Mount Jefferson Climber's Log

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dkantola

dkantola - Aug 9, 2004 7:28 pm

Route Climbed: Whitewater Glacier Date Climbed: August 7-8, 2004  Sucess!

We left Jefferson Park at 5:15 a.m. and scrambled up a loose gully next to a stream in the dark to reach the Whitewater Glacier. Roped up there and did the rising traverse across the glacier until we hit the southeast ridge at 9000 ft. 1200 vertical feet of scrambling on the ridge brought us to the Red Saddle. The snow traverse had great steps and the pinnacle scramble was third class on solid rock, so we didn't even need to break out the rope. Without steps on the traverse I would consider setting a running belay with pickets. We met Brian Jenkins et al. just after the traverse on the ascent and again at the Red Saddle on the descent. Reached the summit at 12:45 p.m. After a long descent we made it back to the Whitewater trailhead at 8:30 p.m.

Brian Jenkins

Brian Jenkins - Aug 9, 2004 12:15 pm

Route Climbed: South Ridge Date Climbed: August 8, 2004  Sucess!

Climbed with fellow summitposters Tom Snuffin (Cornvallis), Cory Crebbin (cjwhat) and Dennis P. (losman90). Started up at 3:30 am from Shale Lake. Bushwhacked up to the ridge in the dark and then slowly, slowly up the steep south ridge. Made Red Saddle about 10 am I am guessing. Roped up and did the traverse on solid icy snow with nice steps kicked in. I got to lead the route and conditions made it really nice and not as bad as I thought it would be. Towards the ridge it steepened a bit but once over the ridge it eased off and then was only a small amount of snow until you hit rock. There is a nice 3rd class route to the summit from there, but, of course, I missed the last little bit when you come back over a ridge the last 30 or so feet to the summit. So, we did a short pitch of rock that was like 4th to 5.0 class to the summit.



This was Dennis' last Oregon county highpoint so it was especially satisfying for him. Summitposter Dean was supposed to join us too but he had broken his hand earlier in the week on Whitney. Anyway, everyone rapped down and then I wrapped the horn and rapped that. The rope got stuck so I reclimbed it (found the easy way though this time) and then the rope got stuck again when I threw it down and I had to reclimb half the rock part to get that down (so do I get 2.5 summit credits?). ;- )



Long hike out, back to the car in the dark at 9 pm. Was a great fun climb with these guys. Hope to do more with them.

SVett - Jul 22, 2004 2:38 pm

Route Climbed: Jefferson Park Glacier Date Climbed: July 18, 2004  Sucess!

Found the route to be in good condition. Steeper snow turning the upper bergschrund on the far right was a highlight of the climb for me. The "knife edge ridge" provided some enjoyable moves though the belayed climbing here was more brief than expected. This was an enjoyable route which remained interesting from base to summit!

hkutuk

hkutuk - Jul 19, 2004 4:44 pm

Route Climbed: Whitewater Glacier Date Climbed: July 17, 2004

Turned around just 100 feet below from the summit but having done the traverse I feel I can sign in here. The last bit of rock was still covered in too unstable snow/ice which forced us to make a hard decision. The Whitewater route was very nice and straight forward but quite long. The crux was obviously the steep traverse, where we used a running belay with 3 pickets on the way up and 4 on the way down. Climbing in and out of the runnels on the travese made things more challenging. Overall was a great experience and the hardest thing I have done on snow.

bennadler

bennadler - Jun 29, 2004 12:07 am

Route Climbed: south ridge Date Climbed: april, 2004

main pct trail had patchy snow. approach trail snowed under. conditions on the mountain: windy and icy as heck. snow soft and deep on the lower ridge. visibility at 50-75 ft at the top so that you didn't know when snow stopped and cloud began. crampons were on half way up the ridge. roped in at the first ourcrop at the top (including the dog) and had the rope waving in the wind. Reached the base of the pinnacle and turned around without risking an ascent. clouds broke as we decended.

Will try again july 4th weekend

wolf - Feb 26, 2004 12:40 pm

Date Climbed: Summer 2003

Currently a favorite hiking area. I would like to summit and am in search of partners to do so.

Bob Bolton

Bob Bolton - Aug 25, 2003 10:32 pm

Route Climbed: South Ridge Date Climbed: August 17, 2003

Hiked to the vicinity of Shale Lake on Saturday Aug. 16 from the Woodpecker TH since we didn't have a Pamelia trail permit. Our 4-person party started from camp Sunday morning at 4:30, arriving at the Red Saddle at 10:30. We had connected with another 3-man party on the ascent and decided to tackle the traverse and summit together. The traverse had no snow until most of the way across. We decided to stay high instead of dropping down to the snow as it looked not very deep, and therefore might not work very well with an ice axe. The mountain is extremely unstable on this traverse. At one point the guy in front of me (from the other party) put a little weight on the "wall" above us and down came a bunch of rock and mud. I lunged backward out of his way, and he lunged toward me. The rocks and mud shot down through a little chute, then somehow he lost his footing and started down after the mud. I tried to grab him and he was scratching and clawing at whatever he could grab. Thankfully he only went down to about his waist and was unhurt except for some abrasions on all four limbs, and possibly some bruises as well. We then set up a belay for the people behind me, and then worked our way above the snow on very loose junk before finally arriving at the west ridge. From there the route was very easy and felt downright solid by comparison to the traverse. On the descent we avoided the worst area on the traverse by actually rappeling over the too-shallow snow down to some terra infirma below the snow, traversing underneath the snow patch, then climbing back up to the original traverse level. One basketball-sized boulder whistled down from above and passed between two of the group who were climbing back up to the traverse. We were all very relieved to be back at the Red Saddle. I had the luxury of being able to take Monday off, so while the rest of the group hiked back out to the cars Sunday evening, I got to stay in camp and hike out in leisure on Monday.

artg

artg - Aug 11, 2003 1:17 am

Route Climbed: North Ridge Date Climbed: August 9, 2003

Set up camp at Scout Lake and headed for the summit at noon. Started on the rocks of Whitewater Ridge and around 8,000 ft. we moved onto the Whitewater Glacier because the rocks were starting to hamper our progress. On the way to the summit pinnacle, we ran into Dean and rfbolton (nice lads), summit post members who were busy with their county high points climb.



Reached the base of the summit pinnacle (approximately 9,500 ft) at 5 PM and aborted a summit attempt for several reasons: 1) on the way to the summit pinnacle we encountered loose rock fall that went from bad to ridiculous. Pebbles, sand, rocks, scree-you name it, it was coming down with every step taken and the pinnacle itself didn't look any better (found someone's prusik sling in the jumbled mess); 2) throughout the day, clouds buried the summit pinnacle which would make routefinding arduous; 3) started the climb late in the day. Will try another attempt from the south or southwest ridges sometime in 2004.

jlag - Jul 1, 2003 1:19 pm

Route Climbed: West Rib Date Climbed: June 6-7 2003  Sucess!

Started up Pamelia Lk Trail, made it Milk Cr. in about 2 hours. Camped up the gulley on snow. One waterfall to pass, not too bad, went around to the left and then gained the West Rib. Originally wanted N. Milk Creek gulley but it was too warm, the runnels were very deep and rockfall was evident. Went straight up the rib, zigzagged through rockbands with little troubles. Moderately steep, 45 degrees at most. Never used crampons or rope. Made the summit in just under 6 hours, snow was quite slushy but still busted out the summit pinnacle. Steps were easy to kick, but a little worried about snow slides coming off. Ice axe was pretty essential because of amount of snow on the pinnacle. We skied/boarded all the way down milk creek, lots of sluffing, runnels were like rivers of loose snow. Back to camp in 2 hours, back to car in another hour+. Excellent climb, only saw two others via S. Side.





Josh Lagalo

Pete Lake

nicci_lee

nicci_lee - Jun 22, 2003 10:33 am

Route Climbed: Southwest Slope from Pamelia Lake Date Climbed: Septmeber 2002

This area is nothing like anything else in Oregon. Very green, reminds me of Washington North Cascades. Made it to the red saddle just before the summit pinnacle, early sunset and no snow made travel slow . Brought crampons and ice axe but never got on snow...all scree on the way up. Lots of lose rock.

jamesfeldmann

jamesfeldmann - Oct 11, 2002 10:30 pm

Route Climbed: South Ridge Date Climbed: September 21, 2002  Sucess!

What a climb!



No snow on Milk Creek (ai, ai, ai that rock is loose...) or around the corner, just a bit on the pinnacle. Thanks to Sebastian for a great lead.



No entries in the summit register since three weeks before.



Finally summitted all peaks within view of Portland.





Hammer

Hammer - Aug 28, 2002 5:08 am

Route Climbed: South Ridge Date Climbed: August 24, 2002  Sucess!

This montain has got my name and consistently tears up my feet. I wish I knew the solution. The hike into camp at Shale Lake was mostly uneventful until the thunder showers started. Definitely interesting with the thunder booming and lightning streaking across the sky. Then the rain came down in buckets for awhile and soaked us. Hadn't really paid all that much attention to the forcast so I didn't have a pack cover and wasn't looking forward to setting up camp in the rain. Luckily it subsided somewhat and our camp under the trees provided some relief. Summit day was beautiful with the weather cooperating most of the day. Unfortunately, one in our party had forgottten his crampons back at camp. This made the traverse from the Red Saddle a little more interesting. On the way across we chose to go low below the snow pack and climb the scree. Big mistake! Too much rock fall. Two of us ended up climbing unprotected and then belayed the other three up to our point on the shoulder. On the way back we opted to cross the snow field and put picket protection in. Probably not the best protection I've ever set but it was better than nothing. I ended up having to cross it three times in order to bring crampons back across to the buddy who had forgotten his. Summit stay was short since we were sitting in a cloud and didn't have much of a view. We signed the register and read through the logs since we had been up there last year. The descent down was uneventful. We split up toward the bottom, some took our ascent line back down and I went in search of the true trail that gains the ridge near Goat Peak. I found it but don't think I could find it again in the dark. We got back to the camp in about a 12 hour roundtrip. We stayed another night and hiked out the next day. Great weekend!

patrickwang - Aug 5, 2002 9:26 am

Route Climbed: South Ridge Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2002  Sucess!

Start from Woodpecker Ridge, camp at high meadow near Shale Lake. Walking by 3a, Red Saddle by 8a, summit about 10a. Descent at 12p, camp by 3p. Scree ascent (yuck), but scree descent (yay). Great mixed climb.



Traverse was backed up by a hand line, snow was hard, clear scramble to summit.



Great views, smoke from wildfires obscured as morning wore on. Full house to the north, to Broken Top to the south.

Zancudo - Mar 8, 2002 11:28 am

Route Climbed: South ridge Date Climbed: Sept 2001  Sucess!

Climbed with Hammer and others. Long scree slog. The traverse was not as hairy as I thought it was going to be. The pinnicle was easy scrambling up the north and west sides.

Hammer

Hammer - Sep 21, 2001 6:07 am

Route Climbed: South Ridge Date Climbed: September 8, 2001  Sucess!

Afer some date changes due to permits, we were finally at the trailhead to climb Mt. Jefferson. This being supposedly the most difficult summit in Oregon, there was much anticipation from our relatively inexperienced and large group (12). I had been climbing quite a bit this year and felt comfortable with the endeavor. Our plan was to hike into Shale Lake and camp, summit, camp, and then Hike out on the third day. This plan made it seem all the more positive in reaching our end goal. Unfortunately, this many days and nights means heavy packs. I thought this would not be a problem since I had just put new footbeds in my boots. How wrong I was!

We hiked leisurely into Pamelia Lake which was supposed to be just beautiful but due to the low snowpack this year the water level was almost nil-not a pleasant sight.

Shortly after leavin Pamelia Lake, I started feeling a pinch in my heel, figured it was just a bunched up sock. How wrong I was! After an hor or so, I decided to take care of it and protect it. After removing my boot I was surprised to see a nasty, raw blister. I doctored it up and continued on to Shale Lake.

When we arrived at Shale Lake we set up our tents and started filtering water for that night's meal and the next days summit bid. We enjoyed our dinners as we sat around and talked about our climbs throughout the season. Overall a great time. Everyone headed to bed pretty early since we would be up at 0230 and be on the trial at 0330.

When we woke there was a stiff wind blowing that had us thinking that it would be cold up high. Packed the down jacket and off we headed. For the first few hours we trudged through broken trail in the dark. We got off trail slightly and bushwacked our way up to the ridge. Once obtaining the ridge we could really feel the wind. We continued up the ridge as we could see the sun starting to come up in hopes that it would dissipate the wind a little. We joined the Southwest ridge and the terrain got steeper and the trila got nastier. We were having to slog up very loose scree with occasional good size rocks that would tumble down periodically. After some time, which seemed like forever, we finally got to the Red Saddle. Most of the group got comfortable as the leader and I set a fixed line across the traverse.

About 2 hours later it was set and everyone was across. We made our way around and up the pinnacle and enjoyed a crowded summit with our team of 12. After pictures, we were on our way down. What seemed like forever and a couple of makeshift snow glissades we were back on the lower ridge. Unfortunately, we lost our trailup and couldn't find our path that we had taken on the way up. We once again had to bushwack for a while and traverse southeast to gain the climbers trail that we had lost on the descent. Finally at 1745 we were back at camp. My feet were hamburger! By 1830, I was asleep and din't wake up until midnight that night due to being hungry and thirsty. Oh well, I rolled over and went back to sleep. The next morning most everyone slept in and by 0800 everyone was up and breaking camp. I was dreading putting my boots back on. My feet hurt!

Finally, after gaining some courage, boots were on and we were hiking out. I was surprised to feel as well as I did and me and Zambuco made good time on the trail out.

Overall, it was a great climb, long but definitely enjoyable. My first experience with blisters and one that I would rather not repeat!

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