As promised, I put together a short (4:33) video with the highlights of our climb. Enjoy!
 L to R: Bear Creek Spire, Mt. Dade, and Mt. Abbott during the approach Yo, I just got back from a great extended weekend (Fri through Wed — how’s that for extended!). The highlight of which was climbing Bear Creek Spire via the North Arete (5.8) car-to-car on Tuesday (2009-08-25). Awesome climb. My friend Tom has apparently really gotten me hooked on this alpine climbing gig … Big cool routes like this are just lying about everywhere. I mean dudes, this thing we could see from the trailhead. How could you not want to climb it? This was probably his last big Sierra trip for the season (something like a pesky job getting in the way or something like that), so we wanted to make it good. We left the car at the trailhead at 6:15 am. I launched us up pitch 1 at about 10:15. I tagged the summit block as the follower at 4:00 pm. We chilled for a while after rapping off the summit, before starting the hike / scramble back at about 5:15 pm. We tagged the car again at 8:00 pm, give or take a few seconds. Total time 13:45. I know it’s weird, and if I wasn’t there, I’d think the times were rounded to the closest 15 minutes, but I swear these are the actual times. Guess we were climbing on a schedule? We made great time on the descent, completing it in under 3 hours, and making it back to the car without needing our headlamps (Whoo!).  North Arete (5.8) with our route & belays. We did the route in 9 pitches (4 in the bottom half, and 5 in the top due to rope drag)
 Holy coordinates batman! And with beta like this from supertopo … how could you go wrong? Guys get this — the climb actually disappeared from view once or twice on the hike in! Without some help, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able to find the peak, let alone the climb! Luckily, Supertopo provides — wait for it — 12 latitude / longitude coordinates for the approach, climb and descent! It’s really not a complaint, just surprising about the crazy amount of detail. I know — I shouldn’t make fun, after all I did buy and do rely heavily on that book 😉 HistoryThe route was first climbed in August 1971 by Galen Rowell and Jeanne Needle. The FA note in the Supertopo book (page 96) disagrees with the History by Andy Setlers on the same page. As his story goes, Rowell did the first ascent of the “South Face” solo, in August, 1971, and on his way down (he approached via a hike in from Pine Creek) to the Mosquito Flat trailhead, he first saw the North Arete, and vowed to return to climb it. (aside: It’s hard to believe that such a strikingly obvious line had not yet been climbed!) Anyway, he then came back the following June (which would be 1972 by my counting) with his Berkeley neighbor Jeanne Neale to bag the FA. Galen led all the pitches, and they topped out by 11am. According to my research, I believe Setlers got the FA info wrong. Four-to-one, with the man himself weighing in is overwhelmingly in support of August, 1971 instead of June, 1972:
I assume the majority of the story is correct though, including the summit time: 11 am! That’s fast! It took us a good 5:45 to climb the route — and we had the supertopo, and linked pitches wherever we could. So I didn’t know this before (supertopo forum to the rescue), but apparently Rowell was getting a little … cough … you know … cough … on the side from Ms. Neale, unbeknown to his wife Carol. Apparently she eventually caught on and divorced him in the early 1970’s. Enough of that … gimme the details of your climb! Tom cruising up the steep flakes on pitch 2 Dudes, OK, OK. I’ll quit with the ancient gossip. Anyway, we had absolutely perfectly blue skies without a cloud in sight. The day was a bit chilly, but we got lucky enough to have most of the belays in the sun. In fact, this was a motivating factor for doing the first half of the climb in 4 pitches. On all of my leads in this block (P1, P3, P4, with Tom getting the beautiful P2), I made it a point to stretch the rope as far as possible to a good sunlit belay ledge. At this, I was successful and all of my belays were comfortable and sunny. It wasn’t until the second half of the route, while I was belaying Tom on P5 that I had to put on more layers. Pitch 1 was a real rope stretcher. We used a 70m rope, and it required about 10 feet of simulclimbing for me to get to a belay on the ledge. Not to mention, that the rope drag was horrendous due to the traversing nature of this pitch. Should also be doable with a 60m rope, since the start is pretty much third class for a ways, until just below the big ledge. I climbed the first half in a synthetic Prana t-shirt with a long-sleeve midweight synthetic North Face shirt on top and Smartwool long johns under a pair of synthetic Prana pants (yeah, and synthetic REI underwear too, dudes). Anyway, at the top of the P4 belay (after the crux of the climb), I added a stocking cap, a Prana synthetic sweatshirt and my Marmot gortex shell for wind blockage. Mostly I was too hot in this, especially while climbing, but it started out windy and chilly while belaying. In my pack, I had a softshell coat and gloves that I never had to break out.  Tom & Tad on the summit of Bear Creek Spire  Signing the summit register Tom led P5, scoring the fun tunnel-through from the right to left side of the ridge. This was a fun pitch. I took off up P6, heading up a corner, where I encountered the only scary loose rock on the whole route. Committing to a table sized block on top of a ledge that I first tapped on to find it solid — only to have it start to move as I yarded myself up on it. Yikes! I ended P6 up some twin hand cracks splitting a low angle face after traversing left and up out of this corner, and ended my pitch at my first shady belay at the top of this section due to rope drag. Tom took off up P7 gaining a belay just below the ridge after a bunch of wandering low angle climbing. Then I took our 8th pitch mostly horizontally along the ridge. I found a rap station near the beginning of the traverse after dropping over onto the right side. I clipped this, then climbed up above it to continue along the “high ramp” described in Supertopo. Looks like the rap station was where Supertopo puts the top of the 9th pitch. I got the rope stuck and had to putz around to free it before continuing across the ramp, ending our 8th pitch (with a tiny bit of simulclimbing) below the “5.6 chimney” shown in supertopo. We dropped our packs here (mistake!) and Tom scored P9 to the summit block. I scampered up behind him, and we basked in the views for a few minutes before heading down to sign the register. At this point, we realize we have a dilemma — our packs are about 60 feet down-and-left of the rap station (slings not too sketchy when we were there). After a bit of back-and-forth, we figure out the quickest solution is for me to downclimb with a toprope back to the packs (easy 5.6), grab the packs, and then finish the downclimb to the base of the rappel (also 5.6 or so). This works out well, and within a few moments, Tom has joined me. It’s downright hot on this side of the mountain! I strip down to my t-shirt and synthetic pants, removing all of my layers including long johns. The scramble down is not too bad, except for the endless talus hopping which seems like it goes on forever. We make it back to Gem Lakes at 7:00 pm, and hit the trailhead at 8:00 pm. Yes, we pushed it fast and hard down the trail. That’s it. Other than the speeding ticket (81 in a 65) I got trying to make it to the Mobil station before they closed. We hit the turn onto 120 at 9:01 pm, and that’s where I got pulled over. grrrr. Mobil mart closes at 9pm. Close, so close! Luckily a joint in downtown Lee Vining was still open so we scored some food there. Tom had to continue all the way home to take his daughter to her first day of school on Wednesday morning. Luckily I didn’t have any obligations so I bivied in my car near the Tioga Pass Resort and scored a great pancake breakfast before heading home at a leisurly pace on Wednesday. Boo yeah. what an awesome climb with a great partner! Gear
More photos-Tad Here’s a little video I put together to help ya’ll out with the approach… Since it seems like everyone is missing the log crossing and slogging across the river 😉 One more coming soon — “The Climb” Enjoy! -Tad The Objective: The Incredible Hulk The Protagonists:
The Slideshow:http://picasaweb.google.com/tadhunt/RedDihedral20090816 The Trip:Friday, August 14, 20096:00 PM: Swing by Derek’s house, load up his gear. 6:30 PM: Hit the road. Grrr, gotta fight the traffic escaping the Bay Area for a while. 237 to 880 to Mission Blvd… Crap, radio says there is an accident on 680, and our soul sucking internet access devices (yeah, we’re wired) glow bright from red lines on the map. So we try something new, stay on Mission until it hits 680 again. This works out fine, and we avoid the worst of the slowdown. 205.. I don’t need to say anything, do I? 8:00 PM: Pull into Chipotle (my favorite burrito joint) in Manteca for a quick dinner. Mmmm good. 8:30 PM: Back on the road. 120, rock on. Our destination for the night is Sonora Pass, to suck up some thin O2s to get our bodies used to the altitude. 11:30 PM: Pull off onto a dirt road on the right just over the pass. I toss out my bivy sack onto some flat ground, and with one look at the dark sky, lit by the Milky Way, I drop immediately to sleep. Saturday, August 15, 20097:30 AM: Crawl out of bivy sack, stumble around, pack up and hit the road. 8:30 AM: Pull into Hays Street Cafe after cruising down Main Street in Bridgeport. It’s the place with all the cars, must be good. Breakfast is filling, that’s for sure! 9:30 AM: Hit the ranger station for our wilderness permit. No problem, the ranger is friendly. 9:45 AM: Take off for Twin Lakes. 10:30 AM: Arrive at Mono Village Campground, pay for parking ($10!), and start racking & packing. 11:30 AM: Finish packing, toss the packs back in the truck and head over to the cafe for lunch. Nothing on the menu is appealing (still full from breakfast), so we each have a small salad. 12:30 PM: Toss the packs on our backs and start walking. 1:30 PM: Arrive at the turn off for the climbers trail up into Little Slide Canyon. The hiking trail to this point has been great. I don’t know how anyone could miss the turnoff, there are no less than five cairns, and this big tree & boulder marking it…  The Turnoff to Little Slide Canyon -- well marked with a tree, boulder, and no less than five cairns! 1:35 PM: Arrive at the river crossing. This also seems to be impossible to miss. We didn’t get wet on the way across, but Derek slipped and got a foot wet in the dark on the way back.  The river crossing 2:11 PM: Phew. We finally made it past the “switchbacks through the trees” part of the approach. We didn’t have good luck finding a trail through here, but found one once we emerged near the top. 2:13 PM: First view of The Objective!  The Incredible Hulk 3:50 PM: Finally arrive at our bivy spot. We scored a great site that had just been vacated from a couple of climbers from South Lake Tahoe. They attempted Tradewinds, rapping (for purity, I guess?) after the leader took a fall one pitch from the top. 5:45 PM: After chilling in camp, listening to tunes, and checking out the views for a while, I decide to fill my thermos with coffee for the morning. This didn’t go so well… my coffee-making-device seems to clog up with grounds so the water doesn’t drain through fast enough. This causes two problems: the coffee is cold, and it is bitter. Grrr. I try using some toilet paper as a filter instead of the mesh, and this turns out much better. 6:45 PM: Mmmm. freeze dried mac & cheese. Turns out we both brought the same dinner, hah! It didn’t help that I tried to heat up my coffee by sticking the thermos into the hot water, without cleaning off all of the granite sand stuck to the bottom! Whoops! I recover by cleaning out the stubborn coffee filter and straining the water through the fine mesh, and it turns out OK. No crunchies in my mac & cheese (well, other than the bits that didn’t re-hydrate!) 7:40 PM: Watching the sunset with a hot cup of tea while agreeing on a strategy of attack for tomorrow. Sunrise is 6:11 AM, so we set the alarm for 6:00 AM, and figure we’ll be hiking to the base by 7:30 AM, and on the climb by 8:00 AM.  Sunset on Incredible Hulk 8:30 PM: The long day catches up with me, and I’m asleep almost as soon as I get in my sleeping bag. Sunday, August 16, 20096:07 AM: Dude, wake up! Ugh, what time is it? I stick my head out of my bivy, and brrrrr, it is cold! The peak gets last light, which means it gets no morning sun. What is this? There is ice on my bivy sack from the condensation! Dude, it’s too cold to climb. Let’s sleep some more. 7:00 AM: Rattle, rattle, scrunch, scrunch snaps me awake. What’s that? Crap, a party of three is heading up to the base, braving the cold! We better get going. 7:15 AM: Breakfast water is on, and we’re gearing up and getting ready. 7:20 AM: Yum! Outback oatmeal rocks. 7:30 AM: Rattle, rattle, scrunch, scrunch. Crap. A party of two is heading up. Rattle, Rattle, scrunch, scrunch. Oh no, there is another party of two on their heels! Hey, it’s our friends Sarah & Chris! Double damn, we better get a move on before someone else jumps ahead of us! 8:15 AM: Arrive at the base. The party of three is moving really slow. They’re not linking pitches. This could be bad. Sarah is belaying the leader of the first party of two, while the follower gets ready to go. Before long, he’s moving up and Sara is leading up behind him. 9:37 AM: Finally, it’s our turn to launch. I start up P1.  The protagonists getting ready to launch 10:00 AM: I arrive at the P1 belay. Chris is still there belaying Sarah on a linkup of P2 and P3. We chat a bit while I bring Derek up. 10:15 AM: Derek arrives. Chris has to simul a bit so Sarah can reach the next belay. We have a 70m rope, so we figure we’ll be OK. Turns out that 70m is barely enough to get into the corner at the base of the dihedral. I built my anchor in the corner, and had to move over to Derek’s first piece (barely in reach!) to free up enough rope for him to make it. Not quite simul-climbing, but almost. 11:00 AM: Did I mention we were last in line?  Last in line on the Red Dihedral In this picture, the party of three is out of sight above. The second in the first party of two is visible at the belay at the top of the dihedral. Chris is leading the dihedral with Sarah belaying, and Derek is finishing up P3, almost to the base of the dihedral. Phew. Luckily this is the last time we felt bottlenecked. Above the dihedral, the party of three sped up and we all kept on each others heels without waiting. 1:08 PM: I’m belaying Derek up the dihedral, with a huge grin on my face. No matter that we were last in line. I finally had my turn to lead it (5.10b crux, which felt easy). Mostly it’s 5.9 hands in a corner. Whoo! Awesome pitch.  Derek following P4 -- the Red Dihedral as the sun arrives 2:00 PM: Derek nears the top of P6. I linked P5 and P6, moving from the shade into the sun. While belaying, I stripped down to a T-shirt, removing my sweat shirt, long sleeve shirt and long johns (don’t worry Derek, I had you on an auto-block belay). First time I’ve had to remove my leg loops on a climb!  Derek nearing the P6 belay 2:15 PM: Derek is moving on up P7, a beautiful 5.10a face splitter, which he dispatches after a small spot of trouble getting established in the upper crack. With a “Whoop!” he’s over the bulge and into the easy climbing beyond  Derek leading P7 3:15 PM: By this point, I have reached the top of P8, and Derek is following. He will link the next two pitches to the summit ridge. Yeah. 3:35 PM: Derek heads off on the final two pitches of the main face. After this, we have a 200 foot scramble along the top of the ridge and two more pitches to the top.  Derek heads off on P9 4:40 PM: Derek arrives at the bottom of P11, after I followed his P9 & P10 linkup and scrambled across the ridge to the base of the final headwall. 5:00 PM: I start bringing Derek up to the top the short P11. We would have linked the last two pitches, but we had to wait for Chris & Sarah here anyway. So I led P11 and Derek got P12. He was grinning at this. Not only did he get to top us out, but he didn’t have to deal with the pack through the hole! 5:35 PM: I’m staring out the hole at the top of the chimney at the end of P12. Somehow I have to squeeze through this with a pack!  The hole I have to squeeze through to top out! 5:40 PM: without too much trouble, I figure it out and have gotten the pack and myself through. Whoo, success! 6:30 PM: Finished the scramble down to the rap anchor, and started the descent down the South gully back to camp. 7:17 PM: Hoist our packs on our backs and start the hike back to the trailhead. 9:16 PM: Hit the campground after an uneventful hike back down. We found a much better way down through the “switchbacks through the trees”, that dropped us out directly above the log crossing. Sarah and Chris had no such luck and ended up wading through the stream! 10:00 PM: After spending some time chatting with Sarah & Chris back in the parking lot, we hit the road for the long drive home. 12:30 AM (Monday): I stop in Jamestown and trade off driving with Derek. I suck down a half liter of water and some crackers and cheese (dinner), and promptly pass out. I don’t come to until we’re on 205, about to miss the 680 interchange! 2:15 AM: Arrive at Derek’s place. Unload his stuff, and head home. 2:38 AM: Crash in my own bed, and sleep like a log. Whoo. An excellent alpine weekend.
For all of you suckers stuck at work on such a gorgeous day, when you could be out climbing instead… Check out this sweet video and writeup of Hayden Kennedy leading the famous Bachar Yerian earlier this summer: In other news, I climbed Red Dihedral (5.10b) on The Incredible Hulk last weekend. It was incredible. Trip report coming soon (gotta get pics and video from Derek first). Ciao, -Tad |
