[TR] The Tooth - Northeast Slab 1/26/2014

[GerritD]

Trip: The Tooth - Northeast Slab

 

Date: 1/26/2014

 

Trip Report:

I climbed the Northeast Slab of the Tooth this Yesterday with DPS and Adam. As usual DPS impressed by leading in conditions I was scared out of my mind to follow. He said he has attempted unsuccessfully three times on route and has never seen it in such good condition. This being my first winter learning to climb ice I have no idea what really is fat or thin but I will say even as a complete beginner I felt very secure in the ice. There was a little bit of snow on the climb but it could generally be avoided by zig-zaging a small amount through thick thunker ice.

 

We saw a party approaching the south face climb while on route, more on this later.

 

Our route was climbers left of the corner that most descriptions describe. We found the ice to be a bit better although it was steeper. There was many trees to belay from and good screw placements. The rock climbing on top was mostly moderate with one section of steep 5th class rock. I climbed this section in mono-point crampons comfortably but the other two went with no crampons on their boots. It seemed reasonable to do it either way.

 

The weather was amazing and the rock on the ridge-top was a bit warm to the touch. We climbed with bare hands over to the true summit and rappelled the South face's standard rappel route. Being so new to alpine climbing I was very hungry and thirsty and felt fairly sick to my stomach from the constant cycles of adrenaline from terrifying climbing and the sweet sweet relief of the belay. I was very anxious to get the hell off the mountain.

 

While rappelling we heard very alarming sounds of shouting and moaning. It was unmistakable as an injured person. We saw headlamps below in the Great Scott bowl of a party gathered around. We rappelled as quickly as we could safely good as night fell. I reminded myself that the first mistake of a rescue is to not add another victim.

 

We discovered a party of 5 climbers who had summited, but someone had taken a fall or a slide on the way down and was badly hurt. He had a broken leg and shoulder and his face had a smear of blood on his forehead. It looked like he has taken a hit on the head as well but he was conscious and in pain. His group asked if we had a tourniquet because they were having trouble stopping the bleeding in his leg.

 

Thankfully the party was fairly well prepared and had a stove for warm fluids and some extra clothing. I added my parka to the clothing on top of the injured climber and DPS had a short sleeping bad he brought along to insulate under against the snow underneath. The party only had one cell phone which had low battery. Cell phone service was spotty and we were not sure if the instructions were relayed well to the rescuers on the phone. I left my cell phone with the injured party and the three in our team started off toward the trail-head quickly.

 

We arrived at the trail-head to see no less than 30 search and rescue members getting ready to head up. We gave them a description of where the party was but there was no surprise that several of them knew exactly how to get to the tooth.

 

I think with such a rapid response to the injured person he was likely able to get the quick medical attention he needed but as of right now I don't know the true nature of his injuries or how long the rescue took. The Snohomish County Mountain Rescue Facebook posted a picture mentioning a second helicopter dispatch in two days but this is wild speculation on my part to assume they were sent out to this incident (link below). Conditions were pretty icy so it would not surprise me if the rescuers were apprehensive to try and carry the person out on a litter and would prefer to opt for a helicopter hoist. Could anyone with SAR contacts make any comments?

 

I won't be able to upload pics from the climb as they were on the phone I gave to the injured party. I will upload them when I get my phone back. Until then enjoy the good ice climbing in Alpental and let's all hope for a speedy recovery for a fellow climber.

 

 

Gear Notes:

Screws for ice and some slings for trees. We had rock pro and used it on the ridge. We used double 50m ropes for climbing and for the longer rappels but the south face rappel goes fine with a single 60m rope folded over.

 

Approach Notes:

The winter approach to source lake is passable in boots but is fairly bony compared to most years. Skiing is possibly the same speed or slower than boots.

[CascadeClimber]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Seattle-Mountain-Rescue/212114235514681

[GerritD]

Looks like they did spend a night out but the rescue went off fine. The fact that they had a stove was interesting because we climbed the tooth in winter without a stove and I never would have thought people would commonly do that.

[ivan]

The fact that they had a stove was interesting because we climbed the tooth in winter without a stove and I never would have thought people would commonly do that.

how you gonna send, playa, if'n you got no fresh latte flowing through yer system?!?