[TR] Colfax Peak- Kearney Route 3/6/2005

[dberdinka]

Climb: Colfax Peak-Kearney Route

 

Date of Climb: 3/6/2005

 

Trip Report:

I had finally bought myself a pair of ice tools and wanted to use them, but the warm forecast for the weekend sucked. We figured if we got really high we would still be in for a good time. So we headed to Colfax Peak, which at 9400’ is considerably taller than just about everything in the Cascades.

 

The road was blocked short. So the three of us, Darin, Allen and Larry, left the car at 3000’ and maybe a mile short of the Heliotrope trailhead. No worries, by now it should be all melted out.

 

After carrying our skis up the trail we then carried them up the Hogs Back braving one of the more intense blizzards of the winter.

 

 

Eventually we arrived at the Black Buttes and set up camp around 7200’. It was quickly determined that I had brought the poles for The Other Tent. Really though I blame it on Larry because he was distracting me while packing. Mother is the necessity of Invention, so we made do and soon erected a sagging, squalid little hovel to call home for the night. The three of us did our best to get along in the cramped quarters.

 

 

Freezing rain, snow and wind eventually gave way to clear skies. After a rather depressing night we got moving slowly. Larry was feeling unmotivated as usual and decide to stay behind. This was probably a good thing, as he tends to be a dispiriting influence anytime I’ve tried to climb with him.

 

The Coleman Glacier is going to be seriously messed up sometime soon but for now Allen and I managed to ski and posthole our way up to the base of Colfax Peak. There is a ton of ice on this thing.

 

 

I wanted to throw in a photo of Lincoln Peak as well just because it’s cool looking.

 

 

We climbed the Kearney Route. Not the big obvious iceflow, that’s the Polish Lamb Sausage Route. The Kearney route climbs runnels and ramps connected by the obvious small pillar to the right of that. Skies were still looking good when we got on route around 9 AM. The first pitch was over a full rope length of beautiful alpine ice leading to the base of the crux pillar.

 

 

The crux pillar was short and sweet leading to a good belay off rock gear on the ramp above. The climb was in phenomenal condition; even the low angle sections consisted of alternating water ice and thunker neve. Three long pitches including a lot of simul-climbing led to the summit.

 

 

Of course by now the weather had gone to hell. We descend the East Ridge in a whiteout then a downpour. Wallowing down the glacier, punching legs into deep, dark, mysterious holes, generally enjoying life, we eventually made it back to camp. We were glad to see Larry and he seemed glad to see us. After a meeting to ascertain the safety of continuing our descent in the dusk we packed up and headed out. Complete success was achieved by arriving at the North Fork Beer Shrine before the kitchen closed.

 

This route is really freaking good and accessible. I would hope that if we get some more sensible temps soon it should be in condition for a good long while.

 

 

Gear Notes:

short and long screws

several pickets

sm rock rack to .75"

 

Approach Notes:

Should be able to drive to Heliotrope TH.

[Stefan]

Nice!

[klenke]

Good stuff. And great shot of Lincoln (except for too much sky).

[Alex]

I think its the "Cosley-Houston" route you climbed? Doesnt matter, looks great!

[JasonG]

How hard is the pillar?? WI3? . . Thanks for any info!

[dberdinka]

Ooops! Cosley-Houston, Kearney. I got all my 1980's/1990's Bellingham climbing guides confused. As for the crux it's a short bit of WI4. Doesn't quite look it in the photo, but it's steep! Good times.

[layton]

awesome darin. Justin and I have tried approach the route w/no ice a couple times now...glad to see it was in for you.

[dberdinka]

I don't know maybe conditions change really fast, but I'd like to think that it will remain in for a lot of people.

 

I've never had as much fun climbing in the Cascades as I have this winter. To actually climb in the Cascades on mountains that are frozen (ice) and not just snowy (glaciers) has been incredible.

 

As good as it looked if anyones considering the Polish Route based on the photo I posted, I feel the need to point out that the final pitch is a big dagger hanging several (5+ ft) out from the ice curtain below it. Getting on it would require some type of horizontal movements that looked a heck of a lot harder than the 5+ rating in Jason & Alex's book.

[dberdinka]

I took a hike up to Heliotrope Ridge on Thursday. The warm, wet October seems to have treated Colfax nicely. Ice lines are definitely shaping up. In fact the Houston-Cosley Route looks in. The crux pillar appears a wee bit thinner than last March. Glacier is seriously broken up a few feet of snow is going to hide a lot of small/medium crevasses.

 

 

[layton]

thanks darin!

[Chad_A]

Thanks much for posting that. Damn! That looks fun

[layton]

it's been a popular route with guides slogging early season clients up the baker horn while the clients sleep and dream of conquest. it's also in Jason and Alex's guidebook. Darin did it last year, provided the beta, yet nobody stepped up to bat (on this site at least).

 

probably a snowy good time right now.

[Dru]

yet nobody stepped up to bat (on this site at least).

 

Unless you find a Neutrino on the climb how do you know this?

[Alex]

..yet nobody stepped up to bat (on this site at least)...

 

I think that the Cosley-Houston route gets attempted and even climbed more than you think..certainly last Spring it was attempted by several different parties, with varying success. I think the Polish Route doesn't get climbed much, but thats due almost entirely to its difficulty (if this were Canmore it'd probably be a trade route ), as it's been pretty fat the 3 or 4 different times I've seen it.

[lnunn]

Has anyone recently summited baker proper? How does the glacier look with all the recent snow? For some reason I've been having visions of swimming up the mountain (actually drowning would be a more accurate description). Is it that bad do you think? And how close to the TH can you get?

thanks

[fourteenfour]

sick photos!