Snowpatch Route – 5.8 (trad)

Description:

1st-3rd Pitches- 90m- 5th/ ascend to the col, seemed like 4th class at most. Move left on the west side of the col, up and over a bulge with nice hand cracks (couple of 5th class moves). Then traverse via small ledges on the east side until you are below an obvious dihedral.

4th-5th Pitches- 100m- 5.7/ . They are real comfortable corners/cracks on good rock that run up two separate dihedrals. The first one is the easiest. Just run up the corner to the top and move left to the base of the 2nd one and set up belay. The 2nd one is much more interesting following a crack off the ground as it widens and takes you to the top of this second dihedral.

6th Pitch- 20m- 5.7/ Traverse right along a great hand crack for a short distance until you have cleared the overhang above (Weissner Overhang) and belay on a small ledge below easy angled cracks that lead up the spire.

7th -13th Pitches- 300m- 5th/ Start straight up from pitch six and stay just left of the “snowpatch” and then angle back right once above it to find the inverted pear (photo). Towards the end of this section, stay more left versus too far right to find the better rock. Most of this mid section of the route is just solid mid 5th class slab climbing.

14th Pitch- 30m- 5th/ Move the belay by traversing out right from behind the “pear”. You will come to a ramped up corner.

15th Pitch- 40m- 5.8/ The crux pitches start here. Take the steeper option left versus right. It is easier to protect the corner on the left and it is the correct original part of this route although a variation goes out right. Move up to a horn that you can sling with a double length runner. Then slab climb out left (5.8) past pitons and up to a small ledge below an off-width crack to the right. There were pitons here to assist with a belay in 2009.

16th Pitch- 50m- 5.8/ You have two options on this pitch. We ran it a little long and it could be considered the crux of the day for us. Take the off width or climb the run out face out right (not the bolts or pitons the guide book reflects) to the upper roof and traverse back left to the top of the short off width crack. Then continue up a short steep corner/flakes to a hard (for the grade) finger traverse out left (pitons). By doing this, you have extended into the 17th pitch.

17th Pitch- 30m- 5.7/ Move left over a huge flake and climb back right via 5.7 cracks up a steep wall to a ramp that eases up into a corner. Avoid going too far left after you mount the large flake.

18th- 19th Pitches- 60m+/-/ 5th/ You can easily cover this mellow ground in one pitch to the summit saddle if you simul-climb or solo a bit.

Recent Sendage:

  • 5.8
    2021-08-07
    Longest 2 pitches of my life. Bonus climbing on the Krause McCarthy while waiting for the raps to clear out
  • 5.8
    2021-08-05
    4 hours Applebee to summit. Solo and 2 pitch party of 3 simul with Steven and Cathy. Awesome mellow romp with some really cool features along the way.
  • 5.8
    2021-07-27
    Grade IV - Climbed with Liliya Ianovskaia. Climbed in 10 run out pitches, including a long 400+ foot simul climbed pitch around the Snowpatch! 30 hours camp to camp including a bivy on the other side of the Bugaboo-Snowpatch Col as it was in horrendous condition. The approach around the Son of Snowpatch was 4 hours, 12 hours to climb the route, 1.5 hours to find the Krause-McCarthy anchors to repel. 1.5 hours to repel 8x stations. Bivied and woke up at 5 AM, scrambled down the Snowpatch Gully in 2 hours, got back to camp 2 hours later.
  • 5.8
    2021-07-23
  • 5.8
    2016-08-26