Looking for Storm King route ideas/advice: NCNP

[AZRockRat]

July 2011 I hope to find myself and some climbing buddies in North Cascades National Park, in the North Fork Meadows area southwest of Mt. Logan. For a whole bunch of reasons, but in part to honor an old friend, I’d like to find a clean and interesting way to do Storm King (SK) from that side (I know the standard approach is from the Park Creek side, I am looking for something different, if it makes sense and is safe). Hence this post.

 

There are two apparently known routes on which I’ve been able to get a little SK information on from that side. The first is combining Goode with Storm King climb using the SK Col, and the second, somewhat of a variation on the first from what I can tell, is combining a Goode with a decent towards the nearest Northridge of Storm King. The first I see here, http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=705541, the second I see in Beckey as “Storm King: North Face”. But there is a more direct ridge to the right of what I think Beckey is talking about, and if I want to skip Goode and just do SK in a long day, I want to see if it might be practical to give it a try.

 

So what I want to figure out is this: does anyone have information, experience, ideas, or suggestions, about this more direct attack on the north – northwest ridge of Storm King such as that proposed and shown in the pics below? I have not been to North Fork Meadows before (though I have done NCNP climbs before) but as far as this valley goes, all I have are maps and pictures. ANY ideas input or pointers are greatly appreciated. I have drawn what seems to be a rational one below from the North Fork Meadows area to the summit of Storm King, tell me I’m crazy, the least on paper if this looks fairly reasonable.

 

 

I guess my questions are as follows, to the extent I know what to ask:

 

 

 

[*] Does anyone know of any previous attempts on this particular route on Storm King, and if so by whom and when?

 

[*] I’ve heard that the approach to the base of this proposed route from, say, Grizzly Creek Camp area, could be a real nightmare, but anyone with firsthand experience traverse experience in North Fork Meadows area, it would be great to hear what that terrain is really like, especially in late July.

 

[*] Are there any clear objective or other hazards on this ridge that would be different from other similar ridges in the NCNP area, which we have done a few of before? What I mean by that is, is my route just plain crazy for some reason I am missing (such as impossible decent)?

 

[*] If anyone has climbed on or near this ridge at all, or for that matter anywhere on the north side of Storm King, and can offer any suggestions about I appropriate and fun route like this or better, such input would be graciously appreciated.

 

 

Here is the same route, with more a topo spin to it:

 

 

 

Thanks for any in sight you can offer!

 

Cheers,

 

- Michael Grollman (mgrollman at g-male dot com)

 

[ivan]

my tr for the area: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=817819

 

likely to be of no help at all, but a shrewd observer of the geographic scene make something of it

[Off_White]

 

 

[klenke]

AZRockRat:

 

You can call yourself RockRat down there, but up here on Storm King, you'll be calling yourself WAChossRat.

 

My general comments:

 

The approach to that side of Storm King is fraught with the difficulties associated with time and distance, and then the usual Cascades garbage of brush and cliff and brushy cliff and even cliffy brush. There are many miles of trail if coming from the east (i.e., N Fk Bridge Creek). You might consider coming in via Easy Pass, descending into Fisher Creek then up the tributary draining Mt. Logan's Douglas Glacier, then up and over the 6850 col one mile SE of Logan's summit. You could even tag Logan while on the way by. You can get from the trailhead to a camp at the col in a very long day. I don't know. Getting to the base of Storm King just plain sucks. What you do and where you camp might depend on if you intend to carry-over or not.

 

No comment on the N. Buttress route of Storm King. There are others on this website with more knowledge of it. But here is a view of it from "Outpost Peak" (Pk 7910 two miles to the NNE). Storm King is on the right and your buttress is on the extreme edge of the photo. This photo was taken in June 2006.

 

Your Google image and topo map show a completion of the climb via the West Ridge of Storm King. Note that the mass including Pt. 8515 is not the summit. The summit is here (8520+ ft). The Pt. 8515 mass is known as "Storm Throne." The doability of running that ridge to the summit depends on your hardcoreness and/or whether you want to do it as an enchainment Wayne Wallace style or wouldn't mind dropping off the crest to easier terrain on the south side. Based on the picture above, there appears to be a left-slanting bail/shortcut from the upper N. Butt to the notch east of Pt. 8515 that would allow you to skip the Throne. A continuation to the summit would require a climb up and over the false west summit, or there are possibly ledges on the north side. These ledges are used when coming from the other end when doing the standard south side route.

 

Some Scurlockian pics for you:

south side of summit. Pt. 8515 is out of frame to the left.

north side of Throne. Good luck with that deep notch! The aforementioned shortcut (steep snow apron) is visible at lower left.

zoom out of Throne. A wider view.

and wider still

 

A descent via Storm King col is doable but there is a bergshrund/crevasse that opens up a few hundred vertical below the col that has been a problem for some parties. You can't downclimb the col. You have to rappel it.

 

Paul

[JasonG]

I'm glad that blob has a name. I was mighty disappointed when I climbed the Throne years ago and found out I wasn't on the summit of Storm King. We didn't have a route description, and I don't think a map either (I guess the map is wrong anyways). We had bailed from an attempt in the NE ridge of Goode (T-storms) and decided to head up to the G-SK col and try our luck on Storm King. Going up the col REALLY sucked. Everything was dangerously loose . . . I was glad to belay from a sheltered nook as rock (and curses) rained from above. Only one of us led it (thanks Doug!), and a rope was trailed for everyone else.

 

I guess I will make it back one of these years for the true summit, but it is a long haul any way you cut it . ..

 

Thanks for the background and photos Paul.

Edited December 10, 2010 by Heinrich

[AZRockRat]

 

Paul,

 

Thank you for the excellent insight. If I were a wiser man, then I would just say forget-this-creative-route-finding-cr*p and stick with the Park Creek standard route, which perhaps in the end may be the thing to do.

 

My main interest at this time is the summit of SK, so got nothing I want to tag on the way there or back. But being less perfectly wise on some matters, and like Jake and Elwood did, finding myself on a bit of an unexpected mission from a penguin of sorts, and still looking to understand the pluses and minuses of the N. Buttress route of Storm King itself, if it is OK, let me follow-up your excellent guidance with a few questions.

 

First for the “I really am listening to what you said earlier” part of the post.

 

Let's suppose first for the moment that I am dumb enough to put up with all the known approaches hassles that remote N. Cascades peaks entail, and the our team comes come up with a fair access solution, at least as far as Grizzly Creek Camp goes, nettles and technical pine and all. Further, let suppose that we make the adjustment near the top as you suggest to chase the true summit as shown here (8520+ ft) and not the "Storm Throne" which sounds like a chair I have no desire today to sit upon anytime soon.

 

And continuing to listen carefully to your comments above, and to also note the nastiness of the stone-round-the-throne, that my pride is not above dropping off the crest to easier terrain on the south side, and trying that left-slanting bail/shortcut from the upper N. Butt to the notch east of Pt. 8515, and thus leveraging the standard south side route ledges as the finish. Further assume that as part of decent, I do not mind a series of raps down the south col, as long as it does not get too much more crazy than a long series of raps with secure anchors, as long as the objective rock fall hazard is not too extreme, which it sounds like from what Heinrich writes perhaps, given the nature of rock in the area.

 

That still leaves me with the standard ignorant questions:

 

* I remain in the dark about the practicality of the N. Buttress route of Storm King itself. Any suggestions as to who might be in the know about that dimension to the problem?

 

* Ignore the approach the Grizzly Creek itself -- How bad would one expect the access to be from a Grizzly Creek camp base to the beginning of a practical route on the N. Buttress (see below pic)? The photos make that valley appear to be not so awful while one stays near the stream bed, but photos have fooled me before.

 

* Taking into account the appropriate level of approach badness from Grizzly Creek, whatever that is, and the nature of the N. Buttress route, whatever that turns out to be, where would you guess such a route would start. I did a blow up of one of the pictures of the area, and drew a proposed approach, which Murphy’s law says is likely to be terrible, do you think the optimal route would be to the left or right or somewhere else entirely from what I have shown here (this only covers getting onto the NW Buttress, not the whole route, of course, if I have drawn it right):

 

 

Any additional ideas or pointers you or anyone else may have on this N. Buttress side of things are hugely appreciated. I am trying to limit risk my ignorance-driven risk with lots of good planning and research, which hopefully can be of use to others in the community down the road sometime, too.

 

Thanks,

 

WAChossRat-wanna-be

 

 

 

[ivan]

might be worth mentioning storm king recently took the life of an experienced n cascadian - proceed w/ caution!

[Phil K]

I suspect that AZRR knows full well about the fatality last summer.

 

From my limited experience with the area, I'd say:

Sure, it's a long haul into Grizzly Creek any way you cut it.

Navigating the valley bottom will be interesting, but do-able; we were able to follow game trails through some of the brush, much to the surprise of some of the sizable local bear population.

Trying to gain the ridge will be a puzzle that will probably only be solvable once you get into the upper valley. The green and cliffy areas on the photo above are steep and rugged, though weaknesses exist.

Where the red line, proposed route, turns north and traverses gulleys, ridges, and notches looks very problematic. Then the real fun starts.

As others have mentioned above, dropping down the Goode-SK col could be troublesome. I'd suggest having a double rope rappel available. When I was there w/ Heienrich (early July 2001?) it was pretty nearly a full 60m from the snow to the col, and very loose; I wouldn't count on good anchors, and downclimbing would be a nightmare. We may have a good snowpack which could help, or recession may have made the descent longer.

 

All in all, it sounds like quite the adventure, and I wish you all the luck.

 

 

Edited December 10, 2010 by PHILONIUS

[ivan]

no kidding on the bear thing - largest pile of bear shit i ever saw in my life was in the n fork of bridge creek - luckily i was so damn tired i could have easily slept through a mauling

[klenke]

AZRR [or WACHRR] (yep, we've already abbreviated you)...

 

Your style of writing makes me think you're a lawyer.

 

Anyway...

 

It might be helpful if you can state your ALPINE rock climbing ability (what Class 5 level you can climb).

 

Approach:

You seem to be sold on the Grizzly Camp (i.e., Bridge Creek) approach. But, in case you change your mind, the aforementioned 6850 col SE of Mt. Logan can be seen in the first pic on this page. The col is at right-center. The nice thing is descending into Bridge Creek from the col would dump you pretty close to your proposed access route to the butress. The Bridge Creek way entails many miles of trail (15 miles?) then some off-trail when the trail peters out.

 

Buttress:

Here is an excellent picture showing the buttress from the side (click here for the full-size version). Here's a smaller version of the same that will fit on this thread:

 

Now that I see it from the side, the buttress doesn't look so hard once you're on its crest but the image could be deceiving. That diagonal streak of snow might actually be behind the buttress in the distance, not on the buttress. Another side view of the buttress, this time from the other side. Looking at this, I think that aforementioned snowfinger *is* on the buttress.

 

Getting onto it will be the bigger problem, probably. It looks like Class 4 or 5 from beside the hanging glacier there.

 

Approach to the buttress:

Philonious is correct, the approach up from the creek to the base of the climb will be a lot more than it looks on the satellite imagery. That streambed you speak of probably has some short cliffs in it once it transitions to a chute and in July will likely be bustling with runoff. The topo suggests some steeper parts. There will also likely be moats or schrunds in the chute. The brush to either side of the stream course definitely looks like hellish slide alder and should be avoided. It may be possible to bail out of the chute early when the brush to the sides starts to give way to heather.

 

If you can get up through the chute, then the terrain below the hanging glacier will likely be on easier slabs, at least until you get closer to the buttress where the terrain will become steeper and chossier.

 

Storm Throne:

A picture of the south side of it

the nature of the terrain on the east end of the throne How about sitting there? First Ascent!

 

Goode-SK col:

The picture above (especially the full-size one) shows the schrund below the col. It stretches nearly all the way across. Of course that picture was taken in the month of September, but expect July conditions to be similar, but less icy.

 

Here is a picture of the glacier below the col as taken from near the summit of Storm King (also in September):

The col is out of sight to the right. Crevasses and schrunds abound.

 

Good luck!

[klenke]

Here is a picture of your buttress from the summit of Storm King. See lower part of image:

It doesn't look so bad.

 

Another view of the buttress from the north:

[sobo]

The klenkerator abides...

[sobo]

Apologies for shitting on your thread, AZRR.

Edited December 11, 2010 by sobo

[AZRockRat]

Klenke,

 

On my best day ever I could follow an easy 5.10. For this project, I would be unlikely to want to tackle anything more than a 5.5 to 5.6 on a lead basis, and from what I hear of the rock quality in the area, it might be wiser to cap it at an even lower number. But I would rap the space needle if I had a long enough rope, no personal worries on the long rap front other than the anchors.

 

Me not a lawyer, but I married one, so the writing style is perhaps transmittable like some kind of crazy infection! Makes me want to start a fresh course of antibiotics right away.

 

And John was a friend of mine from way back, yes, so I am trying to be super careful in the planning phase here. That said, some stuff you never know till you get there, but I am trying as best I can to get really smart before any ropes get uncoiled.

 

- WACHRR

 

 

[klenke]

An aside: per usual CC.com custom, some folks have made irrelevant and unnecessary comments into this thread and therefore cluttered it. Sobo: We could care less about your day. May I suggest Facebook.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I'd say if you can follow 5.10 you should be okay with the rock climbing on the buttress. Although, if you're not used to lichen on rock, you may find the climbing disconcerting at times. One nice thing is the presence of snow patches and the snowfield on its upper portion indicates water would be available year-round.

 

As for where it would be best to get on the buttress, it appears to me (based on the second-to-last pic above) that the south side of it next to the glacier would be variegated terrain: some loose ledges and gullies bracketed by rock steps and minor rock ribs. It would probably not be all that interesting but would go. You might have moat issues where the snow next to the glacier reaches high up on the rock wall.

 

A more sporting route for a 5.10-capable climber might be to try to get on the buttress from its north side (see last picture above). But there is a cirque headwall (for the Wyeth Glacier) that makes getting up to that side a little more problematic. Maybe a good starting point would be near the two Y-shaped snowpathes at the extreme bottom edge of the photo.

 

Per Beckey, the "North Face" has been climbed. It was first done by Dick Emerson and Walt Gove in July 1978. Their climb was actually on the buttress south of your proposed buttress. I know of no other climbs of the North Face so yours would likely be a first ascent of that buttress (strawman comment). You can provide your details to Beckey and he'll get you in the next edition of his guidebook. Then you'll be famous (in case you already aren't).

 

Regarding marrying a lawyer: I won't hold that against you, even if I am an engineer, because I once dated one.

[Phil K]

Bumpage; I'm wondering about the state of AZRR's plan. Lot's of snow up high still, plenty of time to get on it.....