[hot.choss]

Quartz Mountain, East Peak via Absolute Serenity Now (III 5.8) FA 8.13.22 Saturday morning I woke up around 5:45, microwaved a breakfast burrito and raced to my favorite North Bend coffee spot before meeting Leland Windham at the Exit 34 travel center. We threw his gear in my car and headed to the Middle Fork Snoqualmie TH. Naturally, we chatted about the hot weather. The weekend prior I bailed on this trip because climbing multipitch slab on a 90 degree day just seems insane to me. He said his partner didn't puke until they reached the car. I think I made the right call. While I was playing in the bigger mountains, Leland was at home in the wild Middle Fork finishing up his multi-year project on Quartz Mountain. After 16 trips and over 100 bolts he completed a 14 pitch 5.8 adventure sport climb on beautiful, slabby blocks of granite. All that was left was for it to get climbed in its entirety. Lucky for me, I missed out on carrying all those hefty loads and many hours of lead bolting. With our relatively light packs we left the Middle Fork TH around 7am and hiked the CCC trail for about 20 minutes. A faint climbers trail marks the beginning of the uphill. We followed it upward for over a thousand feet until a small rocky gully appeared. The little rocky gully gradually widened into a legit gully with a few scrambly moves over big boulders. Eventually, the big slab walls of Quartz came into view and soon we were at the base of Leland's route.(The approach is described in the Snoqualmie Rock guidebook and mountain proj for the route Training Day which is a few hundred feet beneath this route). We took a brief snack break and racked up. Under gloomy skies Leland started leading his route. During his lead it started to mist but we were too stoked to care. The climbing is a bit of an adventure along bulletproof granite slabs and vegetated corners. The first 7 pitches are all 5.7 and 5.8 with ample bolting. The rock angle eases up after pitch 7 so the latter half of the route is on easier terrain with pitches of sometimes sparsely bolted 4th to 5.4. We unroped and scrambled the 4th class p8 & p9. Pitch 14 ends a short walk from the East Ridge of Quartz. At the ridge there was a nice comfortable bench area. Here we celebrated the moment and soaked in the views. It wasn't too long before our peakbagger instincts took over and we were off to see if we could summit something. We bushwhacked and veggie belayed our way to the summit of Quartz's East Peak. It took us about 30 minutes from where we left our gear. Sadly, we left our phones too but trust me the views of the Middle Fork from that vantage point are wonderful.

Base of the route

looking down at P1&2

The rocky gully below

Leland stoked for P7

Start of P7

P10

Gazing at Russian Butte and grateful for the clouds

I imagine one could easily gain the true summit of Quartz but Leland had been there and daylight was burning. 14 raps from chain anchors brought us all the way back down. The hike out went smoothly, probably because Leland had done this 16 times before. It's nice to be that dialed on a climbers path. Leland and I were back at the car around 8pm. We were pleased with the 13 hours car to car especially since Leland added a few bolts on the way down. I dropped Leland off, picked up a frozen pizza, and was home by 9pm. Not bad for a Saturday.

Leland soaking in the success

Garfield & Infinite Bliss

A lovely day in the middle fork

Leland was happy to share his topo for Absolute Serenity Now. I believe the route requires 12 draws and 70m rope. In the near future there will be a mountain project page with the pitch by pitch details.

On a final note, I can't thank Leland enough for inviting me on his journey. It was a perfect day and I will treasure the experience for the rest of my life.

[Matt]

Thanks. Always interesting to hear about a new route.

[Bluebird]

Nice, looking forward to taking the real "adventure route" when I tag the Quartzes

[hikergirl1234]

Many thanks for the TR! And also to Leland as well for his hard work developing the line. Got out on this last week, what a cool adventure in the middle fork

[gb]

A lot of work putting up a route like that. If some of you like these kinds of climbs, I would recommend "Dreamer" on Green Giant buttress. But be sure to research the status of bolts as they do rust significantly in these West side areas.