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MisterE
Social climber
My Inner Nut
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 26, 2008 - 10:50am PT
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this TR is a couple of years old, but I thought I would share it with the Topo folks. L reminded me to post more TR's.
Mike Layton and Erik Wolfe 8/26/06
Wednesday
Mike and I met at the Marblemount Ranger Station to sort gear and secure our permit into the Southern Pickets on Wednesday evening.
Geared up, we set out up the Goodell Creek and set up camp at the base of the boulder field around 4100' after dark.
Thursday.
In the morning we had fairly cloudy conditions as we continued our approach up and across the hill.
Clouds drifted around us, allowing glimpses of the cirque, but visibility was decreasing.
Towards noon we found ourselves completely socked in with clouds somewhere in the middle of the McMillan Cirque.
Rather than wait and get cold, we spent the afternoon picking our way around the cirque with 200 feet of visibility, trying in vain to find our way to the Barrier, but more so to keep from getting bored and cold. Snack time:
To show how poor visibility was, we ended up camping at Azure Lake Col!!!
At 6:00 PM the clouds just weren't clearing. Shortly after dinner the storm set upon us for a bracing hour of torrential rain, wind, and hail. Mike predicted the fog to go away a 6pm. He was right! Just at 6pm the fog lifted and we got a nice view.
Unfortunately, the fog decided to consolidate into a thunderhead, as we dove frantically under the tarp we foolishly pitched in a large patch of dirt. It took a few seconds for the water to come crawling under the tarp...so we dug a moat frantically. We were safe for another few minutes until the damn broke and our spot became a lake.
We furiously shoved everything into our packs, and sat on top of them until the storm let up enough to move our tarp to a better spot. The rest of the evening was spent revising plans for the lost day, contingency plans if the weather continued, etc.
Friday.
We awoke the next day to blue skies.
Finally we could see a clear path to the Barrier! (The Chopping block is visible beyond)
[img] http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/503/4472Pickets_resize11.jpg{{/img}}
We had a good laugh about our foggy "tour de Cirque" of the day before when we got a good look at where we had been.
The way we should have gone:
We set off and crossed the Barrier and to the Chopping Block in a reasonable fashion in increasing temps,
After way too long we finally had a view across Crescent Creek Basin to the objectives!
Word was that the rock on the Himmelhorn was solid, and had a nice long buttress. The other option was the Blob (aka Rake) Mike had been wondering about for a few years now, so we set a course across valley and set up camp early at the base of the Rake/Terror Col.
Mike took off to scope the potential lines to as far as the Himmelhorn, while I relaxed and set up camp. He came back very excited about a particular feature that was much closer and better looking than the 'horn.
It looked really cold to me until he reminded me it was late summer, and not like that really. Whew!
Mike gets cell phone reception which is irritating, but he gets a weather report. Great weather ahead, irritation gone! Except the call to the girlfriend....
Saturday.
8:30 AM, Blue skies
We gear up yet again for the Unknown:
We leave camp and do the half-hour hike to the base of a beautiful long buttress with a steep headwall above.
Wow! The rock looks clean, it's well-featured, and hopefully protectable. The gneiss in this area seems to have a good number of cracks for protection and some granite blended into the mix as well.
The Towers
I lead across the snowfield (directly above the Alien Dirt Ridge-the Meteor Impact Birthplace of THE BLOB), downclimbed 15' of snow, scrambled up the gully and gain the rounded ridge of the buttress. Mike takes the sharp end for probably 3 pitches of simul-climbing of glacial polished solid rock (4th-5.6) until the wall steepens drastically. Pitch 4 is my lead, finding some well protected climbing, sporty in nature, with a few 5.10 moves straight up the center of the buttress and over a little roof. Mike leads Pitch 5 with some more excellent climbing on solid rock and good pro, easy 5.10 again being the crux.
The highlight being a super fun/airy 5.8 dike traverse to the right. Pitch 6 lead me up the right center of the main headwall, up a thin dihedral with some great exposure gaining the arete above and the obligatory heel hook, and clocking in at 5.10.
Three great pitches in a row up bomber rock, solid cracks, and all with some 5.10 moves up the steep headwall! We are getting stoked....
Pitch 7 is lead by Mike, aka "Red Leader":
and following, I am thinking "this is one awesome 5.9 pitch!" The moves are fun, edges good, protection good, position spectacular. It starts out super steep (up the steepest part of the upper headwall) but the handjams and fingerlocks are so good that it didn't get harder than 5.9. I get to the top of the tower where Mike is, all psyched about the amazing pitches, look up, and OH, SH#T!
Between the headwall of the buttress and where we are lies a short ridge traverse, then a 150 foot knife of rock, and behind that an even larger tower. All in all, there are two major towers blocking our view to the summit, and they don't look connected. We feel like this is as far as we can go...shut down. I do the short traverse gaining the base of the first spire at 5.6 downclimbing (pitch 8),
then Mike leads out to the right, and is soon out of sight (pitch 9). These two pitches could be combined with some fancy slingwork, though the follower would suffer for it. Coming around the corner, I am mortified. Mike is belaying on the edge of a sheer precipice, and is pointing the way across this vertical wall via a series of small ledges.
"I already scoped it out, I am pretty sure it goes." Mike says grinning, handing me the rack. I look up and see nothing on the tower that shoots straight above me, so I lead the traverse out on thin edges, and up the dihedral to the notch at 5.9 (Pitch 10).
Because it scares us so, we name this "The Bela Lugosi Traverse"
Mike following the dihedral:
Mike leads Pitch 11, gaining the West-East summit ridge of the Blob.
The climbing is 5.8. I get the lead on the summit scramble (5.4) and the final 12th pitch.
Mike joins me on the summit, and we give respect knuckles: Plan 9 has been climbed to the summit. But the route had still a ways to go though before the descent to the col after 7 hours climbing up to the main summit....
The Ridge
Wayne Wallace said the traverse he did from the Rake Col to the Blob was really fun climbing. We would be doing it in reverse, so it would be different than on his Pickets Traverse climb, but it did look good (and long) from where we were. Looking at rappelling the route, we decided the traverse to the col was appealing for two reasons. First, it added 5-6 pitches of amazing climbing to our excellent route, effectively turning into a Grade IV. Second, the rappel into the col leaves us minutes from our camp. Mike leads ahead on a half-rope, and I follow simul-climbing.
The initial cliff looks intimidating, but down-climbing to the right gains the easier ridge below. We stop 3 times to re-outfit the leader,
and I lead the final simul-climb to the notch of the col. Each summit tower (there were around 6 or 7) provided a little cruxy downclimb or traverse and a ton of exciting exposure. The position from the ridges is nothing short of stunning, the exposure boggling, and the climbing is excellent! (5-6 pitches, a few 5.7 moves mostly 4th)
After 3 hours simul-climbing, two 150' rappels off horns straight down landed us on the top of the Rake/Terror col, and we are swimming in a pond above camp 25 minutes later.
We got back to camp 12 hours after leaving it.
The route:
Sunday.
We decide to descend the Terror Creek drainage since it is way more direct, and hopefully scope an easier way in as well. We took the traverse in across the Barrier since Mike knew that way for sure already. The ridge trail to the top of the slope at 3500' is spotty at best, and difficult to follow. The descent from the top of the slope was extremely steep, and we did not find the trail until a few hundred feet above Terror Creek. I would be reluctant to commit to this way as an approach, given the difficulty of trail finding and lack of available water, but it would be a lot quicker. The descent back to the car took about 6 hours, twice as fast as the approach.
In keeping with the B-Movie theme of "The Blob", we named our route Plan 9 because of the movie "Plan 9 from Outer Space" and it also reflects how unsure we were on WTF we were going to do. The climb is on The Ed Wood Memorial Buttress, and the 2-3 pitch traverse around the upper towers is The Bela Lugosi Traverse.
The climb starts in the obvious gully above The Alien Dirt Ridge (where the Blob came to earth in it's Meteor).
Gear Notes: Crampons and ice axe for moat crossing late season, medium rack to 3", double ropes for 2 long rappels, plenty of long slings and tat, no pins necessary. If you want, huck your crampons/axes off the ridge and get em later. Gummy Bears and Bacon and Smokables for climbing fuel.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Jul 26, 2008 - 11:07am PT
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Neat trip Eric--must've been fun camping in the
'lake'!
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Jul 26, 2008 - 11:07am PT
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Eric, that's badass!!! Screw 'conditions', get 'er done!!!!
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Jul 26, 2008 - 11:07am PT
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Excellent!
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Jul 26, 2008 - 11:33am PT
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Bitch'n
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Jul 26, 2008 - 11:36am PT
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So nice.
Zander
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Nate Ricklin
climber
San Diego
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Jul 26, 2008 - 02:12pm PT
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That looks freaking awesome!
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bringmedeath
climber
la la land
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Jul 26, 2008 - 03:57pm PT
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Layton.... now there is a funny mofo!!!
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Jay Hack
Trad climber
bellingham, Washington
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Jul 26, 2008 - 05:24pm PT
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Great to see Layton make an appearance on Supertopo, long overdue.....although I don't think he's ever been to Yosemite...Rock is probably too good for his tastes.
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Mike Layton
Trad climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Jul 26, 2008 - 06:07pm PT
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If you like the topo I drew on the wintertime photo, my topo drawing services are available. Now that's a supertopo.
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SammyLee2
Trad climber
Memphis, TN
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Jul 27, 2008 - 12:43am PT
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Adventure, not knowing the outcome. Y'all had all of that plus super views, some hard climbing and the sense of the unknown outcome. Way good.
Envy, a bad thing that I possess over this TR.
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L
climber
Dancing beneath a Full Moon on the Edge of Forever
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Jul 27, 2008 - 01:25am PT
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Awesome TR, Erik...you guys are so hard core! If I'd been looking at 2 potentially disconnected towers between me and the summit (after all the climbing you'd already done), honey...I'd a been looking for the way back to camp pronto...heh-heh-yes indeed!
You should post more of these oldies but goldies...many of us have never seen 'em. Besides, a good TR is worth reading 2 or 3 times at least.
(And the Bela Lugosi Traverse gets * for the laugh factor.)
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MisterE
Social climber
My Inner Nut
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 27, 2008 - 10:51am PT
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"If you like the topo I drew on the wintertime photo, my topo drawing services are available. Now that's a supertopo."
lol!
Hi, Mikey! I see your last and first post here was Dec.1, 2007!
Hang out more, my friend!
Erik
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couchmaster
climber
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Jul 27, 2008 - 10:58am PT
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Mikes too busy getting on it to sit and talk about it! Now THAT, is a Trip report that sets the bar high. (the climb as well).
Thanks for sharing it!
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Mike Layton
Trad climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Jul 27, 2008 - 06:03pm PT
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MisterE you should post our Mox TR to relive the glory daze..er days.
for the record: I wanted to name it, "Takin' it up the Buttress"
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climbrunride
Trad climber
Durango, CO
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Jul 27, 2008 - 07:35pm PT
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Great TR Eric! QUALITY!
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Trippel40
Social climber
CO
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Jul 27, 2008 - 08:45pm PT
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Awesome TR- thanks for putting in the effort to share it!
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N0_ONE
Social climber
Utah
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Jul 27, 2008 - 08:49pm PT
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Nice! Thanks for the TR
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John Moosie
climber
Beautiful California
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Jul 27, 2008 - 11:34pm PT
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Fabulous. That was fun. Such a beautiful place. Thanks !!!
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Jul 28, 2008 - 12:56am PT
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some serious contenders!
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SuperTopo on the Web
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Let us know!