[Jake Robinson]

Spent the afternoon climbing Chair Peak via the S Shoulder route. This route, while somewhat complicated, is a great way to get to the summit of Chair without any technical climbing. I took ice axe and microspikes but they only served as training weight. b00 has two great TRs that describe this route. I used his older TR so I'll be referencing that one in this report. I can't thank him enough for the route description, there's no way I would have been able to figure out the route without it. Sorry that my phone photos are so crappy but I hope they are helpful. b00's report is here: https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7970611&highlight=chair

My GPS track

Downloadable GPX file available here I got an anti-alpine start on the Snow Lake Trail at 2 PM. Took a left at the Source Lake junction and hiked this rocky trail for a bit, crossing a few streams in the process, until I reached an open talus slope. Here I went uphill to the stream gully that b00 mentions. There was running water in the stream gully, but it didn't impede travel at all. (edit: apparently there is an actual cairned trail up into thumbtack basin, but I didn't find it. anyone know of this?)

Looking up to the stream gully from the open talus slope

After climbing up the stream gully, I started looking for the ramp that b00 mentions. As soon as the routefinding got somewhat tricky, I got off-route. Basically, you want to continue up from the stream gully until you hit cliffs, then look climbers right for the ramp. Follow faint game trails along the ramp until it spits you out into the upper basin E of Chair Peak (right beneath "the thumbtack"). Here is a photo of the ramp:

The ramp above the stream gully that leads to the upper basin

Once in the upper basin, I continued past the thumbtack. b00 free-soloed this but I opted to leave it for another day. Lots of sidehilling on talus after this. The exit ramp from thumbtack basin is pretty obvious.

Exit ramp from thumbtack basin.

Once past the exit ramp, I continued traversing up loose terrain until an easy route opened up to the "not bryant" saddle. This saddle is just north of "not bryant" and is the first place where it is easy to cross over to the W side of the S Shoulder.

The final slope up to "not bryant" saddle

From the "not bryant" saddle I made a descending traverse N, dropping maybe 75' in the process, across class 2/3 terrain with non-trivial runout. I was looking for the "lone tree" that b00 mentions. I thought I saw it, but ended up overshooting the correct gully looking for it. I found myself at a deep chasm that seemed wrong, and it was. If you're ever climbing class 4 on this route, then you're off-route.

I thought this was the 'lone tree' and correct ramp but it's not the way. Don't try to go here.

I backtracked until I found the way. The correct gully (b00 calls it the 'easy gully') is not far from the "not bryant" saddle.

Here is the 'easy gully' seen from the traverse from "not bryant" saddle. The 'isolated tree' is actually a cluster of several trees...I think.

Climb the 'easy gully' for about half its length before traversing out climbers left to a ramp. b00 says this spot is 'not so obvious' and that is definitely true. In the 'easy gully', there's a very noticeable dead tree. This dead tree is about even with where you want to exit the gully to the ramp.

Looking up the easy gully from the base. Dead tree is marked along with where you want to exit.

Exit the 'easy gully' here

Once I exited the easy gully I found two cairns, which assured me I was on route. I made a short downclimb then traversed a game trail through some trees until I was above a saddle at the base of the 'not the summit gully, but it's close' gully.

Taken from the exit to the easy gully. Game trail traverse on the right, 'not the summit gully but it's close' on the left.

When you get to the end of this game trail you seem to be at a dead end. You reach some rap tat and you can see where you want to go, but it looks like you're cliffed out. However, as b00 says, there's a great class 3 descending traverse to the saddle that is actually just fine. It starts in some red rock and then does a downward traverse to the saddle below the 'not the summit gully but it's close' gully. From above, I was very intimidated. However, once I committed to the moves I realized it was actually just class 3 the whole way.

The crux traverse from the top. Looks really hard but it isn't.

The class 3 downward traverse from the other side. It's easy but don't fall.

Once past the traverse I scrambled up the 'not the summit gully but it's close' gully (wet, class 2/3) to near the top, then exited left to the final class 2 gully leading to the summit.

Looking down 'not summit gully but close' gully. Class 3 traverse and game trail visible at the bottom.

Final class 2 summit gully to the top.

From the summit, looking to Denny Mountain with a lot of the route visible

Snow Lake

The descent took about as long as the ascent as I was careful to keep my footing on all the loose terrain. Overall this is a very interesting route. Complicated, counter-intuitive, and the routefinding is somewhat difficult even with a good route description. If you're good on loose terrain and can handle some exposed class 3 scrambling, you can do this route. Thanks again to b00 for the excellent route descriptions. 7.5 miles, 3400' gain. Took me 4 hours 15 minutes RT.

[neek]

Cool! Didn't realize this was possible.

[iron]

b00's special skill is finding the path of least resistance. in nearly every TR he writes, he talks about finding class 2/3 when others report there is only class 4. classic example is https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8025502, but there are countless others. i am lucky he's my mentor

[Malachai Constant]

Went up this at the end of a Denny to Chair traverse back in the late 70’s there was a BM on the South shoulder of Chair that said Bryant Peak. The way is 3-4 choss very exposed. Much prefer the conventional routes if nobody is above you.

[Fletcher]

This is some serious beta

[Brushbuffalo]

[awilsondc]

Thanks for the through write up, I'll definitely use this in the future!

[ozzy]

Hell yea nice route Jake!! Thanks for the additional beta, that looks fun!

[b00]