JOHANNESBERG

     This was my last climb of Johannesberg!  I mean it!  I’m done!  No more!  Not again!  No one can talk me into it!  Finished!!!  It’s not that I’m scared of this peak, however, it is certainly  intimidating in appearance.  You don’t take the mountain lightly.  I have had a few incidents on the seven ascents that were “sort of close” calls like big rocks bouncing down and a couple short falls.  It’s the physical endurance and most of all the mental stress of descending the monster.  It takes just as long or longer to get off of it.  I’m too old for this climb! 

     Steve Trent and I set out for our climb of Johannesberg on June 22, with the objective of not only doing J-berg but Cascade Peak and The Triplets.  Our plan was to bivouac at the CJ col after ascending J-berg, then do the other two peaks the next day.  Steve wanted this peak since his encounter with J-berg two years ago ended with a smashed finger from rock-fall near the top of the CJ couloir.  Why was I going up this peak again?  Good question!  After my last trip in 1999 with Scott Bingen, I said, “Six is enough!”  Seven years later, I’m cramponing up the 3400 foot couloir.  There were two reasons I guess.  One was that Steve really wanted to climb it and I certainly would enjoy going along as his partner.  The second reason was the mountain just “sucked” me in.  For all the intimidation of the length of ascent and descent, loose rock, steep snow, and whatever else it might throw at you, I wanted it one more time.

     After walking two miles up the Cascade River Road, the gate was open on our way back, we climbed up the couloir which was in good condition.  The snow was just right for crampons and step kicking.  We carried two ice tools, especially to use down climbing steep snow.  During the early morning, it was foggy until we broke out into the sun once in the gully of the East Ridge.  We found the key start, a water course of class 3 steps leading up to a steep snow slope.  After negotiating a short rock step, we were in the snow gully leading to the East Ridge crest.  Steve did all the step kicking up the 1000 feet of snow gully.  My thighs were getting fatigued; I really appreciated his step kicking.

CJ Coulior from Cascade River Road

     Once we hit the top of the ridge, we still had a ways to climb.  Sometimes you climbed on the crest, sometimes on the right or left side well below it on loose rock.  A handhold or foothold breaking off might cause a fall that could result in serious injury or even death.  The climbing was mainly class 2 to 3, with a few moves of class 4.  Roping up is not an option unless you want to spend a night up there.  A couple of times we were on snow on the north side of the ridge.  Finally after passing the false summit, we topped out.

Climbing on the ridge

The summit register was a wet mess; mostly unreadable.  The views were awesome!  Lots of snow in the mountains this year.  I was tired, but glad to be up on the summit again.

     As Scott and I had done in 1999, Steve and I protected our descent of the snow gully by belaying with pickets.  But carrying pickets on your harness are a pain in the neck.  At the end of the gully, one rap over the rock step and we were down to the snow slope.  Another rap from a tree got us down most of the rock steps of the water course.  We were back at our bivy site 13 hours after leaving the car.

Down-climbing the snow gulley; the route from the CJ col

The bivy site

     The next day we packed up and headed over to The Triplets.  After our scramble ascent of the East Triplet, we rapped about half of the narrow snow gully next to Mix Up.  Good anchors are hard to find in the gully.  We down climbed the rest of the gulley using two ice tools.  Upon reaching the large snow field, we thought we had it made all the way to our running shoes at the road.  But for a Johannesberg climb, “It ain’t over, till it’s over!”  Which means, you are at the car with a beer in your hand.  Thinking we had a continuous snow gully over some cliffs to the snow field below, We ended up with another rap down a waterfall.   As we were hiking down the road to Steve’s van, they opened the final 2 miles of the road to the Cascade Pass parking area.  

The exit gulley from the south, Mixup is on the right; our waterfall   

     I first saw Johannesburg in 1958, as a 17 year old, when a friend and I hiked up to Cascade Pass.  I was so impressed with the mountain and its 5000 foot north face.  I never thought at the time I would ever climb it.  After 7 ascents and with the age of 67 approaching fast, I have now retired!  I really mean it!!!

P.S.

     I’d like to acknowledge my climbing partners on these ascents, who shared in the Johannesberg adventures:

     1963 - couloir/east ridge - Reed Tindall  Mike Killien               1999 - couloir/east ridge - Scott Bingen

     1966 - northeast rib -        Reed Tindall                                       2006 - couloir/east ridge - Steve Trent

     1967 - couloir/east ridge - Dave Dixon

     1985 - central rib -            Mark Desvoinge

     1988 - central rib -            Howard Armstrong