Day 2 - So, day 2 was supposed to be Surfs Up, but the Col was sooooo bad ... and we didn't want to walk around to go to it, so we were going to go climb McTech Arete and Paddleflake. The weather forecast also wasn't looking like it was going to hold for Saturday (we were there Wednesday - Saturday). On our way out of camp, we chatted up this girl that told us about how awesome her trip up Snowpatch was ... we had talked about doing that before, as an alternative to Surfs Up, but hadn't really dug into the beta. It sounded epic, it would put us to the summit of Snowpatch, and she had just done it, so it was totally doable. She also said it was super chill, which we were into.
So, we grabbed some more gear and got rid of some of the offwidth pieces, we read the book really quick. Asked for a bit more beta and we were off. We left too late, I'm not sure exactly when we left, but it was too late. Hans likes to sleep in. Also, Hans didn't bring a headlamp ... Who doesn't bring a headlamp to the Bugs ...?
The Hike was a doozy. Across the boulder field, around some small lakes and moraines, then take a hard left as you get close to North side of the notch between Son of Snowpatch and Snowpatch. Follow the cairns to get around the corner, then head diagonally up through some fixed lines to achieve the notch from the South Side. From there work your way up to the Snowpatch.
To be honest, we probably were off route. We even considered bailing because we were moving slow and were not confident we were on route. Hans again was the go getter, and willing to run up whatever, even if he wasn't sure what he was going to find. Jeff and I were more focused on trying to find the route. We likely climbed too far left (South) when we think that we should have stayed right on what should have been easier climbing on the North side. In any event, three pitches in, we hit a roof with a piton and some left gear. While Hans was leading up the roof, we had a party come up behind us (they hadn't even roped in yet ... ) We asked if they had any concerns about getting up during day light, and they figured they were 2 hours from the top. We were less confident, but were happy to have someone else around and to follow their lead. The other party roped up and climbed to the right of Hans' roof pull, but we all met up at the snowpatch. This is where it got fun.
I'm not sure how many pitches we climbed together, but we simulclimbed up all of the slab pitches to put us back on some more vertical climbing. With our book, route finding wasn't easy, but that appears to be the way it is in the Bugs. Even with a party pulling a head of us, it was hard to confirm exactly where to go. Maybe we worried about that too much and should have just headed up.
The climbing was fantastic. Some great cracks, some handrail sections, and even a cool little dike section.
The summit was epic. Hans told me to video it, so I overacted a bit, but seriously, "Is this for real???"
Initial Raps were straight forward. I'm not sure how you could miss these rap stations. However, the second set of Raps were a little less obvious. As you come off of Snowpatch you look immediately left and see a notch where you would expect a rap line. However, you don't rap that notch, you have to come down almost to the glacier, then you rap down through another notch. One final Bergschund jump and you are down.
The walk back can be done down the ice, but we chose to walk the rock back almost to the start of the climb, then down the fixed lines.
It was long, and tiring.
Also, something that I always think about as we walk across the amalgamate (snow/rock) boulder field actually happened ... Hans fell through. He fell all the way up to his waist and it was super sketchy ... It broke his pole and could have easily broke his legs. It only went down a short distance, but f'n sketch!
Snowpatch route is a big recommend. I wish we had, had more beta and done some more research, but you essentially follow the ridge, climb the slab to the steeps, follow the steep section cracks to the summit!!!
Here are some further links for some beta:
www.summitpost....
www.mountainpr...
cascadeclimber...
(we definitely saw these Pins and Red sling on their pitch 5 - this was our Beta, but expect that there is some easier climbing further Right/North)
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