[TR] Cutthroat Peak - North Ridge 8/9/2012

[Leland]

Trip: Cutthroat Peak - North Ridge

 

Date: 8/9/2012

 

Trip Report:

Looking for good moderate climbing, solitude, a place to sweat out a hangover, and something with some of that adventurous element of the unknown, we headed for the North Ridge of Cutthroat Peak.

 

(Cutthroat Peak viewed from the west side. The Route follows the left skyline starting near the distinct notch.)

 

Cutthroat sees a bit of action, but not so much on this route from the approach we took (at least if the paucity of TRs for this route is any indication). And we thought the route description for a climb this rad could use a little fleshing out. And I am a middle school teacher with a bit of time on my hands for a couple more weeks and am trying not to stick my head in the goddamn oven as my vacation dwindles so I thought I would spend all fucking day trying to format a TR.

 

Anyways Beckey suggests two approaches: branching off from the usual approach to the south side of the peak from hwy 20 below Washington Pass, or by taking the PCT north from Rainy Pass then going cross-country into the basin on the west side of the peak. From JasonG’s TR several years ago it sounded like the PCT approach might be better so we gave it a try. THIS IS DEFINITELY THE WAY TO GO! In a range notorious for hellacious schwacking this approach was pretty nice. Hike the PCT about 1 mile north from the Rainy Pass TH to the first creek crossing. Cross to the north side of the first creek and immediately head up into the woods and stash some tallboys in the coldass creek. If you didn’t bring trekking poles find yourself a good walking stick to poke your buddy’s butt with. Make an ascending traverse along the creek, bearing gradually away from the creek as brushier areas necessitate – basically head up into the drainage following the path of least resistance. Only stupid retard people would try this on the talus-y south side of the drainage.You will start crossing nice meadows and the way becomes more apparent – just don’t go too high or you will be slowed down by rocky stuff. The woods and meadows are surprisingly easy to cruise through.

 

 

 

As you approach 6100 feet, contour back to the creek to check out a sweet meadow, then you’re in the clear on steeper talus and heather to the base of the climb. The approach took us about 2 hours. The feeling of being a little more “out there” in this west basin definitely added nicely to the alpine element of the climb without a painful price.

 

(Looking down on the west basin. The approach follows the broken woods and meadows into talus and heather along the right side of the basin.)

 

Beckey very descriptively says to get on the rock and head for the north ridge “well south of the notch between the main and north peaks” or something vague like that. The pics below show my blurry finger pointing at the spot we got on the rock, and my partner standing by that spot viewed from up towards the notch.

 

 

 

We headed to the lowest tree and roped up, traversed right about 20 feet above a big detached boulder, made an awkward move with a little exposure, then scrambled straight up to the ridge crest.

 

(Coming up our first pitch towards the ridge crest.)

 

There are probably a few different easier and harder ways to gain the ridge down around to climber’s right a bit, but definitely not up into the chossy notch to climber’s left. The notch is only a good place for snapping a pic, kicking a rock down on your buddy, and farting.

 

The rest of the route stays pretty much on the ridge crest on mostly great rock. It is basically a series of steps punctuated by nice scrambling. A team well-versed in simulclimbing would cruise up this at a good clip – we broke it into 6 pitches including the one to gain the ridge, each starting at the base of a step. The money pitch is a nice corner crack (could be bypassed for those who dislike fun rock) to a bench, followed by a sloping offwidth.

 

(Following the corner crack.)

 

(Topping out on the sloping offwidth. Just now noticing that my partner was flipping me off for no good reason. Sometimes he is a real dick.)

 

Another pitch with a couple little friction slabs reaches the false summit.

 

(Leading the protectable slab.)

 

Scramble down to and across the saddle, then one more mellow pitch to just below the summit.

 

(Looking back at the false summit and saddle.)

 

(Looking across the saddle from the false summt to the final pitch.)

 

Toughest moves probably 5.6ish. Fun climbing on great rock the whole way!

 

Several obvious rappel stations (slingable blocks) are passed along the route. We did 5 single rope rappels interspersed with downclimbing. The route took us several hours, but a quicker team could probably do it in about 3-4 hours. The entire outing was an intimate and romantic all-day trip and we kind of wanted to makeout after our creek beers but we didn’t. Except for at the trailhead we didn’t see another soul all day but nothing weird happened between us when we were changing out of our sweaty clothes, really.

 

Gear Notes:

Gear: 60m rope; we brought way too much pro – a lighter rack with a handful of medium-to-big stoppers (BD #9-13) and hexes (BD #9-11), and cams (BD #.5 – 2) would do it; lots of long slings.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

(Cutthroat Peak viewed from the west side. The Route follows the left skyline starting near the distinct notch.)

 

Cool TR!

 

When you say notch, do you mean on the far left side of the ridge (left of the snow patch, and up, almost to the edge of the pic)?

[Tyson.g]

Looks great.

A nice read as well.

Thanks.

[Leland]

Yeah, the notch is the little v-shaped spot at lowest spot on the far left.

[curtveld]

Rediscovering a quality multi-pitch 5.6 route within a few hours of the pavement. Now that deserves a

 

 

[JasonG]

Perfecto! I found the route fun as well, and am glad that our TR may have helped steer you in the right direction. That notch is not very friendly- We felt that we wimped out by dropping down, but sounds like others agree that it looks pretty sketch to start on the crest.

 

It is certainly a great moderate route, and easy to find solitude on a busy weekend. Glad to hear that the PCT approach is recommended. I will have to go back and try it that way.

[Leland]

I went up to the notch to look down the side you came up - not a pretty pitch! Looked like some ballsy loose climbing on that side. But I think at some point on the ridge we quoted your "This is more like it!". We will definitely be repeating this one!