[TR] Burgundy and Chianti - NF and Rebel Yell 6/29/2013

[Val Zephyr]

Trip: Burgundy and Chianti - NF and Rebel Yell

 

Date: 6/29/2013

 

Trip Report:

Nate and I spent two nights up at Burgundy col, climbing both Burgundy Spire’s north face and the East face of Chianti Spire (aka Rebel Yell).

 

This trip actually began at the end of last summer. I was feeling pretty good on steep rock and wanted to have the lead of the crux Rebel Yell pitch, this gave Nate the exposed blind-step-around 5.8 slab pitch. We’ve learned a few things since then; I’m not very comfortable leading offwidths and Nate hates slabs. In short, this trip didn’t go. So, a few months later we returned with a better strategy; I’ll lead stuff that I’m good at and Nate will take the pitches that he’s good at. Kind of a no-brainer eh?

 

We left Seattle at 5:30am, were hiking by just after 9am and arrived at the col at 1pm. With lots of daylight, we went straight for the NF of Burgundy. We were quite surprised by the relatively poor rock quality lower on the route, we also didn’t have a great description of the route nor an appreciation for just how long it was (it was supposed to be our warm-up after all..). All in all, it just cost us more time than we had expected, but no big deal. The upper pitches after the westward traverse were quite nice and on good rock. There are many options here and we weren’t quite sure what was best. We ran into a couple fellow CC.com’ers on their way down from the route and they gave us a look at a perfect topo from the area that they’d copied out of the new Washington Pass climbing guide (we are both planning to purchase this guide now). Thanks! Armed with more solid information, we chose just about the silliest routes up the final piece of rock. We avoided the 5.8 corner to the right, labeled “awesome” on the topo. Instead, Nate having an odd attraction to wide cracks attempted the 5.10 chimney, finding seepage up higher forcing him to bail off a nut and a slung chockstone. I have an even stranger attraction to slab every once in a while and went for the 5.8 slab labeled “scary” on the topo. Yeah, we are both odd ducks; luckily both of these characteristics would come in handy for Rebel Yell the following day. After the 5.8 slab we finished with a nice handcrack to another offwidth.

 

We slept in at the col the following morning. The weather wasn’t sure what it was going to do yet (there was a 30% chance of thunder storms) and we were tired from our previous day. Finally, we wandered over to the east face of Chianti Spire and after some shenanigans in order to get us on the route and our stuff safely on a rock near the final rappel , we were ready to climb. The snow was a lot higher than it had been late season last year, so the 1st pitch started way up right at the 5.8 crux, a little interesting in wet rock shoes. The rest of the pitch is mellow and fun. Nate, of course, got the 5.9 offwidth next. It’s a mix of delicate face climbing and real throw-your-hip-and-shoulder-in-the-crack offwidth climbing. I took the next two pitches; a 5.7 followed by an exciting, exposed 5.8 slab. We had to wait just before the 5.8 slab pitch as the weather once again needed to decide if we’d get rained out or be spared for another pitch. Heavy rains passed us by just to the northeast, but we only felt a few drops, onward! I pulled through the blind corner on the slab only to find a huge loose chockstone that had been slung! Nate took the next two pitches, which included the crux and endless #4 camalot cracks. We each took a turn climbing to the tiny summit of Chianti. What a cool little summit! It was such a treat to pull off two of these climbs in two days after being shut down last season.

 

Lower down on the NF of Burgundy:

 

 

 

Higher on Burgundy, Nate goes for the chimney:

 

I go for the slab:

 

Nate finishes to the top with an offwidth:

 

Approaching Chianti:

 

Drying out my rock shoes before tackling the first pitch:

 

Top of the 2nd pitch:

 

 

Nate makes the blind move around the corner:

 

How Nate feels about slab:

 

Nate starting out on the crux pitch:

 

How Nate feels about offwidth:

 

I tackle the 5.10a offwidth at the top of the crux pitch:

 

The final climb to the top:

 

Camp life at Burgundy col:

Finding creative ways to conserve fuel:

 

Goaty visits camp.... and then never leaves:

 

Gear Notes:

Doubles from 0.5- #4 camalot

Double ropes to rappel from Chianti

Edited July 2, 2013 by Val Zephyr

[Nate J]

Thanks for posting Val. good trip this weekend.

 

[genepires]

nice to meet you guys even if it was brief. are you saying you lead the scary slab after the chimney attempt? sweet!

[mthorman]

Awesome TR guys! Looks like it was a great trip!

[BirdDog]

nice to meet you guys even if it was brief. are you saying you lead the scary slab after the chimney attempt? sweet!

 

Gene, were you up there Sunday? We were on Paisano, didn't see anyone else except for the pair at Bench Camp that did Silverstar.

 

Nice TR Val. We scanned NF Burgundy but didn't see anyone. If you're into scary slabs do WR Paisano, the last three moves on the last pitch are pretty wild; thankfully we had double .00's.

[Val Zephyr]

Gene, nice meeting you up there. I think that the chimney might be unfinished business for Nate now. How was the Paisano-Burgundy link-up? That might be a good return trip idea.

[spionin]

sweet! you really banged those two out quickly!

that friction slab/crap felt so desperate to me, major props on sending it, val!

also, i agree about the lower portion of burgundy - the rock is quite rough and has excellent friction, but many of the flakes feel totally hollow and unstable. the route feels cruiser at times, but has you second-guessing half the holds because of their fragility.

 

looks like you had a stellar weekend!

[genepires]

we were on paisano friday. (cough cough) sick day (cough cough)