[TR] Mt. Index - Main & Middle Peaks 7/30/2011

[Tom_Sjolseth]

Trip: Mt. Index - Main & Middle Peaks

 

Date: 7/30/2011

 

Trip Report:

 

FWB, Mike Collins, Fay Pullen and I connected for a wild and epic trip up the Middle and Main peaks of Index this past weekend.

 

Fay and Mike shared the common goal of summitting all 100 peaks on both the Home Court and the Back Court Top 100 lists. Fay had only one to go, Middle Index. Mike had two, Middle Index and Chimney Rock. Before Sunday, only 2 people had finished both lists - Don Goodman, and Dick "Kangaroo" Kegel. As far as peaks go, Middle Index is definitely the most difficult and inaccessible peak on any list – including the Bulger and Top 100 x P400 lists. In fact, I’d wager it’s the most difficult peak (with 400’ of prominence) to climb in the state of Washington by its easiest route. It is an impressive massif of steep snow, rock, and heather. Even the trees are steep. The vertical relief on all sides is enormous – that one could be staring at a 4500’ drop on a mere 6000’ summit is impressive to me.

 

Having climbed Middle Index before, I knew what to expect. My other three victims (err, partners) had an inkling, but didn’t really know the whole story until now.

 

Our plan was to bivy on or around the summit of Main Peak on Friday, then wake up early Saturday, climb, then hike out Sunday. However, knowing how much technical terrain there is to cover, and that we had four people on our team, I knew there was a good chance we would need to have an “unplanned bivy” somewhere along the way. With that premonition and despite the solid forecast, I decided to bring a Sil Shelter along, just in case.

 

Our approach was uneventful. It was relatively smooth sailing up the gully on the Main Peak. Cracks, holes, and moats were starting to open up though, exposing up to 100 foot drops to the creek below. Cracks that were seemingly firmly bridged on the way in were wide open after the two days we were up there. Care should be taken in this gully at this time of year.

 

We spent the entire approach in clouds, but the sun made an appearance towards the end of the day. We set up camp on a strip of vegetation between snowfields about 200’ below the summit of Main Index. We all went to the summit that evening to take photos and scout out the route for the following day. The last time I climbed Middle Index, I did the traverse from North Peak to South Peak, so I was climbing in the opposite direction than we would be on this trip. Figuring out where to drop in was not easy, but eventually I found a spot I thought would go. We retired early that night, prepared for the guaranteed long day ahead of us.

 

Saturday morning we awoke at 4AM, and got ready – we were moving by 5. We headed over to the spot Franklin and I had scouted the previous evening. Here, we made a double rope rappel (50m) off of a tree into a very steep and wild abyss. From this point forward, steep was the name of the game.

 

The route from here is a blur of rappels, adrenaline-inducing climbing (and down climbing) on steep heather and towering cliff bands, and impressive vertical relief. No route description can do this complex, convoluted route justice. Excellent and precise route finding is imperative on this peak. Despite having already climbed it, route finding our way to Middle Peak was almost like climbing it for the first time. Everything is so steep, that most everything looks impossible until you’re right next to it. On the descent, losing our horizon was a constant problem, and not being able to see below us because of the degree of steepness was a hindrance. Just to get down to Main-Middle notch took the four of us nearly eight hours (nine double-rope rappels, and a lot of down climbing and traversing). And we were only ¼ of the way there!

 

At this point, the writing was on the wall, and everyone pretty much just accepted that we were going to spend the night on the mountain. Everyone was OK with this, and we proceeded on. After this point, there was no changing our minds.

 

We summited Middle Peak around 3PM – 10 hours after we left camp. At the same time, we saw a party topping out on N Index, and a party on the summit of Main. We found it amazing that these relatively seldom-climbed peaks had climbers on all three summits at the same time – probably a first.

 

The summit register (that we couldn’t sign last year because we didn’t have a pencil and it was too wet to sign even if we did) was still there in the same spot I left it, so I don’t think it saw an ascent since then. In traditional Pullen fashion, Fay brought her own summit register and placed it on the summit. The summit register Nazis are facing a losing battle with her around – and rightfully so!

 

After spending all of about 10 minutes on the summit, we headed back the way we came. As expected, climbing was again time-consuming and we were being very safe about everything. As darkness began to set in, we began to think about choosing a good spot to hang out and wait out the night. Bivy spots are hard to come by on these peaks, and a site that would accommodate four people is even rarer. We pressed on as long as we could without a break, trying to get as far as we could before darkness set in. Franklin had received an ominous forecast on his phone from the summit of Middle indicating that there was weather on the way (despite it not being forecasted before leaving town on Friday AM). With that knowledge, we were keen to get as much climbing out of the way as possible before things got wet. Being anywhere on this climb in the wet is a real-life nightmare, and for us, this nightmare was going to become a reality – it was just a matter of time now.

 

At about 9:30PM under the last traces of light, we finally found an acceptable spot for the four of us. We finished the day immediately after climbing the technical crux of our entire route – 30m of vertical and sparsely protected “5.6”. Glad to have climbed this pitch before the rain set in, we settled in for a short, but cold night among some trees – a tree fort of sorts with steep heather on one side leading 4000’ down to the valley floor, and enormous vertical cliffs on the other. Luckily for us the night was short and dry, and we didn’t get too cold. Overnight though, we witnessed the cloud front as it moved towards us through the starlit sky. At this point we knew the 35% chance of precipitation that was forecasted on Franklin's phone was going to be 100% really soon. We set up the Sil Shelter using rock gear and guy lines tied around trees, just in case. Luckily, we didn't need it all night.

 

Dawn arrived and we were socked in. Swirling clouds played hide and seek with the peaks of Mt. Index. The views were neat, but we had a very serious task at hand, and we needed to do as much as we could before the rain began. Just after climbing the first pitch from camp, the drizzle began. At first the drizzle was light, but it began to intensify as the wind picked up. In front of us, we had possibly the sketchiest part of the climb remaining.. the down-climb into, traverse across, and climb back out of a steep, loose, very exposed and very intimidating (when wet) class 4 or low-fifth gully. Leading up to the gully traverse is two and a half pitches of steep rock climbing. On my last trip here, Wayne and I free soloed this portion, the rope still in our packs. But this time, with the rock wet, free climbing it was out of the question. As I led up the steep, exposed rock, protection opportunities were nearly non-existent. On the first full 50m pitch, I found only one single gear placement, then an OK belay from two cams. On the next pitch, I found three gear placements, and only one cam for a belay. Between steep rock sections was steep, wet heather. The consequences of a fall were certain death, and the possibility of falling was quite high in the present conditions. Nevertheless, this was our only way off the mountain and we needed to figure it out before we had to spend another night (this time in the rain) on the mountain.

 

Just before the route goes down into the gully, I could locate exactly zero places to build a reliable rappel anchor (if we had KBs, it would have been possible). We needed to come up with something as this was the only way off the mountain. At this point, I was psychologically spent and mentally tired from being up for 30 hours straight. I had already nodded off once waiting for Franklin to belay Fay and Mike up to the saddle, and I was hallucinating a bit from sleep deprivation mistaking Fay once - in her yellow coat - for sunshine. I asked Franklin to come up and help me look for anchors. I brought Franklin up to the belay, and he led led up on steep, sketchy, mossy, low-fifth rock and wet heather with no pro (~20m). He climbed to what I thought was an obvious horn, but as he went to check it out, he pulled it off and sent it tumbling down the gully (away from us). Darn.

 

Working together over the course of about an hour and a half (me just below him, looking for potential cracks), we finally located three fairly good gear placements where Franklin built an anchor out of a #2 micro tcu and 2 small stoppers, equalized. I lowered him into the gully, but not before some apprehension on his part (understandable). The gear didn’t budge, and soon Franklin was on the other side of the gully belaying everyone over.

 

We all breathed a collective sigh of relief, knowing the end of the climb was in sight and that we didn’t have to spend another night on the mountain – this time after being soaked all day by constant drizzle. Three more pitches brought us to where we could put away the rope. Another 200’ of class 3 scrambling and steep (albeit wet) heather got us back on the summit plateau of Main and a relatively easy path home (which still required rappels).

 

The way out was relatively uneventful. Sort of. But we made it. Fay had done what only two other people have done – complete both the Home Court Top 100 and Back Court Top 100. Mike Collins is only one peak away from completing both of those same lists now, and should finish some time this season. Congrats to both of them.

 

This was a great climb with an eclectic team. The climbing portion of this trip became a 42 hour non-stop marathon due to none of us getting any sleep during our open bivy. In the end, we all came together and achieved our goal – one that is pretty neat to those in the peakbagging world.

 

Here are the photos I took. My photos didn't turn out that well, and I didn't take any on day 3 since all you would have seen was wet and swirling whiteout, but Franklin took a ton of photos, and should be posting some soon.

 

 

 

The crew all set to go on Saturday morning.

 

Mike scrambling down to the first rappel.

 

Franklin on the summit of Main Peak as seen from camp.

 

Good morning!

 

Looking down on Middle and North Index from Main.

 

Looking up at the summit of Main from our camp on night 1.

 

Baker and Shuksan at dawn.

 

Mike and Franklin help set up the first rappel.

 

One of many gendarmes on the N face of Main Index.

 

Steep rock on the N Face of Main.

 

View towards Gunn and Baring from low on Middle Index.

 

The summit of Middle Peak.

 

Persis and a gendarme on Main.

 

Mike rappelling into Main-Middle notch.

 

Fay climbing into the moat.

 

Fay smiles above Lake Serene.

 

Looking N from Middle Index.

 

Main Peak from Middle.

 

Franklin smiles on the summit of Middle Index.

 

Looking down from the summit of Middle Index.

 

North and false Middle from Middle.

 

Mike on the summit of Middle Index.

 

Franklin and Mike down climbing Middle Peak.

 

Scary minarets on the N Face of Main.

 

Fay smiling after becoming only the third person to complete the Home Court Top 100.

 

A portion of the route on the North Face of Main Index.

 

Typical terrain on the N Face of Main Index.

 

Gear Notes:

Rain gear

[jon]

Nice work Tom! Great report!

 

Hey, I noticed the image problem with the extension you were using passing the image size argument and I'm working on a solution.

[ivan]

mt index never fails to provide adventure - after 2 days doing the traverse, joshk and i took a whole day getting off from the main summit when everything below the summit turned into cloud soup

[stevetimetravlr]

supercool

[jon_masaya]

Awesome! I think many of us have stared across at Mt.Index wondering if we would ever be man enough to go up there, and realized... probably not. Props.

[jon]

Tom, I fixed your images. In the future add &.jpg to the end of the image url and it should work (you can click edit to see what I did).

[SmilingWhiteKnuckles]

Wow. Great climb and a gripping read!