[TR] Prusik Peak - Stanley-Burgner 7/15/2011

[bgratias]

Trip: Prusik Peak - Stanley-Burgner

 

Date: 7/15/2011

 

Trip Report:

Ryan and I accidentally climbed the Stanley-Burgner on Prusik Peak this Friday. We are not terrific rock climbers, so we planned on either giving the Beckey south face route a try or settling for the west ridge if we felt short on time. We ended up getting off route (as usual) and “retreating upwards” via the Stanley-Burgner as bad weather came in ahead of schedule. We arrived at the Snow Lakes trailhead a little after 6:30 am and reached the south face sometime between 12:00 and 1:00. We met Ed Hobbick and ktschmid at the base of the face. They graciously lent us their #5 to use on the left hand variation of the first pitch which looked much nicer than the standard chimney on the right (thanks again guys!)

 

After a couple more pitches, we arrived at the base of the infamous chock stone pitch, and realized we were on the Stanley-Burgner route, not the easier Beckey route. We weren’t sure if we could traverse right up higher, and decided to keep heading upwards to find out. By this time it was raining/hailing intermittently, and the clouds were getting thicker. It took me a solid 15 minutes of grunting and yelling to squeeze behind that miserable but intriguing chock stone. The chimney on the next pitch was even worse (or better?) After a half hour of yelling and grunting and pulling on gear, the final pitch was in view. We were both pretty exhausted at this point, and it was getting pretty late in the day, so we were anxious to get up and over and start the long hike out. The last pitch (and several others on the route) is a lot harder than it appears from the belay. This harder-than-it-looked pitch, combined with the harder-than-expected climb and worse-than-forecasted weather had us a little psyched out. The desperation intensified when I pulled over a bulge mid-pitch, couldn’t find any good handholds, ran out of strength, and took a 25’ fall. Dejectedly, I brought Ryan up, collected the gear, and shamelessly aided the rest of the pitch. We made 4-5 rappels off the top, postholed in our rock shoes around the west side, and got back to our gear at the base just after dark. The hike out was very long, and we made it back to the car at 3:30am - 21 hours on the go.

 

The route was much more physical than I expected it to be. A lot of torso squeezing and awkward cracks. The protection on route was really good though, so we felt fairly safe even if the climbing was a little out of our comfort zone. I'd like to go back with two days and a little more skill and do it again. If anyone is planning on climbing the route in the near future and is feeling extra-charitable we dropped a #5 trango flexcam, and left a #1 camalot deep in a chimney on the last pitch (if you are not feeling charitable, you now have some extra motivation to get up there I guess.) Pictures:

 

Baby Goats

 

Crossing the dam between the snow lakes

 

The hike was really nice on the way in, but not quite so pleasant on the way out later that night.

 

Starting up the 3rd or 4th pitch

 

The chock stone (felt really tight to me)

 

Starting the second to last pitch (clearly I need some longer shorts...)

 

The chimney looms above

 

 

One of the few sun breaks, right before sunset.

 

On top!

 

First Rappel

 

Getting ready for the 10 miles ahead...

 

Definitely not a route for shorts

 

Gear Notes:

Long Pants. Two ropes would have made the descent a bit nicer, but one is okay.

 

Approach Notes:

Lengthy with lots of goats. A little snow after snow lakes, but no need for boots or an axe.

[sneaky_steve]

I always miss the good ones! Glad you guys had a good time!

[keenwesh]

good work. that chimney sucks, I pulled on gear the entire way up! rest of the route is a blast though.

[pope]

Good TR. Nice job "toughing it out" in wild conditions.

[olyclimber]

Its funny how much different vertical route finding is over orienting yourself on less steep ground. I've never been lost in the backcountry, but I'm amazed how many times I get turned around when climbing with friends on vertical rock, and feel really lucky to have climbed with people with a knack for vertical route finding.

 

Having climbed both (chestbeat, er grovelled up after Hansel on them both), I think you definitely want to head right much further at the top the first pitch of the S-B route (if that is what you did) to get on the Becky route. All the way over to the top of that chimney. If you look up that chimney you avoided at the base, you pretty much to up that, veering only very slightly left before traversing right after couple pitches up to gain the nice crack system that takes you to the notch.

 

 

 

[bgratias]

Thanks for that topo olyclimber. It would have been very helpful. Next time!

[pu]

My partner and I did the Stanley Burgner as a linkup with the Serpentine on 07/18. I have both of your cams. PM me an address and I will ship them to you.

 

Joe