 After
a previously cancelled climb up this route, Sergio and I took
it upon ourselves to give it a whirl. Since I already had been
up the hiking trail before last year, it seemed simple enough,
just find the correct gulley and go straight up. So John and Joseph
joined us and we were off. We kept a nice brisk pace up the trail
as we got onto the railroad grade that the trail intersects twice.
Once we got near the approach gulley, we did some bushwacking
while trying to locate the route. We then ascended the low angle
approach area until we got up into the main portion of the gulley
where we took off the snowshoes and donned our crampons, helmets,
harnesses, and rope.
We zig zagged
our way up the gulley in perfect cramponing conditions, but it
was snowing and visibility was not much more than 100 feet. Once
we reached the steeper portion of the climb Sergio and I did a
few running belays. The last pitch or 2 was steep snow, maxing out at about 40 degrees+. John led the
first pitch of the exposed class 2/3 scramble (one or 2 moves
of class 3). The belay tree was not far above him and he then
belayed Joseph up. I followed and led the same pitch and enjoyed
mixed climbing with crampons.
I belayed
Sergio up at this point and we walked over to the true summit
from there. After a few summit images, we went back to the belay
tree where there was already a rappel runner, and I left another
one for the rap down to the base of the climb. We then did about
5-6 more double rope raps to where we could safely downclimb the
gulley unroped.
We boogied
out pretty fast after reaching the trail, and drove to North Bend
for some serious grub.
I must say this was one of my favorite climbs from 2002 because
of the alpine feeling of the climb, the exposure, and having full
winter conditions in Spring. I have also heard that there are
a few other gullies that one can encounter if you continue on
the trail heading east and around the base. These are obvious
when traveling west on I-90.
Web References:
www.sverdina.com
www.summitpost.org
Lat/Lon: 47.40690°N / 121.6211°W
More info: North Bend Ranger Station at 425-888-1421 (Seattle 206-622-8378).
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