[TR] NEWS and SEWS - South Face (5.7) and SW Rib (5.8) 7/28/2012

[Devin27]

Trip: NEWS and SEWS - South Face (5.7) and SW Rib (5.8)

 

Date: 7/28/2012

 

Trip Report:

Spent the weekend instructing and climbing at Washington Pass with the Boealps Basic Rock Class. I had actually not climbed in the Liberty Bell group yet and was excited to finally get up here. Climbed the South Face of North Early Winter Spire with a student on Saturday and then the Southwest Rib of South Early Winter Spire for fun on Sunday.

 

Saturday- South Face of NEWS

 

An easy “5.7”, very straight forward, but less known (We were the only ones on it all day) route up the gully between NEWS and SEWS and then up the south side of NEWS to the summit. Started out about 7am from the Blue Lake TH and took the climbers trail to the base of the gully. We found the route guarded by two furry sentries and took care to hang out packs out of reach in a tree. The goats followed us to the base of pitch 2 before I accidentally dropped a set of nuts from my harness and scared them off.

 

Beta-

 

- Pitch 1 goes up the slabs (many options from class 4 to 5.4 or so) and into the class 3 gully terminating directly below the huge chockstone (bet. NEWS and SEWS, on right)

- Pitch 2 (crux) goes up to the left of the chockstone (5.6) and then traverses back onto the top of the chockstone via a 5.7 face ("bolted" with very old pitons)

- Pitch 3 is class 3 & terminates further up the gully below another smaller chockstone

- Pitch 4 moves left and up easy terrain (c. 5.4) starting about 20 feet below the upper chockstone and tops out on this upper chockstone (top of the NEWS-SEWS notch);

- Pitch 5 climbs about 190 feet straight up and left (or north) from the notch on easy terrain (low 5th) and terminates when you run out of rope;

- Pitch 6 heads up easy chimneys (up to 5.6 moves depending on variation) and tops out on low angle friction slabs just below the summit.

 

The first “Pitch” of this climb is a single class 5 move over a pile of rocks to get just below the gigantic chock stone. I climbed this pitch unroped but threw a handline down for my student. The second pitch is the longest and best climbing on the route. Mostly low 5th with a few 5.5 or so moves and well protected by gear or the several pins on the route. The crux is the well-known 5.7 traverse at the end of the pitch to get to the top of the chock stone. The traverse is actually much more difficult for the follower than the leader. The consequence of a lead fall there would be minimal because it is protected by a ghetto bolt, however you must unclip this bolt when following and a fall would send you on a 20 ft pendulum into the chock stone below. This would likely result in serious injury but can be easily protected if the leader places a piece in a large crack above the traverse to protect the follower.

 

The hardest part from here on out is route finding. Your goal is the climb onto the second set of chock stones at the very top of the gully, so do not be tempted to cut left up the ramp, this is the rappel route. From here, climb up the south face up the obvious easy class 5 terrain until you come to a split in the gullies about 30 ft below the gigantic overhang. Build and gear anchor and bring up your follower. Take the easier left gully, as the right does not have good pro and takes some committing moves. Continue working up and left over easy terrain. Do not go straight up or right unless you want to deal with offwidth pain.

 

Top out in a class 3 gully and walk to the summit. The summit register is a giant pile of old beta sheets that people have signed and there is very little space left in the container for more paper, so a new one is needed. For the descent, ignore the trees with rap slings and head southwest of the ascent route to a set of shiny new bolts. Single rope raps (one of which is a full 30 meters so do not bring a 50m rope) take you all the way to the class 3 gully below the second chock stone. The rap from the lower chock stone is free for the last 20 ft and very fun.

 

 

Sunday- SW Rib of SEWS

 

Having the day off from instructing and wanted to have some fun on 5.8 offwidth, Brandon and I headed up the familiar trail for the SW rib of SEWS. Our friendly neighborhood goats were basking on the trail, but didn’t seem to take notice of us. There is plenty of beta on this route, so I will post my comments by pitch.

 

Pitch 1- The crux of the climb. Mid way up the pitch is a 5.8 bulge without great positive holds that is interesting to get over. The climbing before and after is easy class 5th.

 

Pitch 2- The famous offwidth. This pitch was much easier than the 5.8 it is advertised as. Great climbing with fantastically huge exposure. It is barely a crack climb, since the outside of the crack is basically an arête you can climb. We brought a #5 and it was nice to have near the top of the pitch, but you could do the climb without it if you are ok running it out a little bit, or place gear further in the crack. On the plus side any fall would be clean since there is a few hundred feet of free air below you.

 

Pitch 3- Short easy pitch. You should continue past the tree and around the corner to the base of the slab pitch and belay off a gear anchor because it makes the slab pitch way easier than trying to belay from the ledge around the corner.

 

Pitch 4- Hope you like runout slab, because here it is. The protection (when you have it) is solid, but it is pretty spread out. Route finding is easy, just follow the path on the rock that is not covered in lichen. The final move is a committing step across to get from the slab to a large crack with a tiny tree growing. The crack has great positive holds on the near edge, but you have to suck it up and reach for it even though your last pro is 10-15 ft below you. Climb as high as you can and make the step. Not too hard honestly, but that depends on your comfort on slab.

 

Pitch 5- The bear hug pitch- I recommend not leading this pitch because it is pretty funny to watch your leader hump his way up the twin cracks. I actually never touched the left crack and did a lie back on the right crack that was easy, but placing pro this way might have been tricky. DO NOT END THIS PITCH AT THE TOP OF THE TWIN CRACKS. Keep climbing easy terrain until you see a face with a bolt above you.

 

Rest of the climb- The rest is easy. Do not bother with the rappel from the rabbit ears, instead traverse around to the right (shorter but slightly harder and exposed) or left (class 2/3 but longer and very bad rope drag) of the big block to get to the gully and final cracks to the summit.

Descended via the south arête route

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

NEWS- Minimal rack. Need more draws than pro because of all the fixed pins on pitch 2. BD Cams .3-3 and a set of nuts.

 

SEWS- BD Cams .3-5 and a set of nuts. Used the #5 once. See Pitch 2 above. Could have made it without it but not for the faint of heart

 

Approach Notes:

Follow the trail to Blue Lake, climbers trail to the left in the second clearing and follow it all the way up until the very obvious fork in the trail and go right. Honestly just hike towards NEWS and SEWS, it is not hard to find

Edited August 7, 2012 by Devin27

[spotly]

Nice pictures and a good description of the route up NEWS. "Take the easier left gully, as the right does not have good pro and takes some committing moves. Continue working up and left over easy terrain. Do not go straight up or right unless you want to deal with offwidth pain." Brother, you go that right. My partner led that in tennis shoes because his toe was hurting. We thought we'd finished off the harder moves until he went right. He spent a looong time on that off-width, skating and shaking and with one piece 10' or more below him said "I think I'm going to take a break here." LOL. We put on quite a show for the peeps on top of SEWS. Good times.