I’d been really itching to return to the Lost Creek Wilderness for over a month, and with a prospect for aspens at their height of fall color I finally convinced Pete to make an attempt on two unnamed 9,000+ foot peaks in the Goose Creek valley.
We hoped to make short work of the hiking and climbing and with luck Pete would get home for a 6pm Purdue game (his alma mater). As an Indiana University graduate, I’d kept our rivalry out of my climbing partnership with Pete, but know I saw the perfect opportunity to sabotage his plans.
The hike started out perfectly, with a cool morning and the amazing granite formations in the Goose Creek valley.
We didn’t yet have a good idea which of the many domes and spires were our goal peaks of 9242 and 9300. A misreading of my map and GPS caused us to loose almost an hour hiking past then backtracking. Still, it looked like Pete would get to see his Purdue game, so I had to come up with a better distraction.
I started by compounding my map reading errors and mistaking the unranked 9250 for 9242. We wasted nearly two hours trying to make the cliffs match the photos we had of the start of 9242′s climbing, then scrambling around and disbelieving the GPS that we were a half mile or more from the real 9242.
After bushwhacking, scrambling and crawling through small notches I could no longer continue the charade any longer. 9300 was clearly visible to our west, which would make 9242 further south of our present location.
Tired and it was nearing noon as we headed west through trail-less forest. Deer trail occasionally lent a hand, but we had to make our own way across a creek.
This brought us to the base of the elusive 9300 and we started to climb up the southern gully between the two towers.
The terrain was steep boulders with plenty of thorn bushes and small pebbles and loose dirt on any flat surface. I was wishing I’d worn my approach shoes instead of the trail runners. Eventually we made it to the base of the real climbing. To waste yet more time I managed to drop the GPS into a small hole and had to go spelunking under a large rock to retrieve it.
Once we were roped up I led up some slabby ledges and a nice crack to a slabby arete and then left following another crack. The climbing was mostly easy (5.3) with the hardest maybe around the start (5.4-5.5?) but probably could have been avoided by going a different way.
Pete quickly followed this first pitch and took to the belay stance with ease.
Looking ahead I had a continuation of the crack, then a bit of blank slab followed by a ledge to a final crack leading to a block where I could see a red rappel sling.
Pete belayed as I hurried up this terrain with meadows and Goose Creek way below.
The summit was just a short scramble beyond this point and we checked out the tiny summit register with just a few names (all ascents known to us).
We reversed our short scramble to the slung boulder to which I added a second sling, then started a messy rappel. The angle was low enough that we couldn’t toss the ropes far before they tangled.
Once I was down a full 60 meters I built an anchor and had Pete come down. After pulling the ropes we packed away the static tag line and I belayed Pete as he down climbed some easy slab. I pulled the anchor and followed, then we did one more small crack which Pete rappelled while placing a few cams, then belayed me as I downclimbed. A short scramble brought us back to the base of the slabs then we reversed the vegetated scramble to the base of the peak.
After hiking down from peak 9300, we crossed the stream on a huge boulder that formed a natural bridge some 20 feet above the creek. We discussed the late hour and whether or not we should bail from an attempt on 9242. It’d be a shame to pass it up, but we’d definitely be hiking out in the dark and Pete didn’t have a headlamp. It’d be safer to skip the attempt, but so rewarding to pull it off.
Initial agreement to postpone 9242 for another day gave way to “just scouting it out” and we turned south to approach the peak. Internally I was considering an attempt justified if we could reach the base by 4:15. Helpfully, I’d also remembered a small LED light that I had as a backup that Pete could use when it got dark.
We hit the cliffs right at my goal time and a bit of scouting found our ascent crack. We geared up, checked that we had an extra layer and a flashlight then I started up the crack.
I soon realized a bottle of weedkiller might have been as appropriate on my rack as the cams and slings. Dirt and live vegetation obscured what would otherwise have been a classic 5.7 hand crack. The top widened to off-width but featured rock on either side allowed forward progress as the angle relented and I spotted a tree with a rappel sling. We were definitely on track.
Pete followed with a tug or two on gear, especially around a slick and frictionless part of the crack that had given me some trouble as well.
We coiled the rope then headed off on brushy ledges past pine trees and through thorn bushes to search out pitch #2.
We came to the slanting dihedral that was our second pitch and a little scrambling brought us to the base. I started up, but mostly stayed left of the dihedral’s crack which was plugged with plenty of vegetation. It wasn’t as sharp, but the climbing reminded me of a recent visit to the Monastery – plenty of pebble pinching. I spotted a slung boulder as I reached the end of the dihedral and traversed right to build a final anchor and belay Pete up.
Pete arrived with a sarcastic comment about that being the best pitch of climbing all year, then hurried over to the true summit in late afternoon light.
Peak 9300 was already in the shade, as was much of the valley. We located the summit register and added our names to those of our friends and joined a small circle of people who’d climbed these obscure peaks.
We then rushed back to the rappel and had a closer look at this slung boulder. The webbing wasn’t as secure as I would have liked, but dropping below the boulder into a little cave then bushwhacking while on rappel through a partially dead plant kept the pull more secure and sent me back to the base.
Pete came down and thankfully the ropes pulled without much struggle.
We found another hole to crawl through to avoid one of the exposed scrambling moves we’d made on the way up, then quickly arrived back at the top of the first pitch. Rappelling from the tree was straight forward then we packed up our gear and headed pretty much due east to find the trail after about 15 minutes.
Only the walking remained back to the car and we weren’t worried about darkness now. The trail would be easy to follow and I’d actually started to look forward to a little night hiking while on the climb of 9242. About an hour passed before we really needed our lights, as the trees blocked the half moon light. Still, the moon light cast a silvery glow on the creek as we hiked by and didn’t drown out the night’s stars.
It was after 8pm when we finally reached the car, over a 12 hour day but an extremely satisfying one, even if Pete missed his Purdue game.
Adam’s Complete Photo Album
Pete’s Photos
