard to find. The giant log at Terror Creek had water running over the top so some people were sitting on a smaller log 15 feet above the water and scooting across that. We went a couple hundred feet upstream and crossed in knee to thigh-deep water. The trail on the other side is right next to the log crossing. It is very steep but easy to find and follow.

 

Here are a few photos:

 

The Chopping block from camp

 

Himmelhorn, Twin Spires, the Blob, Terror and Degenhardt from camp

 

Nearing the top of the couloir

 

Fun scrambling

 

Nearing the summit