[Gimpilator]

Chimney Rock is the highest peak between Mount Daniel and Mount Rainier. It’s an intimidating sight from most perspectives, right in the heart of what some have dubbed “The Stone Kingdom”. Chimney Rock is the apex of a line of rugged craggy spires uncharacteristic of the Central Cascades. I have even heard it called “The Pickets of I-90”, which is sort of funny.

Chimney seen from Hibox October 2010

Chimney seen from Malachite, May 2016

Chimney seen from Lemah, August 2015

Matt Below and I had been watching the forecast for 2 consecutive weekends to no avail, but the third one looked to be perfect. He got Friday off work, but had some errands to attend to. We hit the Pete Lake trail at 11:30am. It was brutally hot, like 85 in town and probably 80ish in the forest. Our packs were loaded with 3 days of food and climbing gear.

Summit Chief from Lemah Meadows

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the south and main peak above

climbers camp is somewhere up there above waterfalls

crossing north fork Lemah Creek

At the first switchback on the PCT, we dove into the brush and traversed on a level bearing to the north fork of Lemah Creek. Fortunately there was a double log crossing which was walk-able. On the far side, flagging assured us we were on route and then we saw the deflated Mylar balloon mentioned in Puzzlr’s report. At one time Monty and I had discussed doing this trip together, but it just never crystallized. Fortunately for us, he climbed the peak first and now we were armed with his outstanding route photos.

popped balloon and start of climbers path

waterfalls

the boulder

camp

The climber’s path was easy to follow right from the base of the popped balloon. We hiked up past slabs and waterfalls and soon came to the large flat boulder at 4800 feet that Puzzlr’s party had camped on. It was the only flat place around. We also pitched our shelter there. The mosquitoes and flies were horrendous. They seemed to derive a perverse pleasure from colliding with our faces at top speed rather than just biting us. A combination of heat, bugs and intense wind prevented us from getting much sleep that night.

first light

Summit Chief

north side of the buttress

The next morning we got up just before 5am and rolled out a half hour later. We climbed “steep but manageable heather slopes” right behind camp. At 5460 feet we crossed over to the other side of the buttress and traversed north to reach the upper basin which was filled with snow. Dense clouds were pouring through the gaps between towers of rock above us and swirling around in spiral patterns. This was not the perfect weather we had anticipated. Weeks of unstable weather in June and July has made me more cautious this year.

south peak and main peak

questionable weather

Between the snow basin and the Chimney Glacier we crossed a rocky ridge. The glacier appears to have receded. Matt noted the presence of glacier worms. The best access to the glacier was a scramble down from near the top of the ridge. We did not rope up for the crossing. Small crevasses were present but appeared to be benign.

crossing the Chimney Glacier

exposed ice

small crevasse

We traversed west by southwest to the furthest western edge of the glacier and climbed the snow finger underneath the U-Gap. Snow ran nearly all the way to the top, but we discovered some moat hazards which deterred us from staying with it all the way. Instead, we scrambled up onto a very chossy rock rib which divides the gully in two. I believe this is “manky” area.

Chimney Rock and Finger of Fate

looking back at the NE side of the glacier

At the U-Gap strong wind was pulling clouds from the west side of the crest over into the east. We were uncertain if it was wise to proceed. This was not a route we wanted to climb in a white-out or with precipitation. We decided to wait for one hour and see what was going to happen. If conditions deteriorated, we would descend, but with any sign of improvement we would go up and hope for the best. So far this has been a very lucky year for me with no failed attempts, but I was worried that this trend was about to change.

the U-Gap above

After 45 minutes we were both cold and it was time for a decision. Then the sky opened up to the west and we could see two cloud layers. The lower layer was filling all the valleys as far as we could see but the upper layer seemed to be breaking up somewhat. We didn’t waste any more time.

the start of the Improbable Ledge

narrow ledge

We scramble up class 3 slabs above the U-Gap to find the start of the Improbable Ledge which crosses the east face of the south peak. I suggested we do a simul type thing, just throwing in a few pieces along the way. Matt was reluctant, but he could tell I was nervous about this ledge so we roped up. Unfortunately all along the ledge, trustworthy placements just didn’t materialize. In fact there were none. We were high on the east face of the south peak with 600 feet of exposure. The ledge was easy to traverse, however if one of us failed in our footing, we would both fall to our death. I kept hoping for some protection, but in hindsight we should have un-roped.

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the main peak with cleft and dividing rock formation

climbing up from white rocks area, Matt called this class 3 but it felt like 4 or 5.0 to me in a couple spots, we were probably too far left

We came to the white rock area near the cleft between the south and main peak. The main peak towered above us, but we still had to get to it. We could see that this east facing cleft was divided in two by a large rock formation. A break in this divider was still several hundred feet up. Matt pointed out a scramble line and then belayed me up. I had a feeling we were slightly off route because it seemed like 4th class or possible low 5th for a move or two.

Looking back at the south peak from the excellent bivy spot. The furthest left green heather band is the Improbable Ledge that we came from.

We reached the break in the divider formation and scramble around it. Below us was a rotten gully and beyond that, the main peak. We scrambled down a slanting ledge into the rotten gully and back up another slanting ledge on the far side. This was the start of the key ledge to access the final climb. The ledge widened along the east side of the main peak and we came to an excellent bivy spot. At the base of the first pitch we changed into climbing shoes and ditched our large packs for small ones. Just enough space to carry some food, clothing and water.

bottom of pitch 1

Half way up the first pitch, Matt yelled down that the route was confusing and he wasn’t sure which way to go. Some small rocks came down and one larger one which would have been disastrous if it had hit me. I tried to push bad thoughts out of my mind from previous traumatic rock fall events. Eventually Matt found a good place to belay me from and I started to climb up to him. Half way up to Matt I realized we were probably slightly off route. I came to a chimney move which was overhanging on both sides and all the rock inside was covered in thick black lichen. It didn’t appear that anyone had ever climbed this way before. I searched for hands and feet and all that I got was eyes full of lichen particles blown by the wind. After a bit of fumbling I figured out a way up and Matt was right there.

bottom of pitch 3

We stopped to look at our photos of the 3 pitches. I positively identified the final pitch. It was just around the corner. But what happened to the second pitch? It was a mystery. We traversed a nice ledge and scrambled up a slab to the base of the final pitch. The rock was more solid here with less rubble. It was actually a very nice looking chimney. Matt climbed it with ease and then belayed me from the top.

Matt nearing the summit

My OSAT friend Russell had described this pitch to me over 10 years ago and I had been wondering about it ever since. And here I was nearing the pinnacle of a personal dream, a peak I have viewed from all sides and always strongly desired but also feared. Intense joy washed over me when I crawled up onto the summit.

intense joy

I tried to inscribe our names on the wet paper

Matt

The entire west side was engulfed in a sea of clouds while everything to the east was clear. We took turns getting our hero shots on the blocky “photo summit” and then attempted to sign the register. It was fully soaked and too much pressure from the pencil threatened to tear the page. I did my best to sign us both in and then we prepared for our retreat.

1st rappel

3rd rappel

The clouds below were still threatening to rise up and cover us. No time to waste. We made a series of rappels, backing up bleached white and torn slings along the way. Matt opted to free-downclimb a few of the easier sections rather than rappel. Back at the Improbable Traverse ledge we did not rope up. From the U-Gap we scrambled the rock rib to near the bottom and then rappelled across a large deep moat to reach the snow finger.

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access ledges and the rotten gully between the main peak and the rock divider in the cleft

final rappel across a deep moat, I lost count

We roped up to cross the glacier, now that it was afternoon and the snow was softer. We had a picket but no z-pulley gear. In the unlikely event of a crevasse fall, it would be prussiks or nothing. Clouds now enveloped the peak and were dropping down to hide the cliffs and towers. I was very glad to be off of it.

clouds dropping down to hide the peak and route

Matt’s GPS had mysteriously disappeared early that morning and fortunately I found it in my path on the way back to camp. We got there around 6pm. Clouds of mosquitoes and the potential for bad weather discouraged us from spending a second night. We agreed to hike out. We returned to the car at 11:30pm, just 36 hours after we had left it.

[awilsondc]

Gnarly!!! Every time I think of Chimney Rock I think of the quote from Klenke's SP page: "Chimney Rock is a man-mountain not to be trifled with." You're really upping your game lately. This is impressive stuff.

[Redwic]

Great job! A more-than-worthy peak!

[RichP]

One ascent a year sounds about right. You are getting some good peaks this year.

[Anish]

Great report! So happy you finally got this dream peak! xo

[Michael Lewis]

Well written . Beautiful looking mountain. Joy washing over is a rare treat. Glad you made it back safe.

[Magellan]

Nice work, fellas. Peter Potterfield wrote a book called In the Zone. It detailed three amazing stories of mountain survival. The third story was his personal account of his terrible fall and subsequent rescue on Chimney Rock. That book made me want to live a life of adventure.

[Brushbuffalo]

Makes me nervous just looking at that unprotectable Improbable Ledge!

[Jake Robinson]

[mbravenboer]

Too far out of my league to truly appreciate the challenge of this climb, but I enjoy the photos! Thanks for sharing!

[Frodo Barefoot]

Riveting! Congrats!

[Gimpilator]

Thanks everyone! I'm going through some older reports today and responding to comments that I neglected. Chimney Rock is probably the hardest peak on the Jeff Smoot list and I'm really motivated to work that list. So far I've got 81/100. As for the book Alexei mentioned, I'd like to read it.

[Kascadia]

Good job. There's something about Chimney Rock. . . . it's never really hard, and is a very good mixed alpine climb (we did E Face/Direct) - but the overall tone is gnarly. It has an imposing dark, gothic quality to it up close, just has an aura about it. . . Spectacular bivy site - bugs like it, too.

[mehitabel]

I'm not necessarily planning to finish the Smoots (only at 35), but I'm familiar with the list and surprised you think Chimney Rock is the hardest. You think Chimney Rock is harder than Jack or Bonanza?

[iron]