Virginia Peak East Face, Sept 29,2022

[Harlen]

I have long admired Virginia, or "Red" Peak, and have always wanted to climb it. A couple years ago, on a cold November day, my friend Frank and I bailed off of the craggy south ridge, which Roper calls class 3. From where we had gotten ourselves, it looked like we would have to search hard to make it that easy. (That route is on the left skyline in the photo below.)

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Virginia Peak is a dramatic and inspiring mountain. The morning sun catches it beautifully, and I have been here many times to see it, both in winter and summer.


This September, I was back with Lizzie and Carleton, and I got another chance to climb it. This is a mountain on which I really wanted to climb the real rock, rather than just ambling up the boulders of the backside. The east face has always tempted me. It seems steep, but broken enough to provide holds for safe scrambling. I looked at it long and hard with binos, and though the uppermost section looked uncomfortably steep, I decided to give it a try. I left before 7 AM to give myself enough time to retreat and circle around to the easy western slope if necessary. The following photo shows the east face, and the route I took.

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The blue circle shows the approximate area of easy class 3. The red line is the route I chose, and the blue dots show that it is a mix of class 3 and 4. The green line is the standard east face route, that Bob Burd calls class 3. The dotted yellow line shows where Frank and I went years ago, before deciding to turn back.

There is a broad, V-shaped couloir between the right side of the face, and the first of the two gray pillars. I moved into this couloir from about one-third of the way up the White Pine slope. It is nice class 2-3, and you can make it more enjoyable by staying on the semi-solid bedrock to the right.

Below are two photos showing views of first, the class 3, and then the class 4 rock you can choose to climb.

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As you can see here in the second photo below, from within the couloir, you can climb the thin holds and friction to the left, and if you need to, you can move onto easier rock to the right.

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The climbing lower down in the couloir can be as hard as you like, within reason, with little exposure, and surprisingly solid rock. This is reversed higher up the face, with pretty chossy rock and truly impressive exposure, which often cannot be avoided.

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Here I am at the end of the class 3 area, entering into the class 4. I chose to keep to the bedrock, and avoid the broken bits. On this day at least, I preferred more solid rock and exposure, to choss piles.

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I am in the lower left of this photo. Carleton was trying to capture images from a great distance by aligning his I-phone camera with his binos.

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Here my friend's system failed, but this blurry image of me near the top captures the scary exposure. I looked down a few times to see what I might do should I come off, and I decided there must be no falling on this climb. At one stage, I reached a place where I would need to use just friction climbing to proceed up, and with hiking boots on, I decided to reverse it instead. I had to down-climb pretty delicate moves for about 30 feet; which was satisfying to complete without difficulty, and that gave me the confidence to carry on up an easier section. I became nicely focused in, and kept telling myself "Its easy climbing, just take it one move at a time," and the next thing I knew, I was surprised to find I was nearly at the top. I never hoot on summits, but when I was finally clear at the top, I did exhale an involuntary sigh of relief, and may have used some appropriate profanity in my happiness.

From this small drama, as I've written it above, I reckon it's obvious that I found this route pretty challenging. It feels a lot like the class 3-4 east face of Clyde Minaret, only with less secure rock. The similarity is in the very long and relentless face. However, unlike the Clyde summit arete, the top of Virginia is safe as houses, and there is a very easy way down.

Looking down from the top, I do think that to the left of my route, there is a broad gully that would lead to safer, and easier climbing. After returning home, I read up on the route a bit, and found that Bob Burd had enjoyed what he called a class 3 east face route. I detailed his route in the first photo. I made my own way, and had a blast.


Here is a view from the summit:

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The view is southwest, with Mt. Stanton in the foreground. You can see a tiny Half Dome to the right of center, below and left of Mt. Hoffman, which is the dark peak on the skyline just above Stanton. We all climbed Mt. Stanton, and I also raced up the easy Camiaca from Summit Lake.

[ironmike]

Outstanding work Ian! Maybe a new route, or at least an asterisk on an existing one. I’ve got to imagine you didn’t see a soul that day…just the perfect game of feet vs rock in front of God and the occasional raptor. Beautiful lines abound!

Funny (or not really) that you mention the analogy to Clyde Minaret. Another unlucky soul passed there on that very same day. Glad your adventure went smoothly.

[Harlen]

ironmike wrote:

Outstanding work Ian! Maybe a new route, or at least an asterisk on an existing one. I’ve got to imagine you didn’t see a soul that day…just the perfect game of feet vs rock in front of God and the occasional raptor. Beautiful lines abound!

Funny (or not really) that you mention the analogy to Clyde Minaret. Another unlucky soul passed there on that very same day. Glad your adventure went smoothly.

Thanks for the comments Mike. I found out what you referenced above regarding the tragic fatality on Clyde. I wasn't able to determine what route he fell from, or any other particulars, such as whether he had summited Clyde, and fell on the way down? Sad that he was so young.

I am not concerned about placing new routes, but I did enjoy the complete solitude you inferred. I have always avoided crowded routes-- the dislodged rocks from above, distracting yelling, pressure from climbers below... I have heard about it all, and imagined these things, and No Thank You!
We had perfect solitude on 5 of our 7 days!

And Mike, you are right about the raptors too. We saw 5 species, including both Eagles! Good luck in your climbing, Ian.

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[giantbrookie]

Love this post! I missed this while I away at the Geological Society of America meeting in Denver (Sat-Wed) where my internet connection was non-functional except at the airport.

Virginia Peak has long been one of my favorite peaks and your route really captures majesty of this peak as well as the numerous options it offers especially on its complex SE-E faces.

I've been up Virginia twice, most recently in 2001 when my brother and I climbed it as a "dedication" to my dad who had passed the year before (my dad and I had climbed Virginia in 1972). In 1972 when I climbed Virginia with my dad I worked out a super efficient but non-interesting route via the NW ridge; the super efficient part was the elevation-saving traverse I found from the Horse Creek Col. There were no details in the climber's guides of that era; they only said the peak was class 2-3 by easiest route. I think I threaded the needle on the route of the NW ridge and kept it to strictly class 2 (hence the "non-interesting").

In 2001 I wanted to try something a bit more interesting, plus I was also coming from a different direction (because I was based at a place that had nice fish of course), so I targeted the sharp couloir that looks like a sword slash across the SE flank. To avoid what looked to be tedious talus/scree below the couloir I climbed to the west of it before cutting right (E) through a dramatic little notch to work the narrowest and most dramatic part of the couloir which was snow free at the time. That route is class 2 over the lower portion which it talus-bottomed but it goes class 3 over the last 50+ feet of elevation. There was one outside corner move that was a touch dicey owing to loose rock. My bro, who was historically more comfortable than me on class 3+ was thoroughly sketched out by that move and said wouldn't downclimb the route, so after we summited I led us down the NW ridge (maybe one or two small low 3rd class steps) then descended to the north shore of the unnamed lakelet north of the peak (class 2) then headed "round the corner" back to our camp (more intricate than it looks, but I avoided getting cliffed out). Anyhow, while inspecting the SE-E face before and during the climb I was impressed with the possibilities on the east face (ie right of where I climbed) and it's really neat to see this post and the up close look it offers of the route possibilities. I don't have the guts to do the class 4 but I might follow something closer to the Burd route. I've been meaning to return to where we camped because my bro had me cut out the planned layover day (ie to climb Virginia and stay the night at our camp spot) in order to get out a day early and call his girlfriend.

Thanks again for this post. I sent me scurrying back to my old photo albums to look at photos of my 2001 visit.

[Harlen]

Giantbrookie wrote:

In 2001 I wanted to try something a bit more interesting, plus I was also coming from a different direction (because I was based at a place that had nice fish of course), so I targeted the sharp couloir that looks like a sword slash across the SE flank.

I wonder if this shadowed area is the "sword slash" you describe John?

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Was that roughly your route up? it looks great.



Great that you brothers did the climb as a tribute, with your father in your minds. Thanks for your comments, Ian.

[robertseeburger]

Ian, good to see an old fart doing class 4 routes..

[giantbrookie]

Ian, the shadowed cleft you marked in blue is indeed the route I took in 2001.

[Harlen]

Wandering Daisy wrote:

That climb of Virginia Peak looked really sketchy. Was the rock as brittle as it looked? I am not fond of climbing on that kind of rock; really prefer granite. You are braver than me.

The climb did become sketchy, as the rock was pretty brittle, though in places it was trustworthy. We are both climbers with backgrounds in geology, and that is both a blessing, and a curse. So we can recognize rock types, and it sounds like you use your knowledge to seek solid granitic rock. V. Peak was a lot of slate, grading into shiste. The whitish member of the formation was perhaps phyllite, or some form of metamorphosed ss? Professor giantbrookie, who also climbed this face, should tell us what these rocks really are, thanks John.

I was okay with it, perhaps because I began my more serious climbing in New Zealand (@23-24 yrs.), where I was told to expect areas of crumbly bull___-- the Kiwi climbers I was with called it "Wheatbix," after a popular cereal, much like our "Cornflakes." They said if you can't climb in the "shaley shite" you won't get up a lot of mountains. I had heard similar things from Canadians, who seemed proud of their reputation for being experts on choss. So I guess I was inspired to try to climb anything, and I have learned that there really are techniques that can make climbing brittle and broken rock manageable, if not exactly safe. Experienced old climbers of course know these techniques, but some, like you Nancy, now choose not to, but in your youth? ...on those Cascade volcanoes?

These techniques are not rocket science, rather, just a few simple things, mainly: Checking all holds, often by rapping your palm hard against them; pulling down, not out when holds aren't solid; and taking the old "3 points of contact" a lot more seriously than you need to on granite.
So, you slow way down, and climb delicately, and cautiously-- put the gorilla in a cage! The main safety technique in choss is really the mental one, that is, never to lose your cool-- no desperate, muscular lunges upward, which would be impossible to reverse, and always to climb deliberately, checking every move, and every stance. It can be fun, and really satisfying, but it is definitely not popular among all, especially serious climbers-- I am more of a dilettante climber than the real thing, and on this route, I did get myself into some very airy situations.

Okay, and finally, I disagree wholeheartedly with WD's last sentence. I don't know exactly what it feels like to be a decade older, traveling solo all over the mountains, including class 3-4 routes up mountains and passes, as a petite (though probably still muscle-bound) woman.... but I don't think I'd have the courage for it.

[Harlen]

Wandering Daisy wrote: (about my reckless route)

That climb of Virginia Peak looked really sketchy. Was the rock as brittle as it looked? I am not fond of climbing on that kind of rock; really prefer granite.....

Wandering Daisy has also written: (about her scary route up the NE chute on Langley)

...Where there was no snow, it was mainly steep scree and loose boulders. It was miserable and endless; worse than the north chute to Corcoran It really is a chute with steep rock walls on either side. As the sun warms the chute, large boulders came crashing down.

...The sun warms the upper snow while the chute is in the shade, and the melted snow lets loose of rocks which fall down the narrow chute, bouncing from one wall to the next.

I don't know; I think I'd rather trust my reckless technique to the uncontrollable objective dangers of rockfall. You're a lot braver than me!

[Silky Smooth]

Harlen, I really enjoyed your climb and write up. It's all relative everyone, we each have our own unique perspective and experience. Soloing is a personal choice. He wasn't doing utterly reckless and dangerous things like people on Whitney for example. The guy carrying rocks come to mind illegal guiding a couple who had to get rescued off of mt. muir with a chinook from Washington State. I can go on and on, but you get the point. What Harlen did was different and it was measured risk for his tolerance level and mountain experience. I just listen to the omens and the little voices in my head. Its important to listen to your gut