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b00 Member
Joined: 29 Sep 2003 Posts: 1144 | TRs | Pics
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b00
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Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:22 pm
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markhor+needle traverse 7-21-2019
on markhor peak
decades ago, i remember seeing a sign in southern washington on the pct that said "there are no strangers in the mountains, only friends you have yet to meet."
sometimes you read all about a trip and with proper planning and thorough research, you nail the route. other times, you don't have the right equipment for the day.
when the latter occurs, there are two things that can pull you through: luck and the kindness of strangers (or should i say, a new friend)!
quick and dirty route info: drive to hope, bc and continue ne. park at zopkio's brake check/rest area. ascend sse in moderate brush, open forest and occasionally on a faint path up(1:45) to the open area and then take the path of least resistance to markhor peak. descend markhor (first crux - slabs. or possibly some workaround we did not find) aiming for needle peak via the ridge between markhor and needle, including going up and over the two bumps in the middle. descending the first bump is the crux, exposed class 4 at its base. ascent up needle peak(much easier than it looks) on greenery near ridge, until forced climber's left. ascend exposed easy class 3 stair-like crack, complete with handrail, followed by more class three to summit of needle peak. descend aesthetic trail, including short section with optional handline, that makes a nice loop back, including a very nice open ridge walk.
cal just about to drop over the edge of the first bump to begin down toward the crux on needle peak yak peak yak peak approaching markhor yak about to exit the forested area below markhor jim needle peak descending markhor descending markhor traversing to needle peak heading up the first bump descending markhor cal and the bumps between markhor and needle descending markhor traversing to needle peak needle peak rushwald block - an exciting scramble on markhor ridge ira,jon,vanessa on markhor, needle peak left yak right ascending markhor the route over the bumps and up needle peak
i brought two 30m ropes, but we decided to leave one of them in the car. since a number of people do this route without a rope, i kind of expected we would.
there was less of a path beat in than i expected, but the off trail travel was quite moderate and the route finding doable. still i consulted the gps tracks i had to verify. i originally figured since it was raining thursday and maybe part of friday, that sun on friday afternoon and saturday would dry the route off. it was somewhat dry, but not as much i figured and that worried me. after over an hour, we were above the brush and forest and could see both markhor and needle and we could see two climbers a ways above us. some very pleasant, easy scrambling led us up to markhor's ne ridge. while i shot photos of my buddies ascent of one of the high points, a solo climber approached. meeting jon, an engineering prof at ubc, was very fun and he had all kinds of insights that one has when one is skilled and has done a route many, many times - he usually never finds anyone on the route and he knows all the little tricks. his advice was definitely helpful later on!
we ascended markhor peak together and were really enjoying getting to know jon. he shows us the class 2 route, but we all opt to take the more sporting class 3/4 route with him. descending markhor, we get to the class 3 exposed slabs he usually descends and they were wet :<( . cal goes and takes a look and even he cannot find a safe way down. we see a living rap tree that has cord around it. i say get out the rope. ira says it will not reach. ira is right, it was about 35m and rapping with one 30m rope, would get us less than half way. that section was not normally wet and was the way the jon usually descended.
jon says he has to get back early and will not have time to finish the traverse. we decide to do a single strand rap and jon offers to clean our rope and toss it down after we are done.
i rap down but the single strand, but it does not reach :<( . it is about 5m short. i am definitely worried. not about that moment, but about getting everyone else down this. and also worried that if we do this, and then run into problems later, reascending this to retreat off the route would not be especially easy :<( what if we dead-ended? fortunately, a little off of the fall-line, i find a spot to do a delicate, not exposed 5m descent and then walk the others through it. jon, with the patience of job, waits 46 freakin' minutes while we rap and kindly sends the rope down and bids us adieu. thank you!!! some guys are genuinely nice people!
after descending markhor, we know we need to go over two bumps on the ridge to get to needle's summit ridge. descending the first bump, i figured, we would just rap the anticipated difficulty getting down to the saddle between the two bumps. some had called it class 5. but before i even had a chance to suggest rapping, everyone else had down-climbed it. we all felt it was mostly class 3 with a move or two of class 4 on very solid rock.
the climbing up the second bump was more challenging than expected. ira got into some low 5th, both luka and vanessa chose a somewhat difficult route, but cal and i managed to keep to 3rd class. i guess i needed to stick to the ada approved path :>)
the ridge up needle peak looked hard and intimidating. but as pj says "seeing is deceiving." we headed up the greenery on needle's ridge, just like john had described, just going the obvious and easy way. much easier than it looked. when we reached the blank overhanging wall, we went the obvious climber's left way and the route was obvious: there was a set of rock stairs, complete with a rock handrail that nature had carved. crazy. others called that class 5, but it did not feel that way to cal or i at all. we both found it easy, easy, but very exposed, class 3. maybe the class 5 designation was about the exposure. above the staircase was more sustained scrambling, but all of it again was class 3 to the top. at the top we were joined by jim and tracy, who had followed us on the traverse and also another very nice solo climber who had ascended via the trail.
great view from the top! on descent, first down some class 2/3(part of it had a fixed line, which none of us used) and then down the trail, numerous other parties passed us, including a family with 2 or 3 ~8yr olds and a couple of dogs(who had gotten past the fixed line and class 2/3). the trail had a wonderful long open ridge section that had tremendous views and pleasant travel. the lower part of the trail was muddy and mediocre, but a very small price to pay for such a wonderful, wonderful day.
thank you so much luka, vanessa, cal and ira. i could not have had better people to share this trip with!!! and thanks again jon, for your kindness and companionship!
:>)
6.36mi 3559' gain
2:49 car to markhor summit
3:14 markhor summit to needle summit (including 0:46 to rap wet section - part of descent off of markhor)
0:19 summit stay
1:27 needle summit to car
8:35 car to car
equipment: 30m rope(should have brought two 30m ropes for rapping wet section), harness, helmets
equipment brought, but not used: two cordelettes, 6 small nuts
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FiresideChats Member
Joined: 20 Jan 2014 Posts: 365 | TRs | Pics Location: San Juan Islands |
Beautiful rock and blue sky! I'm still scratching my head on where this is. I've narrowed it to "Somewhere in British Columbia." (Or maybe Pakistan.)
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b00 Member
Joined: 29 Sep 2003 Posts: 1144 | TRs | Pics
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b00
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Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:39 pm
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FiresideChats wrote: | Beautiful rock and blue sky! I'm still scratching my head on where this is. I've narrowed it to "Somewhere in British Columbia." (Or maybe Pakistan.) |
like lots of things in life, it is beyond hope - hope, bc, that is
:>)
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iron Member
Joined: 10 Aug 2008 Posts: 6392 | TRs | Pics Location: southeast kootenays |
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iron
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Wed Jul 24, 2019 10:31 pm
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FiresideChats wrote: | Beautiful rock and blue sky! I'm still scratching my head on where this is. I've narrowed it to "Somewhere in British Columbia." (Or maybe Pakistan.) |
trip report: infinite beta, nailed down, dialed in, got it made in the shade.
oh by the way, where is it?
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b00 Member
Joined: 29 Sep 2003 Posts: 1144 | TRs | Pics
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b00
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Wed Jul 24, 2019 10:37 pm
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iron wrote: | trip report: infinite beta, nailed down, dialed in, got it made in the shade.
oh by the way, where is it? |
mom!!!! iron's picking on me again :>)
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Stefan Member
Joined: 17 Dec 2001 Posts: 5093 | TRs | Pics
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Stefan
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Thu Jul 25, 2019 11:08 am
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thanks for sharing! Looks beautiful. I did not see if the insects were a problem on this route???
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b00 Member
Joined: 29 Sep 2003 Posts: 1144 | TRs | Pics
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b00
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Thu Jul 25, 2019 1:33 pm
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Stefan wrote: | if the insects were a problem on this route??? |
we used bug juice, but i did not have a problem as they were about normal for this time of year. out of professional courtesy, maybe they did not bug me as much:>)
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cascadetraverser Member
Joined: 16 Sep 2007 Posts: 1407 | TRs | Pics
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Boo : Looks like a cool trip...where is it?
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b00 Member
Joined: 29 Sep 2003 Posts: 1144 | TRs | Pics
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b00
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Thu Jul 25, 2019 3:17 pm
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cascadetraverser wrote: | ...where is it? |
like lots of things in life, it is beyond hope - hope, bc, that is.
in canada. northeast of hope, bc. 3:15 drive from seattle according to goo-gal
:>)
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raising3hikers Member
Joined: 21 Sep 2007 Posts: 2344 | TRs | Pics Location: Edmonds, Wa |
it really looks nice up there, that makes the "trip I want to do someday" list
thanks for the TR
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