Pencil Chute, Fleur de Lis, and The Slopes Beyond

Ryan Murray dropping into The Pencil

Hemming and hawwing the night before, Ryan and I endlessly debated the what-ifs, in's, out's, pro's and con's, of a variety of lines, before finally deciding on a lift-accessed backcountry tour of the backside of Stevens Pass.

Ryan had been scoping a tight chute near the end of the Rooster Comb formation and Google Earth gave us enough optimism that the line would go.

From the top of the Tye Mill chair, Ryan Murray, myself, Joeseph Treftz, and Chris Petry made a rising traverse out to the power lines and from there a descending traverse to the basin below the south end of The Rooster Comb. 

We donned skins and Joey T pushed an ambitious skin track out the basin and up the "Could-a" chute near the Rooster Comb/Fleur-de-Lis saddle.

Skining up with End/Pencil Chute looming above Joe

Laying some mean track

Traversing below our intended line was quite intimidating. We could tell the top was steep and we couldn't make out a clear entrance. We could see a steep roll-over below the entrance and an exposed turn above the bordering cliffs midway down.  Nonetheless, we were psyched to check it out and slightly optimistic knowing that besides being quite tight, the line appeared continuous.

Yee-Haw

 

Visibility remined less than ideal as Ryan took over the skinning and continued pushing the track steeply up to the top of the ridge. Amazingly enough (and just as I had expected) the clouds parted as we topped out on the line, defining the couloir with sun and shadow, and projecting our shadows onto  the rare mountain/cloud phenomenon known as a Broken Spectre.

A Broken Spctre just visible above End Chute

Though steep, the entrance went. The slopes below appeared loaded so we began chopping away blocks of snow at the top of the entrance to try and get the chute to slide. Though we cleared the top we weren't able to get the chute to rip, thus began the classic hemming and hawwing on whether to ski the line.

Having seen some snow instabilities on the way up I was proabaly the most reluctant, Chris and Joe were basically silent, but Ryan seemed psyched and we continued discussing exactly how you could ski-it, safe zones, problem turns, etc. After about 10 minutes, Ryan sacked up and dropped in.

He cautiously skiied two tight turns off the entrance before making a hard ski-cut to the left, releasing the chute below, and ducking beneath a small rock outcropping to watch the chute empty. Ryan's background as a couloir crusher from Bridger Bowl was clearly evident, and he continued on, expertly jump turning through the steep rollover. He scrapped his way into position above the constriction/ cliff-turn, and skied out of sight. Moments later he came into view ripping turns in the bottom of the basin. Two poles in the air meant rip it, so we did.

Ryan giving us a clinic

First Chris, then myself, and finally Joey T followed. The psyche was high as we regrouped at the bottom and we started to ponder our second objective, the classic backside gawker, Fleur-de-Lis.

Joey T high in The Pencil

And fully commited further down above the constriction

A team of three skiiers had traversed below us as we were dropping the first chute and we gladly got into line on their freshly broken trail heading up to the top of Fleur-de-Lis. We caught up to the group on top, chatted for a bit, and got excited for the line as we watched them drop. Compared to The Pencil, Fleru-de-Lis seemed wide open and we slayed it, this time in reverse order.

Looking towards the Icicle from its headwaters at Lake Josephine

Fleur-de-Lis

Grouped back together at the lift we determined that we had one more line in us and chose The Slopes Beyond as a fitting finish to our "Around the Backside," trifecta. We thoroughly enjoyed the rest as the Southern Cross chairlift took us back to the top. A great bootpack got us out to See-Yo and up to the top of Wenatchee Bowl.

Heading out See-Yo with Fleur-de-Lis above Ryan on the left and End Chute above Joe in the center

Fleur-de-Lis on the left, End Chute/The Pencil on the right

A short ski-down got us into position and we wrapped it up with the nice open glades of Pot of Gold/The Slopes Beyond to the road.

Skiing off the top of Wenatchee Bowl with Lichtenberg and Rock Mtn in the distance

Petry cheesin

Thanks for the great day out gentlemen, a fitting end to an exciting January!

Dream Run on Lichtenberg

Not one single backcountry enthusiast has driven by the rolling flanks of Mt. Lichtenberg (just east of Stevens Pass on Hwy 2) without dreaming of shredding off the summit and down the long south face.

Being south facing, open, and avalanche-prone, conditions rarely agree to make this line both quality and safe. With a predicted warming episode to occur mid-day I set the alarm for 5:07 to see if we could make our dream come true.

Myself, Corbin, Brian, and Jim left the Yodelin parking lot shortly before 7am and tiptoed our way quietly past the private housing to the main creek drainage north of the hwy. We paralled the drainage heading north through tight trees before the forest gradually opened up. A long rising traverse allowed us to gain a steep rib which we cautiously switchbacked up towards the summit ridge.

Snow conditions varied greatly on the skin-up from breakable crust, wind-packed powder, to wind-scoured ice. Focus, intuition, and hard-fought optimism flooded our minds as we pushed our classically woobley splitboard bindings to their max on the precarious slopes.

Brian on the upslope

The higher we climbed the more inspiring the views became.

Corbin scoring big on his first Hwy 2 Tour

Rumored to have been skied first by the late, great, Dan Zimerman, AK47/RK47? has always been a topic of conversation and is high on the list..

Four hours after we began we crested the rib onto the summit ridge. A quick traverse led us to the summit proper where we transitioned our boards and reveled in the exposure. A quick boot down the crusty upper slope gave us a clear view of the runout off the summit and the realization that the line would go. We booted back up to the top and strapped in.

Psyched on the summit

Jim pointing the way

The first few turns were exposed and variably crusty. Jim made a hard ski-cut in some powder to check stability and took a peek over the cliff-band bordering the south ridge.

Looking down off the summit to the hwy

In position, I was the first to drop. Two hard and icy turns gave way to perfect wind-packed powder, one more turn and I pointed it thru a chute out of the summit slopes and into the wide open face. Fast, open, and stable, I hooted, hollered, and hunkered down into a safe position to view the rest of the pack.

Riding with a crew of four splitboarders was quite unique, and while I absolutely love riding with skiers (as I normally do), there was something special about shredding this face with a crew of boarders.  We continued down, riding as fast as we could on the great open powder, only slowing it down to jump off cliffs and launch off wind-lips.

We laughed our way to the bottom, we had finally lived our dream of riding that beautiful South Face of Lichtenberg.

Woo-hoo we finally rode Lichtenberg

A big thanks to my partners for the day and most importantly Ryan Murray, co-owner of Cascade Powder Cats, who, the night before, had given me a very specific snow conditions report from the CPC base on Windy Ridge just a few miles to the west. Ryan was sure the south face would be prime and without that knowledge I just don't know whether we would have dropped in. Thanks Ryan, sorry you had to hear the spray... and next time I hope to ride it with you man!

Headin home, yee-haw!

A couple of links

Here's a couple of TR's I posted earlier this year on cascadeclimbers.com. Enjoy!

Texas Hold em to Lone Star V 11c

Blake Herrington breaching a giant roof on the finishing pitch of Texas Hold Em

I looked down!

Picket Range - Complete Enchainment Attempt

Jens Holsten climbing into the sunset high on The Rake

 

Living the dream in the North Cascades

Goals for the New Year

Happy Holidays everyone! It's been way too long since I blogged, life as a nursing student/climber/landlord/husband is busy... but that's no excuse. I apologize to my readers and I'll put an end to my online absence right now.

Summit of Liberty Bell. Photo: Max Hasson

I climbed a few FA's this summer that I have not reported. They were exciting adventures that I will recount here or link to here in the near future so stay tuned for those.

Forging ahead on new ground high on the West Face Wall, Mt. Stuart. Photo: Jens Holsten.

Currently I'm layed out on the couch (during xmas break...HARSH). As such I've got plenty of time to think about the future. I'm preparing my current training plan for 2012 and as should be the start of any training plan i will begin with my goals.

Preparing to stare down the devil in Terror Creek. Photo: Blake Herrington.

Last year was a busy one. Year one of nursing school is particularly brutal as the learning curve is very steep. My training plan failed miserably in the wake of an exceptionally taxing spring and summer quarter. While I did accomplish a number of goals in the alpine, my rock skills took a severe beating and I felt like I ended the season much weaker then I started. This list is intended to keep me focused and motivated on the smaller stone throughout the next year. I chose 7 climbs in 5 of my favorite disciplines:

***Climbs in red font have been SENT!

Bouldering

Premium Coffee V7 - 5/20/12

Zorro Sit Start V8 - 5/31/12
Was V8
Batman V8
Jerry Garcia V8
Mushashi V9
Superman V10
The Practitioner V11



Traditional
No Such Thing as a Free Lunge 11+ Castle Rock, LTown - 4/10/12
Full Model Worker 11+ Index - 7/14/12 - Flash
Shirley 11+ Lower Town Wall, Index
Stevens Pass Motel 11+/12- Midnight Rock, LTown
Iron Horse 11+/12- Lower Town Wall, Index
Shriek of the Mutilated 12- Lower Castle Rock, LTown
Squeak of the Humiliated 12- Lower Castle Rock LTown
Narrow Arrow Direct 12+ Lower Town Wall, Index
Supercrack 12+ Midnight Rock, LTown

Even Steven 11-, Index, WA. Photo: Dave Elder

Sport 
Appassionata Sonata 12a/b Jigsaw Wall, Vantage
Little Jupiter (medium) 12bThe Country, Index

Technorigine 12c World Wall, Little Si

Propaganda 12c World Wall, Little Si

Jugulator 12c The Sanctuary, Vantage
Ruthless 12d Drip Wall, LTown

Heart Transplant 13a Main Cave, Nason Ridge - 5/14/12

Lowland Multi-Pitch

Iconoclast to Edge of Space 11- Snow Creek Wall, LTown - 5/25/12

East Face 11+ Bridge Creek Wall, LTown
Japanease Gardens Full 11++, Lower Town Wall, Index
University Wall 12- Squamish, B.C.
Wildest Dreams 12 Upper Town Wall, Index
Good Girls Like Bad Boys 12 Upper Town Wall, Index
The Green Dragon 12+ Upper Town Wall, Index

Jens Holsten and I wondering, "where do we go from here?" Bridge Creek Wall. Photo: Max Hasson

Alpine Rock
Project X
Project Y
Project Z
Tooth and Claw (rebolt and free) 12- Lexington Tower
The Independence Route 12-R Liberty Bell
Let it Burn 12- CBR
The Tempest Wall Free 12+ CBR

Wide-eyed, Freedom Rider, Liberty Bell. Photo: Aaron Scott

It's unrealistic to think I'll climb them all this season, but it's nice to consolidate some goals. I hope this gets everyone psyched to crush. 2012 is right around the corner, let's make it a good one!

Summertime!!

There is no doubt that the  alpine rock climbing season in the Cascades (roughly mid-june to mid-september) is my favorite time of the year.  Three months to send all the routes i've been daydreaming about, drolling-over, visualizing, and ultimately obsessing on through the long dark winter. Of course, I never climb them all, but there's no doubt I try!

This year i'm deep in the throes of a 2-Year RN program (it's great!), and subsequently find myself with very little freetime (and very little sleep).  Nonetheless, I do what I can do, and found myself booting up the ever familiar Colchuck Lake Trail on  a mild June day, less that 24 hrs after walking out of my Final Exam for a particularly brutal Spring Quarter.

First up on the plate for this season was a climb of the neo-classic Acid Baby, on the Spineless Prow near Aasgard Pass. It's a good warm-up for the year, with a reasonable approach, slightly BURLY  10+ crux, easy descent, and lots of beautiful positions and scenery. This year I teamed up with fun-guy Joel Kauffman for the seasons first romp. 


Starting us off for the day

Joel psyched up for the crux on Pitch 2

Pitch 3 is a wee bit chossy...

 ...but still really fun.

It really starts coming together on Pitch 4 

Alpine Bliss

The finale is a classic knife-edge ridge traverse...

The season begins!