NEWS and SEWS in a Day

Two alpine summits in one day.  Dope.

Now, they were Washington Pass Early Winters Spires alpine summits.  But all the same - two Grade III routes, 5.9 and 5.8+, for one approach.  That was pretty fun.  One was new for me (NW Corner of NEWS), and both were new for Jillson.  He had never climbed in the Early Winters group - pretty sweet way to start!  He is my only partner that I'd consider trying an outing like this with at this point.  We are pretty dialed together.  We know each other's strengths, we move fast, and we trust each other.

Originally we'd come up with the idea to start with the East Face of Lexington Tower (5.9, Grade III+), which then descends toward the Blue Lake TH, putting us right at the base of NEWS.  We would then tackle the NW Corner of NEWS.  That would have been a killer combo.  From what is reported on the webs, only done once from what I can tell.  In the end we wussed out.  The crux pitch on Lexington is a large 5-6" 5.9 offwidth with a 2x4" block of wood lodged as a key piece of pro.  The crux on NEWS is of course the long offwidth 5.9 corner.  We decided that that was a little too much hard offwidth climbing for one day and opted for this combo.  Not two new routes for me, but still pretty rad nonetheless.

We decided to start with NEWS as it was the harder route and the one that neither or us had done.  I wish we had started with SEWS.  NEWS was cold in the morning!  We could feel the beginnings of Fall as there was a bite in the air despite good weather.  We both elected to do the route without fleeces or puffys, just thin nylon shells for warmth.  That was mistake #2.  But we survived.

The day started with quite a unique encounter.  In the parking lot we saw one young couple that was going to try to combo Liberty Bell's Beckey Route and SEWS S Arete.  About a mile up the Blue Lake Trail we rounded a corner and found them squatting with an elderly gentleman and a middle-aged woman on the ground in sleeping bags.  I asked if everyone was okay and if they needed any help.  They said no thanks as I walked around them I realized that the elderly gentleman was Fred Beckey!  "Hey Fred," I said.  His female companion said "see Fred, you have quite a reputation!"  I have no idea what he was up to.  My theory is that he was heading out climbing, and that he chose to bivy in the middle of the trail as opposed to the parking lot like the rest of us do.  But hey, he's almost 90 and bivying on trails with women half his age, so more power to him!

After that we blasted up to the obvious first pitch on NEWS.  The first two pitches are essentially the same as the 5.11- West Face route.  The first pitch is a fairly nonesthetic 5.8ish chimney.  It didn't feel that hard to me.  I led the low 5th-class 2nd pitch up to the base of the big flakes that mark the third pitch.  Jillson got that pitch, which was super fun and quite physical.  At this point, I was still getting warmed up.  And by the amount that I was huffing and puffing cleaning the 5.8 flake system, I was quite worried about my ability to lead the next pitch.

Matt tops out on the fun 5.8 flake on the third pitch

Oh well.  Fate would have it that I was up for the money pitch.  The one we came for.  The 5.9 offwidth sustained corner that is the distinguishing feature of the route.  What an amazing pitch!  It starts off quite wide.  It would have taken a #5 if we had brought one.  We hadn't.  That was fine.  You can get by with a #4.  I leapfrogged it a few times before I was happy enough to move up.  There are really no feet for the first 50 feet of the pitch, which ended up being the most demanding part.  Then, mercifully, the crack narrows to hands and fists, and you get a few small ledges for feet.  By this point I was pretty worked and had to rest on a piece for a few minutes.  But I did send it without falling, which was the best I could do.

The super-rad 5.9 corner on pitch 4

Jillson endures a chilly belay as I work the fist to off-fist crack system

Matt rewarms with some delicate footwork

Matt came up and was so chilled from the belay that despite the work of cleaning the pitch he was still frozen when he arrived.  He got the last hard pitch - 5.7 face climbing, followed by a short 5.9 roof.  Also very fun and quite exposed.  Matt led it clean and in good style.

Matt heads up the 5.9 roof on the fifth pitch

From there it was a full ropelength of low 5th-class climbing to the summit.  We signed the register and headed down the series of rappels into the SEWS/NEWS notch.  It took 4 rappels to reach the base of the climb on a 60-meter rope.

Yours truly atop NEWS

Jillson on the chockstone free-hanging rappel

We took a few minutes to rewarm in the sun that had now reached the base of the route at our packs.  We ate some lunch and then made the arduous 10-minute trek to the base of SEWS.

Since it was a repeat for me, I decided to give Matt all the fun/esthetic or hard pitches on the SW Rib.  Especially since the other time I was on the route I did it with my brother, and so I'd actually led all the pitches.  I told Matt he at least was going to do the 5.8 flaring crack and the 5.7 bear hug cracks.  He had no problem with that and launched off into the first pitch, the crux of the route.

Matt grovels up the 5.8 flaring crack on the first pitch on SEWS SW Rib

I took the second pitch, got greedy, and managed to get us lost on the route.  Go figure!  Our only route-finding issue of the day was on a route I'd done only a year ago!  I went up too far and wound up just below the huge roof on the Boving Route.  I knew that the third pitch traversed around to the right over some slabby terrain with little pro, eventually gaining the big ledge below the bear hug cracks.  I sent poor Jillson out around the corner from the Boving roof, which was lichen-covered, had absolutely no pro, and was quite spicey.  He retreated, and thankfully didn't fall, which would have been bad.  After quite a bit of misguided wandering, I eventually led back down and found the correct traverse much lower down.  This led to extremely easy slabby traversing around the corner to the big ledge.  The way I'd sent Jillson would have gotten us to where we wanted to be.  It just would have been way way harder than necessary.

Finally back on track, I sent Matt up the twin cracks.  He paused for a good while at their base.  A lot of the beta you read suggests bringing a #5 to protect the wide cracks.  In fact, I'd purchased my #5 specifically for my first outing up this route.  But it was my impression at that time that it is not necessary.  I still feel the same.  After embracing the wideness of the cracks, he eventually shoved the #4 up as high as he could and stepped up into the system.  Once you step up, you get great feet, and it is only about 10 feet of pretty easy climbing up to a huge horn and the top of the feature.  He sent it without a problem.

The uber-fun and hardly 5.7 bear hug cracks

From there it is all 5.easy to the top.   We shortened the rope a bit and I led the simul-climb to the top.

Boulder summit move on SEWS

From whence we came - NEWS summit from SEWS summit

We descended the South Arete route by downclimbing most of it, and doing 2 rappels, starting from the top of the chimney.  There is a really nice new bolted anchor with chains for the final rappel.  It's on skier's right, in case you miss it, as we almost did.

The "whale back" is really not hard.  No hands required.

Matt was really glad after having descended that route that we hadn't wasted our time climbing it just to get the SEWS summit.  It's not horrible, but it's really not very esthetic.