Ever since I first discovered the Big Four Ice Caves and first walked under that enormous North Face, Big Four has been the object of much speculation and fascination on my part. I would check it out year-round, every few months, to see what it looked like. The Twin North Ribs seemed like excellent lines up a big face. The initial slabs added some technical challenge and a bar of entry for those who would otherwise easily bag this "scrambling" peak. So when Tom Breit's ankle healed, he proposed we try Big Four, via the North Face, to see what the mountain was about.
One doesn't realize or appreciate how massive this mountain is until one is on it. That was one of the lessons I was about to learn. The other lesson? Always bring two ropes for the retreat!
Tom and I left Seattle at 5am. "5 am huh? I didnt think you would want to leave so early for an easy day climb", was Toms initial response. I had a sneaking suspicion that this was no give-away easy day climb, but just couldn't say for sure. Who knew? I had never been on it, Summer or Winter, and things could just turn out well. We met Mike Stanton and Steve in the parking lot - they were supposed to join us on this adventure, but announced they were off for Vesper and wished us luck. So Tom and I grabbed our packs and hiked in the asphalt, boardwalk and road-like trail for a mile to the base of the North Face.
Tom's original idea was to climb some upward trending "ramp" on the left side of the face, according to the guidebook. I had looked at this entire lower section of the mountain so many times I was convinced there was no easy 4th class way up it, but we took a look anyway. I saw the ramp, but from my recent experience on Silent Running, it didn't look 4th class to me. So I suggested we look further right. Slowly we made our way underneath the entire lower cliff band. Sure, there were some possible lines, but I had not brought my rock shoes and Tom does not have a lot of rock climbing experience, so I just suggested we try the extreme right, through the brush.
There was actually some signs up human passage here, and a faint trail in spots. The faint trail and path of least resistance led through light to medium steep brush and small cliffy sections, past some requisite pink and blue flagging, to an even brushier section. What looks like heather from the base of the North Face is not heather, its 8 foot tall Alder, Maples, pricker bushes and the like! We were game, though, initially, because we obviously didnt know any better. So we continued up. After some time we were able to descend into the main drainage gully and ascend much easier ground towards what would be the approach for the Northwest Ridge.
At this point we looked far to the left, the North Rib, our intended target was WAY over there, though alot of brush! We were already getting alot smarter now, and did some quick calculations as to how long it would take us to get to the base of the Rib. This was a realy big mountain, now we were starting to realize how big.
"I don't think we are going to summit at this rate", said Tom.
"Oh, we could summit, but we wont start our decent before dark!" I replied.
We both knew the gig was up. It had taken us only a few hours to our current point, but we were way off track and the brush was very de-motivating. It didnt seem to be any better towards the rib, either, until you gained significantly more elevation. The face was steeper than I had expected, and travel was tough because you were never actually standing on the ground. It was either stems of alder, six foot high ferns, or super slippery pricker bushes underfoot. When you finally got a rock or two, they were slick and wet. We decided to head over toward the rib anyway, to see of the going got better. And to loose elevation. We certainly didnt want to return the way we just came! I thought if we could get over to the waterfall on the right hand side of the face, we could fashion some anchors and just rap. Who cares if we left a nut or two?
We decended, first down lower angle drainage, then with a few rappels over slick and soaking rock, and presently came to the edge of the lower cliff band that spans the North Face. This is topped by a huge 3rd and 4th class ledge system that also spans the entire face, from the waterfall on the right to a steep wall on the left. Here we hunted around for a likely place to rappel. The people milling around, at the ice caves and the waterfall just a few hundred feet below, looked very close! We wandered around for a while, and found a rusty, half-pulled-out single bolt (not back-up-able), but there didnt seem to be any really good anchors or trees or anything. Furthermore, the rock realy didnt have the desired cracks to make me confident about finding something useful halfway down a cliff, should we try to rap but not reach the ground.
So we decided to explore a little more and headed across the 4th class terraces in 2 55m pitches. There were a few exposed moves, so we belayed these pitches (1 or 2 pieces of pro per pitch). Halfway across the face I spied some red slings halfway down the cliff on top of a large block. A bolted rap station! All we would have to do is reach the rap station and we would be done. So we traversed left and, near a clump of small trees and bushes, found the remains of another rap station. Its bolts were still intact, but its slings were shredded and the rap ring was smashed, obviously the victim of stone or icefall or avalanche. I replaced the slings and we tossed our single 55m 8.5mm rope.....it ended 40 feet short of the rap station with red slings. Shit.
We were starting to wake up about this time. We pulled the rope back up and traversed back across the terraces to our original place we had decended to. We would have to climb back up, cross the huge gully where the waterfall was, and go back down our original route. Except we couldn't climb back up, it seemed, the rock was too slick and wet, and there were not enough helpful trees to yard on. We were stuck!
Finally, I thought we should try something. We went to the very edge of the cliff and hollered down to the people below. Would our rope reach the ground? Could they tell us if it did? Sure! Ok, we hefted the rope, as a single strand, over the side, after securing it to a few small alders. Did it reach? Yes, barely! Salvation! So now what do we do? Tom had his cell phone, what if we called a friend and told them to bring us a rope? Then they could tie it on to the one we had dangling, we would hoist it up, set up and anchor, and we could get down! It was 1:30, plenty of daylight left, this did not seem an unreasonable plan. Tom pulled out the phone. No cell service.
We hollered down again at the people and asked if they would take a message and call someone for us? Sure! We crafted a message, taped it to a stone, and threw it. The message was sent out to the trailhead with a couple.
Tom looked at me and said, "Hey, if the rope reaches the ground, why doesnt one of us just go?" Duh! So we beefed up the anchor, now with 4 alder bushes, and I rapped off the single strand of 8.5. This is a thin line, and by the time I got to the bottom I had burned my hand a bit! But I hiked out to the car and drove to Verlot Ranger Station, where I tried to call our friend and warn them that if they got such-and-such a message, to disregard. Then the helpful rangers helped me track down a Snohomish County Sheriff with a climbing rope. They figured that instead of me driving all the way back to Seattle and back to Big Four, might as well make things easier if possible. The Sheriff showed up 30 minute later and off I was again to Big Four.
Two hours after I left, I showed up again and sent the rope of to Tom. It was only a 50m rope and so did not actually reach the ground, where the 55m strand did. Tom would have to adjust the strands halfway down the rap. He lowered the pack, because he feared the anchor would not take that much weight, and then came down himself. So at around 4:30 we were hiking back to the car, thouroughly spanked.
My respect for this peak has grown with this foray onto the North Face. We got about 1500 feet up before turning around, and now I am really familiar with the lower right face, including where the rap stations are and how wide the lower face is. Still, I don't think I'll ever try this peak again in the Summer, I want this thing buried in snow before I attempt it again!
