A
year a go we got very close to the Matterhorn, so close, we though we could
reach out and touch the summit, but not quite. So we promised ourselves we'll
be back next year, and the Matterhorn promised to wait for us. Today's trip
was about keeping that promise. See
last year trip report
This
time we enter the Sawtooth region via Horse Creek. I could only
secure a permit for 5 people on reservation, so that determined
our group size. Unfortunately, there were more people who made
the promise then could fit in my permit, so they will have to
arrange their own trip. I will not bore you with details of how
beautiful Horse Creek is, or how the water was running over the
waterfalls. And I will not bore you with details of how the flowers
were blooming and how the light breeze drove all the mosquitoes
away. No, I will just tell you that we made it to Horse Creek
Pass in good time, dropped our packs and rested a while getting
ready for the day's climb.
The
1500 ft. slope that leads to the Matterhorn from the pass is a
scree and sand mess. Once close to the summit we avoided the class
3 headwall by traversing left until we hit the gully on the West
side of the summit. That gully is rated class 2, but with the
sand and loose pebbles on the rocks one has to be careful. We
made it to the summit in good time and spent the next 30 minutes
doing whatever people do when they reach summits...
Once
back at camp, we met the leader of a group (some kind of outdoor
class) that said they have tried to climb Whorl that afternoon,
but had to turn back at the chock stone because it was filled
with snow, and there was no way around. This talking, and the
fact that Whorl is considered a hard mountain to begin with, scared
a few of our participant off that portion of our trip. But Greg
and I were determined to go ahead anyway. My rational was that
it is very unlikely that I will come back to Horse Creek Pass
with a rope and climbing gear (we wanted to be ready for the possibility
of getting off route on Whorl and ending on a class-4 climb.)
Sunday
morning, it took us about an hour just to get from the pass to
the beginning of the climb. Secor says to climb the chute leading
to the saddle between the North and South summits of Whorl, but
from below, we couldn't tell which one it was. So we climbed the
chute that cut deepest onto the face. It later split and we took
the right side. There was a fun class 3 section on clean rock.
Almost at the top of the chute, we realized that the correct chute
is to our right, but we were able to descend into the "right"
chute and traverse farther until we found the chock stone.
The
chock stone was not filled with snow as the guy from Saturday
said, but the gully just bellow it was. It was very steep, 70%-80%,
and there was no way around it. The snow was too hard to kick
steps, but was soft enough so the pick of my ice axe sliced right
through it, offering no help. We roped up, and I was able to place
a couple of pros in a crack in the rock to the right. Then cutting
steps with my ice axe and using the adz part planted in the snow
above, I was able to climb it and into the cavern under the chock
stone.
Once above the chock stone, it was about a 100 ft. of fun class 3 to the ridge. Then we dropped to the other side and strolled what could be described as a 2 lane highway to the saddle between the North and middle peaklets of Whorl. Another 100 ft. of class 2/3 and we where on the summit.
One difference between Whorl and Matterhorn is the crowd.
Whorl gets a single visit on a busy year. We were the first party
this year. Flipping through the summit register is a list of who's
and who in the climbing community. We could recognize a good 1/4
to 1/2 the names, many are members of the PCS.
After
45 minutes we down climbed to the chock stone, and rappel the
snow section. I left one of my old blue slings wrapped around
a good size boulder in the middle of the cavern for the rappel.
If you happen to be in the neighborhood and see the sling, please
bring it back. What a better way for a sling to end it's life
providing a needed rappel point for it's owner. We then traversed
to the left and descended the "right" gully down. From
below, the "right" gully doesn't look like much of a
gully. I took a few pictures to help with route finding for anybody
who wishes to find it.
What is the right gully anyway? As I said earlier, we climbed one gully to the left, but we were able to traverse right and find the chock stone. The key was that we kept looking for a way to cross right and we kept looking for the chock stone. In hindsight, I think the gully we climbed was easier because it had less loose stuff than the "right" gully, but the "right" gully would be easier as far as technical difficulty, so I guess that makes it the standard route. I did take GPS way points, but when I read them into TopoCD the chock stone ended up on the wrong side of the mountain, and the marker for the "right" gully on the other summit of Whorl. I think the photos here will be a lot more help.
View
of Whorl from Horse Creek Pass. Start by hiking the level shelf
south from the pass. Seen here filled with snow
These
3 picture should provide a good view of the "right"
gully. The left most was taken from about 10,700 ft. and the right
most from 10,800. Note the pyramid shape peaklet on the skyline
(marked with a small red arrow), which I found to be very prominent.
Once
in the gully, climb up till you are about 150 ft from the top
of the headwall. The top of the headwall is really the ridge line.
Look around and start traversing to the right.
Once
you traversed 2 gullies right, you should see this chock stone.
It is hard to miss. It is almost a perfect cube with 15 ft. sides.
Climb into and under the chock stone. There is a cavern which
climbs around and to the top. If you are lucky, you may not have
to deal with the snow underneath the way we did.
Climb
the class-3 to the ridge line above the chock stone. You will
see this wide path traversing the other side of the mountain (marked
here with red). You can literally put your hands in your pockets
and stroll until the path regains the ridge line.
The
true summit is just to the north. Climb this class-3 jumble of
boulder to the summit.
Participants: Greg Johnson, Landa Robillard, Maggie Hudson, Nancy Fitzsimmons, and scribe, Ron Karpel.
