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| Messages 1 - 38 of total 38 in this topic |
Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 24, 2009 - 02:22am PT
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image from SP.org
So I'm minding my own business reading the new Secor guide and out pops the massive North Buttress of Dragtooth image on pg. 453.
I go to search the taco and nary but two threads even mention this Sierra gem. I've never been and it looks cool.
Brad and Micha, speak up. I know you've been in there.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Mar 24, 2009 - 02:41am PT
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Dang, I think I see the line forming as we speak!
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 24, 2009 - 02:51am PT
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chocks to 5" it says
hrm
maybe the right side route is worthwhile too.
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climblight
Mountain climber
Northern NV
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Mar 24, 2009 - 04:05am PT
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Soloed the left skyline in that shot and a crummy route from Polemonium pass. Next up - the buttress, ready?
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dogtown
climber
Cheyenne,Wyoming
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Mar 24, 2009 - 04:16am PT
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Munge;
I would bet DR has scoped it out or has done it.
Bruce
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Mar 24, 2009 - 10:20am PT
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Yeah, I've done it. First time by the class four (and descent) route near the left side (on a trip where Vicki was with, and Chief was still with us).
Next by the Dragway, the jaw-dropping, left facing corner to the right. This was fabulous, one of the hardest pitches I've onsighted in the Sierra (5.10d, stemming). It's in the Fiddler/Monyier book and deservedly so. Good pro in smaller cracks near the main crack, but bring up to a #4 Camalot too. The pitch above the corner is a great 5.9 finger crack. I've got photos, but they are not-yet-scanned slides.
Third was a "first ascent" right up the middle with Micha. In quotes because we found some abandoned/fixed gear up to about halfway up. I think whatever line we found climbed up and right for five pitches, whereas we diverted up and left from about halfway up. I think we reported this to Secor; is it in the third edition (I haven't got it yet)?
Lots of other good stuff there, such as the Teeth (great traverse, took all day). The Horse Creek Tower and Horse Creek Spire (I think the third edition will differentiate between the two, they've been confused for each other since Roper's High Sierra Guide).
Great place, but you never hear of anyone climbing in there much any more.
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Dapper Dan
climber
Menlo Park
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Mar 24, 2009 - 11:23am PT
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awesome beta mtnyoung .
how is the approach ?
scan those slides wouldya ?
PS. does anyone know if the third edition of the Secor guide is available ? in the works ? i know he was injured in that glissade accident awhile back...
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Mar 24, 2009 - 11:44am PT
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The approach is "only" 5 or 6 miles. Mostly on trails, and then on use-trails. But it is very uphill. There is a perfect lake/tarn that sits about 3/4 mile north of Matterhorn Peak on that side of the Sawtooth. It has nice, flat places for tents. This is an ideal base camp for all climbs in the area. Take a day to the lake, and then climb from there (although I've done it in a day, too, it's a loooong day).
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Hoots
climber
Tacoma, Toyota
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Mar 24, 2009 - 12:00pm PT
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3rd Ed. of the Secor Guide is out, and it is purdy. This one is definitely on my ticklist this year. Dragway sounds cool.
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cleo
Social climber
Berkeley, CA
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Mar 24, 2009 - 04:04pm PT
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bump, for more stories/
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 25, 2009 - 03:53am PT
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Mtnyoung, yep you and Micha are in there.
Amazon has the 3rd edition available if anyone is interested.
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Mar 25, 2009 - 09:55am PT
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I'll tell Micha that we're famous. I just ordered two copies of the third (always get two copies of guidebooks you like, one to use and one to keep pristine).
I'm going to get my photos of that climb scanned in the next weeks. Seen close up the corner is really cool. For two pitches. And at the top of the second pitch there's this huge flake. You're almost done with the hardest part of the the route and then there is this six foot flake that you've got to get by. I ended up climbing over it - and from above it's obviously well wedged - but that isn't so obvious from below.
BTW, Dragtooth's summit is well to the left in the photo you posted. It doesn't look like it from the angle of the shot, but it is.
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east side underground
Trad climber
Hilton crk,ca
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Mar 25, 2009 - 10:37am PT
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done the north buttress of dragtooth, fun but don't expect the rock quality of say the whitney region. The Doodad is a fun thing to do on your way down, cool exposed short 5.6 (?) to top of LARGE boulder on ridge. :)
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aldude
climber
Monument Manor
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Mar 25, 2009 - 02:56pm PT
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Brad - how hard was your route up the center - I was eyeballin that one too*
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tallguy
Trad climber
bay area
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Mar 25, 2009 - 03:12pm PT
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Done it too.
For a topo with a "5.10 ow" on it, it is a pretty easy crux. One or two moves of ow, bring a 4.5 camalot if you are worried (we did), but it wasn't too bad, and thats not a sandbag comment. Typical for a sierra climb, a fun good pitches here and there, some questionable rock, and a good long get in shape day.
Fun route to tick, though it is the only sierra climb I have ever done that I had to leave gear on the descent down the nasty gully near the matterhorn. Tricky descent during certain portions of the year, and a long way to the summit and descent after you finish. Start early
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Mar 25, 2009 - 03:15pm PT
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"It's in the Fiddler/Monyier book and deservedly so."
It is? Is this a newer edition we're talking about?
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Mar 25, 2009 - 03:25pm PT
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Aldude: If I remember right it was 5.9? Not particularly good climbing and not particularly good rock, but a nice location. And Micha is one of those partners who makes any climbing day a good day. So it was a fun route.
tallguy: You're right about the "offwidth," the crux pitch is supposed to be 5.10a as an offwidth and 5.10d as a stemming problem. With my long legs, I chose to stem. I've descended it three times on the left skyline, which is also one of the fourth class ascent routes. I suppose I had an advantage in descending this way since I first ascended it by this route and so had a pretty good idea of where I was going on the way down. It's not so bad coming down that way.
Fat Dad: Yeah, the Falcon Press edition, the newer one, has it (doesn't it?). Now I'm questioning my memory and I don't have the book to hand.
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Mar 25, 2009 - 06:23pm PT
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I remember too using a new type of gear on the route I did in the center. They turned out to be very, very handy. The base of the climb is behind a steep area of snow. Usually one can get into the bergshrund or walk on rocks, and the snow isn't a big issue. That's what I've done most times before in getting to the base of High Sierra routes. But this "glacier" area was wider and steeper than I've commonly seen (and it appeared that way in photos I looked at beforehand).
So I brought these halfsize aluminum "crampons" for my approach shoes. I think the Brits call them "creepers?" Small and very light, they fit onto my low-top approach shoes perfectly. I was able to walk right up the snow. Micha had a tough time of it; I gave him a top belay. Without these one of us could very easily taken a big, nasty slider.
I then put them in my pack for the climb and barely noticed them. Anyone else ever use these?
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 27, 2009 - 01:26am PT
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kewl, thx
pic would be rad
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Brutus of Wyde
climber
Old Climbers' Home, Oakland CA
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Mar 27, 2009 - 04:37am PT
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I used "creepers" way back in 1973 when I was learning the ropes. Scary things... the points were only about 1/8" long, made for traversing icy sidewalks. For a Sierra snowfield, I generally take Camp 6-point adjustable crampons these days, fit great on the front part of my approach shoes.
If you lack creepers or any crampons, an old-timer's trick I've used is to take off the shoes and do the snowfield in wool socks. Surprising the amount of traction this generates.
Nurse and I gazed longingly at the Dragtooth line, but on that trip Matterhorn Peak was all we could handle.
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Apr 23, 2009 - 10:54am PT
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So the classic route "Dragway" is shown in the photo below. It appears to be a little corner out on the buttress, well highlighted by sun/shade:
The so-visible corner makes up the second and third pitches of the route. The third pitch is the crux. As can be seen below, the corner isn't little, it only appears so in the photo above. I am told the pitch goes at middle 5.10 as an offwidth or at 5.10d when stemming. I've got long legs:
The crack stays wide, but good small cams can be used too in the discontinuous crack/seams on the side walls. Near the end of the pitch there is a way scary flake. There's no way around it, but after you climb over it you realize that it is solidly jammed into place. Here's after the lead and after pulling up the rope to drop it back down and haul the pack:
I was pretty hammered after the lead. I think it shows:
The pitch above consists of a nice 5.9 splitter on excellent rock:
Anyway, it's an excellent route, highly recommended.
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Apr 23, 2009 - 11:31pm PT
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Not that anyone actually reads post about climbing, but I forgot to post one photo. This is the beautiful tarn that sits below the eastern part of the Sawtooth Ridge (on its north side). It is less than a mile from all of the climbs that are in the eastern half of the north side of the Sawtooth. Nice bivy spot. Our hard-to-see tent is just left of the trees that are the lowest in the photo.
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland: what's not to love?
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Apr 24, 2009 - 01:12am PT
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Wow! Looks great. Wonderful shot of the corner and the splitter that breaks the headwall. Straight onto the summer list.
Even though I hear what you're saying, that flake still looks like a hungry guillotine.
Edit: Or like a widow/orphan maker. Or a bad haircut waiting to happen.
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Chris Oakes
climber
Hayward
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Oct 31, 2009 - 11:02pm PT
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Thanks for the post. I was trying to figure out what the crux pitch is like. You hit it on the head.
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Banquo
Trad climber
Morgan Hill, CA
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Perfect crampon conditions 2 weeks ago which makes the approach easier than scrambling over scree and talus. Short days though.
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Footloose
Trad climber
Lake Tahoe
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May 27, 2014 - 10:11pm PT
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Very cool!
bow,
I used "creepers" way back in 1973 when I was learning the ropes. Scary things... the points were only about 1/8" long, made for traversing icy sidewalks.... If you lack creepers or any crampons, an old-timer's trick I've used is to take off the shoes and do the snowfield in wool socks. Surprising the amount of traction this generates.
Haha!
Let's get out there, em! :)
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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May 28, 2014 - 06:53am PT
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Dragtooth was my very first Sierra summit, as a teenager, back in 1978, via the class 3 ridge from Polemonium Pass. My ol' Rollei 35 camera jammed during the climb, so I don't have any photos.
Always liked the look of that buttress on the Dragtooth.
mtnyoung, that flake in your 3rd photo belongs in the scary rock thread. And there is a really cool boulder cave near that tarn, that makes for a nice bivouac spot (somewhere just out of the photo in the upper right)..
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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May 28, 2014 - 07:17am PT
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I've got long legs:
Sexy in short shorts?
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Stewart Johnson
climber
lake forest
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May 28, 2014 - 09:04am PT
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Bump for a great climb
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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May 28, 2014 - 10:17pm PT
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Pano of the Dragtooth, Doodad and Three Teeth
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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May 28, 2014 - 11:45pm PT
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Fun day
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bluegreyguy
climber
sf, ca
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May 29, 2014 - 03:07pm PT
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Interesting that other people have observed the snow up there. I agree the lake below is really amazing. My partner and I found run-out climbing on the face but I was feeling pretty weak in general so we bailed. The slab avalanche visible in the photo had obviously just scoured the approach the week before we got there in like, late June or something.
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Laine
Trad climber
Reno, NV
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May 29, 2014 - 05:59pm PT
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The Matterhorn/Dragway area is probably one of the more unrated and underclimbed of the High Sierra venues. Everyone goes to the Sawtooths to climb the Hulk. And the bivy lake really is something special.
Footloose, I'm thinking I could squeeze in a jaunt up the Dragway one weekend in June if you are interested. I'm happy to take the wide pitch.
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The Alpine
climber
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May 29, 2014 - 08:49pm PT
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Looks like a rad zone. Great spot for a High Sierra Hardman Sushifest.
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Footloose
Trad climber
Lake Tahoe
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mtnyoung wrote,
there is this six foot flake that you've got to get by. I ended up climbing over it - and from above it's obviously well wedged - but that isn't so obvious from below.
Yeah, it's pretty scary looking. Anyone been up there since pre-2009? Is it still there? Can anyone confirm "well wedged"? - concern for belayer especially since it's a corner.
Is the fall line (plumb line) straight above belayer or off to the outside, anyone know?
Thanks.
We're thinking about it.
Photo from mountain project showing dihedral and "well-wedged" flake...
http://www.mountainproject.com/images/67/1/105986701_large_b57d2c.jpg
From Morley, mountainproject...
"BEWARE OF THE LOOSE, STACKED BLOCKS guarding the exit from the clean corner!"
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msiddens
Trad climber
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sweet repost:-) Love that area but indeed have never checked out dragtooth
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bit'er ol' guy
climber
the past
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yes.
but can you do a route w/o ST or MP beta?
seems like it's pretty well covered in guide books.
now we expect a TR
pressures on now!
even worse recomending routes they never done.
lame.
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BFK
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Anyone been on Dragway or in the vicinity of the sawtooths recently? Curious about snow conditions and the need for crampons.
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| Messages 1 - 38 of total 38 in this topic |
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