The Tooth - South Face 7.18.15

I planned to spend one day having fun over the weekend, but it was another hot weekend so Aaron and I hadn’t decided where to climb yet. Leavenworth looked unpleasant, so we were thinking of heading to Index on Sunday. Aaron planned to climb with Luke on Saturday, and while they were out celebrating Luke’s birthday, they decided to climb the Tooth. Luke thought an alpine with the combination of hiking and rock climbing sounded good so he could get a bit of conditioning in before his upcoming trip to hike Half Dome. Plus, it’d be his first alpine climb. Aaron invited me too and I thought that sounded more fun than cragging, so I joined their adventure. Aaron wanted to get another late start to avoid the morning rush, but with my addition, they planned to head out a little earlier to compensate for my slow approaching. We left home about 8am on Saturday and headed to Bellevue to pick up Luke. He was feeling the birthday celebration from the night before but he was going to be a trooper and climb through.

After a stop in North Bend for some breakfast (mmm, cake pop) and a stop at Safeway to pick up a few things (luckily we all picked up Gatorades for post climb…), we were on our way to the Alpental parking lot. We arrived to a very full parking lot just before 10am, I think a good portion of Seattle was out hiking to Snow Lake. I made myself a parking spot at the end and we geared up, applying a generous coating of sunscreen. I like to carry my little 0.4L nalgene on the rock part itself so I had brought that and a liter. Aaron said he had two liters so he’d share if I needed it. Generally I don’t go through a liter and a half on a climb so I wasn’t too worried. Aaron and Luke both had a half rope, and Aaron took the small rack we brought to help lighten my load – set of nuts and C4’s #0.3 – 2. I carried the slings. We were going to bring eight but then decided to leave the cordelettes at home and brought two extra doubles instead to use at the anchors, for a total of 5 singles and 5 doubles.

We started up the trail a little after 10am and passed a couple of groups. Luckily the trail is partially in the shade as I was feeling the heat. I knew it was going to be warm, but I wasn’t quite expecting how truly warm it would be. We took a break just past the junction to Snow Lake so were past the crowds. I was not feeling great and neither was Luke. We sat to eat and drink some. I guzzled a bit of water hoping that would help. I was down about a half liter already which didn’t sit well consider we still had the steep elevation gain, boulder hoping, and rock climbing to do. Aaron was the cheerleader for the day though and urged us on.

Looking back down the valley over Source Lake

About another half mile of dirt trail above Source Lake brought us to the start of the boulder field. I had climbed the Tooth in 2011 as my third alpine climb ever, after Unicorn and the south arête on SEWS, with Sara, Alicia, and Lina – a girls day in the mountains. It was almost four years earlier exactly, minus a week. Apparently that was a high snow year as most of the boulders were still covered in snow in comparison to our low snow year this year. Aaron had climbed the Tooth about a month earlier with Wyeth so he learned from their navigation and pointed us through the boulders to the climbers’ trails they had found.

Approximate trail we took across the lower boulder field, up through the trees, and across the upper boulder field to Pineapple Pass

Part way up the ‘efficient’ climbers trail, we took another break in the shade. Aaron took more of my gear (i.e. anything that weighed something) and gave me his helmet in return. He now had a rope and complete rack, but I was thankful for the break. Hopefully it helped me speed up a little too. We agreed to eat lunch when we crested into the bottom of the upper boulder field, with my request of finding shade. Aaron found a giant boulder with plenty of shade for the three of us. I ate some beef jerky, Luke chowed down his sandwich, and I applied more sunscreen. I was certainly feeling the heat as I was nearing the end of my first liter of water. We skirted up climbers left of the boulders following a trail until it disappeared, then we boulder hopped up towards Pineapple Pass. I must say, that boulder field is much more reasonable than some of the choss I’ve experience near Washington Pass, so while not a solid trail, it certainly could have been much worse.

[Left] Heading up the climber's left side of the upper boulder field, following the dirt path until we had to start boulder hopping. [Right] Looking down over the upper boulder field

As we neared the pass we saw a group on route, otherwise the couple of climbing pairs that we passed heading down said the route was empty. So rare for a nice Saturday - maybe it was the heat! I was bringing up the rear so the guys stopped at the top of Pineapple Pass to let me catch up and take a little break.

[Left] Approaching the pass on the left, with the descent gully marked on the right. [Right] Heading up the last little bit to the pass

We continued around the backside clockwise, scrambling up, then down, then back up to the start of the south face on the Tooth. There was one pair that was heading back to catch the Sounders game, otherwise there was a group of three that was up a little ways. Since Aaron had led the entire route recently, he gave me the honors of leading it with him and Luke in tow. The first time I had climbed it Sara and I split it into three pitches, I took the middle one. I remembered rope drag being somewhat miserable so I placed minimal gear in hopes of getting a full rope length pitch in – and I succeeded.

[Left] Starting to head around the back of the rock to find the start. [Right] Last little scramble up to the start of the route

I personally thought the first part was the most challenging, it’s closer to vertical without as many bomber hand holds – although they are certainly there. I went up the ramp to the right, headed up the face, and onto my first ledge. I placed my bigger gear on that section, my #2 and #1. I found the first anchor/rappel station and clipped it as I kept on going. From there I took the path of least resistance, heading up towards the trees I remembered anchoring at the last time I climbed. I continued placing minimal gear in between the ledges and blocky climbing, placing a couple of nuts and clipping a second anchor as I passed by. I reached the dead tree as Aaron yelled up that I had about 20 feet of rope. I knew there were more rappel stations just above and right of where I was, I just wasn’t sure if I would make it. The ropes were getting a bit heavy by now but I made it to the rappel station without the guys having to simul-climb. I anchored in, got them on belay, and then started the daunting task of belaying two climbers up at the same time using my ATC guide.

Approximate first pitch route I took, pretty much a full 60m

I got a little bit of water from Aaron when they reached me as we did the gear exchange. The other group was just above us and finishing up the left side of the face which is the way Sara had gone when we climbed it. Aaron said the last time he was up there the route straight up, following the rappel route, looked pretty good so I decided to head straight up to the top rappel anchor to avoid the other group. There are several ledges above the trees with more trees and rappel anchors. I finally clipped one, and then started up the first little bit of vertical rock to another large ledge. The climbing was easy on blocky terrain so I didn’t really place gear, although there weren’t a ton of placements either. The last wall leading up to the anchor was one of the more fun sections of climbing. I placed a couple of cams on that section as I followed a flake and some blocks up to the top.

Approximate second pitch route I took, I headed straight up to the top rappel anchor

This was a shorter pitch and I was able to see the guys as they climbed up. We coiled the ropes and left them by the rappel station as we scrambled up to the true summit. I started to take some pictures while Luke captured lots of great images with his DSLR that he hauled up with him. Not long after being on the summit I started feeling pretty terrible. Aaron is usually the one that wants to head down while I linger, but I beat him this time. He gave me the rest of the water from the 0.4L bottle we shared on the rock. We had the other group take a group photo of us, and then we headed down.

Summit panorama

Group summit photo

I felt bad making Luke leave the summit of his first alpine climb so quickly, but with how I was feeling, I knew I needed to get down fast. We set up the double rope rappel with the two half ropes and I went down first. We set up a second double rope rappel that reached the notch with our packs. I was feeling really nauseous and was sure I was dehydrated. After changing into our boots and grabbing our packs, we set up one last double rope rappel down the descent gully and made it to the boulder field. I was the last one down and sat as the guys coiled the ropes. We had one last liter of water to split between the three of us to get us to the car.

First double rope rappel from the summit. Two more double rope rappels put us back on the boulder field

We started down the boulder field, angling to hit the trails on the far side a little ways down. I had my 0.3L of water and would take a sip every so often, hoping to make it last until we got to the car. I just kept moving because if I stopped, my nausea would only get worse. We made steady progress through the boulders, found the dirt trail and went down the steep part, then back across the boulder field above Source Lake to the hiking trail. I was happy to be back on the trail but I was only feeling worse, and we had over 2 miles back to the car. My back/shoulder was hurting a bit and with my stomach not doing well, Aaron offered to carry my pack. Given my circumstances, I gave it to him, assuming that once my shoulder felt better I’d take it back. We moved the entire time back on the trail, not necessarily quickly, but we moved. There were still a few groups heading to and from Snow Lake as we went, I’m sure I looked half zombie like and Aaron was quite the sight with two backpacks on his back. Thankfully Aaron is stronger and handles things like heat better than I do. Not only did he take my pack for the rest of the hike out, but he gave me the last 0.1L of his share of the water so I could drink a little more.

Finally we spotted the upper parking lot through the threes and knew we were getting close. We hit the steps on the trail and I think we sped up, knowing the car along with our Gatorades awaited. I’m so glad we happened to walk down the Gatorade aisle that morning at Safeway and pick those up as we all were in need of liquid at that point, having gone through about 5.5 liters of water between the three of us during the climb. I still wasn’t feeling good so Aaron drove while I half napped in the passenger seat, sipping on my Gatorade. When we hit North Bend I was finally feeling better. We stopped in Issaquah for burritos and although I still wasn’t feeling great, I managed to eat some chips and queso. Getting to recuperate in the AC in the car and drink some Gatorade really helped, I had no idea just how bad the heat would be for me that day. Besides that part, the climb was a lot of fun. It was nice to go back to a climb I had done when I was first starting and to climb it with new partners. We had gorgeous views, and it’s always better when you can get someone their first alpine climb.

Trail into the Tooth from the Alpental parking lot, GPS track here

First part of the trail, mostly following the Source Lake trail until crossing the lower boulder field to start the steep section up through the trees

Approach up through the trees and across the upper boulder field. Disregard the high track on the left rock, GPS error