July 19, 2009
Drew Hansen and I climbed the North Face of Vesper Peak over the weekend. On Thursday morning, I flew up to Fairanks, AK to meet with clients. By Friday afternoon, I was back on the plane to PTown, touching down at about 11 pm after getting bumped from my original shuttle from Seattle. By 8 am, I was up and packing for a weekend of climbing in the North Cascades. We got in a few pitches at Index before crashing at the trailhead for an early start on Sunday.
Drew and I were looking for an alpine day trip with an interesting objective, and Vesper fit the bill perfectly. Situated off the Mountain Loop Highway in the North Cascades, the peak offers spectacular views of the range, a short glacier crossing, an incredible north facing slab and excellent positions. Here's an overview of the route:
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| From Vesper Peak - July 09 |
We gained the rock from the snow finger in the middle of the glacier. We found pretty much the only spot we could see where the moat looked reasonably safe to cross. Even there, a fall would have been real ugly, and we focused hard as we stepped across the gaping slot and onto the rock with our aluminum crampons.
From there, we headed up low angle slabs for about half a pitch looking for a way to cut into the next gully to the left. The gully straight up above us looked unpleasant, but we didn't really see many other options. We ended up climbing a mid-fifth class, right facing corner that splits the two gullies. It basically heads straight up through the shadows from the top of the snow finger in the photo above. I managed to lead up on fairly sound rock that was coated in lichen and moss. Luckily it was dry, so we got pretty bomber hand jams and cam placements in moss covered cracks - a good alternative to tape!
From the top of that pitch, we pretty much simul-climbed the rest of the route with one or two stops for navigation and re-racking. The final corner was definitely the highlight, with fun moves on bomber rock. Stepping out of the corner, I topped out to a field of alpine wildflowers just under the summit block with not a soul in sight. Ahhhhhh.
Here are some more pics:
Sperry in morning light.
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| From Vesper Peak - July 09 |
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| From Vesper Peak - July 09 |
Looking up at the switchbacks towards Headlee Pass
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| From Vesper Peak - July 09 |
Drew on the way up the pass
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| From Vesper Peak - July 09 |
The cool tarn in the basin under the SE side of Vesper Peak.
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| From Vesper Peak - July 09 |
Vesper Lake under the N side of the peak.
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| From Vesper Peak - July 09 |
Drew crossing the glacier in the morning light.
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| From Vesper Peak - July 09 |
Looking back down towards the glacier.
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| From Vesper Peak - July 09 |
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| From Vesper Peak - July 09 |
Looking up the final corner. We simul climbed through this section, which is maybe 300-400 feet long.
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| From Vesper Peak - July 09 |
Looking back down the corner - this is maybe mid-fifth class but really very easy.
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| From Vesper Peak - July 09 |
Summit flowers
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| From Vesper Peak - July 09 |
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| From Vesper Peak - July 09 |
Sperry Peak
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| From Vesper Peak - July 09 |
Gratuitous summit shot
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| From Vesper Peak - July 09 |
On the way back out
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| From Vesper Peak - July 09 |
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| From Vesper Peak - July 09 |
All in all, the climb took us 9 hours car-to-car, but it could be done much quicker than that. We took a wrong turn in the basin by the tarn and ended up spending an extra 30-45 minutes finding the notch. We ate a leisurely lunch on the summit and generally took it easy enjoying the fantastic weather and peaceful setting. The descent to the glacier looks kind of intimidating, but it was fairly straight forward on 3rd class ledges that dumped you out onto lower angle snow. The moat was definitely the crux followed by tricky routefinding to get out of the gullies. From there, its a romp up low angle slabs and corners to the summit followed by an easy walk off. Great day in the hills!
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