Visiting Vesper

	Vesper Approach by Steve Firebaugh

I had heard or read a number of reports on climbs on that face, with some gushing high praise and others critical. I decided to check it out. That opportunity came late last July when a stellar forecast combined with some available Intermediate Express Climbers eager for a little adventure.

With a party of 4, we started hiking early, armed with the usual rock gear, plus axes and crampons. The trail emerged from forest to open slopes and switchbacks to Headlee Pass, a scenic hike that was, at this time of year, filled with green and flowers. From Headlee, the trail turned more westerly to traverse hillside to the basin east of Vesper, which held a snow-covered lake. We boulder hopped the outlet stream and followed a scramble trail up Vesper’s east flank.

	Vesper N Face slab by Steve Firebaugh

We stopped at a snowmelt stream about where I figured our route would depart from the scramble route, and had a snack. After that, we traversed toward the saddle that the map showed would access the Vesper Glacier, lying on the opposite side. This saddle has two notches; the leftmost one is a bit higher. This higher notch is recommended for accessing a ledge system that cuts across the North Face at mid height. We headed to the lower notch.

Although the Vesper Glacier is on the other side, getting to it required scrambling down loose dirt and talus. The glacier itself was basically steep snow, still hard that morning, but not so hard as to compel us to put on the crampons. A quick descent brought us to a point where we could scope out our options for accessing and climbing the lower North Face.

	Vesper N Face slab corner by Steve Firebaugh

Determining where the line Jim Nelson indicates on the lower face was a challenge because the face looked similar, yet different from the picture. The snow abuts the face much lower now. We just decided to find where we could get on it and get started. The moat was bridged well by snow a bit uphill from a crevasse, so within a few minutes we were on the rock and gearing up. A couple pitches of variable quality rock, with loose places, led up a rib then a gully to reach a bench below heather and grass covered slopes interspersed with rock outcrops.

We coiled ropes and scrambled this class 3 part to arrive at the base of what we were really looking for: a vast expanse of clean and gleaming slab, granite stretching to the sky. This slab is very wide, and apart from a very obvious line in the corner at its left margin, most any other line you would want to take up it would appear to work as well.

For most of the climb, my rope team stayed in the corner, while the other remained 30 feet or so out on the slab, for a series of fine pitches. The corner has lots of options for pro, while the slab uses horizontal crack systems that radiate across the face. The climbing itself consists of low to mid 5th class, with a move or two of 5.7+-. The top of the slab came sooner than our desire to stop climbing.

	Vesper summit by Steve Firebaugh

From the slab, the summit was an easy hike where we identified peaks as best we could, visited with scramblers also there, and looked down the steeper portion of the North Face just under the summit. This latter view was of steep moss and dirty rock, quite unlike what we climbed, and not something that I would wish to climb. We followed a scramble path down, glissaded down the east snowpatch, regained the path, and a couple hours later were driving back in search of food and drink.

This route has become more popular since appearing in the Nelson book, but still is done only a handful of times each year by the club. Easily done in a medium to long day, a camp in the very scenic east basin is also a possibility.