Eisenhower Peak attempt
August 20, 2019
Climbing with Dan.
The stage seemed to be set perfectly to attempt this well-known climbing
route that had been on my to-do list for many years: excellent weather, a very
early start, and most importantly an awesome climbing partner with far greater
skill than I, in Dan Carrerio!
Arriving at the parking lot at 7 am, we were immediately surprised to
see another party gearing up for the same route. No worries – we assumed there
would be tons of room for everyone.
Two hours of easy hiking preceded some pretty stiff and exposed scrambling
to get to the base of The Dragon’s Back – a big fin of rock that needs to be
ascended and traversed before the actual climbing starts. Along the way we were
struck by the amazing quality of the rock and hoped this trend would continue.
The second surprise of the day was to arrive at the base of The Dragon’s
Back and find that two other parties were already on the route, with another party
waiting. With the potential of rockfall and the inherent dangers on human
congestion on long climbing routes, going up as the fourth party didn’t seem
like a good idea.
The party in front of us decided to bail and we sat down to eat and see
how things played out. After a break we determined it was okay to continue. The
other parties were way ahead and as long as everyone took the right variation
up and rappelled the left side there would be little concern of rockfall and line-ups
at the rappel stations.
The Dragon’s Back was not a pushover by any stretch, in fact having a
few of the most exposed moves on the whole route. It really is the start of the
technical climbing and we treated it as such, wearing rock shoes and belaying
each pitch. Initially we were going to trade leads, but in the interests of
time (and the fact that I didn’t have access to Depend undergarments) I quickly
relinquished all leading duties to Dan. A pleasant traverse across a WIDE
section of The Back, a downclimb into a notch and we were at the base of the
climb.
The first pitch, up an obvious crack definitely had a few of the crux
moves, but again we were both struck by the high quality of the rock and the
great holds any time you needed one. Pitch 2 was a little easier and led to a
belay station under some very steep rock. Unfortunately, that steep rock would
be our undoing. It appeared to be much harder than 5.6 and so Dan traversed
right, looking for an easier line. He disappeared around a corner and that was
the last I saw of him for a good 30 minutes. Dan couldn’t find a route up and
eventually had to downclimb some pretty tricky terrain to get back to our belay
station.
We decided that the only route up was actually straight up – and so it
was. The steep section was steep but not as difficult as the first pitch. At this
point we were quite a bit behind schedule and after a long discussion opted to
call it a day. We did climb two additional super fun pitches first. Continuing
from that point seemed to be fraught with uncertainty and potential problems,
given the two parties above us and the late time of the day. Regrettably we
rapped the route and hiked back to the parking lot.
Even without the prize of the summit, an excellent day of climbing and
adventure.
Not Eisenhower Peak - this section gets scrambled up, around the left side
At least there is a good trail showing you the way
Even here the quality of the rock is excellent
A nice little introduction to some of the exposure you will encounter
on the route, though this is pretty tame compared to what's to come
Dan leads the way up the scrambling section
Storm Mountain lies across the valley
So does massive Mount Ball
There's the top of Eisenhower Peak
And there's the whole thing. The party of two that bailed can just be seen on the ridge to the right
One of the many plateaus on Castle Mountain
It's looking a little more fierce here
The first pitch up the Dragon's Back
Dan belays me up the easy second pitch
Part of Helena Ridge
In the notch between the Dragon's Back and the start of the climb.
Left: looking back at the downclimb into the notch; Right: the first
pitch
Dan atop of second pitch
View from the belay station. Dan traversed around the corner here, before backtracking. Note the old piton.
\
At the top of 4th pitch, our highest point for the day. Dan admires the view.
Dan rappels
Dan climbs out of the notch
Walking away
Dan coils the rope before walking a section of the Dragon's back to the last two rappels
Wee bit of a defeated look. The East Peak of Helena Ridge in the background.
Back down onto safer terrain
Packing up
The length of Helena Ridge and a small section of Rockbound Lake
The weather remained perfect all day
Looking back at the Peak
Scrambling down to the exposed trail and then onto the long but easy hike out
The End
