{"id":1109,"date":"2014-09-06T19:21:56","date_gmt":"2014-09-07T01:21:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/?p=1109"},"modified":"2022-12-23T22:45:29","modified_gmt":"2022-12-23T22:45:29","slug":"alpine-rock-part-2-washington-pass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/alpine-rock-part-2-washington-pass\/","title":{"rendered":"Alpine Rock, Part 2: Washington Pass"},"content":{"rendered":"

After climbing in the Bugaboos<\/a>, we decided to head back down to the U.S. in search of good weather and good climbing. \u00a0 We ended up at Washington Pass.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Clouds over Burgundy Spire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our first objective was Burgundy Spire. \u00a0We decided to climb it via the West Ridge of\u00a0Paisano Pinnacle<\/a>, which is a 5.9 variation that adds 7 or 8 pitches to the regular Burgundy Spire North Face route. \u00a0 We started hiking at about 6:30. \u00a0The approach was long and steep, and ended with a bunch of scrambling over nasty loose gravely ledges. I was glad when the approach finally ended, and we got to start climbing.<\/p>\n

The climbing was a lot of fun, with excellent granite, clean cracks, and good friction. \u00a0From the top of Paisano Pinnacle, we traversed a bit over to the regular North Face, and headed up that.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>
On Paisano Pinnacle, with the Early Winters Spires in the Background<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The North Face route started out kind of slabby, but steepened up as we got higher. \u00a0At one point a bit past midway, we had to traverse right and go through a big tunnel formed by a balanced rock slab. \u00a0By the time we’d reached the top, I was pretty tired, and was happy that the descent was pretty much straightforward rappels.<\/p>\n

\"Climbers<\/a>
Paisano Pinnacle. \u00a0Climbers can be seen on the friction pitch near the top of the route.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Climbers on the final pitch of Burgundy Spire. Look Closely, and you can see climbers topping out on Paisano Pinnacle far below.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Summit pitch on Burgundy Spire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The hike out was uneventful, and we finished the final bit of the hike in the dark. \u00a0I was glad I had brought my emergency headlamp (a Petzl E-Lite) in my first aid kit. \u00a0All in all, it had been a pretty long day, and I was tired. \u00a0We ate trail food for dinner, and slept on a pull-out camp spot on some forest service land outside of Mazama. \u00a0The next day, we rested and took it easy at a hotel with a hot tub.<\/p>\n

\"10636807_10204878182859216_6710636359354621622_o\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After a day of rest and relaxation, our next objective was the Early Winters Spires group. \u00a0The plan was to do a traverse, starting with Liberty Bell, and working our way across the spires, up and down each one of them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Clouds and mist over the Early Winter Spires<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The morning was cool, with mist, clouds, and light rain. \u00a0We were alone as we began the approach up to Liberty Bell, which is pretty unusual because Liberty Bell is one of the more popular peaks in the Cascades, and we were climbing on a Saturday, on Labor Day weekend. \u00a0The climbing was pretty straighforward, but I was struggling with it much more than I should have. \u00a0I realized that I was getting pretty worn out from my week of climbing. \u00a0By the time we reached the top of Liberty Bell, I’d pretty much decided that I didn’t have the traverse in me, and would be happy to call it quits with just the Liberty Bell summit.<\/p>\n

\"Chad,<\/a>
Chad, channeling his inner French Guide, munching on a baguette and cheese on top of Liberty Bell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We rappelled down Liberty Bell in intermittent rain, and then made our way down the trail. \u00a0In spite of ever improving weather, I was happy with my decision to call it a day after tagging the Liberty Bell summit. \u00a0It had been a good day, and I was pretty much done with climbing for a while. \u00a0On the way down, we saw lots of people headed up to climb in the spires, and we also ran into a family of mountain goats, who were not at all afraid of us.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Descending Liberty Bell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Friendly Mountain Goat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We drove back to Bellingham, I dropped Chad off at his home, and then caught an early flight out of Seattle back to Salt Lake.<\/p>\n

The trip had been a real success. \u00a0Between the Bugaboos and Washington Pass, I had climbed over 40 pitches of beautiful alpine granite. \u00a0I was tired, but happy, and already dreaming about what to do as an encore next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After climbing in the Bugaboos, we decided to head back down to the U.S. in search of good weather and good climbing. \u00a0 We ended up at Washington Pass. Our first objective was Burgundy Spire. \u00a0We decided to climb it via the West Ridge of\u00a0Paisano Pinnacle, which is a 5.9 variation that adds 7 or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[59],"tags":[308,306,307,305,304],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1109"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2027,"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109\/revisions\/2027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larsonweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}