Chair Peak – NE Buttress (II WI3 5.4)

After climbing Snoqualmie Mountain’s New York Gully, I felt motivated to round out the weekend with another climb. Kyle was easily convinced when I pitched the idea of a hot lap on a classic moderate, so we repacked our bags and went to bed early with alarms set for 4am (again). Under clear skies, we climbed Chair Peak’s Northeast Buttress on January 26, 2025.

Thumbtack Rock at the crack of dawn. Photo: KT

As we shuffled out of the parking lot at 5am, I was feeling even more stoked than normal. The day was shaping up to be a great one! We had cool, clear weather on our side. Even better, we would be spending the entire day in the sun once it rose above the horizon. After shivering so much the day prior, I was ready to soak up the sun. Our approach timing worked perfectly, arriving at Thumbtack rock right as it got light enough to see without headlamps. We cached our trekking poles and made our way to the base of the route.

Chair Peak looking fine in the early morning twilight. The route climbes the curving gully on the lower right of the face, then trends left to the summit.
Kyle setting off on our first roped pitch. Fun, mellow mixed climbing with some good ice!
Me following the first pitch on sticky ice. Photo: KT

We soloed the first 30 meters of the route for some reason and then belayed where the climbing became mixed in the gully. Kyle cruised up the well-protected, easy climbing which had a good amount of quality ice on it! The ice in the narrow gully was great quality and pure fun to climb. I took the next pitch, romping up a steep snow face before gaining an exposed snow arete to a rock anchor.

Kyle coming up the snow arete on pitch 2. It’s like a much easier, less exposed, shorter Cowboy Arete!
Kyle leading us over to the ice step.
Following pitch three, the traverse to the ice step. Photo: KT

Kyle led a nice AI2 traverse pitch to the base of an awesome waterfall ice pitch which is the defining feature of the upper route. I gleefully tapped my way up the frozen waterfall, relishing in the movement in this spectacular place. The face below seemed to fall away as I worked my feet into place for each steep move. These moments are what keeps me coming back! Even sweeter, there was an exposed rock island just above the crux which happily accepted three cams for a belay. My only complaint was that it ended too soon. Another pitch and a half of steep snow brought us to the top of the route five hours after we’d left the car. What a great day it was proving to be! The descent was painless with some moderately steep snow climbing and a 60 meter rappel off of fixed pitons.

Savoring the ice step. Photo: KT
Downclimbing the upper part of the descent. A rappel anchor exists at the top – rappelling might be a good call depending on snow conditions. Photo: KT
Kyle rapping into the descent couloir. A stellar day in the hills!

Gear Notes

We brought and used: single 60m rope, tag line (in pack until descent), four ice screws (2x 10cm, 2x 13cm), a set of offset nuts, and cams .3-1. We carried a picket but never used it. I hate carrying pickets because they are heavy, cumbersome, labor-intensive to place, but they are indispensable when you really need one in a tough anchoring situation. I’d bring one again if I were to repeat this climb. If conditions are icy, another couple of 13cm screws would be a nice addition.

Strategy Notes

There are a lot of conflicting opinions on whether or not a single 60m rope is sufficient for the descent. You definitely COULD just bring a 60m or 70m rope, which will have you descending very steep snow in a spot where you are completely exposed to overhead hazard. We chose to bring a tag line because it would allow us to rappel quickly to a protected stance, only spending a minute or so exposed to significant overhead hazard.

We took 2 hours to reach Thumbtack Rock on the approach.

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