[Tom_Sjolseth]

Everyone has a special place they’re particularly fond of, one that they return to time and time again. One such place for me is Johannesburg Mountain. For some reason, despite the hazards, I keep returning to this majestic and rugged place to bask in its beauty, and revel in the sights and sounds of a quintessential North Cascades alpine environment. For the North Cascades enthusiast, Johannesburg is a smorgasbord of rugged terrain, scenic beauty, and alpine challenge that has few rivals. With the forecast this October weekend of 60 degree temperatures at pass level, there was no question a trip to the N Cascades was in order. It didn’t take long for me to persuade Daniel to join me on a climb of Johannesburg’s NE Rib, a climb I had done twice before. I talked it up to him on a ski trip up Mt Torment (directly across the valley) a couple of years ago, and he had wanted to climb it ever since. Departing Seattle at 4AM, we wanted to time it so we got to the Cascade Pass parking lot just as the sun was rising. We were leaving the parking lot at 7AM, just before sunrise. Unique to North Cascades peaks that can be considered rugged, the approach to Johannesburg takes all of 25 minutes. Descend from the parking lot, cross the mouth of the Cascade River, and ascend a talus slope to the base of the C-J Couloir. The snow was rock-solid and we were glad to have aggressive steel crampons, especially for the exposed upper portion of the arête. Upon transitioning to rock, the moat was enormous. After a bit of searching, we found the most reasonable spot to get onto the rock which involved downclimbing a 20 ft vertical step. The NE Rib consists of ~2500’ of steep to vertical bushwhacking, followed by 1200’ of steep rock, then a final 1000’ of steep glacier to the summit involving a knife-edge snow arête with nearly 5000’ of exposure. The challenge on the lower portion of the route is to find a thread that involves minimal bushwhacking, because the potential for epic bushwhacking is real. There is sort of a path (if you can call it one) where it is obvious people have been there, but staying on it is not easy. Daniel and I managed to find the path of least resistance, and we both enjoyed swinging from branch to branch and making relatively quick progress up the lower portion of the NE Buttress. Soon, steep bushwhacking leads to steep heather and eventually rock as you break out above tree line. We paused frequently to enjoy the views.. the vivid colors of October in the N Cascades were everywhere around us, and to be able to witness them amid comfortable 60 degree temperatures was a real treat. Finally we reached the steep rock headwall just below the bivy spot. The first time I climbed the NE Buttress with Steph, we found a route through the upper headwall that required only low 5th class. The second time I climbed it with Wayne and Sergio, we ran into 5.8 rock. This time, Daniel and I found ourselves in the exact same spot Wayne, Sergio, and I wound up.. staring up at ~100’ pitch of loose 5.8. Daniel drew the short straw, and led the pitch. There were some tenuous moments when Daniel got to a particularly loose section. Holds that he needed to use were barely glued into the mountain with dirt and gravel. I reminded him that I was right below him, so he was very careful not to release any rocks. He did a great job, and we were both happy with how things had gone up to this point. We reached the bivy site 10 minutes later, and set up for the night. There was no running water, so we chopped away at the icy snow with our ice axes and collected a garbage bag full of ice chunks to melt for water. We both shared a pint of whisky, and watched the sun set over Eldorado Peak and Boston Basin. I took time to reflect on a memorable climbing season, and knew this would be the last climb of the “Summer” season. The next morning we awoke with the sunrise (now around 7:15), and packed up for the final summit climb and subsequent descent back to the parking lot. The snow, again, was rock-solid.. luckily, though, the glacier hadn’t yet melted down to bare ice. We took our time ascending the precarious knife-edge arête. The arête was sharper than on my two previous ascents, and the snow much firmer. This bumped up the seriousness quite a bit. The exposure on the arête is wild.. thousands of feet down to either side, and a magnificent position with stellar views to the surrounding peaks of Cascade Pass. I was worried about bergschrund issues, and those worries became reality when we got to the schrund. A huge crack spanned nearly the entire width of the glacier, with really only one feasible weakness. We only had three ice screws with us, so climbing the 100’ vertical ice wall was out of the question. We ultimately decided to cross via a committing jump to solid ice, then a ramp through the remainder of the ‘schrund to safer ground above. Above us was the final snow slope to the summit. It is very exposed, and the hard snow made it feel pretty serious. The consistency of the snow made it such that ice screws wouldn’t hold.. it might have held vertical pickets, but we didn’t have any. Looking up, we saw some pretty solid-looking rock on the summit tower. We decided to check it out, and I’m glad we did. Two low to mid-fifth solid rock pitches allowed us to bypass the exposed, icy snow-shield finish. Standing on the summit for the fourth time was just like standing on it for the first time. The views never get ordinary or mundane. Daniel was pretty stoked as well. The smoke from the wildfires filled the valleys with a haze that made for some pretty great photography. We enjoyed the views and t-shirt weather (in October??) for about an hour, before finally deciding to begin the long, arduous descent to the parking lot. We got back to CJ Col in a little less than 2 hours from the summit, then made the long ascent to Doug’s direct. We took our time descending back to the pass, and eventually the parking lot, and savored every last bit of daylight this October Sunday could muster up. We arrived back at the parking lot around 6PM, staring up at Johannesburg in amazement. I am happy to have had the opportunity to bond with this special place again, and for the good times my friend Daniel and I were able to share.

Downclimbing into the moat at the base of the NE Buttress.

Looking up ahead.

Daniel climbing on the lower buttress.

Vertical brush.

Looking up towards Cascade Peak and the C-J Col.

Welcome to the jungle.

Daniel around mid-buttress.

Daniel high on the NE Buttress. That is the Cascade Pass parking lot down there.

Typical scrambling on the upper buttress.

Daniel on the 5.8 pitch.

Daniel coiling the rope after the 5.8 pitch.

Approaching the bivy site.

The bivy at sunset.

Good morning!

Eldorado at dawn.

Hidden Lake Peaks and Mt. Baker.

Beginning the ascent of the snow arete.

On the arete.

Daniel enjoying the views.

The upper Sill Glacier.

Towards Cascade Pass.

Just below the bergschrund.

Looking back at the arete.

Daniel and the giant bergschrund.

Jumping into the 'schrund.

Climbing out of the 'schrund.

Looking over towards the final snow shield.

Forbidden, Boston, Sahale, Buckner.

Daniel at the base of the summit tower.

Starting up the last two pitches.

The first of the final two pitches.

On the summit.

Formidable, Dome, Glacier.

Looking east.

Daniel on the summit of Johannesburg.

Starting the descent.

Typical scrambling on the descent.

Spider, Formidable, and the Middle Cascade Glacier.

Daniel enjoying the views.

Looking back at Johannesburg from the top of Doug's Direct.

Pelton, Magic, and Hurry-Up.

[iron]

when i first saw that you headed up again, i thought: man, i wish tom would take me up there next time. after reading the story and seeing the pics (especially the jump), i'm thinking: well, mt si sounds pretty good to me. good stuff! i can only imagine how firm that arete was!

[Matt Lemke]

Someday I will climb this one! Rest assured I don't think it will be the NE buttress after I saw nearly continuous ice and rock falls off J'berg when we climbed Forbidden

[Tom_Sjolseth]

Iron - I'm sure I'll climb it again someday, I'll give you a ring when that time comes. Matt - Suit yourself, but the NE Buttress is 100% safe from icefall. Take a look at the NE Buttress in a photo.. there is no way any ice is going to hit any part of that buttress. In fact, the greater rockfall danger is on the E Ridge and I would say the E Ridge has more objective danger overall. On the way down, the E Ridge gully unleashed a spontaneous barrage of rockfall.

[Matt Lemke]

I may be wrong but isn't the NE buttress the route that goes up the long steep snow couloir to the CJ saddle?

[Tom_Sjolseth]

That's the C-J Couloir.

[Matt Lemke]

Ah...ok then well thats the route I want to stay from then. Sorry for confusing them

[GaliWalker]

Yet another fantastic report. You've somehow got the knack of getting the reader's heart racing, even without seeing the photos. And then you see them...

[puzzlr]

It's great to read about climbing this peak. It's been an amazing season and you found the right way to end it.

[Jim Dockery]

Excellent TR for some armchair climbing adventure. It all sounds great (I'm also perversely into Cascade vertical bushwhacking) until you got to the 100 ft. of steep loose 5.8

[Magellan]

I never get tired of reading your TRs about J-Burg.

[Matt]

Grippingly written, Tom. And quite the vertigo-inducing set of photos. Sitting at camp by Snowy Lakes with some other nwhikers while you were at your bivy, we were talking about people who enjoy climbing difficult peaks, and you and Johannesburg came up as one of the top candidates.

[SergioNapelo]

WoW! you are one of my favorite Trip Reporters!!!

[Tom_Sjolseth]

[raising3hikers]

That's great stuff Tom, that is quite the view from your bivy spot. On a busy weekend in the mountains, you guys picked a good place to have for yourselves