Back in July(?) Jon E. got in touch with me looking to hit up a climb somewhere in the cascades. I told him I'd be stoked, but that my weekends were actually booked through October... So we went ahead and planned to hit up Mt. Washington (not the NH version) with the hopes of camping on the summit under the stars... Well, stupid us forgot that it snows in October and get's dark around 6:30, so that plan got scrapped. Anyway, we bailed the weekend before because it was snowing good and hard up in the mountains, which apparently doesn't make for ideal rock climbing conditions... But, favorable weather this past weekend let us squeek in one last climb before the sun leaves us for the next six months.
Aaron, Jon, Matt, and I left from the trailhead with varying degrees of optimism. The climb looked snowy, which I assumed would make it a "no go", but we figured we'd at least take a closer look since we drove up there. I had climbed the route 5 years before with Chris B, but that was under dry summer conditions and I had remembered that being pretty straightforward. As we got closer to the mountain, we found that many of the simple rock scrambles on the approach were covered in hard snow, and without thinking of bringing crampons these were a little more dicey than anticipated. Matt had his fill about 2/3rds of the way up the ridge and turned around to find a good spot to enjoy the view while we approached the summit pinnacle. Aaron volunteered for the first lead, which is the trickiest part of the climb... We waited and watched as he carefully inched his way out on a ramp and then up the face. The exposure here is absurd, and there isn't really any good chance to place protection as the rock is somewhat loose. As he topped out on the first pitch, Jon was weighing the option to continue to climb with us or bail and head down with his good buddy Matt (who was visiting from WV). Based on the timing of Aaron's lead and understanding of how much more climbing was ahead of us, he made the right decision to bail and go hang with his buddy (the decision to bail when you are so close and the conditions are good is one of the tuffest to make, so big ups to Jon for heading back - the mountain will be there next year).
I followed up the first tricky pitch with increasing respect for Aaron's lead... It was quite runout, with snow/ice on many of the holds and big air below my feet. It felt quite different than it had 5 years before during the summer, when I think we climbing w/o rope. I barely slowed down as I reached his belay, grabbing the rack, and leading up the last few hundred feet to the summit in one long pitch. The rock near the top is more solid so this simul-pitch went much quicker than anticipated. We hung out on top (views were incredible with the fresh snow) for a few minutes and then set off on the 4 raps to get back to solid ground. Overall a great day out with some good people. :)
Gotta love the water bottle point... "I think the mountain is over there..."
Three of the crew with the days spicy looking objective.
Crew on the approach ridge with Three Finger Jack and then Mt. Jefferson behind.
Some tricky and exposed downclimbing on the approach.
More tricky downclimbing.
Jon scrambling up right before the roped climbing begins (kinda scary here...)
Me getting ready to shread a huge summit air guitar
I'm not sure what was going on here, but I think Aaron my have been doing "the robot".
Peeking down the S. Face from the summit boulder.
"Way to ride that summit boulder Aaron..."
View of the Three Sisters from the top
Gotta have a group summit shot...
Aaron rigged and ready for the first of 4 dizzying rappels. Usually this part is a pretty straightforward downclimb, but w/ the snow we decided to rap.
More of the first rap...
Spontanious air guitar rappel technique Aaron was trying out.
Looking back once we were back on flatter ground.
Summit panorama, view down the S. Face, and Aaron on the final rappel, which was down the first pitch of climbing that he lead.
Parting shot.
