[TR] Mt. Stuart - Gorillas in the Mist 8/4/2012

[Winter]

Trip: Mt. Stuart - Gorillas in the Mist

 

Date: 8/4/2012

 

Trip Report:

Jaime Bohle and I climbed Gorillas a few weeks ago, and I've been on the road since then but wanted to chime in with my two cents and a little bit of beta. First things first, major props to the FA team on a stout route that was put up under less then ideal conditions. I'm sure that a lot of the climbing involved difficult route finding, tedious pro placements and somewhat sketchy rock in a wild setting - an impressive effort.

 

I also have to add that I got my ass handed to me. Apart from generally being soft and weak, I just felt off after having come back from a 10+ day binge of eating, drinking and hanging with family back on the east coast. The spanking that I took initially colored my opinion of the route, but, as typically happens, I tend to see things through rose colored glasses after a week or two of time to reflect on the climb.

 

Having said all that, my initial take was that the route is far more adventurous, with more loose rock, and generally less aesthetic than some of the other newer routes in the range. Having just climbed Acid Baby a few weeks earlier, I thought Gorillas had a more difficult crux but generally less appealing climbing on a less aesthetic line. But, the West Stuart Wall is wild and adventurous, and the direct finish, which we did not do, looks like an excellent line. Now, with a few weeks of distance from the climb, I kind of want to go back - maybe.

 

Pitch 1

 

 

Good morning! Tough 11- lead off the deck with a stout crux.

 

 

Pitch 2 - The start of the two hanging corners.

 

 

This pitch was pretty cool with a bit of loose rock in the corners. The end of the pitch is a bit messed up with potential for major drag, so think about managing the rope. The last few moves to the anchor are insecure and heads up but not especially difficult.

 

Pitch 3 - The Jungle Traverse

 

 

This thing must have been a beast to clean on the FA, because the rock that is left is still surrounded by a lot of lichen and blocks that look loose but are generally pretty sound after a few ascents. With the pitch cleaned up, it really climbs more like 5.10 than 5.10+ and protects fairly well - a fun and airy traverse on some funky rock.

 

Pitch 4 - The "Yosemite" V-Slot.

 

 

This is where things went bad for me. I started left off the belay instead of heading straight up and then blew a foot backing down and took a fall onto a yellow alien. From there, I eventually made my way up to and through the VSlot on ok but not great rock and then had some awful rope drag for the arete/inverted v that finishes the pitch. But I managed to build an anchor on a small ledge just above and to the right of the arete, which was above and to the climber's left of a two-bolt anchor and larger ledge. (Note - this rock will not remind you of Yosemite.)

 

That's pretty much the last of the photos we got (all photos by Bohle - I busted my camera on pitch 1). I remember thinking pitch 5 was pretty cool until I pulled off a loose block. The move onto the ledge is really weird on rock with a serious lichen problem. The traverse was interesting - not sure we went far enough but we managed to find our way to the top from there. I don't think we ended up in the nice right facing corner, but we did catch the short 20 ft. hand crack right before the ridge crest.

 

We walked down the West Ridge, which neither of us had climbed before, so we had to poke around a bit to find the notch that led into the correct gully. But once we found it, we were back at the packs in no time. I can't imagine rapping the route would be worth it, because it's a long and potentially complicated descent that will deposit you below your gear when you could walk right back to the packs at the pass.

 

On the positive side, the West Stuart Wall is pretty big and the route offers some challenging climbing and route finding in a wild setting. On the down side, some of the rock is suspect, the route wanders a lot and doesn't take a really natural line, and the top out is kind of ho hum unless you switch gears into the West Ridge and summit. I'm sure the direct finish adds a lot of value, so maybe I'll have to go back and check it out.

 

Gear Notes:

1 set of nuts, 1 set of c3s/aliens, 2 sets of cams to #3, 1 #4

 

10-12 slings with 2-3 double length runners

 

Approach Notes:

Simple

[Sol]

Nice.

 

Just when we were about to downgrade the first pitch to 10+, it sounds like it's been holding it's grade. Reports last week of a whipper on the monkey traverse..

 

If you thought that rock was dirty and loose, I would stay far away from the direct. She's quite virgin compared to OG gorillas (that stone is bomber..) Still unrepeated..

 

I think the beauty of the line on GITM is that it weaves a moderate path up such a steep intimidating wall. The exposure at the top of the first few pitches is wild.

[pink]

sweet

 

[Winter]

A whipper on the traverse? Sounds like a good story. The last few moves in that wide horizontal are pretty interesting.

[ryanl]

Not much of a story, from my end at least. I'm sure my partner had a better perspective .

 

I'd short pitched us by mistake on P2 and was belaying out of sight when my partner set off on the traverse. He set a purple BD before getting to the business. I was sitting with a bit of slack between me and my anchor. I heard him yell something between a call to god and a warning to me before an AWESOME howl filled the air. I quickly hopped on my butt to tension my anchor and braced for the inevitable. I caught most of the fall with my stance. Partner filled the air with talk and shouts to himself while I tried to figure out if he was OK. He kept yelling for me to lower, which I finally did. At which point he confirmed that he was fine. He set up an anchor and I climbed up to where he waited for me with a huge grin on his face Holy crap!! He'd fallen from a good 10' out on the traverse and had pendulumed out across the arete that bordered us on the left and into-- for all practical purposes-- bottomless space. Upside down, apparently. Would have been spectacular to see. He said he'd been pulling up rope to clip when he whipped, which added distance. Up until then the day had been about as smooth as a bathtub full of broken glass, so we decided to cut our losses. I climbed up to retrieve our gear before we turned tail.

 

Having had an enticing three pitch taste, I'd have to agree that the appeal lies in the combination of adventure, technical challenge, quality of climbing, and setting. Sort of like a 5.10+ version of the North North Arete in squamish. No scratch that. This thing compares only to itself. I'd head back tomorrow if I didn't have to work. It's a great route. And a spectacular first ascent, especially in light of the conditions at the time.

[Winter]

That's a pretty good story. Glad it turned out ok for you guys.

[layton]

I'd still like to know if this line follows the line mark allen and i attempted, and if so, where it deviates. Did you see the old stamped bolts?

[Sol]

I'd still like to know if this line follows the line mark allen and i attempted, and if so, where it deviates. Did you see the old stamped bolts?

 

We went left and then right (the monkey traverse) where I think you guys went straight up and bailed. We did see the stamped bolts put up by the Cle Elum climbers on their ground up then top down big wall style attempt, two sets i believe.

[Winter]

Mike, the last bolts we saw were just to the climbers' right of the top of pitch 4 on a ledge above the vslot in the pic above. I couldn't see the stamp, but they looked like the rest. The pic and route overview Blake posted here is prolly your best bet for figgering it out.

 

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/893015/3

[layton]

jesus, i must be getting senile. thanks -

[Verticolorful]

I climbed OG GITM with my buddy Grant less than two weeks ago. We both found the route super fun and quite easy to follow. The rock quality is considerably high for such a long route that has seen so few climbers. This route could be scary for a party not used to such a steep and complex wall in the Stuart Range. And in my opinion the crux is 11a for sure, not 10+ when compared to anything else in the range.

 

I personally loved it so much that i am going back and climbing Gorillas Direct this weekend.