[TR] Le Petit Cheval, Goat Wall - West Face, Spontaneity Arete, Prime Rib 5/4/2013

[Ryan Hoover]

Trip: NEWS, Le Petit Cheval, Goat Wall - West Face, Spontaneity Arete, Prime Rib

 

Date: 5/4/2013

 

Trip Report:

 

 

After missing the last mid week weather window, it was time to make it up to Washington Pass. The plan to be was:

 

Saturday - Spontaneity Arete followed by Paul Revere on La Petit

 

Actual - Spontaneity followed by Prime Rib (No Pics)

 

Sunday - West Face Direct of SEWS

 

Actual - West Face of NEWS

 

 

Left Arlington about 4:15 Saturday and headed to the pass. Parked at milepost 165 and started up. I'm not sure if we took the easiest approach, but we went right of the waterfall under the obvious objective.

 

 

After a few tree hopping shenanigans, we were at the base of the ridge. From here we simul'd to the notch where the ridge starts to get steeper. Not realizing the toughest ground lay behind us, we ran two 70 meter stretchers, unroped and finished the last bit to top. We found this to be a super enjoyable route, especially in boots...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ended up rappelling the route to stick off the snow as much as possible, the thunder of slides all day did not inspire confidence. This act took longer than the climb... Our thought was to then rappel from the notch to the base of the NW Face, traverse over and climb Paul Revere. After eyeing what was left and our watches, we opted for some cragging down in town.

 

I've heard of Prime Rib for awhile now, and it has been on my list. So we decided to give it a quick go. We ran it to the last pitch, simul-climbing as much as drag would allow, and decided to bail and save daylight, we left the lamps in the car. That, and the route was uneventful and the thought of arriving in town too late to buy beer was not an option! Do not bring your good rock shoes, this climb involves a lot of walking.

 

After running into Larry Goldie at Goats Beard Mountain Supplies, we decided to change up our route on Sunday to the West Face of NEWS instead of The West Face Direct Start on SEWS, per his recommendation with current conditions.

 

 

 

For some reason, we decided against snow shoes on the approach. Stupid choice. We post holed our way to the base to the spire and noticed the chimney was filled with snow. Oh well. We threw the boots in the pack and headed up.

 

We ended up bypassing the chimney with a fun crack just right of it. Jacob set up a belay at the top, but the fun didn't end there, some thigh deep powder protected us from the next wall. Then to top that off, the undercling traverse was wet and dripping! We were able to link from the top of the chimney to the base of the crux.

 

 

Icy Chimney

 

Rock Shoe Snow Slog

 

 

 

 

From there we were greeted with fantastic dry climbing to the top (minus the 5.6 crack)! We easily followed the bolted rap stations down the soaking wet couloir.

 

 

 

 

 

A great way to kick off the season! Oh, and thanks Jacob for carry the pack through the hard stuff! :-)

Edited May 7, 2013 by Ryan Hoover

[Jacob Smith]

Yeah, carrying the pack allows me to tell myself that i would have sent without it - a foolish delusion.

[Good2Go]

How'd you end up so far to the right of the crack on the W face of NEWS and did you make it work? That crux is a beast for fat fingered (and bodied) individuals such as myself!

[Ryan Hoover]

That's not the crux pitch, he's right before where you top out. I just ran a super long pitch from the base of the crux to there and wasn't sure I could run it to the top. The slab finish up left was dripping water, so we just switched cracks.