Burgundy Spire -TR

[hakioawa]

Somebody asked for it so here it goes.

Got up at 5:00am from the cutthroat trail head and made a quick jaunt up to the Silver Star trailhead. High winds, rain and the summit was not in sight. We kept driving. 15 minutes later we were on the trail to WA pass. Rain there too. We bailed and spent the day clipping bolts in Mazama. In the hour we were at WA pass, about a dozen dishwasher sized boulders had come down on to the highway just above the Silver Stat turn off!

Got up at 5:00 am Sunday (a few pitchers worse for the ware) and we’re on the trail at 6:15. It was cold, but there was no wind. One of my partners had this habit of running up hill so by 9:00 we were at Burgundy Col we we’re putting on every last stitch of clothing we had.

The route descriptions in the Becky and Nelson books are both right on the money and way off. Becky has topos but only of the top. I now understand why. The route goes up the “Obvious Gully” which starts about 30’ below the col. There are two pitches on “Mostly 4th class”. Mostly being the operative word here as there are a couple of 5th class moves to maybe 5.4. We simul-climbed them but I stitched of one move pretty well.

At the sandy ledge the real climb begins, just as the route description says. When at the sandy ledge stay right until it turns to 5th class, the work your way left on a small flake/ledge system to a belay at a rap station. Look for an old rusty bolt w/o a hanger. This is maybe a half pitch of 5.5 when you get up there you’ll find it was harder than it looks from below. From here there are about two pitches of 5.7 and 5.8 with some serious 5.8 moves. The route is easy to follow, but for me the lead was very committing. But the holds are all there. Stick you fist in the crack and go! There is a very good rap station at the top of the 5.8 crack to belay from. Welcome to the second sandy ledge.

We had been making very good time and the summit looked on pitch above us! I told my partner “you have 15 minutes to get to the top, to make it a 6 hour climb. Boy was I ever wrong! The guidebooks say you have a choice of routes. Had I read the description well we would have gone another way. The best way is probably to traverse way right. IT is a long traverse and you scramble through a little tunnel. This is the way our second rope team went. We went left. This led to a little friction slab that is very hard to protect. Just as the going gets tough a miraculous bolt appeared! We we’re on route! Clip the bolt and keep going! About 5 feet higher is a little step to get over. There is a little exposure! Try about 2000’ of exposure looking down at Silver Star Glacier. My partner protected it real well and I had to pull out the chock pick to remove a hex.

I had the next pitch. We went down and to the left, which went up a little chimney over a step, a fun grunting little move. Now the topos in the Becky book started to make sense. They only show the top because the bottom of the route really IS obvious. I down climbed and traversed right under a roof and over a ridge to a belay. The summit was right there, and I had enough rope but there was too much rope drag and I couldn’t make it. This turned out to be my good fortune!

We found ourselves at the base of a 50’ diagonal chimney. It looked easy, and we’re it not for the rope drag I would have gone for it (The book has it at 5.8 but I’d say its harder). My partner, a little cocky kept his pack, took to rack and went for it. Thing were fine for the first 30’. Then the holds ran out. With all that extra gear my partner was hopelessly wedged in! No hands, no feet, just pack and rack we’re holding him in. Furiously we struggled for gear. First a #11 nut came out and was placed into a #12 placement. I wouldn’t wave wanted to fall there. Meanwhile I’m furiously taking keeping every last inch of slack out of the rope in the event of a fall. Hopelessly grabbing for any gear that would come, a #2 Camelot and double runner were dislodged from the rack. With a dyno the cam was plugged in and my partner aided his way up.

With my partner still stuck in the chimney I hear a call from below. “Hey Erik, how far above us are you? Can you throw us the rope?” I couldn’t see them but the other rope team had taken a wrong turn and found their way halfway up a 5.10 chimney. I belayed my partner up the final few moves to the top. He anchored the rope and I pulled out my here loop (I knew I had brought two for a reason!) and attached it to the rope. Prussiking my way back under the roof I found a rappel sling directly above the second rope team. I anchored the middle of the rope and threw the rest to the second team. They aided them selves up to me and we were all safe again! The three of us followed to the top! It was about 4:00 pm. Two double and five single rope rappels later we were back at Burgundy col. by 8:00 we we’re drinking beer at cars. 14 hours car to car.

The climb itself is a great one, and a bit humbling. Don’t be over confident. Just when you think you have it bagged the hard part begins. Both routes as described in the Nelson book are pretty accurate. If you go right, go way right. Remember the easy way (we never found it) is supposed to have an easy 30’ slab to the summit. If you find yourself looking up a crack system/chimney to directly to the summit keep going right!

 

[goatboy]

Congratulations, Hakiowa. I have two cents to toss in here:

You wrote:

"If you go right, go way right. Remember the easy way (we never found it) is suppossed to have an easy 30’ slab to the summit. If you find yourself looking up a crack system/chimney to directly to the summit keep going right!"

When we climbed the spire in July, it was snowing, and visibility was poor (like 50 feet at most). We found our way through the little tunnel you mentioned, then managed to go WAY right and slightly upward on Burgundy Ledge, around a corner on a smaller ledge -- and here, we found a straightforward (though steep in places) finger crack that I'd call solid 5.8. Small nuts and aliens would help here, though you could get by without them (as we did). This leads up and left to a large ledge, then up a wide crack on the left side of a big flake (which was full of ice in July). This is the final obstacle, and then you're sitting on the summit ridge about 50 feet west of the true summit.

We took one rope, and it was fine to rap off with one. Two would have speeded things up on the rappels, though would have weighted us down on the slog up to burgundy col.

To whomever pooped and left toilet paper at the bivy on burgundy col, why don't you consider how your actions affect others and try to be a bit more responsible in the future?

All in all, this is a glorious route, and definitely one worth repeating when there's better visibility!

Steve

 

[hakioawa]

One more thing.

There is beautiful new rap station anbout 1 double rap from the top. Sombody put in 2 new bolts w/ 4 slings and 2 rings. It is exactly a 50m from the next station. It loosed less than 2 month old! Anybody know who put it up there? At least they did a nice job!

[David_Parker]

We went across/down through the "tunnel" formed by a huge block. Then upwards and right and around another minor corner to a groove that had some crack and some friction. This came onto another belay ledge and we then traversed more right, ( my beta was if in doubt, go right) and we found a huge flake and attacked from around to the right by going up a 15 ft chimney with a chockstone. You really can't go any further right at this point. There was no pro until we were able to put a double length runner around the top of the flake but there was no way you were going to fall out of the chimney. We then committed to reaching over and making the move onto the summit block (5.8). Easy traverse over to summit.