[b00]

chair 7-16-2023 - south shoulder route

pano - andrea,rudy, david on chair

quick and dirty route info: park at alpental, take snow lake trail, turn left(w) at source lake trail junction, after crossing stream on trail(4100'), follow cairns switchbacking uphill to 4250', then instead of following cairns, head uphill (nw) to and ascending stream gully(late season easy, earlier, must use brush left of gully), at top of gully, look for (4780') secret passage that ascends nne to upper basin along cliffs, continue nne to talus basin and then ascend to thumbtack(5080'), then begin clockwise corkscrew around mountain by ascending broad ramp wsw of thumbtack, once on ramp, continue rising clockwise corkscrew traverse(being careful not take side gullies) up to the not bryant/chair peak saddle(6000'), from saddle drop ~150', mostly on a faint ramp, doing a desceding (wnw)traverse to a loan squeeze tree. continue another ~20' to trees that edge an easy gully, ascend easy gully halfway exiting climber's left on a (not obvious)rising traverse faint ramp to a cairned corner and find a very easy ramp that connects to an obvious trail, take trail to a dead-end(it looks like you cannot traverse northward anymore as it appears to be a slight cliff), step on top of a small evergreen, look and you will see an easy exposed short (~10') class 3 downclimb on solid rock that will allow you to do a descending traverse over to a saddle near what looks like the summit gully(it is not the summit gully, but it is close), ascend gully to its top, then traverse climber's left a short ways over and then do the easy class 2 scramble to the summit. we wanted to do something fun and no too hard saturday. david suggested chair as he had not done it and knew i had and would know the route. before each of my previous trips, i was filled with trepidation. maybe it was because chair seemed to me to be something only "real climbers" did. having now done it 5 times previously, it just seemed like a chill, fun idea for a hot saturday. i don't remember running into other people any of the other times i did it. this time was different. saw a group or two ahead of us, ran into a couple of other groups and also a lone skier(yes, he was carrying his skis up to ski some small strips of snow). we chatted with one group, who were obviously sport climbers, who were going to do the east face. i wondered if they knew what they getting into? i had gone up the east face in 2012 and it was really run out, so much so that one pitch we had a single cam for an anchor and my buddy leading out did not find any pro for the first 100', which was the only placement one could find on the pitch, then he ran out of rope before reaching a place for an anchor, which forced us to simul-climb a ways with only one piece of pro between us. ugh. fortunately, they told me last year, someone bolted the east face. we ended up hearing people on that route all day. also there was a party on the ne buttress. funny thing was, we did not see anyone else summit. i wonder if the sport climb makes it hard to summit? each year, i guess, i have been getting slower. this year, the drop off in my performance is crazy. it is what it is. i spent the day pulling up the rear. leading from the rear is not a skill i have perfected, to say the least. when we got to the class 3 traverse, i guess you could say the crux, my buddy ahead did not think it was the spot. it was. unfortunately i did not realize our mistake and encouraged the other to traverse a less desirable line. the others began across with more difficulty than i expected and more loose rock. they ended pulling off some big holds and trundling others. when i followed them, it definitely felt more difficult than before - class 4 instead class 3. of course it was more difficult than before, because it was. on the way back, with me in the rear again, my buddies did the shittier traverse, before i spotted the right way. then i cruised the easy route. i think the problem was, the first move of the descending traverse easy route looks like a super hard exposed step across, then it eases up a bunch. the move looks way harder than it is. so it goes, leading from behind is a work in progress. :>) 8.53mi 3824' gain 5:07 car to summit 0:51 summit stay 5:19 summit to car 11:17 car to car water: creek above source lake on the source lake trail, numerous major snow patches on the ast side of chair. because of the heat, most everyone ran out of water - really good thing there was still snow. equipment: used ice axe only because we brought them, could have avoided snow equipment brought, but not used: micro-spikes, 30m rope

pano - david downclimbing chair

compare to 08/29/2021: 7.25mi 3482' gain 4:27 car to summit 1:16 summit stay 4:45 summit to car 10:28 car to car compare to 08/17/2017: 7.46mi 3406' gain 4:18 car to summit 0:55 summit stay 4:25 summit to car 9:38 car to car

chair 7-16-2023 route

[iron]

you know what they say about being in the rear...