
Trip Report
Quartz Mountain - Absolute Serenity Now
We did the first seven pitches out of a total of 14 pitches due to good climbing on the first seven ones. Solid rock. Route finding was tricky for us on rappels. Approach is steep though with little rock fall risks.
- Sun, Aug 11, 2024
- Exit 34
- Climbing
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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There is clear description for the approach on the Mountain Project's Quartz Mountain Rock Climbing page. In addition, there is a GPX route on the MP site. Peakbagger also has a GPX route, https://www.peakbagger.com/climber/ascent.aspx?aid=2379818.
We parked on the north side of the road in a small parking space/pull out area.
Small parking area on north side of road (Picture credit: John Fang) Then, we walked toward east for about a minute or so before getting onto the CCC trail on the same side of road.
Trailhead of CCC on north side of road (PC: John Fang) The climber's trail is on the north side of CCC trail after about 1.5 miles. There are cairns or ribbons along the climber's trail.
Ribbon on a tree along the climber trail (PC: Lei Wu) At about elevation of 2,000 feet, the trail meets a drainage, which looks more tidy than typical ones due to being stepped on. Follow the drainage, which becomes a gully after a bit, all the way to about 3,200 feet of elevation. The climbing route starts there.
Looking at the 1st pitch at the ground (PC: Lei Wu) A very obvious feature is you need to go above a huge rock, almost the size of the whole gully. We went up and came down on the left side. Not sure if the right side goes.
John Fang and I climbed about half of this route on Sunday, in the 5.7-5.8 range. Not wanting to rappel 14 pitches, we did not climb pitches 8 to 14. Another climbing team told us that it was beautiful at the top.
When we left the car, it was misty. It continued to be very foggy especially when we got into the drainage. It was hard to see. John was not feeling well, throwing up a few times. Along the way, I spotted some very wet rocks. I would have turned around for sure, but John wanted to check the climbing route out.
We got somewhere high enough and I spotted a pair of chains on rocks despite the thick fog.

After staring at the rocks for a while, we found the first bolt. So we sat down and waited. Fortunately, the sun came out around noon.
John led the first pitch. And I followed. It felt steeper than some of the sport routes that I led recently.
![IMG_1789[1].HEIC IMG_1789[1].HEIC](https://www.mountaineers.org/activities/routes-places/exit-34/images/img_1789-1.heic/@@images/4fc80056-18cf-4d96-965b-a3e4a09b20f3.jpeg)

Especially since the day before I just took a lead fall on a sport route at Keechelus Ridge where decking would have happened surely. While I was very lucky to have avoided decking, I was thinking too much of falling on this route. After I refused to lead the second pitch, John continued on. John gave me another nudge for leading after this pitch, so I started swinging leads with him. My fear of falling was overcome by the concern for my climbing partner's wellbeing. After all, John was not where he normally would be. Neither did he sign up for leading all seven pitches in the first place. I did not want to lose a trustworthy climbing partner right there and then.
In a little while, I became calm, focusing on climbing every step well.
At tricky spots, I spoke aloud how I planned to move my feet. On a slab, I pointed out a good falling line should that happen.
![IMG_1841[1].HEIC IMG_1841[1].HEIC](https://www.mountaineers.org/activities/routes-places/exit-34/images/img_1841-1.heic/@@images/5f92c9c9-c52c-4546-adc4-c5d90082d170.jpeg)
Route finding on a multipitch sport climb route may feel straightforward by following bolts. It was not for us on rappels. We took a bunch of extra time for not paying attention to rappel stations and lines when going up. The saving grace is the topo by Leland shared in https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1237600. Most belay stations for the first seven pitches are rappel stations, but not all. The other tip is that on a pitch (don't remember which), the climb traverses around a small tree to its right side, but it is better to stay on the left side of the tree on rappel. I was somewhat concerned about taking a swing traversing back on the rappel so I clipped a couple of quick draws to bolts, which had to be cleaned by John. You can imagine how much extra time that took. The rope was also hard to pull. Fortunately it did not get stuck.
![IMG_1824[1].HEIC IMG_1824[1].HEIC](https://www.mountaineers.org/activities/routes-places/exit-34/images/img_1824-1.heic/@@images/2b9127d8-189a-4b8d-a2c2-d5bdf343ebcc.jpeg)
We got down all the way to base and back onto the trail before daylight was gone.