Tag Archives: North Buttress

Pickets Traverse – Day 6

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Of the three awesome mountains we climbed, I was most eager to climb Mount Terror.  Something about the name, it’s location, and the remote north buttress culminated in interest I’ve had since coming to the Pacific Northwest.  Today was the day.  Another unknown for us was how to get down to McMillan Cirque.  We certainly couldn’t descend straight from Picket Pass since it was typical ridiculous steep terrain.  The opposite side of the pass, however, was quite accessible from Goodell Creek.  We had argued about just where the pass was.  I guess if the definition of a pass is “the way through either side”, then it would have to be a very wide pass.  We had an idea from a photo that I’d taken from the top of McMillan Spire the previous year that we could ascend about 40-60 feet beyond the low point of Picket Pass and make a steep descent down ledges and gullies to McMillan Cirque.  We decided to try it and it ended up going, but not after more interesting terrain at the very bottom that we only could shake our heads and fists at yet again.  We were blocked by a slabby cliffy area and opted to throw the rope around a sturdy tree and rappell down.  I volunteered to go first and got down pretty far, but not the entire way.  We still had some interesting scrambling to get down.  I can’t remember the details of how Aidan and Michael negotiated it, but my technique was to lower my pack so that I wouldn’t have that weight throwning me off.  Indeed it was an easy scramble without that extra weight, but exposed, and we were soon down at the glacial slabs.  We began our traverse under the Mustard Glacier to the base of the north buttress.

Traversing the slabs was awesome.  There were lots of uninterrupted water streams running down the polished slabs that gave the area a distinct zebra effect.  Further beyond we pass by large ice blocks that had recently broken off from the glacier above, some as big as coolers, others were as big as cars.  We got on to the glacier and continued to traverse to the buttress.  There was a distinct snowfield near the bottom of the buttress that we dubbed “the kitty”.  Our plan was to get on to the buttress below it and traverse underneath quickly, then cut back up the face above it.

We had to retrace our steps and downclimb the glacier a bit due to some unreasonably steep ice.  The climb back up to the buttress stepping point was again steep but thankfully made easier by large cups in the snow.  We placed an ice screw to belay Michael from.  It seemed like forever before I was allowed to move (I was in the back), but at least we all got on to the buttress safely.  We quickly switched into rock shoes and packed our boots as compactly as possible.  Aidan took off for the first two pitches.  These two pitches covered enormous amounts of easy ground.  We quickly made our way under and around the kitty snowfield.  The climbing started to become more challenging near the end of the second pitch.  It was also very solid thus adding to the enjoyment.  I took off for the next two pitches.  From here on it, it was all 5th class terrain until we got high on the north buttress where the long thin snowfield cuts laterally below the false summit.  I felt really good leading however on my second lead, I ended up picking a poor route, ignoring an obvious dihedral.  I thought it would go, but the face started to blank out on me and steepen.  Before too long, I was fuddling around not making any progress when Aidan and Michael shouted up that I should either lower off or downclimb.  Well, I wasn’t about to lower off if I could but I certainly didn’t want to continue up.  So, I made a careful downclimb then got into the dihedral which was fun 5.6 climbing.  It felt a little acrobatic to me, but Aidan and Michael made short work of it as I brought them up.  I had made it to the buttress crest.

At this point, Michael took over and led us up increasingly hard terrain.  Some of the books say there is a 3rd class route on this north buttress, but I no longer believe it.  Even if you could find a 3rd class route (you’d have to be an elite routefinder to do so), the exposure is still fierce the whole way.  After long sections of nice white gneiss, the route was starting to darken slowly with lichen and become a little more loose.  Michael led a hard and scary traverse move that he rated 5.8 (much scarier with a full pack).  I was able to bypass it by continuing to lieback a corner up the ridge.

Steep terrain continued on Michael’s second lead.  We left the crest of the buttress and moved back on to the face before ending at an awkward stance before a chimney.  Aidan led up through the chimney.  He soon reached the snowfield that led upward to the false summit.  We didn’t need to touch the snow, but it was nice to know we’d be on 2nd and 3rd class terrain for a while.  Michael and I followed up the fun chimney.

We followed the easy terrain up to a large level area where we took of our packs and casually walked around.  The huge face below had me not desiring any more rock climbing.  It was afternoon by now.  We had been on the buttress for a long time.  It was hard to tell which way to go from here, but Michael spotted a cairn off to the left.  We scrambled around to the left over exposed terrain to an obviously belay station.  Above it was a flaky chimney.  It was my turn to lead so I headed up.  More horns to sling…my favorite.

At the top of the fun chimney, I began traversing and slightly trending upward.  When the rope drag became too difficult, I stopped, slung a horn, and brought Aidan and Michael up.  Michael was anxious to lead again so we let him go.  He ended up leading us up one of the best pitches of the route – A long, continually solid and fun off-width crack.  At the top of this awesome pitch, we arrived at the big blocks underneath the false summit.  The true summit was directly in front of us as well.  But there was no bypassing of the false summit on the left, we had to go up and over it.  There was no point in bypassing on the right since it was a long and gentle slope.

Michael led off again on another fantastic pitch.  Was this one the best?  Hard to say, but it was awesome.  Aidan likened it to Mathis Crest in the Sierras, something I’d like to do someday.  The pitch was basically another solid and fun one, this time a hand traverse of sorts.  Still, at the top of the false summit, I was glad the rock climbing was done.  We down-climbed some 4th class terrain to get on the “standard” west ridge route.  We then dropped our packs and scampered up 3rd and 4th class terrain to the top.  Awesome!  We got climbed all of the mountains we set out to climb.  It was great being on top of the last big mountain with such excellent gentlemen as well.

We couldn’t stay on top long though as the sun was already threatening to drop soon.  We scrambled back down to our packs then down a little further then back up onto the main part of the ridge (I suppose this actually terminates in the false summit) and down to the rappel point.  We threaded the rope through and Michael headed down.  Unfortunately, the rope didn’t reach the entire way (it was a 50m rope) and we had to spend more time devising another rappel that got us down to the horrid gully between Mount Terror and The Rake.

At this point, I’d like to recommend that folks not even bother climbing Mount Terror via the “easy” west ridge route.  The hike in is so long and the climb consists of a wretchedly loose gully and then a relatively loose scramble up to the top.  If you’re going to take the time, do the north buttress.  If you’re not up for the north buttress, do West McMillan Spire instead.  Anyway, back to the story, we delicately made our way down the gully knocking all sorts of rocks down.  About a third of the way down, the route is blocked by a huge chockstone which must be miserable to pass in the opposite direction (another reason to not to climb that route).  We took the rope out AGAIN and rappelled as far as possible down the gully, then slipped and slid our way into Crescent Creek basin.  The late afternoon light was now bathing the basin in orange so we knew our campsite tonight would be on the glacial slabs of Crescent Creek Basin.  The actually campsite was to be near the Chopping Block, not too far away, but too far for today.

Before our last meal of the trip (sniff), Aidan decided to dunk himself in the glacial pool next to our camp.  I’d already put in my feet and hands to wash up and I knew I wanted no part of it.  He quickly waded into the center then slowly sat down as he went into these hilarious convulsions…I still laugh to this day recalling the funny episode.  We enjoyed our last meal (oh man, that mashed potatoe, broccoli, and cheese dish was excellent!) and then turned in.  I teased Michael and Aidan as we went to sleep with each of my shooting star sightings.

On to day 7.

Pickets Traverse – Day 4

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Despite sleeping underneath such a scary face and the imminent difficulties lying before us, I ended up sleeping pretty well the night before.  I think the fire sang me to sleep.  When the sun was up though, I didn’t hesitate to get Michael and Aidan up.  They were glad to have the shelter of the Betamid after the cold night on Challenger’s glacial slabs.  We put harnesses on right away and headed out.  We found the shortest and easiest way down the steep moraine to the base of the glacier.  From above, this section of glacier appears to be more moraine, but it’s actually ice covered with several layers of dirt and dust with an occasional boulder thrown in.  Obviously, a lot of rock fall has been falling down from the Northern Pickets and Mount Fury.

Our route would gain the north buttress on the west side.  To get there, we spotted a prominent snow tongue that would lead us to glacial slabs.  We could then either continue up in the direction of the tongue or go straight up the slabs.  Or next landmark was another snowfield with a prominent mudslide in the middle that would lead us up to a snowfield on the edge of the buttress that we dubbed “New Zealand”.  Passing under that snowfield would give us access to the buttress crest.  Unquestionably the most dangerous part of the route was getting on the buttress.  We opted to go up the slabs instead of switchbacking by following the snow tongue all the way up; that way would expose us to more rockfall.  The rockfall was fairly periodic, much more frequent than I would like.  The slabs were more  difficult than we had anticipated.  After one unprotectable slab climb, we arrived at a wide ledge where a waterfall was (which we had spotted from below).  Aidan found a much easier and smarter way to gain the upper snowfield.  Instead of climbing more similar slabs (except these were steeper), we downclimbed about 100 feet and scrambled up easy terrain to the base of the snowfield.  While we were getting some water at the base of the snowfield, I heard rockfall and shouted “Rock!!”.  I looked up and saw a rock the size of a cooler rotating high in the air 200 feet above us.  We instantly scattered, bumping into one another and tripping on the talus.  But, we were easily out of the way as the bomb exploded and blew shrapnel all around us.  OK, that was enough for me.  We clipped into the rope and jumped onto the thankfully firm snow and I proceeded to lead us at top speed out of this nonsense.  We gained ground rapidly and were able to exit onto reasonable ground below New Zealand.  Michael headed out for the first long simul-climb pitch.

The climb to the ridge was pretty easy except for one maddening section where we were forced to go through a tight gully of snow.  We chopped at snow fins to allow passage but this was ridiculously too much work.  Instead, if I recall, Aidan unroped and scrambled around easy terrain on the left and I took in a lot of slack and scrambled up the boulder on the left.

The various pitches on the low part of the ridge escape me now.  Michael is one with the memory for such things so hopefully his account of the tale will furnish that.  I don’t even remember if Aidan took a lead or two.  I do recall that when I took the lead, it was the first really fun pitch.  I went up a short slab with a nice crack in it and then turned a corner where the climbing became steep but flaky and solid.  Back on the crest, however, I came to an impasse.  The climbing suddenly became significantly harder than 5.6.  Hmm…was I on route?  I knew I could do what was in front of me, but there was no protection for the first dicey move and I couldn’t see any pro above that and the terrain didn’t seem much easier until a move after that.  I looked to the left but it looked too steep.  So, I opted to bring the boys up for a look see.

Michael was up for trying it out.  He did a great job at it, but it was as I suspected – not possible to protect well.  At least we were there to spot him.  Aidan thinks that we would have found a better route if we would have looked even farther to the left.  I tended to agree with him after seeing it from above.  It looked steep but blocky.  Anyway, we were on our way – following it wasn’t too bad.  Aidan took over a couple of leads.  One of the first was a super exposed but easy and protectable climb directly on the ridge, maybe 5.2?  The easy exposed climbing was what it was all about and this section was the first of many that were to follow in the middle of the buttress.

Aidan led two spectacular pitches and then I led two more.  I distinctly recall one section on my first lead of the middle buttress.  The climbing was exposed but moderate in difficulty and so solid.  The route led me right around an overhanging tower to a hand traverse of sorts with few footholds.  There was horn after horn for me to sling.  As I continued though, I prayed that the route would go; I could not see around the corner.  I continued on…it would!  I protected it with another horn and then stepped over an exposed gap to easier ground and then up a short step where I brought Michael and Aidan up to.

My next pitch was also fun, although not as thrilling as the previous.  It was still moderate and solid.  After following directly on the ridge crest, the route dropped to scrambling along talus.  There was a snowfield off to the left.  I recall that it was in the mid afternoon by now and the sun was again beating down to us.  I made for a large tower that would shield us from the sun and belayed from there.

Michael led out of the shelter from the shade up more 4th and low 5th class terrain.  Aidan took over somewhere as the two prominent gendarmes high on the route slowly got closer and closer.  Between the gendarmes, the route became more easy talus scrambling before it gave way to the final snow arete.  We unroped for that section and roped up again for the snow climb.  Michael led off for the first pitch.  From across the valley, the snow arete on Fury looks ferociously steep and exposed.  From here, it didn’t look as bad although once we were on it, it felt pretty exposed again.  Left and right fell away steeply.  We wisely used our two pickets all the way up.  The arete is divided into three segments.  I took over Michael’s lead and led the final two.  They felt even more exposed and I took the time to make great ice axe and boot placements.  I actually swung my axe and the ice tool from the base as opposed to dagger style – it felt more solid plus I could reach farther and use my arms to help pull me up the route.

My pace was slow, but the foot placements were solid for my buds.  At the top, I dropped into the moat and brought them up.  Michael then decided to lead out (without a rack, oops) up a rock buttress on the left.  Aidan and I scrambled around the backside on 4th class terrain.  It was a little exposed but nothing compared to Michael’s scary route.  Beyond this tower, we scrambled up easy blocks to the summit as the sun began to set.  Well, we were going to spend a potentially uncomfortable night on the summit of Mount Fury.  At least we had all our gear…not like we had a choice given the nature of this expedition!

I did see a cave underneath the summit with potentially flat slabs on it.  That would be a pretty miserable camp cooped up in there like a packrat.  Michael and Aidan spotted a small patch of level snow just big enough for the Betamid.  I wasn’t keen on squeezing in on the snow ledge so I found a warmer rock ledge of my own about 60 feet below the summit – great views of the Southern Pickets.  I enjoyed a great meal with Aidan and Michael.  We also melted snow for water.  Afterwards, I carefully made my way down the south side of Mount Fury by the light of my headlamp until I came to my camp.  I yelled, “I’m down guys!  Good night!” -  the signal that all was well.  I played a game as I went to sleep – I tried keeping my eyes as long as possible while watching the numerous shooting stars.  I don’t think the game lasted long, but I saw lots of shooting stars.

On to day 5.