rat Posted January 14, 2012 Posted January 14, 2012 Trip: chair peak - north groove area Date: 1/13/2012 Trip Report: the right hand side of chair peak's north face doesn't seem to garner much attention. here is one option: 1. start up chimney just left of the toe of the buttress mentioned in "washington ice." a short ways above the chimney, take a right trending ramp to a left facing corner capped by a roof on the buttress crest. hook up corner with good pro, pull left around roof, belay around 40m in frozen blocks. (alternatively, instead of the ramp traverse, climb directly up chimney/squeeze and up snice slope to intersect our second pitch.) 2. pull left into narrow ice "groove" and climb it for 20-30' then trend up and right on poorly protected snice for full 60m to the lone tree on right side of buttress. 3. here one could make a rising traverse to the northwest ridge. we opted to climb straight up from the tree to the obvious offwidth/chimney located just right of the buttress. hooks, jams and snice/turf lead to the northwest ridge in 60m. 4. one easy pitch along ridge to summit. cruxes on pitches 1 and 3. in the conditions we found it, i thought it was harder than pineapple express, maybe m5/m6. lunger's first time out...the twisted soul seemed to enjoy it. a couple other nice looking systems lie immediately right of the buttress toe. all would logically lead to the area of our first belay. Gear Notes: rock gear to 3.5" including a couple kb's. a warthog, snarg or spectre could come in handy but screws were not useful. Quote
Pete_H Posted January 15, 2012 Posted January 15, 2012 The good doctor's first time out and its some sketch mixed possible FA. Classic. Quote
kurthicks Posted January 15, 2012 Posted January 15, 2012 Nice. I went looking for that a while ago. I'll have to go back. Quote
wayne Posted January 15, 2012 Posted January 15, 2012 Nice, I have always wondered about that area, looks rad. Quote
spionin Posted January 15, 2012 Posted January 15, 2012 wow, rolf, look at all them words! what's next? pictures?? sounds like a great climb! Quote
lunger Posted January 16, 2012 Posted January 16, 2012 Rodent of unusual verbosity! Spionin, here are a few pictures. (The key to avoiding the ratfinger is shoot first, don't ask questions later.) The beginning chimney of p.1: Looking down the finishing steep corner of p.1: Rolf about to move left to the crux crack/squeeze of p. 3: Looking down after pulling the crux of p. 3 (yes, newbie wears ski boots): Summit: Incredibly fun intro to steep mixed--thanks hardcore. There are more pictures and many, many words over here. Quote
spionin Posted January 17, 2012 Posted January 17, 2012 great photos, lunger! looks exposed! i think climbing in ski boots is a very useful skill. i would love to not have to carry two pairs of boots whenever i decide to do ski approaches. Quote
olyclimber Posted January 17, 2012 Posted January 17, 2012 BAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLERRRRZZZZZZZZZ you guys are adrenaline fueled risk junkies Quote
Flap-master-Flex Posted January 18, 2012 Posted January 18, 2012 sick exposure after the 3rd pitch crux...Nice climbing guys! Quote
Marko Posted January 18, 2012 Posted January 18, 2012 Very freakin' cool dudes, looks like a Scottish good time! Quote
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