North North Arete

[numa_cruiser]

I'm looking for any good info on the approach for the North North Arete. Last year we thrashed up what we think was the old trail along the base of the Zodiac wall and it sucked. Is there a marked entry point from the FSR that takes the North North Gully all the way to the Astro ledge? Or if anyone has the distance from the highway along the FSR to the entry point that would be great. It looks like the gully fans out before hitting the road so it's not completely obvious.

[XXXX]

I have approached by taking the Angels Crest Trail then just traversing under the Zodiac. It took about a htalf hour up from he logging road to get to the gully.

[Jason]

There is a trail which is a few seasons old that leads to the NN Arete and NN gully. It is the next trail beyond the Angels' Crest and as of last fall, was flagged at the head and along its length with pink flagging tape.

Keep your eyes peeled on the right just as the Squaw comes in to view!

J

[PAW]

Checked out this route for the first time last Monday. Route was completely dry and following Jason's advice was able to pick up the trail off of the road marked by a small cairn and pink tape. Followed pink tape all the way up the ridge and gully till the last possible exit ramp and walked over to the start of the upper arete with a bit of scrambling to get there.

From this point go over blocky terrain for a 30m pitch and belay before drag becomes to bad. A good old school low 5th class pitch follows that is a bit dirty and bushy but pops you out below nicer looking cracks and the infamous Yew tree that you've long forgotten what it looks like from Dendrology.

This is a great pitch "The Yew Pitch" with a bit of everything. Work up cracks gain the Yew then traverse to under a big flake wedged in the corner 20feet to the left of the Yew. We took the wrong line after finishing up the corner above the belay. Having forgotten the topo I thought we wanted to climb something left on this ledge not right like is suggested. With a little dead tree toppling we climbed pretty much straight up from where the trail comes to the wall. It was fun and went easily with some old school gear and stemming. This took us up nearly 50m to the next main ledge after scooping all of the possible lines I decided that the right hand of the 2 chimneys looked like the most fun.

So up I went knot jamming a piece of sling for gear and pulling up into this easy huge chimney. Wondering how the hell I was going to get out, I scrambled until I popped into one of the best window frames of rock with the view of squamish that I have seen off of the different walls of the Chief. Wow. Again with some smart gear placements for rope management the rope was moving smoothly but having only really been looking up and ahead I got wigged as to where I should go. So I thought Ill bring up my partner and will figure it out. By the time he had gotten to me I realized that the way up was out behind me.

The right wall of the chimney that I had climbed into formed its own spire and across the top of the chimney lay all these huge chockstones allowing access back to the next wall. So up these broken cracks my partner lead to the top of the spire. I was up next after another short pitch. Now we realized that we were off route but the option in front of us was this sweet looking thin finger crack on a slab that steepened. Across the chockstone I went quickly gained a slab and worked my way up to the start of the crack. It went by easily with all the right holds in all the right spots to keep it to the grade of the route. After gaining the top of the arete feature I walked down a sloping ramp to the left and re-gained the actual route for the last pitch.

The "Birthing Pitch" it led up to its reputation as being reborn again but when the description say's awkward when wet I would say that even dry it is awkward so make sure its dry before you go.

Off of the ramp that I chose the righthand chimney on the far left is a really nice looking variation! Starts up an easy looking offwidth crack in a corner 1 x #4, #5, heads into broken terrain looking as though it could skirt around the left side of a big roof and finishing up cracks and corners to the top. Anyone got any info?

Gear: Nuts, aliens blk,blu,grn,yel,red camalots #.4,.5,.75,1,2,3,4

[Aaron]

The "Birthing Pitch" it led up to its reputation as being reborn again but when the description say's awkward when wet I would say that even dry it is awkward so make sure its dry before you go.

The birthing pitch isn't that bad when wet, so long as you're not the guy with the backpack like my buddy was when we climbed it a few years ago. I came out relitivly clean. He struggled and squeezed his way up and came out looking like Swamp Thing.

[Dru]

I thought the Birthing Pitch was pretty much the big so what when we climbed this route a few years ago. You walk under a chockstone, not a very big or impressive one. The third chockstone in North Gully is way more impressive!

[PAW]

its not the birthing part that would be trouble in the wet. It is the groove corner that is slammed shut with black lichen growing on all aspects of rock that your feet and hands would like to touch. This pitch has been described to me as the pitch where the piton ferry hands you a free ticket.

[Dru]

There is a good small piece - blue TCU slot or small wire - right next to that pin isn't there?

[PAW]

there is a cam about 2feet higher but lets say that pin comes not a second to early. As even cleaning it I was on my tip toes to reach it. Hence the Pin Fairy. excuse my spelling mistake last post.

[Dru]

You must've missed the good no-hands stem?

[PAW]

being the first real free climb that I had gotten around to this summer my feet were sore by then and I was in the tunnel shooting for the top and my runners.

[itsonlyadream]

The "Birthing Pitch" it led up to its reputation as being reborn again but when the description say's awkward when wet I would say that even dry it is awkward so make sure its dry before you go.

The birthing pitch isn't that bad when wet, so long as you're not the guy with the backpack like my buddy was when we climbed it a few years ago. I came out relitivly clean. He struggled and squeezed his way up and came out looking like Swamp Thing.

The birthing pitch SHOULD be done wet, duh. You can choose a Caeserian at the top and exit outside the hole. And, yeah, exiting is the big so what. That's life.

[PAW]

quality response

[skykilo]

The route was really fun. We were aiming for Angel's Crest, with poor accuracy but great precision, so we climbed the N N Arete. We (accidentally) took the new trail. Memorable climbing and situations, indeed. Liked the varied, easy chimney climbing when I wasn't worried about dislodging a chockstone on my head. Loved the birthing pitch. Missed the no-hands stem but the friction was good.

[Anders Ourom]

Hmmm...I first did it about ten years ago, when there was less information available. (Probably a good thing - it's a nice adventure climb, and too much information would change that.) We more or less followed the route described by PAL - lots of imaginative climbing. There seem to be a myriad of variations possible. The so-called birthing pitch was no big deal - even I fitted through it.

I'm astounded that skykilo went to do Angel's Crest and ended up on NN Arete. That must be a first.