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Base Camp
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- Statistics:
- Date Hiked: July 15, 2009
- Miles Hiked: 6.0
- Elevation Gain: 3,375'
- Hiking Partner(s): Jeff
Shafer
- Description:
- I've always considered myself a mountaineer or alpinist rather than a
rock or ice climber. I guess to me a mountaineer is a "jack of all
trades, master of none" type of climber. I can lead some easy to
moderate rock and ice, but I'll never lead sustained WI4 or any 5.10.
Fortunately, I've easily reconciled that with myself which wasn't
difficult considering I have a family, a full time job, I like to ride
bike, and drink beer. I
also prefer to be at elevation in the mountains in an alpine setting
rather than cragging which is also similar to a mountaineer. I
favor snow and ice climbing over rock climbing as opposed to Jeff who is
more of a rock guy. However, since Jeff generally entertains my
snow and ice climbing trip requests, I couldn't decline his invitation
to attempt some alpine rock climbing and further expand my
mountaineering skills.
- We left the Glacier Gorge Trailhead around 6:00 am with 55 pound
packs on our backs. The backpack to Mills Lake and Black Lake went
quickly and soon we were looking at a waterfall coming down West Gully,
the last ice route we climbed of the season on March 21, 2009. We
finished our hike to the base of Spearhead in 3 hours and 50 minutes.
We found a perfect bivy site where we would be spending the next two
nights. Jeff and I quickly dug out our climbing gear, had a quick
bite to eat, and headed for the north ridge of Spearhead. We ended
up climbing the route in six pitches over three hours with a few minutes
on the actual summit and an hour of descending.
- Jeff lead P1 which for us was a slabby scramble to a tight right
angling chimney. I lead the second relatively fun pitch up a
vertical chimney, through a lower angled large crack, and then up a
right facing dihedral to a flat belay station. Jeff then lead
pitch three up a large "V" with a chockstone in it to easier
ground above. I started pitch four which was simply low angled
slab climbing. We opted to stay in the center of the slabs rather
than move further left toward the ridge crest. Since I knew Jeff
wanted to lead the last crux pitch, and pitch five above me looked very
similar to the one I just lead, I didn't build and anchor and we simul-climbed pitch five. I found a comfortable
belay station on what Eli Helmuth refers to as the "piano sized death
block" below our sixth and final pitch. Jeff finished the climb
going right of the detached piano block which climbinglife.com rates
5.7.
- We scrambled to the actual summit for a photo and then scrambled
down the northwest face back to our bivy site at the base of the route.
After dropping off our gear, we hiked over to Frozen Lake and soaked our
feet while enjoying some sausage, cheese, and crackers. We
returned to camp and set up our bivys and had a big bowl of macaroni and
cheese. Unfortunately, this was the beginning of a trend of us
eating all of Jeff's food on this trip while I packed out about 85
percent of what I took in. Since Jeff lead the hardest pitch of
the day, he was rewarded with our only pair of camp booties. After sipping on a couple shots of Knob
Creek, we retired to our sleeping bags for the evening.
- Maps:
-
Click here
to view a
map of the area where this hike is located.
- Photographs:
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www.
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