Colchuck Peak NE Buttress
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 7:55 pm
Casey and I both passed gall-, er, milestones this past month, and were stoked to get on some alpine rock after too many months of desk-jockeying. The NE Buttress delivered. Beckey guidebook says 18 pitches, I think we did 12 or so long ones, not counting some fun dead-end cragging along the way. The climb starts between the little trees in the pic below. We could look into the NE Couloir (a fun ski w/ Monika, Ryan and Sky a while back) just off to the right.
I reckoned there would be some navigable snow on route, but was not surprised to be surprised by the how the snow treated us. The snow on the upper half of the route forced us to take the 'line of purity'--that is, closely on the crest. This fact, together with the occasional steep snow axe-plunging/step-kicking(/mommy-calling) and mixed moves, made the climb more difficult. Wet shoes and wet cruxes were also welcome increases to the adventure quotient. And, I forgot a topo, not that it'd be much help anyway. This was Casey's first long alpine climb, and he prevailed in style. I think we might still be chums. Fantastic day out in a superb setting.
nice rock at the start. much of this buttress has solid rock and aesthetic climbing. loose stuff too, big buggers, god bless them. the next 2 pics are Casey's.
Casey on lower buttress:
finding our way to the upper buttress (i think Casey is still smiling at this point):
scrambling spine to the nice rock of the upper buttress, in background:
I am casting off on a spicy lead up high, smiling or grimacing--some wind, dropping temps and wet rock made for numb hands at this point:
Casey following. not smiling, exactly. NE Couloir in background.
old guys drink beer. it's what we do.
A few more pics here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ewehrly/201 ... directlink
I reckoned there would be some navigable snow on route, but was not surprised to be surprised by the how the snow treated us. The snow on the upper half of the route forced us to take the 'line of purity'--that is, closely on the crest. This fact, together with the occasional steep snow axe-plunging/step-kicking(/mommy-calling) and mixed moves, made the climb more difficult. Wet shoes and wet cruxes were also welcome increases to the adventure quotient. And, I forgot a topo, not that it'd be much help anyway. This was Casey's first long alpine climb, and he prevailed in style. I think we might still be chums. Fantastic day out in a superb setting.
nice rock at the start. much of this buttress has solid rock and aesthetic climbing. loose stuff too, big buggers, god bless them. the next 2 pics are Casey's.
Casey on lower buttress:
finding our way to the upper buttress (i think Casey is still smiling at this point):
scrambling spine to the nice rock of the upper buttress, in background:
I am casting off on a spicy lead up high, smiling or grimacing--some wind, dropping temps and wet rock made for numb hands at this point:
Casey following. not smiling, exactly. NE Couloir in background.
old guys drink beer. it's what we do.
A few more pics here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ewehrly/201 ... directlink