Most Committing Adventure Yet

Scott sent a text to Jimmy and I about our annual climbing trip. (started an annual trip as of last year...) He said Leavenworth, WA alpine climb on Dragontail Peak called Serpentine.  14 pitches of 5.8 4 mile hike in and backpacking for 3 days. I had just finished a 15 pitch climb in Squamish where the hardest pitch was 10.c so I figured I was ready for this climb and responded "i'm in."

August 25th after Scott ran Hood to Coast we drove from Portland OR to Leavenworth WA.  Woke up on Monday went to the ranger station some how the cards were in our favor and we got the one permit to backpack in Colchuck.  We packed our backpacks for two nights and three days of backpacking and climbing.

 Our packs were probably around 35 to 40 pounds.  We hiked in 4.2 miles to Colchuck Lake in the Wilderness of WA and set up camp. Camp was our sleeping pads, bivy sacks, and a tarp over head.    

The next morning we got up at 5:30 am ate breakfast and began the hike to the base of Dragontail Peak.  The hike was up a steep loose talus field and across a ridge to the base of our route called Serpentine.  

We began climbing at 8:00 am.  Originally we were going to climb as a party of three, and below us friends were going to climb as a party of four.  Three of our friends backed out after the hike to the base, as the weather was pretty poor.  You could only see a third of the climb as the clouds had socked in the large granite face. 

We then began climbing in pairs.  We rock climbed for 12 hrs straight.  Literally the leader would climb and belay the second climber up we would exchange gear and begin climbing the next pitch. There were times where the second climber had to take out the anchor and begin climbing while the lead climber was still climbing due to the 70-meter rope not being long enough.  Often we would find ourselves putting on coats at the belay and taking them off to climb as the weather was constantly changing.  My climbing partners all had on quick dry clothing and Merino wool clothing as a base layer.  I had on my Cozy Orange Libra Tank and Aries Long sleeve.  It would get wet with sweat, but dried quickly allowing my body to stay at a comfortable temperature.  It never became bulky under my warmer layers and raincoat and stayed comfortable therefore never restricting my movement.

The entire climb I was on edge as we were rained on, fearing a thunderstorm, trying to avoid pulling off loose rock, which could injure, kill, or cut our rope at any moment.  

The most trying time was on a section with consistent loose rock.  Scott was leading a pitch Jimmy was belaying him, my climbing partner John had just climbed the pitch below and was belaying me as I climbed.  Scott stepped on a rock thinking it was solid and as he moved off it, the rock fell, he immediately began to scream “rock” as it fell down directly above us.  We all stopped and moved as close to the rock face as possible.  Jimmy and John were about 40 feet above me.  I heard the rock pass them and they shouted out that they were okay.  I then sucked in even tighter to the rock and waited for the loose rock to pass me.  I heard it crash into the wall and bounce over me and with a sigh of relief I yelled up “i’m okay” and began to continue my climb up.

 

At some point we became really off route and did not summit until 7:30pm.  When we finally reached the summit the sky opened up on us and began pouring rain.  After breaking out our rain gear and changed from climbing shoes to approach shoes we began our hike down.  Our goal was to cross the glacier and make it to the start of Aasgard Pass before dark. 

John separated from the rest of us in search of the trailhead.  A cairn appeared and Scott, Jimmy, and I headed down the trail figuring it was the start of Aasgard pass.  Shortly after starting our decent we heard someone yelling.  We thought it was John, but it was difficult to decipher whether it was coming from above or below us.  We tried to yell back, but really could not understand anything being said.  We continued down the path turned a corner and John’s headlamp jumped out.  We shouted with joy that we were all safe and together again.  However, he was on the opposite side of a large rushing stream.  John told us there was a crossing about 25 feet above where we were.  With no trail going up, all of the rocks were wet and slick, but we had to climb un-roped to be on the correct trail.  It was unnerving, but we all made it up and across the rushing water.  Our hike continued down a large steep talus field and we finally returned to camp at 11:15 pm.  Our three friends who decided not to climb had lots of filtered water waiting for us and cooked us dinner!  They were able to watch our headlamps descend the pass and gauge when we would arrive back at camp.  We had planned on the climb taking us about 9 hours and figured we would be back at camp around 8:00 pm with the hike down.  In the end we had 2000 ft elevation gain from the trailhead to our camp (4.2 miles) 1500 ft elevation gain in the hike from camp to the base of our climb (not sure the hiking mileage) and 2000ft elevation gain of vertical rock climbing and then had to descend the same amount.

There were several times during the climb and descent the thought of why I didn’t turn around when our other three friends did crossed my mind.  I still cannot answer that question, but I can say I am very happy with the decision to participate in an adventure unlike any I had experienced prior.  We all have our perceived limits.  However, in reality we are capable of much more it is just a matter of putting fear aside and focusing on the task at hand.

Here are some more awesome photos...wish I had more of the climb, but I was to focused on climbing to take pictures.

Aasgurd Pass...what we hiked out in the dark

View from the base of the climb

Mountain Goat Momma and Baby

After we hiked out Scott's old boss and good friend from the Forest Service invited us over for a BBQ.  The next day we went wine tasting while waiting out the rain. We then headed back to the mountains for some bouldering.  We continued to climb for 4 more days before heading back to Portland.  I will be leaving Portland tomorrow morning heading to Smith Rock for two weeks and then starting to head east slowly with long stops in Tahoe, Indian Creek, Joe's Valley....

Good Eats Camping