The South Face of the Tooth (again)

In 2022 I soloed the South Face of the Tooth, a classic 5.4 alpine climb just an hour away from Seattle. On a recent visit to Seattle, with many of the other climbs under snow, I returned to the scene of the crime with a trad rack and a partner to do it again.  

Trip Logistics

For more details, go read the last trip report as it probably has some nice details about the route. 

Gear
I aimed for a light rack on this one. Here is the key gear brought.

• 4 BD cams (0.5 to 2)
• DMM nuts (1-6, 8, 10) 
• 2 Cordalettes
• 1 240 sling
• 3 120 slings
• 7 alpine draws 
• A Petzl Micro Traxion

One could theoretically complete this route only with nuts (I think I only placed one cam).  The alpine draws were critical and probably the right amount. I was a big fan of belaying with the micro traxion for this route, especially with the rope drag and how quickly the follower can climb due to the lower angle. 

Trip Report

We were up and going at the Snow Lake trailhead at 8:00am on a Friday. To the surprise of no one, the trailhead was decently full. As we made our way up we passed a variety of folks with varying levels of preparedness. Some in mountaineering boots while others were in flip flops. Eventually we took a left to head onto the Source Lake trail. 

First view of the Tooth. The bare little guy on the left. 

We eventually made it to a scree field which we would descend to start towards Pineapple Basin. As we moved through it, we ran into some folks going to Snow Lake who had missed their turn. They were nice enough to warn us that Snow Lake was not this way. I did not have the heart to mention that if they just continued on, they would have actually wrapped back around to the Snow Lake trail. 

Looking down on some of the drainages that must be conquered. 

Looking down from the couloir to the climb

The ascent to the base of the climb took much longer without the snow. Frankly it was not very fun and I would certainly recommend trying to do it with snow. The boulders in the basin are surprisingly solid, but descending was certainly a chore. The ascent trail was difficult to find, and disappeared many times. At the base of the climb we were greeted by the final climber of a group of six. Yet again it was a team from the Mountaineers on their way up. 

 We geared up and I began to lead the first of the 4 pitches, this time with approach shoes.  The pitches went quick. The protection was poor, but the climbing was easy. I placed at a maximum 5 pieces per pitch. In retrospect I am not sure how I soloed this in the past. The climbing was easy, but there was certainly a lot of exposure. Maybe the security of precise rock shoes would have made me feel much better. I likely will never solo this (or anything) again. 

Looking down the first pitch

Looking back across the catwalk on the final pitch. 

 Up the final section to the summit 

We eventually reached the summit. The Mountaineers folks were gearing up to head down so we got the summit mostly to ourselves. After some snacks we made our way down, doing the 4 rappels down the route.

Looking out from the summit.

Upon finishing the raps, we packed up our gear and headed down. It was a long slog jumping over all the boulders. I could not keep thinking about how much better it would be with snow. Maybe if I had more than a handful of trail mix and a single Cliff Zbar I would have been a happier camper on the way down. 

Looking down on Source Lake on the way back.

So after 4 years, what do I think of the Tooth? The climbing is quite lackluster, but the setting is gorgeous. I am not sure it is worth the approach in the summer (we were 11 hours C2C), but certainly an overall solid easy climb into the alpine.

Happy climbing!

-m