When they were ready to go we set off together to finish the approach. After traversing a long ridge and making our way up to the base of the West Face we dropped them off and continued up over Goat Pass and down along the north side to the base of our route.
I had only seen Stuart from afar and coming over the pass and getting a first look at the North Ridge was quite an eye-opener. I guess I hadn't really thought about just how BIG this route was.
We reached the base at around 9:00 and set off quickly. This was going to be a long day and we couldn't afford to waste any time. The first several pitches follow some beautiful cracks that would be absolute classics if they were near the road. Finding rock this good in the mountains just made it even better. After several pitches the angle eased off and the looooong simul-climb to the Great Gendarme began. This part of the route seemed to take forever and you couldn't help but wonder if the thing was ever going to end. Every time we rounded a corner or popped up over a bulge we caught a glimpse of another part of the ridge that we hadn't seen before. The majority of the ridge follows very clean and solid rock, mostly 3rd and 4th class with many short 5.0 to 5.6 sections thrown in to keep things interesting.
After endless simul-climbing (and a few long belayed pitches) we finally reached the Great Gendarme and were happy to see the best had yet to come. The two Gendarme pitches really are the best on the route and follow steep, clean, exposed, white granite to a nice perch within a few hundred feet of the summit.
We hung out on the summit for a while soaking in the sun and the views, and then packed up for the long descent back to the road. Traversing across to the east just below the summit ridge we came across an unexpected cliff band separating us from the descent gully (Cascadian Couloir). It was getting late so we decided to rap the cliff rather than keep searching for a way around. We could see that we would have to go back up several hundred feet to find a way around and at this point our legs were in down only mode. The first rap off a detached flake lying against the wall was a bit sketchy but we found much better anchors for the following three. An hour or so later we landed at the head of the couloir and began the long grueling slide/stumble/tumble down. This was another part of the day that seemed to go on forever. After making it about two-thirds of the way down the gully we decided it just wasn't worth it to keep going. It was well past dark and at the rate we were going it was going to take way too long to make it back to the car. We would have ended up hiking all night so we threw our bags down on the flattest section of the hill that we could find (not very flat) and tried to get some sleep. All things considered the night went well and we were up at first light to finish the descent. After dropping down into the valley below the south side one last steep section up to Long's Pass brought us to the home stretch down to the cars. We reached the trail head at 9:00 am and were surprised to see Ginnie Jo's car still parked there. I had assumed they would have been off their route much faster then us. They ended up strolling in a few minutes later. They had gotten down late too and had decided to spend the night up there as well. After lazing about for an hour or so we headed off to get some breakfast. All I will say about that is I would highly recommend the Liberty Burger (double, with bacon) from the Liberty Cafe on Hwy 97 on the way back to Leavenworth.
1 comment:
Double Liberty Burger with Bacon for breakfast? A bold choice sir.
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