[Fletcher]

Damon and I climbed Chair yesterday via the NE Buttress Route. Fun stuff. We were hiking up the Snow Lake Trail before 8. It was snow-free for the first mile or so. We took the Source Lake Cutoff, then took a snow-filled gully up toward the divide. The section of thick small evergreens was kind of a PITA with deep holes to watch out for. Chair Peak Basin still has a lot of snow but also huge sucker holes to watch out for.

our route on the right

coming up through the trees

Chair Peak - NE Buttress - 6-22-17

We took a high route to get to the base of the buttress. It involved a fairly steep-angle traverse with bad runout, and a sketchy transition from snow to rock. One of the two cruxes of the day.

crappy shot of the traverse and transition to rock

We dropped some gear at the base of the buttress and roped up. The climbing we could see looked easy so we decided to simul-climb. Damon lead up the rightward slanting gully to the trees above.

looking up from the base of the route

At the top of what would have been the first pitch, there is a large bench with many trees. From there, the next bit of climbing looked super easy, class 2/3. We continued simulling through here.

easy blocky climbing nearing our 1st and only pitch of belayed climbing

We eventually came to an anchor below what looked like 5th class terrain and set up a belay. The crux pitch was super fun and a little scary. Unlike the rest of the route, this pitch has fairly good rock. It also protected fairly well. The crux is just below the anchor at the top, and was pretty tricky with big exposure. I was wearing approach shoes, and rock shoes would have made it a little easier. We descended skiers left of here and got some good perspective of what we'd climbed.

looking over at the crux pitch from and rappel route

looking down from the top of the pitch

From the top of our one pitch, it was an easy scramble to the summit, my 70th Smoot Peak. Great views. No register.

Snow Lake from the summit

Chair Peak

Snoqualmie Crest

The descent took 6 raps, with some down-climbing and one class 3 traverse. A 60m rope wasn't quite enough for the upper raps but the down-climbing was easy. Instead of repeating the sketchy snow, we followed the ridge further east and rappelled down a gully thats just above Thumbtack Rock. It looked like it had a break in the snow mid-way up but it was easily navigable. In retrospect, this would have been a much safer way to access the ridge.

crappy upside-down rappel shot

rap 3 I think

traverse

Damon on rap 6

pleasant descent

Our descent was quick and easy. It was hot. Tacos were inhaled at The Commonwealth.

[puzzlr]

Thanks for the report. I don't remember very many reports of doing this on rock -- it seems to be mostly a winter ice climbing route. But I could also be way out of the loop on rock climbing destinations.

[DIYSteve]

Good TR. Fun route. Yeah the crux has huge exposure to climber's left.

[cartman]

Good one, I gotta do Chair someday. Preferably with more snow.

[Fletcher]

^^^ Not nearly as hard as it looks Eric, and the immediate exposure wasn't bad.

[DIYSteve]

[Randito]

[DIYSteve]

Randy, if you're talking about the S Chimney route, there's some 4th class stem moves. There is a seldom done greasy heathery 3rd class route on the rib to the climber's left of the chimney that is accessed via traversing from the basin E of Bryant Col. The NE Buttress is a much better route, i.e., more fun, more aesthetic and less greasy, that those two routes. ETA: 20+ years ago, a rock horn in the S Chimney route anchor flaked off, killing a Seattle MD who was using the horn as a rap anchor. I saw rap runners on that crumbly horn several times and, when I did, I worked my way over there and stripped the anchors off the horn to discourage anyone using the horn as an anchor. More specifically I stripped runners off the horn a few days before the fatal accident. I could not image any sane person rapping off that horn but, sadly, I wasn't surprised when I heard of the fatality. ETA2: Mountaineers description of the NE Buttress route. Note the access to the ridge R of the Thumbtack which I described in my prior post. I was under the impression that the Mounties no longer do the S Chimneys or SE rib route as a basic climb, and that the NE Buttress is a popular Mounties basic climb.

[Fletcher]

Steve, I believe we climbed the tougher crux pitch and rapped down the easier open-book crux that is over climbers left maybe 20 yards. If we'd climbed any further right, we'd of been out on the north face.

[DIYSteve]

I figured that you might have. We climbed that on our 1st NE Buttress trip. Next time try the open book. It's clean and different (smearing) altough not that much easier. The absence of good pro opportunity below the crux and big exposure to immediate left while smearing the crux heightens the pucker factor. Mid-5th smear moves, pretty easy in rock shoes, more challenging in boots. This TR takes me back to the days when I did the NE Buttress route every year or two, always with a new partner.

[Randito]

[Malachai Constant]

Did the 3rd class route when we traversed the ridge from Denny back in the day. On the shoulder of Chair there was a marker calling or Bryant ( think it ins mentioned in Brown Becky) the route is not esthetic but logical if already at Bryant Chair col.

[gb]

I did the NE buttress years ago and don't recall details but probably have them written down in journals. If anyone thinks the E face might be a good follow-up, the route is mid-5th but is very poorly protected. I recall just a stopper or two on the crux pitch. And that is the problem or limitation on climbs throughout the Snoqualmie area; finding good rock that also has protection. For me, I found just a handful or so of routes that were good enough to repeat. The good ones can be quite enjoyable. But you can also climb yourself into no man's land.

[ScottP]