| S.W. Face of The Wedge Trip Report |
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| S.W. Face of The Wedge   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: Montana, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 45.46000°N / 112.63°W Date Climbed/Hiked: May 27, 2007 Activities: Trad Climbing Season: Spring | Page By: F_Rhoderick Created/Edited: Jun 8, 2007 / Jul 12, 2007 Object ID: 299771 Hits: 542 Loading... Page Score: 88.14% - 7 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Introduction The S.W. Face of The Wedge:
Rating: II, 5.8
Date: 05/27/07
“You guys are leaving how early?” That was the question my wife asked me Saturday afternoon as we raked in our new top soil and watched our daughter catch bugs. “Five a.m.”, I said with a full smile. “You two are nuts” was her only reply. Normally Susan just shrugs off our ( T Sharp and I) plans and says to have fun and be careful. However my early starts are completely dependent upon her. In the comforts of my home, I sleep like the dead. Therefore, you see, it is up to her to wake me up when the alarm sounds. As I continued to rake the dirt and rocks that currently pass for our yard, I started to think of the next days climb. Getting up at 4 a.m. was not too appealing and I wondered if my smile was that convincing. We were set to have dinner with our friends and let our respective daughters run and play all evening long. I was dreading a short nights sleep, but truth be told, it was that way the last time we climbed the Wedge. In fact, we had dinner with the same friends that time too! "I am sure it will be fine", I thought to myself. Getting up that early only sucks for the first few minutes, then the body and mind kick into gear for the days climb and the enthusiasm quells the fatigue. At least that was what I told myself when I went to bed at eleven thirty.
I was standing on the porch at 4:45 a.m. drinking a fine cup of coffee and thinking about how I need to get some chairs, when I saw the blue adventure Subaru turn onto my street. Tim hopped out and as I threw my pack in the back we greeted one another with the familiar “hey man.” The drive from Missoula to Rocker was a relatively unadventurous one. During that hour and forty five minutes we talked about why “W” sucks, family stuff and about the climb. Having previously climbed the Wedge we knew that once we arrived we had a pleasant four mile hike to the base. We were hoping that the S.W. Face Route route was as comparable in climbing and position to the classic “Mutt and Jeff”. We merged onto I-15 and soon came to exit 99, Moose Creek Road.
The Walk InWe arrived at the trailhead, stretched to warm up and saddled our packs. Several cars were at the trailhead and some folks were camped by the creek. We tip-toed past the snoozing campers and began our walk to the Wedge. I silently wondered if the other cars were climbers or just backpackers. I did my normal “scout for climbing stickers on rigs” routine when we arrived and did not see any so maybe we would have the rock to ourselves.
Tim and I spoke little in the first mile or so. I think we were both amazed at how out of shape we were. Normally by June we are aerobic monsters but this year the training regime has been a little on the light side. I think the first conversation started with, “man, the approach to the CMC camp on Mt. Moran in a few weeks is going to suck.” After forty five minutes of hiking we came to within a half mile of the Wedge. We stopped to look at how nice the Wedge was in the morning light and then proceeded. A short distance later we came up on some folks camping. I was in my normal head down and walk mode when I heard Tim greet them by name. Fellow Montana SP’er mtn ear was there with his family. He was leading a trip for the Rocky Mountaineers. We chatted for about fifteen or twenty minutes and then went on our way. We arrived at the base of the Butter Knife at 9:30a.m. Thirty minutes later I was on belay.
The ClimbingI was looking forward to climbing the first pitch of the Butter Knife.  The first pitch of "The Butter Knife"
When we climbed the “Mutt and Jeff” we had both really enjoyed the second pitch. From the belay we looked up at that line and wondered how the second pitch of our route would compare. The second pitch on the “S.W. Face” route did not disappoint. The climbing and protection are perfect. 
The wonderful second pitch |
The climb has wonderful position for the entire pitch. The roofs get progressively better the higher you go. The heart pounding, big grin, and did I just do that?, kind of pitch. Climbing pitches like that one can really spoil a guy. After pulling the third roof, I uttered some profanity laced comment to let Tim know how nice the climbing was. He cheered me on as I climbed to the belay. I brought Tim up and smiled as I watched him enjoy the pitch. With big grins we re-racked and I was off to tackle the crux pitch.
The third pitch is a mix of face, chimney, and crack climbing. The guidebook mentions that the moves into the chimney are protected by ¼ inch bolts. I thought there would be some protection in the back of the chimney. I was wrong. Thankfully I had a screamer on the top rusty ¼ inch bolt with a loose hanger, and a bomber camalot (#0.75)placed before entering the chimney. The wind was gusting and Tim was out of sight. It took three attempts for me to convey to Tim that the chimney was run out. He shouted out “thanks” and I chuckled at the absurdity of the situation. Most people are having pancakes at this hour of the morning on a holiday weekend. Scumming up chimneys has never been on my list of fun things to do, but some times you have to do these types of things. I do not remember much in that eighty or so feet of climbing. I do remember thinking, “don’t stop to look for any gear." From my location at the bottom of the chimney there appeared to be only two spots to place protection. One was about half way up, and the other appeared to be at the top of the chimney where you exit onto the face. Great. Thankfully the friction provided by the Humbugs' granite is wonderful so the climbing is secure. With the run out on my mind I began my mantra, “fuck don’t fall here Fred!” I quietly repeated this to myself until coming to the first spot for a placement. I had hoped for a little deeper crack on the outside of the chimney. What was there was a shallow horizontal crack that would take a variety of gear. I sunk a #2 Camalot deeper in the chimney than I wanted, but it was big and bomb proof so I was thankful. I looked to the top of the chimney at the next available crack for protection. I placed the gear I thought I might need on my right side to make sure I could get at it quickly. I once again began my mantra and got to the next placement without incident. I placed a #0.5 Camalot with the phrase, “please baby, go in perfect the first time.” The cam was solid and the sphincter factor dropped from ten to two or three. Stepping out onto the face provided a welcome sight, a beautiful hand crack that looked like it would gobble up gear. With the scumming behind me I began some of best moves on the pitch. The hand crack is steep, very gear friendly, and challenging. This section of climbing was made slightly more difficult because of the light rain that began to fall. Not too bad but bothersome nonetheless. Once reaching the top of the crack I did the dicey traverse to the belay, built an anchor and yelled down to Tim that I was off belay. Watching Tim climb the crack was phenomenal. I wish I had my camera. The concentration as he jammed, cleaned and climbed the crack really conveyed raw emotion. He arrived at the belay and relaxed as we looked at the clouds rolling in from the west.
We got our gear in order and looked up at the next pitch. The first couple of moves must warrant the 5.7 rating because after that the climbing became easier the closer I got to the summit ridge. In the interest of time I ran pitch four and five together. The rope drag was annoying but not bad. I belayed Tim off the summit anchors and he arrived at the summit a short time later.
We signed the summit log and perused others comments. We shook hands after completeing another great climb in good style. We belayed one another to the rap anchors, got to the ground and back to our packs just in time for the rain to start. We got poured on the entire hike back to the Sue-bee. Subway and cold beer capped a perfect day.
The last portion of the traverse to the rap anchors |
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