wbk Posted January 16, 2012 Posted January 16, 2012 Trip: Gunn Peak Winter Ascent - South Gulleys to North ledges traverse Date: 1/12/2012 Trip Report: David and I hit up the end of this last stable snow period with a go at Gunn Peak in the Wild Sky Wilderness. This is one of the peaks in the coveted Jeff Smooth guidebook-Washington’s elite climbing guidebook. Looking up to peak 58xx Dave putting on crampons River crossing was pretty easy with the mandatory au cheval to avoid slipping on icy logs but water was low so it was easy. Steep hike through forest was straight forward and views of other peaks were great, particularly north face of Baring! Index! We stayed tight in the gully to point 58xx next to its big steep/overhanging East Wall and had some fun up the mixed ledges. That fun excursion left us cliffed out above the gulley proper we needed to be in so a quick rap fixed that situation. The big east wall! Would be cool is this rock actually sported some cracks!! Mixed ledges At the top of the aforementioned gully. Cool little rock feature More slogging got us up to the saddle between peaks 58xx and 57xx which finally gave us our view of Gunn summit feature. At the saddle Looking up at the impressive Gunn South Face – pretty sure this is one of the features you can see way up valley when you’re cragging at Index? We found the 3rd class gulley used for the summer route which we roped up for though without ice screws meant no pro anyway, but at least the second got a belay. Looking down the quick lead. Had to put on the snowshoes to get up the notch due to some deep snow. The real fun started on the summit traverse from the notch. Steep (60+ degree) snow wallowing with little pro with some big exposure down the north face! Dave got the traverse out to a tree. We set up a fixed line and then I led up on second 30m half rope to the summit ridge proper on this unconsolidated, unprotectable mess was a bit hair-raising but the fun of dumping continuous streams of snow and ice onto Dave at the tree belay pretty much made it worthwhile! He’s a good sport though, and tough at that! Heading up to the notch in the summit ridge Looking down towards the traverse which is frankly pretty hard to see in this photo. The fixed line is down there. Mid winter summit stoke A little sunset action on the way down Quote
lunger Posted January 16, 2012 Posted January 16, 2012 Nice. That summit affords some pretty sweet views of the surrounding Wild Sky peaks.... "The real fun started on the summit traverse from the notch. Steep (60+ degree) snow wallowing with little pro with some big exposure down the north face!" In the summer it's a relatively chill exposed ledge--can imagine it feels pretty wild in teh winter! Quote
JasonG Posted January 17, 2012 Posted January 17, 2012 Elite! Love the Smoot ticking, in winter no less. About how many hours RT for your foray? Quote
wbk Posted January 17, 2012 Author Posted January 17, 2012 Left car at 8, saddle at 12:30 I think, notch at gun at 1:30-1:45, summit 2:35, car at 5:30. The descent was such a whirlwind of face in down racing that my calves hurt for awhile after that! Quote
JasonG Posted January 17, 2012 Posted January 17, 2012 I'll bet! A friend of mine calls that the "Waddington shuffle". Quote
kurthicks Posted January 18, 2012 Posted January 18, 2012 Looks like a fun day out! you might want to check how you double back your harness though. Quote
Dan_Miller Posted January 20, 2012 Posted January 20, 2012 Strong effort guys. I think conditions might have changed a bit in the fairly brief time since your ascent. Quote
wbk Posted January 23, 2012 Author Posted January 23, 2012 @ kurt- i have the couloir harness from bd and it was doubled back... just looks like it isn't. as a matter of fact it was hard to undo the double back later when i took it off. @ dan - definitely different conditions. it's funny that i've only climbing baring, gunn and merchant in winter and i would only consider any of these peaks when the avi conditions are super low, but these past two winters have brought some long periods without new snow and cold temps... Quote
yikes Posted January 23, 2012 Posted January 23, 2012 @ kurt- i have the couloir harness from bd and it was doubled back... just looks like it isn't. as a matter of fact it was hard to undo the double back later when i took it off. Yep, I have the same harness and find it annoying how it retraces toward the belay loop. Quote
Rad Posted January 24, 2012 Posted January 24, 2012 Awesome outing. Thanks for posting. It's cool to see photos of what that area looks like up close. It looks like winter is a reasonable time to go. After the snow melts it's a prickly jungle up that way. Quote
kurthicks Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 not to trash on the thread, but your harness isn't doubled back properly. doubled back, yes, but not done correctly. I've seen lots of folks make that same mistake with that same harness. Quote
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