Mudrat
Member
Duration:10 hours; 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Benchmarks: Saddleback NE slide base: 10:15 a.m., Saddleback summit: 12:00 p.m., Gothics Shoulder: 4:00 p.m.
Route: Johns Brook Lodge-DEC Interior Outpost-Orebed Trail-Slide Runout-Catastrophic Chaos Slide-Bushwhack to summit-Trail to Saddleback/Gothics col-Gothics West Face-Cable Route to col-Orebed Trail to JBL.
Temperature: about 0 Fahrenheit (-10 / -20 wind-chill per forecast)
Trail Conditions: packed ice
Partners: MudRat, Nangaparbat & DeepForest
Diet: omelet, starburst, brownie, 1.5 liters water
Clothing: Capilene, Heavy Fleece bottoms, Columbia Titanium snow pants, Rain jacket (shell), Northface TKA100 micro-fleece, primaloft jacket while climbing Gothics, Black Diamond sabertooth crampons, BD viper & Charlet Moser Axar tools, Koflach Arctis boots, OR Absolute Zero mitts & OR Alti mitts.
Pack Weight: 30-35 lbs.
Picture ALBUM
Video Courtesy of Anthony Seidita
..............................................
It’s hard to know where to begin when an outing is as exciting as this was. Big plans sometimes change--the best laid routes thwarted by things one can’t consider ahead of time. Occasionally, this leads to an even better outcome. This was one of those times. Our itinerary was ambitious, but subjectively realistic: a bushwhack of Saddleback and Basin Mountains via the NE Catastrophic Chaos tributary of the old Back in the Saddle Slide and Basin's East Face. Gothics West Face would eventually replace Basin as the second climb, but this was for the best. It was also something that NP had been discussing for months. Gothics West Face is the series of open faces to the right of the cable route on Gothics western shoulder. Its true exposure is actually southwest rather than due west. The combination of both slides and good company led to a spectacular day.
Approach
The walk from the Garden was more challenging than usual since the recent warm weather had swollen even the smallest runoff streams. Two days of near zero temperatures hadn't thickened the ice enough to support me. Conditions are what they are, and you make the best of them. They didn't surprise me or concern me, but I contemplated the logistics as I plodded along. I’d been doing the same for a week.
The thermometer read 6F at 8:00 a.m. when we left the Johns Brook Lodge area. For some reason my body didn't want to commit to what my mind was pushing it toward…a hard day in cold temperatures. I expected as much after a week of sleeping poorly. I can usually walk it off and began to by the time we reached Orebed lean-to. My core was sweating, but my hands were still numb and would remain so for another half hour even though they were in warm mitts. I met I borrowed some of DeepForest’s (Anthony, who I met for the first time this day) enthusiasm in lieu of my own. It's always nice to get to know new friends.
Rather than following the slide runout as I did this past summer, we followed the trail to save energy and entered the runout where the trail came close (just beyond the overgrown slide that crosses the trail). It placed us in the perfect position to play upon a couple small ledge climbs of thick ice. Low-angle ice and consolidated snow led to tiers of ice encapsulating the dramatic ledges a few hundred yards before the footwall of the slide. The runout harbored rock-hard ice that shattered under my ax as well as some that was considerably softer. The recent melt let some of the rock show through so the intrusion of rusty (probably ferrous gabbro) stone was easy to spot. Beyond, the slide reached up toward the summit, its details somewhat obscured by the blowing snow.
Catastrophic Chaos
The sun glowing eerily trying, but failing, to break through the low-hanging clouds over the Gothics/Saddleback col set a beautiful scene. As usual NP and I took a steady stream of pictures; Anthony added to it with some video footage. We studied the slide and discussed the obvious and safest lines. The left and right held the best ice. Anthony and I settled on the left-hand flow and began to climb. I could feel the front points biting into the good ice and delicately placed them on the thinner sections. NP took up the rear on a line more to the right of ours. A bit over halfway up the slide we approached my favourite part, a large piece of stone sitting in the middle. There wasn't enough ice to cover its weathered face so its character and color showed through. Staring up, I watched spindrift swirl in small cyclones near the top.
NP on the right-hand side before the midpoint of the ascent.
Anthony at the top of a small gully in the face...nice ice, NP emerging.
I looked for what I considered a comfortable line to the left and followed a flow of ice that hugged the side of the hulking mass. The section of 45 degree ice was exposed climbing followed by lower angle neve from which I could comfortably watch Anthony and NP climb. Beyond were several more exposed ascents culminating in steep neve beyond some large boulders at the base of the headwall. All allowed me the courtesy of good ax and foot placement...no more points breaking through to scrape on the stone.
The 'staircase' of blocky stone cutting through the headwall and so enticing on my last climb in July didn't appeal this time. I redirected my gaze to what NP was hooting about...the final steep climb up fat yellow-brown ice on the right-hand side of the headwall, a friction climb in warmer months. Today, wind driven snow was our ever-present and ever increasing companion, one that partly obscured Gothics' North Face at times.
NP and Anthony on the headwall ice.
A thick crust with a few inches of new-fallen snow covered the ground and defined the rest of our bushwhack to the summit. Following the easiest route led to a sheer 20' ledge with a defined yet thin flow of ice. We walk around to the left as it struck me that I'd never seen it before (twice in the past I'd bushwhacked to the summit). A few postholes and some creative crawling led us to the summit at noon. Our next proposed target, Basin's East Face was completely obscured. Whipping clouds battered the trees as it whipped through the col to the west.
Benchmarks: Saddleback NE slide base: 10:15 a.m., Saddleback summit: 12:00 p.m., Gothics Shoulder: 4:00 p.m.
Route: Johns Brook Lodge-DEC Interior Outpost-Orebed Trail-Slide Runout-Catastrophic Chaos Slide-Bushwhack to summit-Trail to Saddleback/Gothics col-Gothics West Face-Cable Route to col-Orebed Trail to JBL.
Temperature: about 0 Fahrenheit (-10 / -20 wind-chill per forecast)
Trail Conditions: packed ice
Partners: MudRat, Nangaparbat & DeepForest
Diet: omelet, starburst, brownie, 1.5 liters water
Clothing: Capilene, Heavy Fleece bottoms, Columbia Titanium snow pants, Rain jacket (shell), Northface TKA100 micro-fleece, primaloft jacket while climbing Gothics, Black Diamond sabertooth crampons, BD viper & Charlet Moser Axar tools, Koflach Arctis boots, OR Absolute Zero mitts & OR Alti mitts.
Pack Weight: 30-35 lbs.
Picture ALBUM
Video Courtesy of Anthony Seidita
..............................................
It’s hard to know where to begin when an outing is as exciting as this was. Big plans sometimes change--the best laid routes thwarted by things one can’t consider ahead of time. Occasionally, this leads to an even better outcome. This was one of those times. Our itinerary was ambitious, but subjectively realistic: a bushwhack of Saddleback and Basin Mountains via the NE Catastrophic Chaos tributary of the old Back in the Saddle Slide and Basin's East Face. Gothics West Face would eventually replace Basin as the second climb, but this was for the best. It was also something that NP had been discussing for months. Gothics West Face is the series of open faces to the right of the cable route on Gothics western shoulder. Its true exposure is actually southwest rather than due west. The combination of both slides and good company led to a spectacular day.
Approach
The walk from the Garden was more challenging than usual since the recent warm weather had swollen even the smallest runoff streams. Two days of near zero temperatures hadn't thickened the ice enough to support me. Conditions are what they are, and you make the best of them. They didn't surprise me or concern me, but I contemplated the logistics as I plodded along. I’d been doing the same for a week.
The thermometer read 6F at 8:00 a.m. when we left the Johns Brook Lodge area. For some reason my body didn't want to commit to what my mind was pushing it toward…a hard day in cold temperatures. I expected as much after a week of sleeping poorly. I can usually walk it off and began to by the time we reached Orebed lean-to. My core was sweating, but my hands were still numb and would remain so for another half hour even though they were in warm mitts. I met I borrowed some of DeepForest’s (Anthony, who I met for the first time this day) enthusiasm in lieu of my own. It's always nice to get to know new friends.
Rather than following the slide runout as I did this past summer, we followed the trail to save energy and entered the runout where the trail came close (just beyond the overgrown slide that crosses the trail). It placed us in the perfect position to play upon a couple small ledge climbs of thick ice. Low-angle ice and consolidated snow led to tiers of ice encapsulating the dramatic ledges a few hundred yards before the footwall of the slide. The runout harbored rock-hard ice that shattered under my ax as well as some that was considerably softer. The recent melt let some of the rock show through so the intrusion of rusty (probably ferrous gabbro) stone was easy to spot. Beyond, the slide reached up toward the summit, its details somewhat obscured by the blowing snow.
Catastrophic Chaos
The sun glowing eerily trying, but failing, to break through the low-hanging clouds over the Gothics/Saddleback col set a beautiful scene. As usual NP and I took a steady stream of pictures; Anthony added to it with some video footage. We studied the slide and discussed the obvious and safest lines. The left and right held the best ice. Anthony and I settled on the left-hand flow and began to climb. I could feel the front points biting into the good ice and delicately placed them on the thinner sections. NP took up the rear on a line more to the right of ours. A bit over halfway up the slide we approached my favourite part, a large piece of stone sitting in the middle. There wasn't enough ice to cover its weathered face so its character and color showed through. Staring up, I watched spindrift swirl in small cyclones near the top.
NP on the right-hand side before the midpoint of the ascent.
Anthony at the top of a small gully in the face...nice ice, NP emerging.
I looked for what I considered a comfortable line to the left and followed a flow of ice that hugged the side of the hulking mass. The section of 45 degree ice was exposed climbing followed by lower angle neve from which I could comfortably watch Anthony and NP climb. Beyond were several more exposed ascents culminating in steep neve beyond some large boulders at the base of the headwall. All allowed me the courtesy of good ax and foot placement...no more points breaking through to scrape on the stone.
The 'staircase' of blocky stone cutting through the headwall and so enticing on my last climb in July didn't appeal this time. I redirected my gaze to what NP was hooting about...the final steep climb up fat yellow-brown ice on the right-hand side of the headwall, a friction climb in warmer months. Today, wind driven snow was our ever-present and ever increasing companion, one that partly obscured Gothics' North Face at times.
NP and Anthony on the headwall ice.
A thick crust with a few inches of new-fallen snow covered the ground and defined the rest of our bushwhack to the summit. Following the easiest route led to a sheer 20' ledge with a defined yet thin flow of ice. We walk around to the left as it struck me that I'd never seen it before (twice in the past I'd bushwhacked to the summit). A few postholes and some creative crawling led us to the summit at noon. Our next proposed target, Basin's East Face was completely obscured. Whipping clouds battered the trees as it whipped through the col to the west.
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