Direct East Buttress of South Early Winter Spire


Just got back from a strenuous but great climb of the Beckey-Leen route on
South Early Winter. The approach was straight forward.. Chose to hit the
trees to the right of the Hairpin Gully instead of climbing it directly
since we decided to leave the ice axes behind.
The first couple of pitches are moderate in the 5.7 range until you
get to a left facing dihedral/crack system. We climbed this, which was
probably about 5.10a even though the book says 5.9. This is a long pitch
so
you want to get the belay up as high as possible. The next pitch is short
(80 ft or so) up the same LF dihedral (5.8) and then out and around a block
and onto a ledge. There is a old 1/4" with a aluminum hanger to inspire
confidence on this move :) It is a bit exciting looking about 500 feet
below you with nothing but air between your butt and the ground. After
gaining the ledge you continue climbing up a 20ft 5.7 crack to the next
belay ledge or you can stem off of one of the Krumholtz pines and climb up
onto the ledge (which judging by the scarring on the tree, gets done
frequently).
The next pitch starts out with some unprotected 5.8 climbing for
about 25 ft until you are able to clip a bolt. From here there is a right
trending bolt ladder that heads up and over the buttress crest. This is
solid 5.10d face climbing in this area. I chose to aid this section. The
view from up here is fantastic especially on the buttress crest looking all
the way down to the highway watching the large motor homes back up traffic
behind them. Further to the east are the Wine spires and Silver star
jutting into the sky. After the face section and the bolt ladder a 5.9
flake leads up to a hanging belay... my back and butt and still sore from
this one.
Next you step out and right towards a solid 10a/b crack. The 5.10
climbing eases after about 20ft into the 5.9 range. After the crack you
follow a fissure in the rock for about 40 ft (5.8). This pitch is pretty
short but the crack is cool and has lots of exposure. We found a nice
ledge
below the suggested belay (we were using 60m doubles) and prepared for the
crux of the climb. My partner struggled with some 5.8 face moves that were
unprotectable before reaching the final bolt ladder. He bailed and came
down so I grabbed the rack and my aiders and headed up.
Caveat: I had never aid climbed before in my life so don't take my
technique too seriously. The moves were pretty easy getting onto a left
slanting ramp with plenty of crystals in the granite offering great
friction. The bolt ladder goes at A0 or 5.11. You basically climb
straight
up (left of a large roof) you pull up and over a overhang which I imagine
is
the 5.11 move. There is a curiose pocket here that you could fit some of
your fingers into which I did and found that the hole was full of water
and
mud. I did a combination of aid and free climbing to gain a slightly
overhanging right facing dihedral and crack system. This section is solid
10+ (which I aided through until the mantel from hell).
At this point you are close to the clearly chiseled buttress crest
with plenty of exposure. I had a marginal cam in a slightly rotten notch.
There was a good cam about 6 feet below my bad cam and there was a small
fixed wire in between them so overall I was pretty safe but the move is
very
awkward. You have to mantel out of your aiders onto a sloping ledge
without
any positive holds all with a big rack and a pack. Not to mention I was
torquing on the rattley #1 in a partially rotten and flaring notch. I
tried
finesse at first but flailed and ultimately plummeted back off of the ledge
and took a fall on the bad cam. I was pretty amazed that it actually held.
The next method was more successful but had a price, Pain. I would also
have to leave one set of my aiders behind (this is where a experienced aid
climber would have another set). I stepped into the top step of one of my
aiders (attached to the fixed wire) put my right foot out onto the face
(stemming) and then in one fluid motion (at least it seemed like it at the
time) pushed hard on my right foot and swung my left foot up onto the
ledge.
That was the plan... My knee hit hard and then I threw myself up onto the
ledge. I immediately started sliding back towards another whipper until I
dug my fingernails into the rock and was able to get my right foot in
contact with the rock (thank god for stealth rubber). I had to take a
little breather at this point. I agree with Jim Nelson (Selected Climbs in
the Cascades) that this is a 5.10 move, especially the way I did it.
I reached down and grabbed the one set of aiders and the bad cam and
set off for the next bolt section. This section is kind of hazy for me
since I was still hyperventilating. I think it was pretty easy. You leave
the last bolt and do another Mantel (easier than the last) and climb some
5.7/5.8 face (hard to protect for about 40 feet to a nice sandy ledge with
a
tree. I fixed one of the doubles and my partner jugged the rope. It was
now about 5pm we had moved too slow on the lower sections.
I seemed to be the faster of the two of us so I took off to the
right of ledge around a corner and up along some cracks slinging small
trees
along the way. I started to run into some serious rope drag so I found a
ledge and belayed from there.
The last pitch was really cool. It was only 5.6 or 5.7 but it
followed the buttress crest all the way to its top. After stepping around
the left side of the buttress I climbed along South side of the crest for
about 30 feet and then angled up to the top . There is no protection in
here but the rock is well textured. An ideal belay would be to ride the
buttress with a leg to either side looking around at the multitude of peaks
to either side and straight ahead but there are no anchors here though so
you have to make a awkward move down into a notch that separates the
buttress from the short ridge that connects to the summit area.
After scrambling across the ridge and up to the summit block we down
climbed the southwest gully. This is pretty straightforward but watch for
loose rock. We did a double rope rappel and the down climbed the gully
some
more. There is one last hurdle that involved a couple of 5th class moves
to
the left of the gully... I didn't feel like making the moves on rock wet
from snowmelt so we made one last single rope rappel from a tree on the
north side of the gully. We then plunge stepped our way down towards the
Blue lake trailhead in the snow and negotiated some slabs and hit the
forest. We continued down the trail losing it under the snow every now and
again finally hitting the road. We were back at the car around 9:30PM (2.5
hours from summit to car.) Descending over the south col and back down the
gully probably would have been faster but without ice axes we decided
easier
was better than faster.

Details:
Route: Beckey-Leen Direct East Buttress South Early Winter Spire
Time: We left the car at 6:00 AM and summated about 6:30. I would
say that we wasted some time here and there though.
Gear: Bring lots of Cams in different sizes (aliens, tech friends,
and camlets .5 - 4 (double up on you #1 and #2 cams), bring a normal set of
nuts, quick draws for the bolted section and aiders if you can't lead
5.11. Also, about 4 shoulder length slings and a double is nice for
slinging the trees and natural features on the lower and upper pitches.