The first day of winter break my mom and I jump in my little Hyundai Accent, crammed full of ski gear, somehow we managed to squeeze in 4 pairs of skis! Figuring out the ski rack the night after finals was not happening, my brain cells were shaking in fear. We were headed North to ski the Powder Highway! We had the resorts Revelstoke, Kicking Horse, and Red in our cross hairs!
All was well, until car troubles struck! The throw-out bearing in my clutch decided to squeal like a squashed cat so we called it quits in Bellingham and limped home. In different circumstances I might have risked making the trip but snow conditions were so lame and definitely not inspiring risky behavior.
Through my climbing career I've developed some resiliency to set backs like this and decided to take advantage of the rare, ice cold temps Washington was receiving at the moment. I managed to get out ice climbing the next couple of days, bumming rides from my climbing partners.
Leading some rambling WI2
Brendan
Lance
STOKED
Chase
Hubba Hubba in Leavenworth
Chase topping out on Hubba Hubba
After some good times climbing ice, Chase Nelson and I turned our attentions toward an alpine objective. Luckily we had the ability to choose an optimal weather window. We waited a few days and planned our summit day for the 19th when NOAA called for a 30% chance of precipitation and cold temperatures, the best forecast in the next 10 days.
We arrived at the Bridge Creek campground at the reasonable hour of 10:30am and began our trek into the Stuart Range. We had high hopes that the classic Triple Couliors on Dragontail would show some promise but carried Argonaut in our bag of tricks just in case Dragontail's north face was uninviting.
For instant stoke you should check out this video from Chase's gopro, edited by his friend Sean Thomas
For even more stoke keep reading!
Unsurprisingly Dragontail's North face was totally snow and ice free. Even from the approach it was obvious there was no ice to be found on Dragontail.
So we continued down the trail to Argonaut, did some bushwhacking and arrived at a comfortable bivy below Argonaut. We set the alarm for 4am and settled in for the long winter night.
Argonaut from the approach in center left
After leaving camp the next morning we quickly found ourselves fighting through endless slide alder in the cold darkness. It was incredibly miserable and suffering was reaching an all time high. I kept moving to the right hoping to break out of the deathbrush. Eventually we escaped and made good time to the base of our route.
Approaching the base of the route
That is the moon!
Chase approaching the base of the route at sunrise
Once we escaped the miserable alder we made good time to the base of the route. Our plan was to start the route exactly at sunrise to maximize our amount of usable daylight during these cold dark winter days. Surprisingly we found ourselves ahead of schedule which meant sitting and freezing waiting for the sun to rise, without the heat of the sun both of us were freezing. I was somehow using every inch of fabric I had to keep me warm, even my backpack was wrapped around my legs. Eventually the sun rose and we began our climb.
The first steep steep into the coulior was interesting, with some stemming and grunting I pulled into the easy snow coulior and we continued upward simul-climbing. On the right side of the coulior we spotted a fun looking mixed ice and rock corner, the ice was thin but looked solid and there was decent options for protection in the rock. Chase was gung-ho to start on the sharp end and I was content to belay him while attempting to work some warmth back into cold feet.
We worked our way up through some steep rock and found ourselves in another slightly steep coulior which lead to some easy rock climbing before the final snow slopes to the summit.
coulior climbing = burning calves
Maximum Exposure
Nice view eh?
Steps from the summit
After traversing the summit ridge and climbing some easy rock we found ourselves on the prominent summit surrounded by the glorious peaks of the Stuart range and the peaks beyond. We could see south to Mt. Hood and North to Mt. Baker. We took the obligatory summit shots and signed the register, which hadn't been signed since September! I thought that was pretty cool.
Summit shot! Stupid Headlamp
After our high fives and pictures we began our descent down climbing the summit ridge and finding rappel anchors from a previous party. With double ropes we made good progress making full rope rappels and soon enough we were strolling down easy snow slopes to the bottom of Mountaineer's creek valley.
Chase on the descent
We made good time back to camp and packed quickly resisting the urge to sit down and relax for a bit, there was still a long way back to the car and it was important to not lose our momentum. As we moved down the trail darkness engulfed us and made the trek back even more miserable. Finally we arrived at the car, tired but totally stoked on a great day in the alpine.
The day after Thanksgiving my friend Brendan and I headed into the Stuart range to kick off our winter climbing season. Motivated by some pretty pictures and beta on CascadeClimbers.com we decided to head out despite a miserable forecast, some suffering would make us stronger. We made it up the first couloir in the Triple couloir's route before turning around at the base of the runnels. The runnels were thin but forming! We were short on time and I wasn't to stoked on leading in those harder mixed conditions.
A leisurely approach got us to Colchuck lake in about 2 hours. Arriving around noon we had plenty of time to explore and look at our different route options, we had originally planned on climbing Colchuck's NE couloir but a close look at Triple couloirs on Dragontail had us excited. The base of NEC on Colchuck looked pretty challenging. Armed with 4 cams, 3 superstubby screws, a set of nuts and a few pins we figured we were fairly prepared for anything. After looking around and taking pictures we headed back to camp wondering how the weather would play into our decision.
Hurry up Lance! photo by Brendan Smith
Boulders.....Huge boulders photo by Brendan Smith
Second Couloir is obvious
Whad up Colchuck Lake?
Colchuck looking very frosty
First Couloir
base of the NEC on Colchuck
After our afternoon scouting mission we headed back to camp where some shenigans went down. We only had brought 4oz of fuel thinking we could get water out of the lake....turns out the lake was frozen so much time was wasted chopping through 6 inches of ice. Luckily we were well prepared with ice tools. Then we did some bouldering. It was rad. After our little boulder sesh we settled in to bed around 6:30pm! It was dark and there was nothing to do!
Alpine Bouldering? photo by Brendan Smith
Second Ascent! GRADE CONFIRMED
The next morning Brendan wakes me up at 5:30am to rain and wind. I had to go pee anyway so I got out of the tent and yes, it definitely was raining, I could see one or two stars but the tops of Dragontail and Colchuck were being assaulted by massive dark masses of clouds. I jumped back in the tent and we decided to wait awhile and see if the weather changed neither of us had any desire to go climbing in the freezing rain. Around 7:30 the rain had died down but the wind was whipping our tent around, our campsite was so protected I didn't want to imagine what it was like up higher. So he waited some more. Finally around 9:30 I woke up and crawled out of my warm sleeping bag. The weather was great! Some lingering clouds but no rain and little wind! Now I was pretty mad with myself, thinking I must be the laziest alpine climber who has ever existed. Sleeping in till 9:30! I didn't say much to Brendon as I packed up climbing gear, put my harness on and stormed off towards Aasgard pass. I was determined to climb something that day. There was an interesting looking ice flow or we could go check out the Triple Couloirs.
Halfway up Aasgard pass I asked Brendan what he felt like doing. He pointed at the massive couloir on Dragontail and said "lets go check it out". I was hoping he would say something like that! So off we went. We arrived at the base around 10:45am and decided we would only climb as high as we could easily escape not wanting to commit ourselves to an epic night with a burly storm forecasted to strike in the next 12 hours.
Finally we were climbing! Time to get rowdy!
Lance climbing the first step into the first couloir. Photo by Brendon Smith
Brendan approaching my belay
Brendan pulling through the second steep step around the chockstone cave
Looking up to the top of the first couloir
Looking at what we thought might be the runnels
We decided to head down.
Brendan starting to downclimb
Yes, I forgot chapstick
Prepping to rappel photo by Brendan Smith
Most awkward rappel ever!
More downclimbing
A last rappel. Much faster and safer than down climbing
Once off the route we cruised back to our camp as it began to rain. We both agreed today was a success and I felt a little better about being a lazy piece of shit that morning. Breaking down camp went quickly and off we went slipping and sliding down the trail back to the TH.
I'm quite the lucky kid, but I like to think some of my good fortune stems from hard work, thoughtful decisions and good attitude. One of my top ski partners Mike Dahlquist lives down in Oakland and seems to make weekly pilgrimages to the sanctuary of Yosemite Valley. I managed to find the time between classes and "life logistics" to fly down for a weekend, leaving Friday afternoon and arriving back in Seattle Monday morning at 8:30am just in time for class! Yosemite was spectacular! A trip I will remember perhaps the rest of my life. It puts a lot of things into perspective, made me think about the trajectory of my life and whats important! I came home with a renewed stoke for life and climbing. A huge thanks to Mike for making the trip possible and being somebody for me to look up to! NOW HERE IS THE STORY!
Seated in the passenger seat of Mike's maroon
SUV I stared up in awe through the sun roof as we drove through The Valley, massive rock walls exploded from
the valley floor and soared endlessly into the blue abyss of the sky. These
legendary faces scared me and captivated me, I had never felt as small or
insignificant. Part of me wanted to escape but another part of me was here to
satisfy curiosity. I was a decent rock climber back at home, I had some big
climbs under my belt but this was Yosemite. The birthplace of rock
climbing in the States, a place where climbing evolved and grew, the greatest
climbers who ever lived perfected their craft on these walls hundreds of feet
above this valley floor. Climbers from around the world come to Yosemite to become
the climbers they want to be. Myself included.
"The Captain" -Mike
My first day in the valley Mike suggested we climb the Arrowhead Arete which featured fun and interesting 5.8 climbing with a pleasant alpine feel. This seemed like something I could handle so off we went crashing through the steep and scrambly underbrush to the base of the Arete!
Looking up at the Arete
Mike following Pitch 1 of Arrowhead Arete
I linked the first two pitches to a decent belay off a fixed pin, alien cam and a nut. Mike followed up and took the next pitch pulling easily over the sole 5.9 move on the route. I climbed up to Mike into the sun and into the looming presence of Half Dome across the valley
Half Dome!
As we climbed higher and higher Mike pointed out the dozens of famous climbs and rock faces. Before long I was heading out across the ultra exposed knife edge ridge at the top of the Arete.
Mike at a cozy belay
Mike following on the rad knife edge ridge
Our descent down the massive descent gully was full of the typical shenanigans. We rappelled into trees, tip-toed down loose gravel and boulders hoping we wouldn't trigger a huge land slide. The cliffs above us attempted to crush our skulls with rock missiles, we managed to dodge them with ninja like agility. Not really, we ran around in panic.
Descent gully
Epic Yosemite sunset
My second day in The Valley groggily began with cinnamon rolls and the last of our coffee, we made some sandwiches for lunch and then headed off for the Regular route on Higher Cathedral Spire! We arrived at the trailhead just after another pair of climbers so we went into high gear to hopefully beat them to the base of our intended route, just in case they had the same idea. Within minutes we had our bags packed an were charging up hill with the steep faces of the Cathedral rocks and Spires looming above. Sure enough we were the first climbers to the base of the route!
The spire from below
Mike led the easy first pitch in fine style and handed over the reins to me for the second pitch. Things got interesting, the route had multiple variations for the second pitch, one variation included a "powerful traverse move" and the other included a harder direct "steep finger crack". True to my usual self I opted for the harder finger crack, it was harder 5.10ish and went straight up over a roof, both good reasons to give it a go. I won't lie, it was hard and I whipped hard! But it was awesome! Everything worked just right and made for a clean fall, my second try I crushed it, pulling hard over the small roof which seemed to have no feet to a decent hand jam.
The Cathedrals from across the valley
Mike following one of the coolest 5.9 pitches i've ever climbed!
The Regular route on Higher cathedral spire is 5 pitches with 4 pitches of sustained 5.9 climbing with all sorts of different climbing! Steep with positive holds, chimneys, hand cracks, finger cracks and a freaking sweet summit! To top it off the incredible faces of Higher Cathedral Rock and El Capitan are in your face the whole climb!
Higher Cathedral Rock featuring The NE buttress and The Crucifix
Close up on Higher Cathedral Rock. Can you see the climbers?
Yosemite Valley
Standing on the summit was bitter sweet! The climb was rad! I was stoked to have led most of the pitches, taken a nice fall and have incredible views. The top also signified the end of my climbing in Yosemite for a while and I would have to return to the dreariness of classes the next day. I promised myself not to let life's little difficulties suck the stoke out of my climbing.
