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| West Northgate Peak   | 
| Page Type: Route Location: Utah, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 37.32400°N / 113.058°W Route Type: see below Time Required: Less than two hours Difficulty: see below
| Route Quality: | | | | Loading...
| Page By: cp0915 Created/Edited: Nov 3, 2005 / Mar 25, 2008 Object ID: 167386 Hits: 584 Loading... Page Score: 81.6% - 2 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
ApproachSee main page.
Route OverviewAlthough both of the Northgate Peaks offer technical climbing options, West Northgate Peak is definitely the more technical of the two.
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South Face (5.4): Follow steep slabs and shallow gullies until difficulties become large. At that point, working to the west increases the difficulty, while working to the east decreases the difficulty. Assuming you’ll take the easiest of the three options (continuing straight up being the third), start traversing to the right (toward the southeast face), aiming for a shallow gully that will lead you to broken ledges and ultimately easier terrain taking you to the summit. Regardless, from the base, pick a line and route-find your way up.
Southeast Face (5.3): Follow steep slabs, ledges and gullies. If one looks very hard, and reads slab steepness well, class 3-4 seems to be possible, though 5.0-5.3 is much more likely to be encountered. Harder lines do lurk, so be prepared. Pick a line and give it a shot.
East Face (class 3-4 [5.9+]): Yikes. In attempting this as a descent route, we encountered a series of ramps and ledges that led you almost to the bottom. However, 60+ feet from easier terrain, the face cliffed out. Be prepared to downclimb 5.9+ish terrain, rappel from extremely sketchy natural anchors, or do something creative; otherwise, work your way south and eventually onto the southeast face and then find a reasonable way down. Perhaps from the bottom of this face, a decent ascent (or descent) route can be discerned.
*In March 2008, MoabPeakBagger added:
"I've added an image to the W. Northgate Peak page showing the approximate line of a route I took up the East Face last fall. It's a very long and consistent ledge system, that generally trends from the bottom right to the upper left of the face. The caption has just a little bit of beta. It's some very fun and spicy Class 4; however, I didn't know if it was going to go, and it's rather committing, so that added to the spice factor. I suppose a re-climb (knowing that it goes, and that I wouldn't have to downclimb it) would be somewhat less spicy."
North Face (class 2-3*): Not realizing at the time that a reasonable route existed on the north face, we spent time exploring the south and southeast faces. On the hike back to the car, we saw a party walking down very easy terrain (class 2) on the north face. So, it appears that much easier route options do exist on the peak.
Essential GearThough we had a rope with us, we soloed both the south and southeast faces of the more-challenging West Northgate Peak in our hiking boots. That said, I would certainly recommend carrying a rope (length depends, of course, upon which route/line you to do), some slings, and perhaps a few misc. pieces of gear as well. Rock shoes would be a benefit.
As always, don’t forget sunscreen, a hat, water, etc.
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