NW to SE Traverse

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Page Type: Route

Location: California, United States, North America

Route Type: Mountaineering

Time Required: Most of a day

Difficulty: 5.5 (5.7)

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Page By: dug

Created/Edited: Jun 21, 2006 / Nov 19, 2006

Object ID: 202028

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Table of Contents

Overview

An integral part of and, along with The Doodad, the most interesting section of the Sawtooth Traverse.

Getting There

Quickest approach is via Horse Cr. canyon. Take the usual path toward Matterhorn glacier but a short distance above the tarn turn west and climb up toward the foot of the NW Tooth.

Route Description

Climb onto the face of the NW Tooth at an obvious broken area N of the lowest spot on the ridge. Climb ledges until coming to an offwidth just below an orange dike running diagonally up toward climbers left.

Climb this and make your way up the NW ridge of the NW Tooth. Climb a scary detached flake (5.7-5.8)on the exposed ridge which leads to easier climbing to the summit area. The tunnel and squeeze chimney exist as detailed in Roper guide. On the SE side find a rap station with tons of old tat. Make a long rap ~120' to a short down climb into the notch. From the notch to start up Middle Tooth, Secor and Roper both describe 2 loose chimney's. It is more accurately decomposing granite offwidth which tends to flake off as you are climbing. Anyway, climb the first offwidth (5.6) and go left into the next chimney. Climb up via cracks and faces (5.6) to the summit ridge, turn right and walk the line to the summit of the Middle Tooth. (IMO, the nicest summit) Scope the route to the summit of the SE Tooth and spot the cairns. Walk back to where you hit the summit ridge and downclimb on the SW side until cliffed out. Secor and Roper describe 100' raps. I honestly don’t remember. I think I made 2 shorter raps. From the bottom of the raps into the gully, turn and climb back up to the very obvious large ledge. Attain the ledge (easy) and follow it across the NW face of the Tooth. Climb up and over a short obstacle and you will find the first cairn you spotted from the top of the Middle Tooth. Traverse out over lots of exposure (5.5) to easier ground leading to the top of the SE Tooth. For descent Secor describes making a series of raps that end on the Slide cyn. side of the ridge. I did otherwise. Descend down the SE ridge of the tooth until you come to a rap station. (Last pre-existing station I found) Make a short rap down to a flat area of solid rock. Make another long awkward rap down the ridge to a small notch. Be very aware of how you set up this rap as it is a difficult pull. From there a long rap off the NE side will lead you about halfway down to the glacier and a semi-hanging stance. Another long rap to a more broken area, then a short diagonal rap toward Col-De-doodad will land you a short easy down climb below Col-De-Doodad. Climb down onto the snow and go home, you made it!

Essential Gear

Pro to 3". If you are are comfortable on 5.7 with the occasional harder move this is a great solo. For the raps if you are a team, 2 ropes make it much easier. For the soloist a single rope with retriever line works well. I used a 118' rope and retriever line which I almost stuck high on the descent off the SE Tooth.

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