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[TR] Dragontail - Gerber-Sink 2/9/2011


Captain panther

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Trip: Dragontail - Gerber-Sink

 

Date: 2/9/2011

 

Trip Report:

After falling ill last week and missing out on the EPIC conditions on the Triple Couloirs, I was chomping at the bit to go get on that route this week, now that I was feeling better. However my partner was unavailable this week. Luckily, Steve called me up and asked what if I wanted to climb so I said I damn sho was ready. We decided on a three day trip to have a go at the Gerber-Sink and then the NEB of Colchuck the following day. However the Gerber-Sink tured out to be way harder than either of us thought it would be and ended up taking a total of 11 hours on route so we just had a leisurely day on thursday of packing up and strolling/skiing/crashing on the way out. We went in Tuesday (2/8) and skinned from the gate to the trailhead then booted it from the TH to the lake in a total of 5 hours. We then got up and hit the base of the route at about 7am. The first pitch was straight forward, a little rock with some ice runnels. This lead to a rightward traverse up a snow ramp. After this ramp we got to what turned out to be the crux as we saw it, a 30 foot section of WI3. This ended us in a big snow field, followed by another traverse on a snowy ramp followed my many a few pitches of easy neve and alpine ice leading up to the funnels about halfway up just below the large snow field before exiting into the third couloir. We took the leftmost funnel cuz it looked bitchin and this was my first winter alpine route so I wanted FULL VALUE! Which I got!

There was lots of little spin drift avys blasting us and I got to learn how to use pitons on the spot! Good times were had. Just as the sun started going down Steve and I were simul-climbing the last big snowfield and not quite sure where to exit into the TC route but Steve went with his gut and what he remembered from the TC when he climbed it the week before and we hit the third couloir and soloed up that biotch in proper fashion, hitting the summit ridge just in time for a badass sunset, and topping out at about 6:15. Then we slogged back to camp and had huge dinner and passed out.

Got up the next day and got back to the car in about 4 hours, with some of the most hilarious attempts at skiing ever witnessed on that skating rink of a road on the way out. All in all it was an awesome climb with a great partner, and a sweet intro to winter climbing for me! Now for pictures

P2092499.JPGP2102525.JPGP2092502.JPGP2102514.JPGSAM_0013.JPGSAM_0018.JPGSAM_0027.jpgSAM_0022.jpgSAM_0040.jpgSAM_0038.jpg

 

Gear Notes:

brought singles from .5 to 2 camalot, used most of them. couple of lost arrows, knifeblades and bugs were nice too. and a picket. oh and a 70 makes life nice

 

Approach Notes:

5 hours of bliss. skin the road(icy) bootpack from the trailhead(more icy)

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Nice first winter alpine climb. It's rare for such good climbing conditions and stable weather to match up for so long in the cascades like it did in the Stuart range for a while there. I can't imagine a better long moderate ice route than that in good conditions; one of the best in the PNW for sure. Last spring it was lean and involved a few tricky mixed pitches, but last week there was fat ice everywhere that made lot of reasonable variations possible. A neat way to finish the route is to go straight up the last snowfield to the runnel behind the fin. Last year it looked harder than the normal way, but now it's good.

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Glad you enjoyed it. Been out of the country and out east consulting for a while and not kept up with what's going on in my old stomping grounds. I'm " Gerber" of the Gerber-Sink route. It was fairly snowed-up when we did the first ascent but nothing like what guys like you are doing now. Nice climb.

 

Returning to the Cascade scene in a month. Can't wait!

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