John Gould
Goat Wall, Beckey Route, South Arete- Sept 17-18, 2007
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| For the second year in a row, John Gould came
out to the North Cascades just as weeks of cloudless skies and
high pressure were ending. Planning to climb with Larry, the
two changed plans and played each day loose and flexible enough
to find some climbing where the weather would cooperate. |
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| The first day was quite showery in the
mountains, so we opted to climb the Methow Inspiration
route on Goat Wall. This is a fun, five pitch climb with
most of the climbing in the 5.7-5.8 range except for two
5.9 sections. |
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| Here John nears the top of the first
pitch on big holds. |
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| Most of the belays have some kind of
a ledge, though leaning against the anchor makes the stance
feel much bigger. |
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| John smears his way up the lower angled
second pitch of the route. |
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| Near the top, the climbing becomes much
more sustained and exposed. |
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| The following day we ventured up into
the mountains. The forecast still wasn't great, though
other than some chilly temps, the weather was just fine.
Here John nears the belay after climbing the first pitch
of the Beckey Route on Liberty Bell. |
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| The second pitch brought us into the
sun and some much needed warmth (note gloves!) |
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| Here John mantles out of the chimney
onto the belay ledge at the top of the second pitch. |
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| Looking down from this perch. Blue lake
is the small alpine tarn just visible in the background. |
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| The third pitch offers the most difficult
climbing and by now the sun had warmed things up enough
for us to climb gloveless. |
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| We made short work of the Beckey Route
and thus had time for another route nearby. John had climbed
the South Arete last year in full, winter conditions,
and wanted to try it again in more typical conditions.
As we walked from Liberty Bell to South Early Winters
Spire, we passed a small group of Mountain Goats, who
were also enjoying a quiet day in the mountains. |
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| We moved quite quickly up the climb,
though we could see showers forming all around us. Here
John works across the knife edged spine. |
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| Just below the summit and it is truly
raining very close by. We kept the pace brisk... |
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| Summit shot - its raining on Silver Star
in the background! |
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| As we descend, John comments that this
was the most of the Cascades he has ever seen - a testament
to the poor weather he has experienced here. On a typical
summer day we would see scores of other peaks from this
exact vantage. With this in mind, John and Larry are already
planning next Spring's adventure. |
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