Hozomeen North Peak - SW Buttress Attempt 6/29/2008
Trip: Hozomeen North Peak - SW Buttress Attempt
Date: 6/29/2008
Trip Report:Last year I tried this route with Shaun and Dwayne - we got to the base, Shaun was too ill to climb, and we hiked out without doing more than the sit start.
Jesse and I headed in for another attempt on Saturday night. We left the trailhead around quarter to 6 and got to a good bivi site around quarter to nine, with beautiful sunset.
In the morning we got up at 5 and got to the base of the route by 7:30.
We climbed about 15 pitches on the buttress, gradually traversing up and left to reach the left edge about 10 pitches up. We found the Culbert/Purdey crux cave and aid chimney, and I managed to find a free route bypass on the right wall. (This pitch has also been freed on the left side, during an attempt in the late 80s).
A couple pitches above the cave, around p.15, we hit the second headwall and misread the route description, traversing right instead of left. We found ourselves out on the south face at around 4:30 and decided to try and descend the south face and get off the mountain rather than get back on route and bivi higher up (J had to be at work on Monday).
We downclimbed and traversed the major scree ramp on the south face until it ended and then rappelled and downclimbed the easternmost of two gullies. Rap anchors were sometimes hard to find and slightly unnerving when found; we left five nuts and three pins. The last rappel was c.55m and freehanging most of the way but got us to talus below the face. I lost my headlamp in the bushes on the descent and when we got back to the bivi site around 10:30 at night, we elected to stay an extra night rather than finish the descent out to the car in the dark.
On Monday we got up at 4AM and were back at the car by 7 and in Hope, making phone calls and eating greasy breakfast, by 8.
Scurlock photo showing ascent line in red, and correct line above our high point in blue:
Scurlock photo showing our descent route:
A couple pics from the approach and climb:
The rock is well-featured with lots of holds, some of which break. I took about a 7m fall with rope stretch while seconding a 5.8 pitch when a big handhold unexpectedly detached. Many lower-angled sections have talus and rubble but Jesse's twin ropes survived without major damage.
The direct approach to the west face looks vile, but it seemed quite reasonable to climb the first 10 or so pitches of the bttress and then traverse left out onto the west face from the buttress, thus coming in above the chossy gullies low on the face. Likewise, there seemed to be quite a bit of good rock and some nice lines on the south face, interspersed with rubble.
So far, I only know of three other climbs on this feature: two successful ascents (Culbert/Purdey FA, 1968, ref CAJ 1969 and McPherson/Suddaby repeat, 1997, ref BCM 1998) and one attempt by Kubik and Robertson, late 80s, that got to our high point, freeing the cave in the process (FFA of the cave) and then retreated down the ascent line after also losing the route & being unwilling to bivi. I am interested in hearing about any other tales from or ascents of this route?
Gear Notes:Standard rack of nuts and cams to #3 Camalot, doubles only of small-med. nuts. Knife blades and soft iron LAs useful for rap anchors but not needed to protect route.
Approach Notes:Drive to Ross Lake, hike 2/3 of way to Hozomeen Lake then cut sharp left and proceed uphill. Good bivi spots on left rib near waterfall in creek draining south face, 4 hours from cars and 300m elevation below south face. From bivi, traverse left into forest and up left through bluffs to toe of buttress.
