Basic Rock Climb - The Tooth/South Face

I have been injured and not climbing much for over two years. But when Mountaineers icon John Bell asked me to rope lead a tooth climb, I couldn’t say no. We had a magnificent time! 

1. Wonderful conversation on trail and in the carpool 

2. Adorable pikas scrambling with mouths full of plants (one even ran over my foot!) 

3. Delicious thimbleberries, huckleberries, and blueberries 

4. Perfect weather

5. Safe and fun climbing 

We met at the trailhead at 5:30 AM. The early start allowed us to appreciate alpenglow and have the trail mostly to ourselves. 

Reached the climb at 8:10 AM while hiking at a comfortable chatty pace. The climber’s trail is much more distinct than it was back in 2021. It even shows up on Gaia now! 

We started the climb around 8:30ish. Boy, did I feel rusty! As for leading the climb, I brought a single rack to 2. I think a #3 and a greater variety of nuts would have been helpful. I did it in 4 pitches, whereas John opted to link pitch 3 and 4. Both work. For pitch 4, I opted for the juggy 5.4 route. The crack was quite flared and good gear was limited. There were several pockets that might have taken nuts or tri cams that I unfortunately did not have. 

The first team topped out around 10:30 and enjoyed views while marveling at the helicopter flying back and forth, possibly bringing equipment to fix a ski lift. 

After ample summit celebration we rapped down in 3 sections: the first rap with a 70m, then we scrambled to top of the steep wall for 2 more raps, leapfrogging ropes. This was John's recommendation and the smoothest rappells I've ever had on the route! We started hiking out at 12:45. We had much more great chatting and frequent breaks to enjoy tasty berries on the way out, reaching the cars by 3:30 PM. 

Thank you, John, Annie, and Kate for such a splendid day! You have reminded me of why I love the Mountaineers: friendship and frolicking!