[TR] Cutthroat Peak - South Buttress 9/25/2010

[ptownclimber]

Trip: Cutthroat Peak - South Buttress

 

Date: 9/25/2010

 

Trip Report:

As this weekend approached the forecast of 50% chance of rain Saturday night and Sunday morning steered us away from some of the overnight options we were considering. Cutthroat had been on my list for some time, so we elected to give it a go in spite of the long drive.

 

 

In the early morning light, with some low fog right at Washington pass, we circled a couple times looking for the right spot on the side of the road. We only found the right spot on the way out. Look for a cairn on the N. side of the road, maybe 100 yards west of the end of the guardrail on the S. side of the road. Directly below that cairn there was some bamboo flagging. We bushwhacked our way across the creek a couple hundred yards west of that faint trail. We were pretty wet from dew by the time we found the climbers trail at the north end of the meadow. About this time we saw four deer above and to the left. The once bright, green slopes full of wildflowers have turned dull, brown-red, grey and senescent. We felt lucky to be getting out under clear skies for some autumn alpine therapy. We took the left gully up to the base. The right gully looks a little easier but requires one rappel to reach the start. Some of the gully was a little wet. Higher up we found some remnants of recent snow.

 

 

It was cold in the shade and breeze. We simul-climbed to the broad ledge, enjoying the sun and easy climbing. From the ledge, Jport and I went right, while Gabrielle and Phil went left. On the right we missed the squeeze chimney, instead climbing easy, blocky terrain up to the smooth gully leading up to the two humps. Towards the top this gully was wet. I was happy to find and clip the old pin. It was windy, pleasant and sunny as we waited for Gabrielle and Phil to join. They did some kind of crazy bypass around the wet gully. We made our way over to the summit at a leisurely pace, enjoying the sun and fantastic views. Clouds were just starting to build around Baker as we reached the summit. We forgot the map in the car, but could make out Hozomeen, Baker, the pickets, Black peak, Goode, Logan, Buckner, the north ridge of Forbidden (I think), Dome, Sinister, the Ptarmigan peaks and Glacier. It made us wish we had more time to spend and brought to mind Beckey's quote: "once the North Cascades have caught the alpinist he is likely to return soon."

 

 

The descent was straightforward but time consuming - lots of raps. We did only one double rope rappel, fearing stuck ropes on all the trees and rough, low angle terrain. By the time we reached the gully again, the sun was going down behind Whistler Mountain and a few more clouds were building.

 

 

The overnight and morning showers did materialize. Our energy and motivation depleted, we settled for breakfast in Mazama and a nice hike up to Blue Lake, then up to the saddle at the base of South Early Winter Spire. We were awed by the avalanche paths and prime ski terrain. I'm pretty sure the avy paths were carved out since I was last in that basin in 2008.

 

 

Thanks all for a great climb.

 

 

[curtveld]

My friends had the digital cameras so no photos for me.

What?!? Isn't the team's photographer also responsible for sending the photos around to the rest of the team?

 

The once bright, green slopes full of wildflowers have turned dull, brown-red, grey and senescent.

But this part created a nice visual - those meadows are still nice when they brown up in the late season!

 

 

 

[Tyson.g]

What?!? Isn't the team's photographer also responsible for sending the photos around to the rest of the team?

 

Crap! Now I feel guilty Curt as I have not forwarded any pics from our Green Giant Buttress outing..........not that there were alot of them.

 

 

 

 

[jport]

Here are some poor-quality, iPhone pics from the climb:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11863105@N04/sets/72157625055026944/detail/