Colchuck Peak – Northeast Buttress
We’d been dealing with a wet Spring. The weekend before, Michael and I drove out to Mount Shuksan for an attempt at Fisher Chimneys, but as soon as we turned in, the clouds opened up and didn’t let up until early morning. We couldn’t do much but drive back home. The following weekend, we were set to go again, despite a questionable forecast. This time, we’d roll the dice with the Alpine Lakes. Colchuck was the next logical major mountain in the area for us to climb, and by an appealing route: the Northeast Buttress.
We left Seattle on Saturday at 11am where we cragged on Castle Rock before heading to an outstanding German meal in Leavenworth. Later on, we turned in at our secret spot near the Colchuck Lake trailhead. I shut my eyes while the sun was still up to the white noise of nearby creek. The next thing I remember was Michael saying, “Hey Theron, it’s 4:15!”
It seems like every time we’ve gone up this trail, we’ve been in bad weather: Argonaut, Stuart Glaicer Couloir, and Dragontail. This morning, as was on Dragontail, was bright and clear. We made quick time up the trail arriving at the lake somewhere after an hour or two. The only hiking I’d done all year was one time a week or two ago up Mount Si. I could certainly tell I wasn’t as fast as normal and Michael was consistently ahead of me. Beyond the lake, we saw we had a slog up talus (at least it wasn’t thinly veiled in snow) before we reached the glacier.
At the top of the talus, we stopped for food, talk, and video. The route, lying in plain view in front of us, looked great -- the rock, especially solid. We set off again up the glacier and soon arrived at the base of the Kearney description of the route. There was a nasty looking moat barring the way though. I saw a potential snow bridge to cross; Michael headed up a little looking for a spot to cross, eventually conceding that this route wasn’t possible. Instead, we headed up the left side of the buttress looking for a spot, passing one that afforded an an easy pass but had smooth slabs above it. We eventually settled on a much steeper section festooned with solid looking cracks.
Michael led off on the first pitch -- a rather stiff 5.8 crack climb on golden granite that was thankfully solid and a lot of fun. I then led out along a wide and loose ledge to another section of golden (Michael later confirmed it was pink -- a color I have a hard time seeing) granite. It looked so easy but as I started up, sections of the right side just started pulling off like potato chips. This section was awful and was obviously the section that the Beckey route warned about. After trying a little more, I began to realize this was a foolhardy endeavor and carefully backed down. OK, I’ll take hard 5.9 any day over that scary loose 5.0 stuff. This section is distinct from below -- a large swath of the lightest color of rock near the base.
After that jolt, Michael opted to lead the next pitch up some hard-to-protect slabs and then through a goofy chimney (was this the chimney?), up another ramp, and over a hard boulder move (until you saw the trick) that gained another ridge. We simul-climbed again along a wide ledge past some snow. The route became a little confusing again along some smooth but solid golden granite. At this point, we were directly above the loose section. Michael opted to downclimb around a tree and then emerged onto another ledge at the base of a vertical but solid looking chimney.
It was my turn to head out. This was most likely the 5.3 Beckey chimney. It turned out to be a super quality pitch, and except for some minor looseness again on the right side, was very solid and enjoyable. The holds were right where you needed them to be. I would have rated this section a 5.4 with one 5.6 move.
“Michael, this pitch is great!”, I shouted.
“Well keep going then! Let’s simul-climb and make up some time.”
“OK!” So, I unclipped from the slings thrown around the base of a tree at the top of the chimney. I made a 5.6 move to get up into a crack that traversed rightward the smooth face. If that chimney was good, then this was even better - an easy climb on an exposed face in a grand alpine setting. OK, the climb was finally starting to turn quality, we both later confessed to thinking.
I ran out of slings at the large ramp that traversed left up the buttress. Heck, it looked easy; let’s keep going! The Beckey description talked about following the ledge 160 feet to it’s end at the base of a twin cracks pitch. We did stop somewhere around here after rope drag prevented any more creative gear placements. We stopped at a perfect place for lunch and admired Dragontail in the distance. Serpentine Arete, which we’d climbed the year before, looked menacing. Wow, and this was harder, at least for route-finding.
In retrospect, maybe this was the spot where we were supposed to pick up the twin cracks, but the description also said to go to the ramps end. Michael led off and by the time we were at the “end”, we must have gone a full 300 feet or more. At this point we started climbing up the “cosmic slabs” which featured some tough climbing. Good thing Michael was leading; I would have opted to bail and try an area that looked a little easier below. Michael plugged doggedly ahead and after some debate, he brought me up. The climbing was nice and easy at first but it required some 5.9 face climbing to arrive at the two-nut belay on a tiny slanting ledge.
From there I spied a potential route to go up. I didn’t have my nerves with me at this point and happily suggested that Michael should go. I did see a way that looked like it would go at maybe 5.8 or 5.9 again. At least, that’s as hard as I remembered it looking. When Michael said, “Ok, that was 5.11″, I remember thinking, “Oh great!” On following, I found it quite hard as well though I somewhat mockingly downgraded it to 5.10c. It was quite a delicate move though that I accomplished by pressing hard into a tiny corner while carefully shifting my hand positions upward. Soon enough, it was over and I was in the steep crack. Oh thankfully some hand jams! “Would I have said that last year?”, I asked myself. Nope, probably not. The jams were only occasionally good as the crack varied in depth. Still, if the hand jams weren’t there, the foot jams were and the crack felt like a pleasure after the hard face climbing. At another marginal belay, Michael sent me off to continue the crack, which was now easier though still steep and exposed. The protection was good though and I got up a full rope length to another tree belay where we swung the lead again. Michael led us over more moderate terrain to the ridge crest.
Michael led out on the easy ridge. To the right was the throat of a steep and scary couloir; and the left was a sheer drop straight down to the glacier. Great exposure gave this pitch a its deserved exhilaration. We continued simul-climbing and began traversing beneath the steep walls under the summit. At this point, we were perhaps only 200 or 300 feet below the summit but the way was still convoluted. Michael headed around a corner out of sight. Not liking what he saw, I was able to persuade him to downclimb and continue down to a grassy ledge. Would this way go? At the base, Michael answered “yes”. Whew! So, I carefully downclimbed the steep and awkward pitch and headed out. After negotiating another off-balance downclimb by jamming my feet in ice and kicking steeps in snow, I headed off horizontally on slick mossy rocks. At the base of another ledge with a large snowdrift, I set up a belay and started to despair. “Arr, no more hard pitches, please!”, I thought. But in front of me I saw a sheer black wall. Though it was crisscrossed with narrow grassy ledges, it was quite smooth and was glistening black from moisture in the occasional sun breaks. Michael talked some optimism into me (thanks!) and headed off. After a thin move on a smooth face, he was able to gain the ledges which were, sure enough, quite easy. We were on our way again - a testament to positive thinking! I led the final long simul-pitch which was easy except for 3 or 4 crux moves, some with snow and ice again and others with short moves on thin holds. Finally, however, we topped out between the false and true summits.
If the ascent of this route was quite complicated (and it was), the descent was anything but. We bounded down the Colchuck Glacier and down the trail arriving at the car sometime around 10pm, seventeen hours later. We’ve started the season with a bang.
Tags: cosmic slabs, Northeast Buttress
