[TR] North Early Winter Spire - Early Winter's Couloir 4/15/2015

[Nate G]

Trip: North Early Winter Spire - Early Winter's Couloir

 

Date: 4/15/2015

 

Trip Report:

I like to think that most high school seniors sleep in on skip days, but then again I also like to think I'm not a normal high school senior. After getting my parents blessing to skip Wednesday and finding a sub for my work shift we were set, a solid team of three, Steve, Rich, and I.

 

Setting off from the hairpin turn around 7:30 we made quick work of the lower approach slopes that were still frozen solid. 30 minutes later the sun hit us and with it came temps 20 degrees warmer, and we started tossing off layers like it was going out of style. The sun brought softened snow......and wallowing. All told the approach took about 2 and a half hours wading through knee to waist deep powder. A team of three let us switch off who got to punish themselves breaking trail more often.

The first step of the route is a small 10ft AI3 step around the first chockstone. It looked easy and fun until we saw the spindrift coming down that would have sent us flying if we got caught in it. For that reason we roped up for the easy terrain and simul climbed our way up the knee deep snow above. Steve got in a bomber nut and a good picket in the section between the chockstones. Halfway up the couloir we got to the second chockstone which involved a little bit of thin AI3, an easy stem, and an ice chocked crack before we could swing into the neve above. I tied in too close to Rich on our single rope and he was subsequently showered with spindrift while climbing this part. Punchy neve followed most of the way to our belay under the cornice.

Once under the cornice it was decision time. We brought a shovel to burrow through it, along with aid gear if we couldn't. The cornice looked well consolidated with several fracture lines running through it, more than likely it would have taken hours to burrow and wriggle through it with the possibility that it caved off on top of us. So aiding around left was our best option.

 

Rich stepped up to the plate and impressed us with his single alpine aider skills, his second piece blew when he weighted it and scared the ever living shit out of us. When he made it to the lip of the cornice he executed a perfect bellyflop/beached whale dyno onto the cornice, and fixed the rope for us to jug up. I grunted and muscled my way up the line while Steve shed Mr Hanky below the cornice. Jugging overhanging terrain is always that much better when you smell what Steve had been packing up the mountain in his gut! As always Steve made me look like a pansy and effortlessly jugged up on a tibloc and a microtraxtion.

 

The last pitch went at M4 60m with good pro the whole way up, it was my first time on a mixed pitch that long so I felt like bamby on ice towards the end! The top afforded us awesome views of the north cascades and almost no wind. Overall an awesome climb that is deserving of classic status, I'm left wondering why it isn't climbed more often!

 

The descent was easy and all 4 rap anchors are bomber and can be reached with a single 60m. We got back to the car at 7:30 making it a 12hr round trip. We didn't set any speed records but the loose snow slowed us down the whole way. We were greeted by a nice note telling me how horrible I was for taking up too much parking space.....my message to the writer "When you wake up at 3:30 you can have as much parking as you want!"

 

I don't know how much longer it will last with the warm temps, shit was coming down like you read about at the beginning of the day.

 

Rating:WI3, A1, M4

 

 

Gear Notes:

60m single rope, full rack of C3s and C4s up to #3, some small KBs, LAs, a few medium angles, a couple nuts and 4 pickets. Used all C3s for the aid pitch, most C4s, one small KB, one big ass LA, 3 medium nuts and 2 pickets.

Edited April 30, 2015 by Nate G

[bellows]

Sweet, nice job Nate! Looks like a fun climb with a little bit of everything thrown at you.

[wayne]

Nice one. Rumor has it that this route may make it into a new "select" guide.

[DPS]

Nice one. Rumor has it that this route may make it into a new "select" guide.

Deservedly so.

[Nate G]

Nice one. Rumor has it that this route may make it into a new "select" guide.

 

Thanks guys, it was my favorite climb of my so far relatively short climbing career....if that says anything.

 

No reason why it shouldn't be in the next select guide....short approach, awesome views, and a huge variety of climbing.

[brownie]

how did liberty bell look when you were up there?

[Nate G]

how did liberty bell look when you were up there?

 

I haven't climbed it...or even gotten near it. But it looked like there was still a little snow but it is still ass cold in the shade up there. It was 19 degrees when we got there and we were still getting barfies when when we were in the shade....in the sun it was great as long as there was no wind!