SEWS - Southwest Rib

My brother Tyson had been asking me all Spring and Summer about getting out for an alpine climb.  My schedule, as we all know doesn't allow for a lot of flexibility, and I've always got too much on my plate.  But we found a day in August and put it on the calendar.  As the weekend approached, the weather looked a little dicey - "30% chance of precip, with thunderstorms after 11am."  Matt and Jay had been in the mix, but decided to bail.  We decided to go for it.  We chose a climb with a short approach, so we could potentially get up and down by early afternoon.  I think that ended up being a good choice.  We had perfect weather.  But by the time we hit the summit there were scattered clouds, and on the hike out we got hit with a few hail balls.

The SW Rib of SEWS has been on my radar for awhile.  You hear varying beta about gear, but I decided to play it safe and borrow a #5 Camalot for the twin cracks pitch.  I used it, but wouldn't say needed it.  Nelson also suggests doubles in the 1-2" range, but I came nowhere near needing them, although I had them.  So we left Seattle around 7:30pm Friday night and made it to the Blue Lake TH by 10:30pm, despite Everett traffic (I don't get why people think it's so far to Washington Pass?).  We crashed in the tent in the parking lot, and set alarms for 4am so we could get an early start to beat the weather.  We were hiking by 5am, and reached the saddle around 7am where we racked up.

Bomber weather on the approach: 

Racking up at the saddle at the bottom of the South Arete route:

The route overlay is shown in red, and hidden parts at the top in green.  We took the Southwest Couloir start, and headed left 50ft above the giant chockstone.  We ended up rapping down to the start of the first technical pitch (Nelson pitch 3), which is the crux 5.8 pitch.  From there, we climbed the short easy 5.5 crack/dihedral option leading to the 5.6+ slab pitch (Nelson pitch 5).

The first pitch was the crux 5.8.  It was wobbly right hand in the crack, with left hand on the flake (not that good), right foot in the crack, left foot smearing on the face.  Never felt in danger of falling or that tired, but upward progress was slow.

The second pitch - very chill, short 5.5 crack and corner:

Tyson follows the second pitch:

From there, a pitch of 5.6+ slab climb leads to the huge belay block below the infamous "bear hug cracks."  Some have called this 5.6+ pitch the crux as it is difficult to protect, but I'm way more comfortable on slabs than cracks so I cruised it.

First view of the twin cracks from the third pitch:

Tyson follows the slab:

The next pitch is the short, infamous "twin" or "bear hug" cracks.  They are two offwidth cracks separated by a little less than a wingspan.  One highstep left gets you to a comfy spot, then two moves later you're at the top.  Pretty easy, and really fun.

Checking out the bear hug cracks from the belay block:

From a nice ledge before the highstep, I placed a #4 in the right crack.  I then stepped up, was comfy, and placed the #5 in the right crack.  It would've been fine to skip that and just blast for the top, but I had it and wouldn't have used it anywhere else, so I plugged it in.

Placing the boat hook:

Tyson at the belay block, taken from the #5 placement:

Tyson does the highstep left on the twin cracks:

From there, the rest of the route could be simul-climbed.  There's a short 5.5 crack protected by a bolt (why?), followed by some 4th class stuff.  Then you cross the gully once the "rabbit ears" are reached, and climb a final 5.2 crack to the summit.

The 5.5 crack on the 5th pitch (Nelson's 7th):

The final pitch, 5.2 crack:

The weather holds as we pause on the summit:

On top of the summit boulder, with the Wine Spires and Silver Star as a backdrop:

We were the only party to try the SW Rib that day.  But we were met on the summit by a guided party of 2 and a guided party of 3 doing the South Arete.  On the way down we met by another guided party of two, and another twosome.  To descend, we shortened the rope and simul-climbed down the South Arete, finishing with two 30m rappels to the saddle.  It was a stretch for Tyson to move in this way in the alpine, but he did great and agreed that it was a very efficient way to descend on easy terrain.

Here he leads across the "whale's back":

We made it back to the cars by 2:45pm and had a gut-bomb meal at the Marblemount Drive-In before parting ways in Burlington.  Another great trip!  Beautiful rock, and lots of variety.  Glad we defied the weather forecast.  Tyson's only two alpine climbs so far are both legit - Beckey Route on Liberty Bell, and now this.  Not bad for a noob.  Maybe we'll have to make his third a Grade III!