[TR] The Tooth - South Face 7/4/2012

[Devin27]

Trip: The Tooth - South Face

 

Date: 7/4/2012

 

Trip Report:

Surprisingly hadnt seen a Tooth TR this year, so here you go.

 

To celebrate the day off and shake off the dejection of so many weathered out climbs this year, a bunch of Boealpers headed out to Snoqualmie Pass for a day trip up The Tooth.

 

Climbers: Chris, Danika, Tina, Nathan, Steven, Devin(scribe)

 

Summer trail to Snow Lake is still pretty covered in consolidated snow about a mile or so, but it is easy to follow. There is still a lot of snow on the approach. It is all snow around Source lake and up the ski routes to the pass. Two hours later, we were the first ones up to pass leading up to the south face, but by the time we were racked and ready to climb we had about five other groups waiting to get on the rock. Good thing we got up early.

 

Climbing was great, though we did make the mistake of being tricked by a belay tree and stopping the second pitch way too soon, thus adding an unnecessary pitch. As everyone is aware, be prepared to deal with crowds on this route and keep safe. Someone set off a huge rockfall below us while we were climbing, thankfully no one was below at the time.

 

We had several new rock climbers with us and Danika wanted her first trad lead, so we didnt set any speed records, but still topped out at around Noon. Don't worry about bringing tons of bail webbing, as there are about 10 slings and 3 rap rings per station and sometimes several different stations in the same area.

 

Decent was uneventful until we reached the rap down from Pineapple pass which features snow 1/3 of the way up and a decent moat in the works near the base. This can be easily crossed on skiers left for the time being.

 

Back to Seattle in time for fireworks.

 

Photos!!!!!

 

 

Gear Notes:

Ice axe and mountaineering boots were nice to have but several of out team made out without them

 

Very light rack. There are so many fixed pieces this will soon be a sport route and every belay station has a tree or big rock that is already slung.

 

Only used .5, .75,1 and 2 BD, and a bunch of slings.

 

Approach Notes:

Tons of snow. The decent down the bowl is honestly still skiable. Not sure what the winter trail looks like though.

 

Edited July 19, 2012 by Devin27

[mitch334]

Nice work guys! It was a great day to get out and climb.

[TwoFortyJeff]

I'm glad you finally found some sun. Did you guys get to swing leads at all?

[wetslide]

I made it up there yesterday expecting to wait in a cue for hours. Turned out there was one chill party that let me solo through while they rappelled. Made it to the summit in like 2 1/2 hours from the car. About 11 minutes of actual rock climbing in rock shoes up. Probably the same down climbing and rappelling. Definitely have done it car to car in less time than that before but I was carrying a lot more gear this time. Amazing day to get out.

[Off_White]

Colin! You dropped the watermarks, the pics look much better this way.

[wetslide]

haha thanks. Those were taken with my iphone!

[Devin27]

Finally remembered to add photos from the trip. And yes, Danika had her first trad lead on pitch 2

[Buckaroo]

Made it to the summit in like 2 1/2 hours from the car. About 11 minutes of actual rock climbing in rock shoes up. Probably the same down climbing and rappelling.

 

If you are hiking that far, get in some more climbing.

 

Try doing some laps and take a different line each lap. There's 2 or 3 lines on each pitch. I'll rap all the way to the bottom of the descent gully and do the laps from there. The most I can remember doing is 4 laps. Also mixing it up between climbing boots and rock shoes, and down climbing and rapping.

 

If you solo on the weekend you can train using the Mountaineers as objective hazard.

 

I climbed the Tooth today with Edel. (7-19) We left the parking lot at 5am and did 2 roped laps. Perfect snow, firm in the morning and just soft enough on descent. The trail was snow free and all the talus after the trail was snow covered. The rap gully (which we climbed) to Pineapple pass was snow free all the way but had a lot of loose winter rock. This gully adds to the climb length and gives a more alpine feel.

 

The 30% chance of rain never materialized or if it did it was after we drove away at 1pm. Clear blue in the morning and light clouds by 1.

 

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BTW Nice TR Devin

 

 

Here's a couple pics, not bad for a Droid Razr camera