Vesper Peak, July 30th, 2000
After the ridicule of Hozomeen, and very little sleep, Jesse and I left for the North Face of Vesper, early Sunday morning. This would be my second attempt on the peak, the first being prevented by large snow avalanches cascading off the upper slabs.The North Face of Vesper Peak. Route follows dark depression in lower center of photo, onto slabs above.
Bugs were bad, but not nearly as bad as Hozomeen. We made the approach quickly, and within a few hours stood atop the notch leading down to the Vesper glacier. Jesse realized he forgot his crampons. Doh! He wasn't sure his soft leather hikers would quite do the job on the icy snow. I scrambled down some rocks ahead of him, onto the glacier, and kicked steps as I downclimbed. He could follow in my steps. He had to move slowly, but eventually, we got down to where the glacier mellowed in angle. There was one other party attempting the face this day. They had already reached the bottom of their climb, and were belaying across the moat. Their choice of route was rather odd. They were right under the hangfire of potential avalanches. The snow that had detered Cormac and I earlier in the season was still there in spots - no longer on the standard route, but it still threatened sections of the lower wall. In fact, these climbers were in exactly the same gully that large avalanche poured down the previous time we were here. Odder still was that the rock in this gully really looked quite steep and featureless. Not where you'd want to go if you wanted to have any chance of getting up this mountain. Jesse and I made our way over toward the middle of lower wall, where the easiest passage supposedly was. I wondered how bad a moat there would be. Neither Beckey or Nelson mention any moat problems, so I figured it wouldn't be so bad. I checked out one moat crossing... eeek! Quite terrifying. It was totally doable to reach the rock, but the cracks were too small for protection, and it would be a little exposed and difficult to find a belay once you were across. The moat itself, though not a "problem" in this particular area, was a deep dark, wide chasm that I looked into, from the very overhanging lip of snow I was on. Yikes! Just very scary.
Jesse downclimbing the upper Vesper Glacier with soft hiking boots
Nothing really matched the Jim Nelson description of the route. The wall in this area looked easy (3rd/4th class) in its lower section, but then finishing with a pitch or two of very steep rock (I later learned this was rated 5.8). Hmm. Overall, this dark recessed wall, separated from the glacier by a deep, dark, scary moat, was quite daunting. I felt my enthusiasim wane. Crap. In addition, the weather forecast was calling for a chance of thundershowers this afternoon. After climbing The Tooth the previous weekend with a similar forecast, and getting caught in a lightning storm, I did not relish the chance of this happening on Vesper. To make matters worse, it was already 12pm. It would probably be at least a 6 hour climb, if we didn't stray from the correct route. And we had seen thunderheads to the south of us when we were up at the notch.
Setting up a toprope on the slabs.
Still on belay, I climbed up to the edge of a crevasse to check out a second moat crossing where the rock on the other side looked better. The moat was bridged by fallen snow chunks, providing a relatively easy crossing. I told Jesse that this was probably the way to go, and he then belayed me back to him. Nonetheless, with the menacing and uncertain appearance of the wall, and the weather forecast, I had decided I did not want to attempt the route. Jesse was still up for it, and suggested we make a decision once across the moat. I belayed him across, and he climbed up onto the rock.
But it was then clear that I didn't want to continue, so we bailed. Jesse made some exposed moves to climb back across the moat, and then we headed back up the glacier. Every so often, we glanced back at the other party. For the past hour or two, they hadn't really moved. The leader had climbed most of a pitch, then backed off, presumably because the rock proved too difficult. Then he tried a different crack, and backed off again. They were also bailing. This North Face is really not very straightforward.
Looking up from the bottom of our toproped slab pitch.
On the way backup the glacier, I lent Jesse my crampons. My aluminum crampons. I've carried them with me so many times, but never used them.
We scrambled up to near the summit, bypassed it, and walked down to the top of the North Face route, where we decided to set up a top-rope. We brought all this climbing gear up here, may as well use it. And the top of the North Face is a beauuuuutiful slab. We lowered each other down a full 60m, and each climbed it twice, in our boots (to make it more challenging). The rock is clean and solid. There is little pro, but the slab is very featured, and only about 5.0, so it would still be an enjoyable lead. If you climb up the open book on the left edge of the slab, the pro is much better, but the slab a little less featured. Overall, it's a fun, easy romp on an awesome slab. It would have been sweet to do the whole climb :-(
Jesse on the slab.
After we'd had enough of the heat and bugs on the slab, we went up to the summit to look in the summit register for any north face beta. Since June, there were four entries that mentioned the north face. In 3 of those entries, the parties bailed, due to route-finding problems, or conditions problems (too early season). The 4th entry said "A great climb! But... Fred Beckey is on crack, and Jim Nelson is a route whore!".
We finally headed down the snow-covered east slope, where some incredible standing glissades were to be had. We dropped a thousand feet in a matter of minutes, admidst a fog that slithered over the slope as the sun went behind the mountain.
Third time's a charm?