North Howser Tower, Simulator. After two weeks rock climbing and ...
B ug a b o o s
North Howser Tower, Simulator. After two weeks rock clim bing and road tripping with my wife, I arrived hom e to a phone call from C had Kellogg: “Dude, w hen are we going to the Bugs! We have two weeks before leaving for C hina and we have to get in a training climb.” I checked the forecast, secretly hoping for bad weather, b u t…blue skies and 0% chance of precip. Our original plans to attempt the classic All Along the Watchtower were jeopardized during the drive, as we pored over the maze of unclimbed crack systems visible in the Alpinist profile of the Howsers. Looking to simulate our upcom ing objective (C hinas unclimbed Seerdengpu [See C h in a sectio n o f th is Journal for Johnson’s report on their first ascent o f S eerdengpu—E d.]), we th o u g h t attempting a new line would be more appropriate than reading a topo. A fter a 1 2 -h o u r drive and a c o u p le h o u rs o f sleep b esid e th e car, on A ugust 11 we packed light bags with one rope and no bivy gear and headed tow ard the west face of N o rth H ow ser u n d e r perfect skies. O u r in te n d e d ro u te a p p eared d if ficult b u t doable, so we started up w ithout delay. It s t a r ts n e a r th e b ig g e s t left-fa c in g c o rn e r on th e far rig h t sid e o f th e face. T h e n e x t m a jo r system to th e rig h t is th e s ta rt of H ey K o o l-A id !, w h ic h , we la te r le a r n e d , we jo in e d fo r a p itc h o r so. T h e big c o rn e r its e lf is a seam , b u t th e tw in fin g e r c rack s 15' left o f the c o rn e r w ent for 4-5 p itc h e s at 5.10 C2. A fte r p itc h 5
we tr a v e rs e d rig h t u n d e r a ro o f, clim b ed a c ru x p itc h (5.11 C2) on th e arête fo rm ed by th e rig h t side o f th e g ia n t c o rn e r, a n d e n te re d a p r o m in e n t c h im n e y s y s te m . We stayed in th is sy s te m — in c lu d in g a fo u r-h o u r b rew -an d -sh iv er stop at 2 a .m .—u n til o n e -a n d -a -h a lf tra v e rs ing pitches at pitches 11 and 12 took us to th e n ex t c h im n e y sy stem to th e right. O ne p itch later we g ained th e 1970 Southw est Face route. As th e skies illu m in a te d , we e n c o u n te re d w in d a n d low, d a rk clouds, but we kept clim bing, th in k ing the m orning crud would b urn off. T h en it sta rte d snow ing. It becam e clear that our only shot at topping-out was to abandon our plans for an in d e p en d en t line, so we continued on the upper Southw est Face. For the rest of the day the w eather deteriorated into snow, thunder, and m inim al visibility. N ear the top it snow ed three inches in less th an an hour. We crested the su m m it ridge at 7 p.m ., soaked and cold—we wore tennis shoes and Chad had only fingerless gloves. I stum bled around on the sum m it ridge trying to get oriented in the total w hiteout. N either of us had been to the sum m it of the N orth Howser before and I couldn’t figure out where the east face was, let alone the rap stations. I nearly rapped off the n o rth face (thinking it was the east face), and then the w hiteout th in n ed for a m om ent and the glow of the setting sun identified w est—we finally got o u r bearings. Several raps later we barely cleared the ‘schrund with our single line and found the boot track below South H owser at dark. We walked back to the car, arriving just u n d er 42 hours after leaving. A sh o rt sleep later and we were on the road, returning to Seattle 78 hours after departing. We placed no bolts or pins, and the only gear left was a sm all piece of tat for a low er-out on pitch 11. The Sim ulator (19 belayed pitches [12 new], 5.11 C2). On the way home, looking at photos we realized that in the w hiteout we had been standing on the wrong side of the sum m it gendarm e (some 20' shy), so I suppose it was merely an attempt! D y l a n Jo h n so n ,
A AC
North Howser Tower, Simulator. After two weeks rock clim bing and road tripping with my wife, I arrived hom e to a phone call from C had Kellogg: “Dude, w hen are we going to the Bugs! We have two weeks before leaving for C hina and we have to get in a training climb.” I checked the forecast, secretly hoping for bad weather, b u t…blue skies and 0% chance of precip. Our original plans to attempt the classic All Along the Watchtower were jeopardized during the drive, as we pored over the maze of unclimbed crack systems visible in the Alpinist profile of the Howsers. Looking to simulate our upcom ing objective (C hinas unclimbed Seerdengpu [See C h in a sectio n o f th is Journal for Johnson’s report on their first ascent o f S eerdengpu—E d.]), we th o u g h t attempting a new line would be more appropriate than reading a topo. A fter a 1 2 -h o u r drive and a c o u p le h o u rs o f sleep b esid e th e car, on A ugust 11 we packed light bags with one rope and no bivy gear and headed tow ard the west face of N o rth H ow ser u n d e r perfect skies. O u r in te n d e d ro u te a p p eared d if ficult b u t doable, so we started up w ithout delay. It s t a r ts n e a r th e b ig g e s t left-fa c in g c o rn e r on th e far rig h t sid e o f th e face. T h e n e x t m a jo r system to th e rig h t is th e s ta rt of H ey K o o l-A id !, w h ic h , we la te r le a r n e d , we jo in e d fo r a p itc h o r so. T h e big c o rn e r its e lf is a seam , b u t th e tw in fin g e r c rack s 15' left o f the c o rn e r w ent for 4-5 p itc h e s at 5.10 C2. A fte r p itc h 5
we tr a v e rs e d rig h t u n d e r a ro o f, clim b ed a c ru x p itc h (5.11 C2) on th e arête fo rm ed by th e rig h t side o f th e g ia n t c o rn e r, a n d e n te re d a p r o m in e n t c h im n e y s y s te m . We stayed in th is sy s te m — in c lu d in g a fo u r-h o u r b rew -an d -sh iv er stop at 2 a .m .—u n til o n e -a n d -a -h a lf tra v e rs ing pitches at pitches 11 and 12 took us to th e n ex t c h im n e y sy stem to th e right. O ne p itch later we g ained th e 1970 Southw est Face route. As th e skies illu m in a te d , we e n c o u n te re d w in d a n d low, d a rk clouds, but we kept clim bing, th in k ing the m orning crud would b urn off. T h en it sta rte d snow ing. It becam e clear that our only shot at topping-out was to abandon our plans for an in d e p en d en t line, so we continued on the upper Southw est Face. For the rest of the day the w eather deteriorated into snow, thunder, and m inim al visibility. N ear the top it snow ed three inches in less th an an hour. We crested the su m m it ridge at 7 p.m ., soaked and cold—we wore tennis shoes and Chad had only fingerless gloves. I stum bled around on the sum m it ridge trying to get oriented in the total w hiteout. N either of us had been to the sum m it of the N orth Howser before and I couldn’t figure out where the east face was, let alone the rap stations. I nearly rapped off the n o rth face (thinking it was the east face), and then the w hiteout th in n ed for a m om ent and the glow of the setting sun identified w est—we finally got o u r bearings. Several raps later we barely cleared the ‘schrund with our single line and found the boot track below South H owser at dark. We walked back to the car, arriving just u n d er 42 hours after leaving. A sh o rt sleep later and we were on the road, returning to Seattle 78 hours after departing. We placed no bolts or pins, and the only gear left was a sm all piece of tat for a low er-out on pitch 11. The Sim ulator (19 belayed pitches [12 new], 5.11 C2). On the way home, looking at photos we realized that in the w hiteout we had been standing on the wrong side of the sum m it gendarm e (some 20' shy), so I suppose it was merely an attempt! D y l a n Jo h n so n ,
A AC
