Chair Peak/Voie de Chaise

Route Conditions

View of the basin and the beginning of the route. Easy to compare photos with Isley Gao's trip report.

We also used Isley Gao's gpx track as a guide to the base of the route. The snow is melting pretty fast at this point and we did break through some of the thin snow in the numerous amounts of rock gardens on the approach. The below snow bridge collapse between the time we crossed it in the morning and the time we came back in the afternoon!

Pitch #1 was partially covered in snow; my guess is that we only got to climb about half of that pitch due to the depth of the snow this time of year.

Something Notable to me:

Accessing the first bolt we could see wasn't a simple "walk", depending on how icy the snow is (if present) doing this without an ice axe might feel a little sketch. We were able to go slow and kick some steps with assistance from a trekking pole for stability and a 3 season mountain boot (I'm glad I wore these). 

Rockfall and loose rock... 

There is definitely loose rock on this route... We had the route to ourselves, which was really awesome. However, if you are mindful about your hands and feet and remember this is an alpine route you can avoid rockfall for the most part on the ascent. For me it was top of mind when climbing and managing the rope. The upper pitches have more loose rock on them than the others and during the descent I could see how this could become and issue. Scrambling down to the anchors at the top of pitch 7 I think helped with the amount of rockfall we experienced. Our plan was to rappel down the gulley (winter descent route) and not onto other climbers IF folks did show up below us. When we pulled rope on some of the rappels we did have some small pebbles rain down on us. Overall, I think if you're careful, its bad at all.

Overall, a great day out with a good friend. (Pitch #5 seen below)