wildstar - Aug 1, 2009 2:24 pm Date Climbed: Jul 31, 2009
East Face Summer
Hard to protect and loose. Not my favorite climb.
snowflake - Mar 12, 2009 8:04 pm Date Climbed: Sep 1, 1987
East Face Sep 1987
First time I ever led, taking a first time climber. Luckily it was an easy climb or else we would have had "a bad day".
Mjollnir - Jan 28, 2009 2:15 pm Date Climbed: Jan 27, 2009
NE Buttress (Winter)
Great alpine route in full conditions - snow, spindrift avalanches, high winds, low visibility. . Don and Pat were on route at the same time we were. Route is in good condition (right now).
Dan Winter - Apr 30, 2008 1:57 am Date Climbed: Sep 6, 2004
Route Climbed: NE Buttress Date Climbed: 9-21-2007
Climbed the NE buttress with four other friends. Fun climb but very loose rock. Saw a mountain goat on the summit. nice day.
Casey Bates - Aug 12, 2007 11:33 am Date Climbed: Aug 11, 2007
Scramble
Scrambled to the beginning of the technical rock on the north side of Chair. Solo. Tried to continue traverse north towards Gem Lake but got cliffed out.
laurel - Jul 12, 2007 4:09 pm Date Climbed: Jun 1, 2007
Scramble Route
Second WAC Basic class alpine climbing field trip.
sjf - Mar 30, 2006 8:16 am Date Climbed: Feb 11, 2006
North Face
See my brother's (Tom Fralich) comments below.
esugi - Feb 22, 2006 6:35 am Date Climbed: Feb 20, 2006
NF of Chair
Made pretty easy ascent of NF in mostly snow conditions. Was hoping for more ice but only spots on the first pitch. Made the route in 3 pitches and we were feeling pretty good about it until a guy (Jens from CC.com) came soloing up the route AFTER already soloing the NE Buttress. He climbed the route in mere 30 minutes (?). He put us to shame. Great descent on otherwise great outing.
Tom Fralich - Feb 13, 2006 5:30 am Date Climbed: Feb 11, 2006
North Face
Climbed the route with my brother, who just moved to Seattle, as his first alpine route. We left the parking lot at around 6:30AM and found a well packed trail all the way to the NE ridge. The wind was blowing pretty hard on the ridge, but once we were on the route, things settled down a bit. After some delays getting started due to a slower party, we climbed the face in 4 long pitches. Conditions were OK, but there wasn't much ice and the snow wasn't as consolidated as I hoped. We reached the summit at around 1PM and had an easy time with the descent. We were back in the parking lot at around 4PM. Very nice climb. I was happy to get such a nice peak in just a 4-day visit to WA.
Snidely Whiplash - Feb 8, 2006 10:45 pm Date Climbed: Aug 5, 1984
Route Climbed: NE Buttress
An amazingly alpine climb considering how close one is to I-90 and Seattle, and how low the peak is. There was a considerable amount of snow in the basin beneath the NE Buttress, even in August of a normal snowfall year. I'll never forget how loose the rock is, though, and how a boulder came crashing down our rappel route right after we just got out of the way. A very dangerous peak!
Route Climbed: Something on the southeast side? Date Climbed: June, 2001
Ryle and I parked at the Alpental Ski Resort and started hiking. In classic Josh and Ryle style, we didn't really know where we were going or what we were going to climb. Hell, we didn't even have a map. We started hiking and figured we'd find something interesting to go up. Ryle was in his jeans, and I was in shorts and running shoes. About a mile in we started postholing.
We followed some footprints up through the snow, scrambled up through some super steep dirt/bushes and eventually found ourselves at the base of what I think was Chair Peak. There was what appeared to be a few pitches of easy to moderate Class 5 rock, on the southeast side, so we scampered up that. The line we took came it at 5.easy with a few moves up to 5.6. A couple ancient-looking pins assured us that at least somebody else had been up this "route" before. Then we climbed some hideously loose (easy) rock up to the summit. I was yelling at Ryle most of the time because he was being a big pussy on the loose stuff. "Yeah, that piece of rock only weighs 30 lbs and is completely detached, but if you pull on it in the right way, it will hold." Anyway, we bagged the summit and headed back down. We found some anchors at the top of a steep, snowy chimney/gully and wound up doing two or three rappels to get down to easy terrain.
If what I described doesn't resemble anything on Chair Peak, please let me know. I suppose it's possible that we were on something else.
wildstar - Aug 1, 2009 2:24 pm Date Climbed: Jul 31, 2009
East Face SummerHard to protect and loose. Not my favorite climb.
snowflake - Mar 12, 2009 8:04 pm Date Climbed: Sep 1, 1987
East Face Sep 1987First time I ever led, taking a first time climber. Luckily it was an easy climb or else we would have had "a bad day".
Mjollnir - Jan 28, 2009 2:15 pm Date Climbed: Jan 27, 2009
NE Buttress (Winter)Great alpine route in full conditions - snow, spindrift avalanches, high winds, low visibility. . Don and Pat were on route at the same time we were. Route is in good condition (right now).
Dan Winter - Apr 30, 2008 1:57 am Date Climbed: Sep 6, 2004
NE ButtressNot my favorite rock climb.
agreenstreet - Sep 23, 2007 5:31 pm
Route Climbed: NE Buttress Date Climbed: 9-21-2007Climbed the NE buttress with four other friends. Fun climb but very loose rock. Saw a mountain goat on the summit. nice day.
Casey Bates - Aug 12, 2007 11:33 am Date Climbed: Aug 11, 2007
ScrambleScrambled to the beginning of the technical rock on the north side of Chair. Solo. Tried to continue traverse north towards Gem Lake but got cliffed out.
laurel - Jul 12, 2007 4:09 pm Date Climbed: Jun 1, 2007
Scramble RouteSecond WAC Basic class alpine climbing field trip.
sjf - Mar 30, 2006 8:16 am Date Climbed: Feb 11, 2006
North FaceSee my brother's (Tom Fralich) comments below.
esugi - Feb 22, 2006 6:35 am Date Climbed: Feb 20, 2006
NF of ChairMade pretty easy ascent of NF in mostly snow conditions. Was hoping for more ice but only spots on the first pitch. Made the route in 3 pitches and we were feeling pretty good about it until a guy (Jens from CC.com) came soloing up the route AFTER already soloing the NE Buttress. He climbed the route in mere 30 minutes (?). He put us to shame. Great descent on otherwise great outing.
Tom Fralich - Feb 13, 2006 5:30 am Date Climbed: Feb 11, 2006
North FaceClimbed the route with my brother, who just moved to Seattle, as his first alpine route. We left the parking lot at around 6:30AM and found a well packed trail all the way to the NE ridge. The wind was blowing pretty hard on the ridge, but once we were on the route, things settled down a bit. After some delays getting started due to a slower party, we climbed the face in 4 long pitches. Conditions were OK, but there wasn't much ice and the snow wasn't as consolidated as I hoped. We reached the summit at around 1PM and had an easy time with the descent. We were back in the parking lot at around 4PM. Very nice climb. I was happy to get such a nice peak in just a 4-day visit to WA.
Snidely Whiplash - Feb 8, 2006 10:45 pm Date Climbed: Aug 5, 1984
Route Climbed: NE ButtressAn amazingly alpine climb considering how close one is to I-90 and Seattle, and how low the peak is. There was a considerable amount of snow in the basin beneath the NE Buttress, even in August of a normal snowfall year. I'll never forget how loose the rock is, though, and how a boulder came crashing down our rappel route right after we just got out of the way. A very dangerous peak!
Moni - Nov 15, 2003 8:32 am
Route Climbed: East Face Date Climbed: Aug 1 1992With Fred. The descent is a pain.
Fred Spicker - Jul 25, 2002 4:56 pm
Route Climbed: E Face Date Climbed: 1 Aug 1992Climbed with Monica Spicker.
Josh - Apr 10, 2002 5:26 pm
Route Climbed: Something on the southeast side? Date Climbed: June, 2001Ryle and I parked at the Alpental Ski Resort and started hiking. In classic Josh and Ryle style, we didn't really know where we were going or what we were going to climb. Hell, we didn't even have a map. We started hiking and figured we'd find something interesting to go up. Ryle was in his jeans, and I was in shorts and running shoes. About a mile in we started postholing.
We followed some footprints up through the snow, scrambled up through some super steep dirt/bushes and eventually found ourselves at the base of what I think was Chair Peak. There was what appeared to be a few pitches of easy to moderate Class 5 rock, on the southeast side, so we scampered up that. The line we took came it at 5.easy with a few moves up to 5.6. A couple ancient-looking pins assured us that at least somebody else had been up this "route" before. Then we climbed some hideously loose (easy) rock up to the summit. I was yelling at Ryle most of the time because he was being a big pussy on the loose stuff. "Yeah, that piece of rock only weighs 30 lbs and is completely detached, but if you pull on it in the right way, it will hold." Anyway, we bagged the summit and headed back down. We found some anchors at the top of a steep, snowy chimney/gully and wound up doing two or three rappels to get down to easy terrain.
If what I described doesn't resemble anything on Chair Peak, please let me know. I suppose it's possible that we were on something else.
Jerm - May 7, 2006 6:48 am
Re: Route Climbed: Something on the southeast side? Date Climbed: June, 2001Kinda sounds more like the Tooth than Chair.