Mt. Jefferson - Jefferson Park Glacier 7/10/2008
Trip: Mt. Jefferson - Jefferson Park Glacier
Date: 7/10/2008
Trip Report:James and I climbed the Jefferson Park glacier yesterday. We hiked into high camp on the moraine on Wednesday night and had all evening to study our route around the bergshrunds.
It was a perfect evening on the mountain. There was running water 50 meters from camp, and the wildflowers were off the hinges. We were hiking by 3 the next morning and by first light were trying to negotiate the first shrund.
We traversed far left and found a crack that had not yet opened. A short (five feet) vertical ice step had us over the lip and directly beneath Mohler tooth. The second bergshrund was also gaping, and forced a traverse to the far right, where we climbed steep slopes beneath Smith rock.
The knifes edge ridge and summit pinnacle were snow free and went without problems.
We were unnerved by falling rock while traversing under the summit pinnacle. The rock on the northernmost part of the pinnacle looks like graham crackers stacked on top of each other. We lazed on the summit and soaked in the morning sunshine, waiting for the snow to soften in the upper milk creek cirque.
three sisters and the santiam rockies
The descent was another adventure entirely, as we traversed hard steep snow in the upper cirque, under the knifes edge ridge and up to the ridge just climbers left of smith rock. We realized as we topped out on the ridge that we were not exactly where we needed to be to gain the Russell, but descended anyway. Steep snow gave way to a rotten gully with condition that James described as "boulders sitting in pudding." James just happened to grasp one of these boulders to avoid a rock that I had sent towards him. I couldn't see him in the gully but heard sounds of a large rock moving and yells from James that sent a chill down my spine. I yelled after James and the response was an eery silence. I panicked and tried to move, but it just sent more shit down the gully. After what seemed like an eternity James yelled up to me. He limped out of the gully and onto some more stable slopes. It turns out that he had surfed a tv sized boulder down the gully for 20 feet, headfirst. The boulder rolled over his hip before careening down the glacier. He was lucky to escape with a deep bruise.
Badly shaken, we continued down the Russell, still in the line of fire from the rotten headwall. I kept looking up at the spot on the Russell that we should have descended, realizing that we could have skipped, glissaded, or ran down it. As the slopes mellowed on the lower Russell we were able to breath again. A traverse across the lateral moraines of Jeff Park/Russell glaciers had us back to high camp by 1:00, 10 hours after setting out. We passed out in the shade and then enjoyed sections of snow free trail that lead to cold beers at the trailhead.
It was a fun climb with a new partner, and an unsavory descent. The incident in the gully was the scariest thing that I've experienced in the mountains and surpasses the time I saw a Russian girl try to self-arrest with her fingernails on Casaval Ridge. Thanks for the great trip James.
Above the first shrund
Knife's edge ridge
Summit pinnacle
Gear Notes:two pickets (never used), one tool (handy for exiting the first bergshrund), light alpine rack, 60 meter 9.4 rope
Approach Notes:Trailhead is accessible by car. The trail is snow free down low and still covered in deep drifts higher up.
