Erick Johnson and I got together for a weekend crack at Johannesburg. We opted for a little more conservative approach and went for the East Ridge, rather than my longtime goal the NE Rib (1957), because we didnt know how fast we would/could climb together, or really what the mountain held in store.
Our plan was to climb to Cascade-Johannesburg Col using "Dougs Direct", drop some bivy gear at CJ Col, summit, and back to the bivy on the first day. Rest and then go back out the same way the next day.
We left the Cascade Pass parking lot at 4:40 am, in the oppressive heat. It felt like it was 90 degrees at 4am in the parking lot! We got up to Cascade Pass before dawn where a nice breeze cooled us off, and proceeded up and over Mixup Arm to the Cache Glacier. Here, we hung a sharp right and climbed a fairly well travelled route to the top of Mixup-Triplets Ridge as per North Ridge Mixup Route (aka "Dougs Direct"). This is a 3rd class scramble, albeit with significant exposure. The downclimb down the other side of Mixup is 3rd class for 800 feet to scree, which we descended to turn the butress coming off Cascade, and ascended to a small bivy site several hundred feet below CJ Col 4.5 hrs from car.
Click picture for route overlay. Red points are rappel stations.
The E Ridge route starts from here. The hardest technical move on the entire route comes in the first 10 feet off the snow, as you move from snow up an initially steep white granite "staircase". The angle quickly kicks back and the rock is solid and the climbing on this portion enjoyable. These 120m are the only pitches we used a rope on on the entire route, placing one piece of pro.
After the granite staircase, the route moves up steep heather and 3rd class gullys for a long way to the false summit. While there is a significant amount of loose rubble on the route, the rock you climb is solid and route fairly low angle. The route is in some ways reminiscnet of many of the "advanced" scrambles in the Colorado Rockies (like Crestone Needle), just not as well travelled. Erick and I both commented on how this was not what we were expecting. We both had prepared ourselves mentally for something more challenging and scary, technically. Certainly something steeper.
From the false summit (2 hours from the col) the summit ridge now works depressingly far to the true summit. Don't give up! We were dehydrated and beginning to get fatigued in the hot sun, but pushed onwards. The East Ridge route travels the ridge about 50-100 ft below the crest (South side) from the first false summit to the true summit, along a well-worn path. About an hour. It is not difficult to follow. Just below the summit pyramid, a deep-walled gully is turned at its head (notch). Here we dropped packs and scrambled to the summit in a few minutes.
The return down the East Ridge went a little faster initially, as the trip back to the false summit was fairly quick. (It was depressing thinking that we had lugged crampons, axe, a technical rack all the way up and down the route never to use them.) As usual, you typically find the best route on the way down, and this was no exception. We found a slightly better way down the first few hundred feet below the false summit to the first rap station, which takes you in 30m past a steep snow slope (only water on route). From here a few raps, never more than 30m long, (2 more?) and downclimbing take you down the majority of the route to the head of the "granite staircase". The descent is fine with a small party, however the risk of rockfall injury increases. Stay close together, be careful when pulling your rope. By this time the large approaching thunderstorms weighed on our minds, and we tried to descend with all speed, without killing each other with the occaisional loose rock. It was sprinkling on and off, but we never got wet. I was on Torment a few years ago when a large thunderstorm decided to try to destroy Johannesburg, and I didnt want to see that up close again. The final granite staircase looks steep, but is no problem once you start down it. We got to our bivy gear at 4:40, 12 hours after leaving the car, and sacked out waiting for the thunderstorms to make up their minds.
The return trip, after 12 hours rest and coyotes at 1:20 am, was fine and uneventful. "Dougs Direct" is a great short way to get back to civilization, albeit with 3rd class scrambling as exposed as any you'll do on Johannesburg.
