[TR] Chianti Spire - East Face - Rebel Yell 7/27/2013

[BootsandPants]

Trip: Chianti Spire - East Face - Rebel Yell

 

Date: 7/27/2013

 

Trip Report:

After spending a week and a half in Squamish, I'm playing catch up with the TRs. This one is written by my partner, but since he only lurks on CC.com, I figured I'd post it. Funny stuff, and a great climb with a great friend. Get on it!

 

 

 

Nash and I checked the weather forecast and again saw the usual thunderstorm warning for summit day. In light of this, we decided to opt out of the standard overnight alpine weekend and instead go cragging for a day at Washington Pass (yeah I said it, it’s a crag). With the Boealps 50 summits for 50 years celebration happening that weekend, we decided to eschew route quality over summit pose badass factor, and Chianti Spire is the most badass of all places to pose atop a summit in the Pacific Northwest. Having thrown down 2 different fist jams, 1 chicken wing and a full on knee bar this one time (on different routes no less!), I figured I was well equipped to handle the sustained off-width climbing on Rebel Yell (5.10b). Nash had been complaining about wanting to lose a little weight, so I assumed he had the squeeze chimney covered.

 

With plenty of quality route beta available to us, both online and in print, we intently studied other teams trip reports and pictures and made sure we had a game plan for the summit poses. We discussed who would take the over, the under, to wear collared shirts or not, proper background lighting, and the limiting factor of only fitting one person on the summit block at a time. We finally settled on both doing an under and an over arms flex, taking enough pictures to kill the camera batteries dead, and photo-shopping the living crap out whatever came out best. Oh, and we took 2 ropes for the rappels, and doubles to 4” with a single 5 based on a passing conversation with some old guy who’d been up the route back in the day.

 

With a dirtbag approach in mind, we rolled out Friday night and set up the Caddy-Shack at the Blue Lake climbers bivouac alongside a host of other cheapskate craggers. Despite our attempts to keep a low profile, we were soon spotted and harassed in our tent by good friends and trash-talkers Jeremy and Rose. They banged on the tent and let us know we were gonna be in way over heads while they were planning on strolling up several routes on NEWS. “Rebel Yell in a day huh”, asked Rose, “That’s a long approach. When was the last time you guys even went for so much as a hike?” “For sure, and no crampons huh?”, chimed in Jeremy, “I had some friends try that a few weeks ago. They were forced to turn back and never heard from again.” Thanks. After chasing them away, we tried to get some rest with fresh doubts in our minds and were promptly woken up at 430am by the deep sustained booming noises of someone packing up and getting into their Prius. Ironic that a car which can drive as quiet as summer breeze has doors and a trunk that can play the 1812 Overture. Moments later Jeremy came over and asked why we were sleeping in? *grumble grumble*

 

A #5 means "hardcore": gumbys on parade

 

Despite our “leisurely” start time, we were still at the trailhead by 530 and hiking up to Burgundy Col in the cool shade. The mountain decided to give a chossy welcome and I blew out of a pile of loose rocks heading down to the creek, butt slid for 10 feet and raked the outside of my ankle nicely. This seemed like a fantastic way to start of day of wide climbing. We hit the Col 3 hours later and after a short break we crossed to the east side and were greeted with sun and reasonably soft snow. We proceeded to step kick it over to the base of the climb and were geared up and on route at 10. I drew the first pitch and led up flakes and handcracks to a nice ledge, which would soon provide a good view of the squeeze chimney entertainment. After handing Nash the #5 and a flashing a grin, I settled into the role of belay gun and made sure my camera was nearby. Soon he was channeling the great Admiral Akbar and roared, “It’s a TRAP!!”, proceeded to deploy the boat anchor/umbrella and dove on in. Off widths are proof of the old adage that “necessity is the mother of invention” as Nash proceeded to craft up a technique referred to as the “Bump-n-Grind”, whereby he would push the #5 out front as far as possible (a few inches) and then drag upward whichever part of his body was least stuck. Lather, rinse, repeat until at belay. After cheating and using the face holds to stay out of the trap, I led the easy pitch 3 to another comfy belay and sent my partner over the blind arête. He warned me that the first thing you see on the other side is a slung boulder that feels like it would only take a tic-tac to send it flying. The urge to trundle was nearly overwhelming, but with a party below us coming up the alternate left side start this seemed poor form so there it remains (probably).

 

Cool exposure on this climb (ignore the accidental tilt)

 

At this point we began the money climbing up the headwall crack. It starts out thin and technical and slowly turns to a burly off-fist splitter that could eat every #4 cam you can carry. What we lacked in off-width technique, experience, style or grace, we made up for with sweat, grunts, curses and extremely high levels of gumption. I led the handcrack up to a bolt on a ledge that I mistakenly thought was the belay station. After bringing Nash up I tried to stoke him up for the beginning of the fist crack, “Wow! Splitter!! Looks awesome!!! Wish this was my pitch…..”, I said. With a raised eyebrow and doubts about my sanity/integrity, Nash clenched up the fists and proceeded to get a little thuggish with the crack above. For the next 40’ I cheered him on and offered great advice like, “Hey dude, you’re stepping on the rope. That’s cheating.” Once at the correct belay, he brought me up and we proceeded to play the role of gentlemen and continually offer the next lead up. I felt bad for cutting short his previous lead, and he insisted that I “Get in on the fun”. Eventually his insistence (and the fact that the rope was already flaked) won out, the couple behind us were getting near and so up I went (a little). I soon was enjoying the thug life and working my way up a precious few inches at a time. After a generous amount of grunting and shuffling and generally scrumming with the rock, I was asked, “What’s going on up there?” Politely I replied, “Can’t you tell? I am f—king SENDING this thing! What the f—k does it look like?!?!” Confused, Nash replied, “I don’t know but it sounds like you’re passing a kidney stone.”, to which I had no reply.

 

Sasha getting his wide on

 

A few shuffles more brought me to the ledge above and an even wider crack around the corner. Grateful to deposit the #5 for someone to clean, I placed that and moved to the final ledge above and enjoyed the rope drag and runout to the summit area. A strenuous lead can do funny things to your ability to use logic, and upon reaching the other side I saw a girl climb atop a nearby block and was very confused. Wondering if she was from the team below us and exactly how long I’d been in that crack such that I had been passed, I dejectedly asked her if that was the true summit. She smirked and said, “I think you’re on a different peak dude. That drop between us is pretty deep.” When I looked down I realized she was correct and indeed Burgundy Peak is a mere slack-line away from Chianti. Rejoicing in the fact that I was not lost (for once) and did not get passed by the party behind while stuck in a off width crack (Hall of Shame maneuver), I slung the first boulder I saw and brought up my partner to discover that his phone was rocking “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore! STOKE! After many fist bumps and grins, we followed through with our plans to act like tough guys on the summit block and took some Facebook profile worthy shots.

 

After a nice rest and more fist bumps (an incredibly common occurrence), we did the 4 quick double rappels and were back to our gear at the base of the route and the Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies waiting. Yeah, tough guys like their summit treats too. Packing up and returning to the cars we made it back in about 14 hours total from when we started. We even had time to get to Winthrop and made an attempt to clean the Mexican restaurant out of Dr. Pepper, chips and salsa! Came close. All in all a great day out in the mountains and a ton of fun. Get on it!

 

Route on the descent

 

COLLAREDSHIRTSOVERUNDERSUMMITSTOKE

 

Gear Notes:

Chocks, blue MC size to BD 5, doubles .5-4. #5 probably not needed, but it was sure nice to have for P2 and P6. Definitely 2x #4s.

 

Double ropes for the raps

 

Approach Notes:

You know the drill. Over the river and through the woods and up chossy gullies we go.

[ivan]

get'yer'yell'on!

[video:youtube]

[Woodcutter]

Great write-up.

I've been chuckling about the 'trap' all day long.