Observation Rock. The North Face is in shadow.
Elain and I climbed Observation Rock via the "north face" on Sunday August 24.
On our previous trip to Observation Rock two weeks ago, we had to turn around because of lightening and thunderstorms in Spray Park. Since the forecast was again kind of marginal for this weekend, we decided to scrap our plans for Mount Stuart and return to Observation Rock. After the terrible experience camping in the public Mowich Lake car-camping zoo two weeks ago, we drove most of the way to the park on Saturday night and slept in the Jeep. We awoke at 04:00 and drove the rest of the way to the trailhead. While sorting our gear, we shivered in the cold. We started walking at 04:45. The frost and newly-frozen water drips we encountered along the trail confirmed that the freezing level had dipped below 7500', which was a stroke of good luck for our ice climbing trip. We reached the base of the "north face" at about 10:45. There were no other parties on the route, which was good given the tendancy of the ice to fracture and send down ice chunks and rockfall. There, we roped up and arranged the rack to prepare for the climb. We simul-climbed the first two pitches, placing about 4 screws in the process. The surface ice had a tendancy to shatter, sending ice chunks hurtling down the face towards Elain. After a while, she encouraged me to make a traversing ascent so I would not be directly above her. After the first two picthes of simul-climbing I had only two screws left, and over a pitch to go. So I reluctantly set up an anchor with the two screws, and belayed Elain up to me. We then belayed the third pitch. From the top of the face, I used a picket and a screw to make an anchor to belay Elain up to me. We put our gear away and stashed our packs in the rocks, and scrambled to the summit at about noon. I discovered that in my haste to pack on Saturday, I had accidentally left an extra 50m of rope, and an extra jacket in my pack. No wonder it felt so heavy on the approach and climb. We descended the south/southwest shoulder of Observation Rock, and then angled northwest to reach a far west lobe of the Flett Glacier. The Flett was very icy, with much exposed rock. We traversed down and across the Flett to get back to the base of the "face". We then downclimbed loose volcanic choss and pumice (at times it was more like "surfing" than downclmibing) for about 500' back down to regain the trail. The hike out was tiring, especially with the extra weight in my pack. We reached the car at 5:30 PM.
Gear: we climbed using a 50m x 8.5mm rope, two tools each, half a dozen screws, and a picket.
Conclusions: We felt like this climb entails kind of a long and chossy approach for only three pitches of ice and an unaesthetic summit scramble. The view of Mount Rainier from the top of Observation Rock is nice, however. The warm summer may have diminished the extent of the ice coverage on the face. But the third pitch (the only interesting one) is still largely intact. There is a rock band separating the face from the lower-angled Flett Glacier. We have heard anecdotes that they connected up in previous years, but I'm not sure. There was some exposed rock on the face, particularly on the left side. We observed some spontaneous rockfall, and climber-induced rockfall and icefall is a concern. The surface ice is getting aerated and a bit rotten in places. With the face in its present (thin) condition, it would be best to get an early start, make sure there is a good freeze the night before, and make sure you are the first party on the route.
Observation Rock. The North Face is in
shadow.
Elain climbing the face
Elain reaching the top of the face
Steve, on the summit of Observation Rock
Elain, on the summit of Observation Rock
View of Mount Rainier from Observation Rock
Elain on the descent