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Approach | From east end of Chickamin Glacier, get onto ramp beneath the left side of the face, and scramble to the base of the route. A small cairn marks the start. Also, the route starts just after the ramp splits. |
51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. | 51. Blue sky - looks like we might have a good day for climbing! 52. View of the Gunsights just before we dropped onto the Chickamin Glacier. 53. Downclimbing to the snow bridge. 54. Now that we've already gone across the snow bridge a couple of times, it is more fun. But still...move quickly... 55. On the Chickamin Glacier approaching the Gunsights. 56. We had 2 pickets which we used on some of the steeper sections higher up on the glacier. 57. Lower down the glacier becomes easier. Here we are unroped and Doug can be seen romping down the glacier in the distance. 58. Human on snowfield. 59. Approaching west side of the Gunsights, with much better weather than 24 hours before! 60. A small crack on the Chickamin. 61. Sinister Peak above. 62. West Face of North Gunsight. 63. Close-up of the west face of North Gunsight. There is only one established route (the West Face route we were to climb this day) but there is potential for so much more. 64. Doug starting across the Access Ramp. 65. On the Access Ramp. The route begins at the middle of the face, just after the Access Ramp splits. |
Pitch 1 | 5.9+, 30m. Climb thin cracks, flakes, and occasional knobs up a shallow corner to a small belay stance with a horn. The gear is a bit small and tricky and the climbing is delicate. We started up a corner that I believe was just left of the route, but we were able to access the corner to the right by stepping on top of a block. |
66. 67. 68. | 66. We started up the corner as pictured in the photo, but I think the route description is for the corner just right of this one, below Doug in the photo. Either way offers good 5.9+ ish climbing, albeit a bit delicate with trick/small pro. 67. Nearing the end of Pitch 1. 68. Doug doing some photography at the belay while I climb up the pitch below. Cool photo Doug! |
Pitch 2 | 5.11+, 30m. The crux pitch. Climb thin cracks and knobs several feet to the left of a large corner, moving left under a small roof, and moving through a small overlap into nice cracks. Belay at the base of some thin cracks below the major corner (note: although there is a nice belay ledge just below the flakes, there is no good gear, so it might be best to sacrifice comfort for safety and belay just below this nice ledge).
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69. 70. 71. 72. 73. | 69. Doug starting up Pitch 2. It is a really aesthetic pitch. 70. Doug higher up on Pitch 2. 71. Zoomed in. This part is above the 11+ crux and really awesome crack climbing. You don't get this sort of stuff much in the Cascades alpine. 72. The crux section of the pitch/route. It can be aided by pulling on gear. 73. Fun pitch to follow. |
Pitch 3 | 5.10+, 25-35m. Start up the thin cracks with some tricky moves on tricky gear (look right for a bomber yellow alien), eventually getting to some wild climbing up flakes. Belay in a wide crack (I belayed at a chickenhead, making it a 25m pitch, but you could probably go higher too.) |
74. 75.  | 74. Me starting off Pitch 3. There are some committing moves right off the belay with a ledge below you, and the gear is not so great. I did find a great yellow alien placement though. Offset cams would be nice too. 75. Wild climbing up the yellow and orange flake. |
Pitch 4 | 5.10+, 35-45m. Continue along the flake and crack system, with occasional knobs. The rock is a bit grainy but the climbing is good. Belay at the first ledge.
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76. 77. | 76. The start of the pitch. 77. Higher up on the pitch. If it weren't so gritty, this would be a 5-star pitch. |
Pitch 5 | 5.9, 20m. Stem over a steep initial section and then climb a corner up to a final mantle move onto the flat terrace below the summit block.
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78. 79. 80. 81. | 78. Starting up Pitch 5. 79. Stemming is the way to go. 80. The corner above the stem. 81. Doug enjoying the day.
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Pitch 6 | 5.6, 15m. Move rightwards along the flat terrace (we went right of a cairn with the summit register) until you look up and see a chimney system that leads all the way to the summit. Downclimb or rap off some slings back to the ledge. |
82. 83. 84. | 82. The summit block. Go right around it to access the correct 5.6 chimney to the top. 83. Not this one (it dead ends and goes into a harder chimney). 84. This one. |
Top | yay! Note that the summit register is actually at the cairn on the terrace below the summit block. Sign it because not many people have been here! |
85. 86. 87. 88. 89. | 85. My hand is on the summit. 86. Summit register. Doug and I were perhaps the 5th ascent of the route? 87. Toe of the Chickamin Glacier. 88. Toe of the Chickamin Glacier. 89. NE Peak. |
Descent | Make 4 double rope rappels back to the base of the route. Surprisingly easy for alpine: Long rappels with clean pulls, directly back to your shoes/packs. Here is what we did:
- Rappel 1: ~50m. Located on the north end of the flat terrace below summit block. Rap down ridge to north (North Ridge). Locate a rap station on the North Ridge.
- Rappel 2: ~50m. There was tat already here but we reinforced it with new tat (black). Here you have two choices: either make one more rap down the North Ridge to a small notch (see MP comments from Berdinka, 2009), or rap straight down the face (this is what we did). If you rap straight down the face, locate a rap anchor on a flake (black tat).
- Rappel 3: ~50m. Rap down face towards packs below. The terrain eases towards the end of the rappels. Locate a rap station on a horn (red tat) or make your own as there are options.
- Rappel 4: ~20m. One more short rap to packs.
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90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98.  | 90. Rap 1. 91. Rap 1. 92. Rap 2. 93. Rap 3. 94. Rap 3. 95. Doug at the anchor for Rap 4, pulling the rope. The terrain was moderate enough that I was walking around looking for another anchor, which I never found (we put the red tat on the horn). 96. Muted evening light before the storm. 97. The entire 3 hour slog up the Chickamin Glacier we were treated to a genuine thundershower. Unrelenting rain, lightning, and thunder for a few hours. It is hard to capture this in a photograph. Fortunately we had both learned long ago to always bring your rain gear in the North Cascades. 98. We were soaked when we got back to camp. We stripped our rain gear and dove in the tent. |