Chair Peak

March 6th, 2010

TR by Evan

Chair Peak, North Face: Should've brought a chair, for all the waiting Having tried once before to climb the North face of Chair Peak together, Kris and I resolved to get an even earlier start from Seattle to avoid the long queue that turned us back on our previous attempt. Departing Seattle at the disturbingly early hour of 5AM for a climb basically at Snoqualmie Pass, we reached the parking area and set off around 6:30. The trail is essentially a compacted highway to Source Lake, so we left the snowshoes in the truck and donned crampons from the start.

As we reached the lake we could see two parties of three above us, so we followed some older tracks and made haste to the staging area beneath the East face of Chair. We elected this time to take out our tools only and quickly gained the notch where we geared up. Unfortunately as it turned out, a 5AM start and 1.5 hour pace to the base of the climb was not nearly early enough, as we were already 5th in line. Since it was only 8 and was quite nice out with endless blue skies, we decided waiting would be fine. Standing around near the base of the dihedral, I became concerned that another climber was traversing about 10 feet above the bergshrund, starting 100 feet to our left and ending off to our right. In steep powdery snow with no protection, I realized if he fell he would take all of us with him down towards Snow Lake, so we hopped into the deep shrund. We had the opportunity to meet three fellow climbers who turned out to be really funny throughout the day, greatly alleviating the perpetual boredom that is waiting to climb.

Finally, at the crack of 11 we were able to start. Kris plowed up and over the disintegrating shrund and started up the icy dihedral of the first pitch. He found good fat (and sometimes brittle) ice, placing 5 screws before building a marginal anchor of two pickets and a screw in soft snow/ice. To cross the bergshrund I had to cut down a large 3 foot square snow block to fill in the widening gap: it worked perfectly and made a nice stair step to the steep snow. The climbing up the first pitch was great and pretty easy, and, until the very top, mostly free of debris from above. As I reached the belay we both began to be pelted by falling ice and snow from a very slow party of two on the third pitch. Kris set off for p2, mostly steep snow with by now bucket steps, and placed two screws before reaching a solid tree belay. The entire time I was getting pummeled with crap, and just leaned into the face keeping my helmet and pack above me. A number of chunks hit my helmet and legs but did no damage. A couple of times I heard pieces whiz past sounding like bullets. I exhorted Kris to make haste before breaking down the anchor and getting the hell out of the fall line.

At the tree belay we had to wait at least half an hour for the guys we had met (Andy, Justin, and Jay), who themselves had to wait for the party ahead of them, to finish the third pitch. I got the lead here and really enjoyed easy climbing contouring around the edge of the ice rather than climbing directly up the inviting ice in the center of the face. Partly this was to avoid more debris from above, but mostly because the ice was very hollow feeling and I didn't trust it's ability to hold screws. I slung a couple trees and got in one bad screw before reaching the next tree belay, 20 easy meters beneath the summit notch. Waiting again for room at the belay, Kris eventually followed and I set off for the final mini pitch (had the route been clear we could have easily linked 3 and 4 or simply simulclimbed them) up 50 degree snow buckets. I 'pounded' in both pickets, more as an exercise in placing pickets than as real protection, since they popped almost entirely out with the slightest pull on the sling. I gained the notch and brought Kris up, where we coiled the ropes and dropped our packs.

A quick scramble up easy snow brought us to the summit proper where we reveled in the suns warmth and the amazing atmospheric clarity. South to Rainier and Adams, west to the Olympics, Baker to the north and Stuart and Glacier to the east, we could see them all and everything between. So many mountains, so much to climb. Back at the notch we stowed most of our gear and followed Andy, Jay, and Justin down a small gully to where they were rappelling. Here I noticed a larger gully descending from the northeast buttress, down which I convinced Kris we should climb. Up and over the top of the buttress, we dropped in and began easy downclimbing and plunge stepping to the base of the others rappel. Noticing some webbing at the top and a prominent rock at the bottom, I recognized this as the normal descent route. Pulling their rope through, we quickly set up for the next rappel and they graciously let us go first. One long easy rappel down the final couloir (which could also be easily downclimbed) and it was easy walking down to the base of the east face.

Here we briefly wished we had our snowshoes as we kept breaking through shin-eating crust. Soon we reached more solid snow and began glissading, taking turns breaking through the painful crust. Taking us nearly all the way down to Source Lake we finally reached the veritable highway and again donned crampons for the walk out (oddly, there was a group of 5 tents and a bunch of people camped at the lake). We reached the car at 5:30, probably about 4 hours later than we would have if we hadn't had to wait so damn much. Following a theme, we waited in the truck 40 minutes for Andy, Justin, and Jay, with whom we wanted to exchange contact info. Failing to see them we left a note on the trail.

All told though, it was a spectacular day, waiting or not. We couldn't have asked for better weather or better companions for whiling away the hours waiting. The climbing was superb and Kris and I agreed that it was great to finally pass a test of sorts: in some ways it was the first real alpine ice route for each of us, and it was satisfying to find it well within our technical and mental abilities. I think the mental hurdle it represented was significantly larger than the physical challenge, and both were passed with flying colors.

Gear Note: Kris and I both used umbilicals for our tools that we made earlier in the week, following Dave Burdicks online instructions. They were a big success for both of us, and I doubt very much if I'll ever climb with leashes again.

Valley in the morning light