Granite Peak conditions?

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AlexRts

 
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Re: Granite Peak conditions?

by AlexRts » Tue Aug 14, 2012 6:33 am

Thanks lefty- it will be good to be able to leave that gear behind. Did your group find a rope helpful for the decent or did you just downclimb? I read there were some slings up there, but if it is really class three then maybe they are extraneous?

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tigerlilly

 
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Re: Granite Peak conditions?

by tigerlilly » Tue Aug 14, 2012 6:15 pm

We went up the chute and it is snow free. There are three slings located on the first hard bit, one is badly frayed, one is practically brand new. We never needed them. Got a group of 5 up and down successfully. The bit with the slings is something you can slide down on your butt, albeit it very very carefully. The further up the chute above the next hard bit is a piton, hammered into the mountain side, near the water fall. We didn't use that either, but you could use it to help you descend. Don't underestimate this, the descriptions I read call it a class 3 scramble, but I disagree. There is a lot of loose rock. Then as you ascend (near the top of the gully) be sure to hug the right because there is a little saddle you come out through (follow the cairns it is hard to describe)and you climb outside the gully onto a ridge. This is easier than going up straight to the end of the gully. I went left initially and had to back climb. There is a lot of exposure on the top - I sat on the summit like a chicken. If someone wants to bring a threaded cap for the (4"?) PVC pipe that holds the register, that would be good. The cap is currently missing. You may want to bring a new register book, too. Best advice I can give is "don't pee anywhere near your tent". The mountain goats danced excitedly around our tent at 3:00am - knocking down one of our guy lines for the tent fly...because they discovered our salty urine deposit. If you wake up in the middle of the night and need to pee...take the extra moment to walk a fair distance away. Otherwise you may regret it when your eye to eye with an mineral starving goat. :-) they are cute, tho'.

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Alpinist, chugach mtn boy, mrchad9

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peakhugger

 
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Re: Granite Peak conditions?

by peakhugger » Wed Aug 15, 2012 4:05 am

tigerlilly wrote:If someone wants to bring a threaded cap for the (4"?) PVC pipe that holds the register, that would be good. The cap is currently missing. You may want to bring a new register book, too.


It should be 4", schedule 40 (the piece on the right in image below). It's a cheap fix. Feel free to post in this thread if you replace it (or plan to).
Thanks for the heads up, tigerlilly.

Image

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mrchad9

 
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Re: Granite Peak conditions?

by mrchad9 » Wed Aug 15, 2012 6:05 am

I'll take one up in a couple weeks- not much effort in light of the great information tigerlilly provided. If anyone else plans to do so sooner let me know.

Thanks!

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Re: Granite Peak conditions?

by dskoon » Wed Aug 15, 2012 7:12 am

tigerlilly wrote:We went up the chute and it is snow free. There are three slings located on the first hard bit, one is badly frayed, one is practically brand new. We never needed them. Got a group of 5 up and down successfully. The bit with the slings is something you can slide down on your butt, albeit it very very carefully. The further up the chute above the next hard bit is a piton, hammered into the mountain side, near the water fall. We didn't use that either, but you could use it to help you descend. Don't underestimate this, the descriptions I read call it a class 3 scramble, but I disagree. There is a lot of loose rock. Then as you ascend (near the top of the gully) be sure to hug the right because there is a little saddle you come out through (follow the cairns it is hard to describe)and you climb outside the gully onto a ridge. This is easier than going up straight to the end of the gully. I went left initially and had to back climb. There is a lot of exposure on the top - I sat on the summit like a chicken. If someone wants to bring a threaded cap for the (4"?) PVC pipe that holds the register, that would be good. The cap is currently missing. You may want to bring a new register book, too. Best advice I can give is "don't pee anywhere near your tent". The mountain goats danced excitedly around our tent at 3:00am - knocking down one of our guy lines for the tent fly...because they discovered our salty urine deposit. If you wake up in the middle of the night and need to pee...take the extra moment to walk a fair distance away. Otherwise you may regret it when your eye to eye with an mineral starving goat. :-) they are cute, tho'.



Great info and story!

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