trees4me Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Trip: Chair Peak - West (or NW) Ridge Date: 9/14/2012 Trip Report: We got skunked last weekend trying to cram a 2 day trip into 1 day. Since the weather continues to be fantastic for climbing, Ryan and I took Friday off to grab one last alpine rock climb for the season. There was no way we were letting a failure linger through the winter! We're both pretty new to rock, so we haven't done much in the area. At this point in the season we wanted a test to prove that we'd made some improvement. After going through the long to-do list the West Ridge of Chair Peak was selected. The reported grade III and class 5.7 climbing was going to be a challenge for us, but we were up for a test. In all, the climb went very well. The beta in Martin's report and in this blog post were good and easy to follow. We ended up doing 6 belayed pitches, with a bit of scrambling to the summit. looking up the chimney/gully at mostly solid rock looking down at the chimney/gully from the ridge Chockstone chimney, fun face climbing above A cool exposed belay at a horn. Our pitch 3/4 just below headwall step. Exposed but easy ridge travel We had two small variations (or misreadings) with the beta: 1) we started with a nice easy ledge pitch by taking climbers right of the main chimney/gully reported as the start. This allowed us to belay from the top of this ramp in a spot protected from rockfall, and reach the ridge in a single 50-55m pitch (our pitch 2). 2) At the "headwall" (a 10-ft high wall) we just went right over the top and stayed on the ridge. I looked around for pro, and found a loose horn on the right that didn't look good, but further right found a upward flaring pocket that somehow held a pink tri-cam. This offered a small amount of protection, but mostly just piece of mind for mantling over the headwall. Once over the headwall the climbing eases, but remains exposed. We avoid simul-climbing (as it's just not a technique we're good with yet), so we scrambled some and belayed 2 more pitches. Not sure if I'd call it 5.7, definitely 5.6. The face climbing along the ridge and going over the headwall step was really cool on good rock. Overall, it was a fun climb and we were stoked to get back in to NBBG for celebratory beers! more pics if you're into that Gear Notes: Don't take crampons and ice ax, we did and it was only good for impressing the sorority girls on the snow lake trail... Gear to 2 or 2.5". I mostly placed nuts, with a few larger pieces. 60m single was fine, 50m probably would've worked Approach Notes: NE Buttress, scramble past roped party, 10 min of easy scrambling gets you to the base of the chimney. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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