October 7, 2012 - Vesper Peak North Face

The beautiful late summer continued to encroach upon fall in the pacific northwest. The north face of Vesper had been on the list for a while, so Nicole and I took the weekend to carry our packs into the basin below Vesper and camp, and climb in the morning. 

Our route and some beta for approach. Go up standard E. ridge scramble route and cut North at 5800'

This was my first time out on the Mountain Loop Highway, I thought, until I recognized the Lake 22 trailhead on the way by. So... new territory once we passed that! Nicole had recently been up towards Del Campo, and her report back of how nice the views were prompted Vesper being moved to #1 on the list.

The approach was straightforward. The only beta for the trail approach we had was that Headlee Pass was hidden from view until you are right up on it, and indeed it was! Only as we pulled directly up below the tightly switchbacking trail were we able to figure out exactly where this trail meant to punch through the craggy skyline above.

Nicole crossing the talus field beyond Headlee Pass

Rainier in sunset light

We made camp along the east ridge of Vesper just after the creek crossing. We lounged around in camp and made plenty of food. I had carefully planned out a star timelapse, but was stymied by my intravoltemeter running out of batteries - bummer! The stars were quite impressive none the less. 

Planning for the next day, I severly overthought the approach to the class 4 traverse that leads to the beginning of the climbing. Figuring that we needed to drop to the lake before climbing up to the correct notch, I unintentionally got us a bit off course...We climbed up a rocky face above the lake only to find a snow slope without any mark of human travel. No prints from the groups we talked to on their way out yesterday... uh oh. The snow was very low angle, but was bullet proof, and we didn't have crampons or ice axes. The run out wasn't bad, however, so we slowly worked our way up, using the suncups as steps and our poles as wanna be ice axes. Eventually we gained a notch in the ridge, but unfortunately we were one bump away from the beginning of the traverse, so we scrambled some rocks on what is likely the standard Vesper - Sperry traverse route.

Our route up in red and down in blue. Follow the blue up and traverse on the pink (5800') to avoid our poor approach!

Nicole making her way up to Vesper - Sperry col

Nicole embracing the easy approach we though we would have

Moon over rocks

Eventually we got back on track and started the traverse, which is billed as 4th class by none other than Fred Becky. Knowing this... I fully expected we'd be roping up at some point before heading upwards. I didn't think, however, to keep a keen eye out for a footpath at the first sign of difficulty, and after 20+ minutes wasted in a poor simul-traversing botch, I looked down and noted an easy footpath below us. Reverse simul and down to the path and we scrambled as far west as we could until we felt the need to rope up.

The first pitch was certainly still part of the "traverse" that some parties undertake, as I climbed up one 20' section of easy open book, then ran it out as I walked on ledges trending up and right. I stopped at one of these ledges knowing that I couldn't pass over the whole slab that lay above and to my right with the remaining rope. Built a solid anchor (this trend wouldn't continue) and brought Nicole up.

Looking back down the first pitch with Glacier Peak in the distance

The second pitch started up the unprotectable slab and aimed for a weakness in the "roof" above that lay between us and the upper North face. it was rather easy to walk some ledges up through the roof instead of doing any serious climbing, and protection was there when needed. Once up past this small roof, however, the slabby nature quickly took over again and there wasn't much pro for a while. As I neared the end of the rope length once more (thanks radios) I pulled over one more ledge and found virtually NOTHING with which to make an anchor. All smooth folds of rock with no cracks... nothing to sling. The only piece I was able to get in was a small nut, but the direction it was in wasn't all that inspiring for belaying a follower. As I searched around in the vicinity of the nut placement, I found a tiny fissure in which I was able to jam a purple Metolious #0cam into, and a secure tug seemed to reassure. However by far the best piece of this anchor was the third one - as I sat back into the slightly incut ledge, I braced my feet high on the lip and cammed myself into the rock. Three on a rope style! I slapped in a Munter and brought Nicole up, who thankfully followed with no issues, though I'm rather sure I could have held her just fine.

Looking up at the final 1.5 pitches of open book climbing. 4 star!

After Nicole came up, we both walked a bit up and left on this large ledge and set off on the final 1.5 pitches of climbing to the summit. This is what we had come for - amazing slab with a great open book crack running the whole way up. It reminded me of Diedra at Squamish. The first pitch off the ledge was a bit tricky to start and I threw in almost a third of the cams in our alpine rack in the first 4-5 moves, but after that it was cruiser and I thought very little of placing every 20'+. Eventually the rope ran out and I built an anchor conveniently enough at the next opportunity. I had actually run out of larger cams for the diehdral crack already, so used some smaller cracks in the wall off to the left.

Looking down from the last belay station

Nicole followed up and really seemed to be enjoying herself. Unfortunately the crowd that had peered down upon me as I had worked out dissipated, likely looking to casually stroll out to the cars before dark! Before I knew it I was taking the sharp end again and running all the way up to the ridge crest. The last 30' of slab was gravely overgrown with lichen and moss, so instead I climbed directly up left on some loose crap. I even took a bit of a slip, but was able to hold it before weighting any pieces. Once off the rock I had to walk up some steep annoying grass before I could build a decent anchor. I then radioed back to Nicole, through the chatter of the zipline operation who seemed to be sharing our station, that the belay was on.

Me: Nicole, belay on

Random dude: Carol is strapped in... wooeee! zip away

Random dude #2: Allright Carol, we'll see you at the bottom

Nicole: What??

She eventually got the message, and I found out later that the real holdup was trying to unjam a cam from the anchor, which thankfully she eventually got loose.

We lounged on the summit and enjoyed the late summer sunshine. New forest fires had sprung up between us and Rainier and it was interesting to see the smoke plume rise up and then get abruptly sheared off towards the northwest.

The snow was much softer and easier on the descent

We made quick time of the descent, and packed up our camp in record time before bounding down the path to Headlee Pass and out to the car. A great trip which also served as inspiration to come back to this beautiful area. Vesper is a common spring ski tour... but I think it would make a worthy winter summit as well... Vesper Glacier tour, anyone?? Circumnavigation of Big 4 Mtn?

Ascend to Hall Peak / Big Four Mtn col. Drop down through likely thickly wooded and steep slopes towards outlet of  Copper Lake. Skin to base of Vesper Glacier (name?) Climb and set up camp at notch where traverse starts for N. Ridge routes. Ski back down glacier and reclimb :) Second morning traverse over and drop overnight gear along E. Ridge and climb up Vesper and ski down to pick up gear. Then ski out via Headlee Pass and Sunrise Mine trail road to Mtn Loop Highway. Would have to be able to drive in this far on the loop highway, so not sure if this is doable in deep winter??