I was going to title this trip report, "Musings about the North Face", but it did not suck. 
Around 8:15 a.m., Craig, Jeff and I took to the trail from the Garden lot. The trail to the Interior Outpost, and to Orebed for that matter, was in great shape. It was packed down nicely and we were able to make quick work of the hike in. I wore microspikes, Jeff had stablicers and Craig decided he'd have the most traction in bare feet. The weather was unseasonably warm and soon we were hiking in base layers. My base layers were a sports bra and a thong. I got some weird glances.. guess I looked funny in my gaitors and mountaineering boots.
Once we passed Orebed lean-to, it was a short 0.5 miles to the first major stream crossing. From there, we said goodbye to the trail and make a left turn, following the stream. The approach to the North Face was wide open. The snow bridges were still holding out nicely so crossing back and forth on the stream was no problem. I wouldn't count on them for too much longer, though. Craig and I threw our snowshoes on, but Jeff managed to bareboot so he still, never in his life, snowshoe'd before. Although he did carry them on his pack.. probably the closest he's ever gotten.
We reached the bottom of the Face at 11 a.m. At least the part where it gets serious. A quick snack break, snowshoes off, crampons on, mountaineering axe in hand.. we were off. One would say, the North Face is not IN. And I would agree. We were ready to get out our rock climbing shoes, nuts and cams.. but upon closer inspection, all three of us noticed the far right side was covered in snow, the Southwest Ridge route. We saw two climbers headed up the Normal Route, off to the far left side. The Direct Route is totally out. As we were climbing up, we did notice the two other climbers traverse across to the center of the Face, but then turn around after checking it out, so I would assume the Normal Route wasn't in the best shape as they were looking for alternatives.
In order to get to the SW side, far right, we traversed across the fan. The giant rock shelves made Craig tiny in comparison. Jeff and I stayed lower and it was a step-step-plunge-step-step-plunge with the ice axe as we made our way across. The slope wasn't incredibly steep and with a good axe plunge, we all felt anchored and secure enough not to rope up at this point. The snow had a thin crusty layer that sometimes you broke through and sometimes you stayed on top. We never postholed past our knees. The snow was in decent shape for cramponing.
Once we made it to the left side, it was just a nice, steep snow climb. The weather was still awesome, sun was shining, no wind, so we took our time climbing up. And I took about 73 pictures. The snow chute narrowed about 1/2 way up and we climbed past a few trees, took a quick right and then popped out again on a narrower snow slope which ran adjacent to the bare rock face. So we had (from right to left) rock-ice-snow-trees. We climbed up a bit more until the snow ran out and we were left with rock-ice-trees. Assessing the small ice bulge, we figured it would be best to rope up and make use of some of the crap we hauled in. If you slipped on the ice, you'd be looking at tumbling down a nice rocky cliff for a few hundred feet. So the mountaineering axes were packed up and the ice tools came out.
I took the lead, and sunk some 16 cm screws along the way. It was sweet. That was the best part of the climb. Jeff was in the middle and Craig cleaned as we simul-climbed the upper section. The ice only lasted for about 15 meters and then finished off with a nice gradual slope back into snow.. my calves were grateful for that. This section is where my obsessive filming and picture taking ended, for obvious reasons. Once on safe ground, we un-roped and finished off the Face, I got my camera back out and it was only a short jaunt through the scrub (that we didn't step on) and BAM! topped out at 2 p.m. on this beautiful rock ledge with awesome views and a refreshing breeze.
We took the cable route down.. played in the slush-fest that became the trail and were out to the car a little past 5 p.m.
Awesome day of climbing. Now THAT's what I'm talking about.
In lieu of pictures, I have a 4:45 minute video on my website that I hope you have the time to check out. It's HERE. There's a fullscreen option on the right side.
Regular still pictures will be posted soon, but it's now 2:30 a.m. and I need sleep.
Around 8:15 a.m., Craig, Jeff and I took to the trail from the Garden lot. The trail to the Interior Outpost, and to Orebed for that matter, was in great shape. It was packed down nicely and we were able to make quick work of the hike in. I wore microspikes, Jeff had stablicers and Craig decided he'd have the most traction in bare feet. The weather was unseasonably warm and soon we were hiking in base layers. My base layers were a sports bra and a thong. I got some weird glances.. guess I looked funny in my gaitors and mountaineering boots.
Once we passed Orebed lean-to, it was a short 0.5 miles to the first major stream crossing. From there, we said goodbye to the trail and make a left turn, following the stream. The approach to the North Face was wide open. The snow bridges were still holding out nicely so crossing back and forth on the stream was no problem. I wouldn't count on them for too much longer, though. Craig and I threw our snowshoes on, but Jeff managed to bareboot so he still, never in his life, snowshoe'd before. Although he did carry them on his pack.. probably the closest he's ever gotten.
We reached the bottom of the Face at 11 a.m. At least the part where it gets serious. A quick snack break, snowshoes off, crampons on, mountaineering axe in hand.. we were off. One would say, the North Face is not IN. And I would agree. We were ready to get out our rock climbing shoes, nuts and cams.. but upon closer inspection, all three of us noticed the far right side was covered in snow, the Southwest Ridge route. We saw two climbers headed up the Normal Route, off to the far left side. The Direct Route is totally out. As we were climbing up, we did notice the two other climbers traverse across to the center of the Face, but then turn around after checking it out, so I would assume the Normal Route wasn't in the best shape as they were looking for alternatives.
In order to get to the SW side, far right, we traversed across the fan. The giant rock shelves made Craig tiny in comparison. Jeff and I stayed lower and it was a step-step-plunge-step-step-plunge with the ice axe as we made our way across. The slope wasn't incredibly steep and with a good axe plunge, we all felt anchored and secure enough not to rope up at this point. The snow had a thin crusty layer that sometimes you broke through and sometimes you stayed on top. We never postholed past our knees. The snow was in decent shape for cramponing.
Once we made it to the left side, it was just a nice, steep snow climb. The weather was still awesome, sun was shining, no wind, so we took our time climbing up. And I took about 73 pictures. The snow chute narrowed about 1/2 way up and we climbed past a few trees, took a quick right and then popped out again on a narrower snow slope which ran adjacent to the bare rock face. So we had (from right to left) rock-ice-snow-trees. We climbed up a bit more until the snow ran out and we were left with rock-ice-trees. Assessing the small ice bulge, we figured it would be best to rope up and make use of some of the crap we hauled in. If you slipped on the ice, you'd be looking at tumbling down a nice rocky cliff for a few hundred feet. So the mountaineering axes were packed up and the ice tools came out.
I took the lead, and sunk some 16 cm screws along the way. It was sweet. That was the best part of the climb. Jeff was in the middle and Craig cleaned as we simul-climbed the upper section. The ice only lasted for about 15 meters and then finished off with a nice gradual slope back into snow.. my calves were grateful for that. This section is where my obsessive filming and picture taking ended, for obvious reasons. Once on safe ground, we un-roped and finished off the Face, I got my camera back out and it was only a short jaunt through the scrub (that we didn't step on) and BAM! topped out at 2 p.m. on this beautiful rock ledge with awesome views and a refreshing breeze.
We took the cable route down.. played in the slush-fest that became the trail and were out to the car a little past 5 p.m.
Awesome day of climbing. Now THAT's what I'm talking about.
In lieu of pictures, I have a 4:45 minute video on my website that I hope you have the time to check out. It's HERE. There's a fullscreen option on the right side.
Regular still pictures will be posted soon, but it's now 2:30 a.m. and I need sleep.
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