March 12, 2016
Saturday Matt and I headed up to the Great Chimney on Mt. Olympus. I’ve spied this line for a while as it is very obvious from the valley and I can even see some it from my house. The only trouble it is a haul to get up there. Parking at Neff’s Canyon and hiking up the trail isn’t too bad. It is the long gully slog that was the tiring part. Luckily our beta was indicated possible post holing for the bulk of the gully so we opted for snowshoes, which were well worth it. The climb itself was only three pitches for us. I think the usual first winter/spring pitch is covered in snow right now. We tromped up about 400′ of vertical to get from our packs in the main gully to the base of what was exposed chimney. The first pitch had poor protection and some insecure climbing. Matt did a great job on this one. I headed up the deep dark second pitch, which I think is usually P3. This pitch was a full 60m for us and I took my sweet time doing it. The pro was tricky and dubious at times . The climbing was awkward, particularly when stemming and surmounting chockstones was required. The final pitch was short and relatively straightforward, though the snow was not as well consolidated. Great day out training for AK.
