Forum Index > Trip Reports > Mount Terror ~ Mount Degenhardt ~ June 25-26, 2020
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Fletcher
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Joined: 29 Jul 2009
Posts: 1870 | TRs | Pics
Location: kirkland
Fletcher
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PostSat Jun 27, 2020 2:59 pm 
Got out with the boys this week for an athletic overnighter into the Southern Pickets. With a tight weather window opening up, we set our sights on Terror and Degenhardt. Wanting to summit both peaks on approach day, we knew we needed to start early. The road to the Goodell Creek Trailhead is currently closed, so we parked at the gravel pit labeled on the topo that is maybe a quarter mile away as the crow flies. From there, we bushwacked up to the trailhead and entered the jungle at 3am. The brush was wet and we were all thoroughly soaked within minutes. The stars visible up through the trees suggested that the day would dawn clear. Morale was high. The creeks were raging and the two major crossings before Terror Creek were challenging to cross without wet socks. We followed good climbers trail beyond the Terror Basin cutoff for maybe a quarter mile until it disappeared. About an hour of heavy bushwacking followed; its a true Cascades Jungle in there. The devils club is often thick and the blowdown is massive. There are many, many places where it looks like you could fall into the center of the earth and never be seen or heard from again.
first glimpse of The Pickets up Terror Creek
first glimpse of The Pickets up Terror Creek
Crossing Terror Creek was my biggest worry going into the trip, but a well placed log with nice girth made that crossing the easiest of the day. From there, we easily located the climbers path that climbs a steep 1800 feet up to the ridge that eventually leads to Chopping Block Camp. The air was humid and we were sweatin.
Terror Creek crossing
Terror Creek crossing
crossing Terror Creek
crossing Terror Creek
steeps
steeps
water on fungi art
water on fungi art
The Chopping Block
The Chopping Block
Triumph and Despair
Triumph and Despair
McMillan Spires
McMillan Spires
Breaking into the alpine renewed the stoke, as it always does. We made it to camp well before noon and took a nice long break. By 12:30, we were dropping into Crescent Creek Basin for our traverse towards the West Terror Gully. It was hot.
breaking into the alpine
breaking into the alpine
The Chopping Block
The Chopping Block
Crescent Creek Spires, The Rake, Terror, and Degenhardt
Crescent Creek Spires, The Rake, Terror, and Degenhardt
Stoked
Stoked
up the West Terror Gully
up the West Terror Gully
The gully was easy, and we soon found ourselves welcomed to a refreshing breeze at the West Terror Notch. Dustin lead up the short section of low 5th class, then we all headed up the longer chossy class 2 ridge. Views were epic.
the technical step
the technical step
belays off PeeWee!
belays off PeeWee!
easy section but beware loose rock
easy section but beware loose rock
Fury
Fury
Eventually the route pops over a minor rib and requires a short but exposed class 4 traverse to bypass some gendarmes. The last few hundred feet to the summit from here are more serious. Class 3+ and exposed but solid.
popping over the rib
popping over the rib
4th class traverse
4th class traverse
coming up the last few hundred feet
coming up the last few hundred feet
nearing the summit
nearing the summit
almost there
almost there
The summit of Terror is a very, very airy horn of rock with room for one. We all scrambled over one at a time to tag her. Serious pucker was had by all!
Terror summit
Terror summit
Dustin on the summit
Dustin on the summit
Elephant Butte, Mac Spires, and Inspiration with Jack and Crater
Elephant Butte, Mac Spires, and Inspiration with Jack and Crater
Chilliwacks, Luna, Hozomeens, and Prophet
Chilliwacks, Luna, Hozomeens, and Prophet
The Fury's and many more
The Fury's and many more
you name them
you name them
Degenhardt in the foreground
Degenhardt in the foreground
E Fury and Luna framing the Chilliwacks
E Fury and Luna framing the Chilliwacks
Terrorizing relief
Terrorizing relief
We enjoyed the views for a bit, then headed down. The descent back down to the notch went well, then we all downclimbed the gully and promptly began slogging up towards Degenhardt.
slogging to Degenhardt
slogging to Degenhardt
what a place
what a place
This is when Im going to use our sleep deprivation as an excuse as to why we couldnt figure out how to get up Degenhardt. All we had with us was a vague route description and we couldnt get it to make sense, although the route is actually fairly straightforward. Kyle and Jake eventually said F@#$ it and headed back towards camp. Dustin and I remained determined and tried to tease out a sketchy route up the west face. Dustin boldly lead up a snow finger that I wouldnt consider messing around with without a top rope. After spending a good amount of time poking around, he came to the conclusion that this was a dead end. With waning daylight, we rapped off the west side of the mountain and slogged back to camp for some much needed dinner and sleep. We vowed to return in the morning.
trying to find a way up Degenhardt
trying to find a way up Degenhardt
worse than it looks in this picture
worse than it looks in this picture
evening light
evening light
evening light
evening light
pickets
pickets
sunset
sunset
We slept in until 8:30 the next morning. Bad idea with intentions of going back up Degenhardt and forecasted weather already clearly moving in. Kyle and Jake decided to hike out and Dustin and I quickly geared up and dropped back down into Crescent Creek Basin. The night before we hypothesized that the southern pinnacle and Degenhardt was the summit. We also saw some nice lines through the snow that would grant access to that side of the peak and decided to go up that way. This wasnt correct, and ended up making Degenhardt a lot more difficult than it should have been. For starters, the snow lines we glimpsed the night before were much steeper and gnarlier than we thought. Steep, with glide cracks to dodge everywhere. The higher we climbed, the steeper it got, and the scarier the runout got. Dustin is much bolder than I am, and kicked steps up this entire section.
doesnt look so bad here, but this got very steep with scary runout
doesnt look so bad here, but this got very steep with scary runout
We eventually topped out on the steep snow (thank god) and could tell that we werent too far below Degenhardt's south pinnacle (which we had hoped was the summit). We eyed a junky class 3 gully that we climbed up, which lead to a steep 20 foot section of class 4. At the top of this, we found ourselves at a comfortable spot to set up a belay below Degenhardt's southern spire.
looking down the class 3 gully
looking down the class 3 gully
4th class step
4th class step
Dustin then lead out again and picked his way up the spire. The wind was really picking up and it was apparent that the weather was moving in. I was ready to bail. From the top of the spire, Dustin reported that this was not the summit but the summit was close and looked easy enough to get to. I agreed that we should press on. The climb up the spire was incredibly exposed and exhilarating. From there, we protected a short and easy traverse pitch and scrambled up to the summit. Success!!
Degenhardt summit from the southern spire
Degenhardt summit from the southern spire
Degenhardt summitshot
Degenhardt summitshot
Degenhardt views
Degenhardt views
Degenhardt views
Degenhardt views
Degenhardt views
Degenhardt views
Degenhardt views
Degenhardt views
We snapped a few pictures and then it was time to get out of there. A short scramble brought us to the one rappel station. One rappel later, we were packing our ropes up and slogging back to camp.
looking back
looking back
We chowed down some food at camp and began the knee pounding descent to Terror Creek. It actually wasnt as bad as we feared. The bushwack back down Terror Creek was a little rough until we eventually picked up the climbers path and followed that all the way out. We got back to the cars before 7pm. Best trip of the year so far. cool.gif
a giant cedar near Terror Creek
a giant cedar near Terror Creek
~26 miles ~11,000 ft of gain

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Bluebird
suffering optional



Joined: 22 Jan 2014
Posts: 199 | TRs | Pics
Location: United States
Bluebird
suffering optional
PostSat Jun 27, 2020 6:23 pm 
congratulations all on your badass trip. im super envious you were so close to the chopping block, as i have an enormous lady mountain boner for that pile of rock. 🏔

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puzzlr
Mid Fork Rocks



Joined: 13 Feb 2007
Posts: 7216 | TRs | Pics
Location: Stuck in the middle
puzzlr
Mid Fork Rocks
PostSat Jun 27, 2020 7:09 pm 
Wow, you guys were really moving to get that in so quickly. Steep snow rarely looks that way in photos but the video shows how steep those gullies really were! Congrats. And I love the tree photo at the end. I don't see such large boles on cedars very often. That tree rates high on the "gnarly" scale.

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Midnight Slogger
'Schwack Job



Joined: 04 Aug 2017
Posts: 96 | TRs | Pics
Location: Greater Cascadia
Midnight Slogger
'Schwack Job
PostSun Jun 28, 2020 8:09 pm 
I loved this trip report--and so good to see Dustin Trails making an appearance. Well done all around, comrades.

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geyer
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Joined: 23 May 2017
Posts: 462 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle
geyer
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PostMon Jun 29, 2020 9:07 am 
My buddy and I went the same weekend last year and you guys had a lot more snow and heavier flow in terror creek than we did! Great work getting up those two. That chopping block camp is pretty sweet, huh?

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Stefan
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Joined: 17 Dec 2001
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Stefan
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PostMon Jun 29, 2020 10:33 am 
badass for two days!

Art is an adventure.
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ozzy
The hard way



Joined: 30 Jul 2015
Posts: 475 | TRs | Pics
Location: University place, wa
ozzy
The hard way
PostTue Jun 30, 2020 8:17 pm 
Ho lee chit!! Damn what a gnarly trip! That area is still a mystery to me, cant wait to get up there someday! Hopefully lol! cheers.gif

“I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames”-Mr Mojo Risin
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Gimpilator
infinity/21M



Joined: 12 Oct 2006
Posts: 1684 | TRs | Pics
Location: Edmonds, WA
Gimpilator
infinity/21M
PostWed Jul 08, 2020 8:35 pm 
Pretty damn cool. Have been enjoying all your recent reports and videos.

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Forum Index > Trip Reports > Mount Terror ~ Mount Degenhardt ~ June 25-26, 2020
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