Varden Creek Spire
North Arete - First Ascent- June 26-27th, 2007
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| After eyeing the line for years, Larry Goldie
and Scott Johnston made an exploratory recon of this unclimbed
spire near the East Ridge of Silver Star last Fall. What they
found was a really long approach,great rock and minimal protection.
After climbing several pitches, they vowed to return with some
pitons to protect the thin seams offered by this compact granite.
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| The peak is viewed to advantage from
the nearby Driveway Butte trail. With the help of a digital
zoom, one can clearly see the spire as well as the route
drawn in red. While it appears that the climb stops short
of the summit, the peak in the background is called 8252
and is part of Silver Star's East ridge. This peak is
actually completely separated from the East ridge by a
several hundred foot drop and a large coulior seen here
just below the top of the red line. |
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| After hiking and scrambling along the
East ridge, we made a camp at Turtle lake and then went
over to check out the climb. It was nearly 4 PM by the
time we got to the base of the route, but we were ancy
to check it out. From camp we climbed over a pass and
descended this slope to approach the climb. |
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| We couldn't believe our good luck as
we found pitch after pitch of exceptional climbing on
great rock, never straying more than 6-8' from the crest
of the arete. Here Larry follows the first pitch. |
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| It was late and we were exhausted from
the 4+ hour approach, so we decided to traverse off of
the ridge at a hanging snow field halfway up the route.
The rest would have to wait for the following day. Here
Scott tops out on the second pitch. |
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| Back at camp we fueled up and talked
about what the upper pitches might bring. You can see
the col that separates our camp from the Varden creek
drainage (with its steep snow descent) at the top left
of this photo. |
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| The next morning we grabbed our gear
and got back onto the climb. From halfway up the route,
this is the view of the upper pitches. |
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| After several hundred feet of fourth
class, the route begins to steepen again. |
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| The climbing continued at the 5.7-5.9
range on good rock though often covered in lichen. Here
Scott climbs pitch 5. |
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| We encountered another several hundred
feet of class 4 before the final summit tower. The rock
quality changed a bit and we were forced to traverse to
the East side of the tower to find suitable climbing.
One more long pitch of 5.9 climbing brought us to the
coffee table sized summit and the high point of another
amazing day in the Cascades. |
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