[TR] North Early Winter Spire - S Face / SW Face / Chockstone Route 8/26/2012

cookiejar · August 28, 2012

Trip: North Early Winter Spire - S Face / SW Face / Chockstone Route

Date: 8/26/2012

Trip Report:

Rough timeline:

6:15: Leave parking lot

8:30: First rope leaves ground

11:15: First team summits

12:20: 4th team summits

12:30: Start rappelling

13:25: All teams back to base

15:10: Back to parking lot

Make sure you check out the topo from Supertopo. It's much better than summitpost. However we found that the 5th pitch is longer than 50'.

We found 5 fixed pins on the crux pitch plus a bolt. Yinan led it and I followed. Since the crux is a traverse and downclimb, it's almost as hard if not harder to follow than to lead. I set up a handline for the following teams and had the strongest climber of the group to sweep and remove it. I used a 20ft cordlette and fixed it to a piton, the bolt, and a #1 cam in the crack above.

On the last runout chimney pitch, I moved onto the face rather than the OW. It didn't feel as hard as 5.6 but I was running out wildly and it was a committing move to get onto the face. I found a fixed pin about 1/3 way up the pitch. It's rusty and hard to spot. I ran out the rest and placed a tiny nut on the face after leaving the chimney. You can probably find some sketchy psychological placements.

Gear note: Small cams can be useful (I used a yellow Metolius). Bring 6-8 slings including a couple of doubles. Don't bring any big pieces. A single rack up to 1" is more than sufficient. Yinan and I placed about a handful of pieces for the whole route.

Descent note: from the summit, do not use the rap slings on a tree as summitpost suggests. Keep going west to a pair of bolts and do 3 30m rappels to the gully. The second one is almost longer than 30 meters and you need to stretch the rope a little to reach the next set of bolts. On the second rappel, you will see 2 gullies below you. Go to the (skier's) left one. This way, you can avoid using tree anchors and double rope rappels.

Pitch numbers in the following description and pictures are all references to SuperTopo.

Pitch 1: 5.0-5.5, 25 feet. The goal of pitch one is to climb into the 3rd class gully below the giant chock stone. Starting directly under the 3rd class gully is probably the easiest (4th class to 5.0). One can also start just left of the gully up low angle slabs which probably provides a slightly more challenging option.

Pitch 2: 3rd class, 150 feet. Scramble the sandy gully to the base of the giant chock stone.

Pitch 3: 5.7, 80 feet. From your belay below the chock stone, move left and up easy (c. 5.5) ledges. If you're on the correct ledge, you should see two pitons pounded into a seam. Move left on this ledge (c. 15 feet) and pick up a vertical corner/crack. You'll find 2 fixed pins in this crack, one before a strenuous 5.7 layback move and one after. Move up this feature for about 20 - 30 feet until you're roughly level with the top of the chock stone. Clip a bolt on the face and move up (smearing move) to a slopy ledge and traverse to the right (1-2" crack above you for hand). Then dismount from the ledge (about 8 feet above top of chock stone) onto the chock stone. Belay from the rap bolts atop the giant chock stone.

Pitch 4: c. 5.4, 60 feet. Walk up the gully (unexposed class 3 but dirty!) until you're about 20 or 30 feet below the upper chock stone and belay here. Your goal here is to top out on this upper chock stone from the left side. Move up the somewhat runout (but easy) steps to the left (and starting below) of the upper chock stone on some blocky golden rocks. About 30 feet above the ground, look up for slings on a pair of bolts. Climb to the left of the bolts and traverse 10' below them. Belay here. You are now almost level with or slightly higher than the chockstone.

Pitch 5: c. 5.0, 100 feet. Do a rising traverse (3rd class) to the right till you are directly above the chockstone and go straight up (4th class or 5.0). Look for slings around a rock horn. Belay here or keep going for another 15' to some small trees. If you are climbing in the morning, this is probably the first time you'll be in the sun. Now you are on the S face of NEWS.

Pitch 6: c. 5.4 - 5.6, 160 feet. Head up the chimney (c. 5.4) to the left of a huge overhang. At some point you have an option - continue up the chimney into what looks like an off-width (this might be the 5.6 off-width Becky mentions) or move left (5.6 mantle move) onto a face then an adjacent gully. Either way, you top out on the summit slabs just west of the highpoint. From here it's a 100 foot walk (exposed in places) to the true summit.

References:

• Supertopo

• http://www.summitpost.org/south-face/159186

• http://chossclimbers.com/?page_id=6876

• http://ajtrekker08.blogspot.com/2011/08/north-early-winter-spire-south-face.html

• http://cascadeclimbers.com/trip-reports/alpine/news-and-sews-south-face--57--and-sw-rib--58--7-28-2012-6476/

• http://www.ncmountainguides.com/permalink.asp?id=465