| This one is for Jim. Coalpit Gulch, North Thunder Mountain. Trip Report |
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| This one is for Jim. Coalpit Gulch, North Thunder Mountain.   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: Utah, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 40.56775°N / 111.73803°W Date Climbed/Hiked: Sep 12, 2008 Activities: Scrambling Season: Summer | Page By: Wasatchvoyage Created/Edited: Sep 15, 2008 / May 20, 2009 Object ID: 442782 Hits: 1099 Loading... Page Score: 89.74% - 27 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Page information.This trip report has been modified with events which have happened since it was first written in September of 2008. The sections have been labeled from the most current first. Please continue below for the full trip report. May 19th 2009 update.Both North and South Thunder Mountain have been summitted. Both via Bell Canyon. North Thunder was completed May 7th, South Thunder on May 14th. Bell Canyon was the best approach after promising family members that I would stay out of Coalpit Gulch following the September 12th 2008 attempt. Bell Canyon and the Thunder Bowl do not disappoint however! Both are incredible places. An album has been attached to his page which shows different angles of/from the summits and surrounding areas, which can be viewed here. I was able to sign both my and my Uncle's names in the current register atop North Thunder.
North Thunder Mountain. |
South Thunder Mountain. |
April 27th 2009 update!The second section of this trip report was written in September of 2008, and I will leave that section alone and written as it was then. I learned yesterday that Jim did make the summit! Thank you for this photo mtn runr!
Jim's summit register entry. |
This image shows my Uncle's last written words before he died in the lower Coalpit Gulch area September 11th, 1995. I consider it a privilege to have this photo, thanks much in part to SP member mtn runr, Grizz, and Summitpost.org. Without either I would not have ever had the opportunity to see Jim's register entry on that day in September. I originally joined Summitpost after searching for route information in early September of 2008 on Coalpit Gulch and North Thunder Mountain. After seeing the wealth of information, I joined immediately.
After learning that the current summit register on North Thunder had been placed around 1997, I lost hope that any other information regarding whether Jim made the summit or not until last week, when I spotted Grizz's climber's log entry. He mentioned that around 1997 the old register was as risk of being lost, he replaced it with the current one and took the old one down with him. I regained hope that there might be some info. Grizz let me know that Jim did summit, and provided this photo and several others. I can't thank you enough for this Grizz, the whole perspective on Jim's final day have changed for both myself and my extended family.
One word, Jim's final word he wrote, has stuck with me all day since reading the entry. Awesome!!Re-tracing Jim's footsteps in Coalpit Gulch. September 12, 2008.My first trip report on Summitpost:
To start this one I need to explain that the Lone Peak Wilderness area where this Gulch is located has a bitter-sweet reputation with the family. Gorgeous rugged granite peaks, the aroma of pines and spruces, lakes tucked away under the ridges. Most of this area was explored with my father, uncles, and cousins. My Dad took me to the summit of Lone Peak when I was nine years old. Jim, my Dad's younger brother, also was there on many of the hikes and climbs. I joined Jim on many of these outings with his son who is my age. We roamed the High Uinta Mountains, the Wasatch, summitted Ibapah Peak in the Deep Creek range, Notch Peak in the House range, and others. Jim also climbed the Grand, in the Grand Teton range. His climbing skills were strong. One of the more prominent memories I have of Jim was during the climb of Ibapah Peak in June of 1993. As we were traversing the final ridge area to the summit, Jim pulled me aside and pointed to the far, distant Tushar Mountains. With a look of enthusiasm, he exclaimed "Look at those peaks! Those are the Tushars, 12,000 + feet. I've got to do those." Memories like this one and many similar to them helped me to maintain the same love for the mountains and get out and explore. Those memories have helped motivate me through this season. Needless to say the first peak for me this season was Mt. Belknap, in the Tushar Range. 12,169 glorious feet.
I was in Seattle when my Mom called from Salt Lake to tell me Jim had died in Coalpit Gulch. The date was September 11th, 1995. Needless to say the whole family was shocked and confused. Jim was alone in the gulch when the incident occurred, so putting the pieces together of that day has had many in the family speculating on what happened. He was found the following morning by two climbers at the base of the third waterfall, many who consider this area to be the crux of the route. From the contents of his pack it appeared he had eaten his lunch and consumed most of his water.
For some reason this climbing season Jim has been on my mind on all of the climbs. I committed myself to try and get an idea of what happened, 13 years and one day later. We packed rappelling gear to facilitate the descent of the crux area safely.
Ryan, my brother in-law, joined me on this one. Concerned family members did not want me to do it alone, and for a good reason. We started the climb at the power station in Little Cottonwood at 6:45 a.m. We hiked about 1/4 of a mile up the well graded trail, then cut south through the brush bushwacking to the gulch's entrance point. After passing 2-3 minor waterfalls, we arrived at the main waterfall where Jim was found, at about 7:30. Fortunately for us someone left a rope tied up, though somewhat deteriorated. Ryan ascended first, then myself. This waterfall in it's entirety is about 70 feet tall, with a small pool forming in the middle, where it falls another 30-35 feet. Once negotiating the falls, we took a shortcut to avoid a nasty part of the gulch, then descended to the creek bed.
It was just after this point where we realized that the creek bed was mostly covered with large pine trees that had been torn down by what must have been a huge avalanche over this past winter season, and many others years prior. Progress was excruciatingly slow. About half a mile of this had to be negotiated, then a small headwall blocked our progress. We bushwacked around this and discovered a boulder field to ascend on the west side of the drainage. By this time, it was around 11:30. After climbing the steep boulder field to about 9000 feet where there is a small level section where we rested for a little bit. The time was now 1:00 p.m.
I was starting to get concerned about our progress and time, with the summit still being about a mile away and 2100 vertical feet above. I knew the sun would set about 7:30, and realized we probably would not make the summit. However we decided to continue to the ridge, at 10,150 feet. After reaching the ridge at about 3:00 p.m., some pictures were taken, most of which you see here. We continued up the south east ridge to check the difficulty, and after only about 200 vertical feet the terrain soon changed from what seemed to be class 2 to class 3. Ryan continued above me for a little, and then I started to get a really dark feeling about our situation. After consulting with Ryan about my concerns, we agreed to head back. By this time it was about 4:00 p.m.
Photos from the ridge area:
White Baldy, left, and the Pfiefferhorn on the right. |
Broads Fork Twin Peaks and the Cottonwood Ridge. |
Chilling at the saddle, upper Coalpit. Photo by Ryan Hoffman. |
Upper Coalpit. Photo by Ryan Hoffman. |
Myself and Ryan under the north-east ridge. Photo by Ryan Hoffman. |
We started down, estimating to get to the pack full of climbing gear I stashed behind a rock way down below at about 7:00 p.m. During this part of the descent, Ryan and I both had several encounters dislodging loose rocks and coming pretty close to messing up our legs a bit.
Ryan resting on the tundra slope, upper Coalpit. |
We ended up at the waterfall area after retrieving the pack about 7:45 p.m. We rappelled down the falls in two sections, with our headlamps. It was close to 10:00 p.m. once reaching the base of the falls. Making our way out of the Gulch took another hour with the limited lighting on hand. We reached the cars at the power station just before midnight.
It seemed that this route is fairly short in distance, however with the waterfalls, the tree-choked creek-bed, and boulder fields makes for really slow progress. We didn't summit this one but learned a lot.
*******
My conclusion about Jim is this. According to my Mom, Dad, and other sources, is that Jim did not probably start the hike until 10:00 a.m. He negotiated the climb of the waterfall, and probably headed up the gulch, probably getting some altitude. From somewhere up higher, he must have eaten the lunch he packed, and consumed a good portion of his water. Depending on how late he was in the gulch, the odds seem likely that he may have run out of daylight like we did. I think the odds of successfully descending the waterfall area without ropes in the dark is marginal. Time wise if Jim did make the summit, he would have been descending the waterfall area probably somewhere in the ballpark of midnight to 1:00 a.m.
I'm dedicating this climb to him, Jim was an extraordinary person. I've thought about him a lot on all the climbs this season. I'll always miss him.
The hardest of the waterfall area, many consider this to be the crux of Coalpit Gulch. Jim was recovered at the base of the falls. |
Jim's photo on his funeral pamphlet. |
Coalpit Topo route. |
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Wasatch Range (Central) > North Thunder Mountain > This one is for Jim. Coalpit Gulch, North Thunder Mountain.
