Elevation Gain: 958m
Distance: 6.08km
Total Time: 13 hours 19 minutes
Date: July 6th, 2024
Cutthroat Peak has been on Andrea and mines list for some time now. We did our first alpine climb together on the nearby Kangaroo Temple and Cutthroat caught our eye from day one. There’s no easy way up the summit and it boasts an apparently classic 5.8 route up the South Buttress. In early October of 2023 we even made an attempt, but nearly froze on the approach and bailed to Hart’s Pass instead. It was now by some pure chance that the stars would align for an attempt in the week I had off for my company shut down. Brayden and I had driven all the way from California with a quick stop in Smith Rock with the plan to spend our last 3 days in Washington Pass. Andrea and Carly would coincidentally be out there for 2 days as well. We thought we might just hang out with them after our respective day trips but that all changed when Brayden was taken out of commission on Friday. Due to some unexpected ailments I was now out a partner for the Saturday and Andrea and Carly kindly switched plans around to rope me into Cutthroat Peak.
We camped in Mazama the night before and got up and going around 6am making our way up to the famous Washington Pass switch back. As we pulled up we noticed one more car already at the trailed and 2 minutes later a second came up. Two climbers got out and raced to the trail head while we finished getting ready. This is to be expected on an ultra popular climb for the July 4th long weekend and I didn’t make much note of it. Once we were racked up, we found the climber’s trail, crossed a creek and then accidentally looped back to the highway. After a quick laugh we corrected our error and made it into the meadows below Cutthroat not long after. The approach is a pretty short one and on a great trail and before we knew were in the boulder field below the start of the climb.
All of us ditched our poles and then started up the ridge, taking a 3rd class route that bypassed the crummy lower pitches of the south buttress. We had taken this route on the first attempt and again now we reached the ridge with ease. However, back in October we went no further so it was to my surprise when I reached a massive notch that would necessitate a rappel to gain the buttress. We’d have to get the ropes out anyways and that would avoid those first two pitches, so it was still a win in my books. I checked over the anchor and then rappelled in with Andrea and Carly following next. From there I lead a short low 5th pitch back up to the ridge and to the start of the climbing proper.
Andrea swung leads here and took us climber’s right around the ridge crest through low 5th terrain. Carly and I followed up and then Andrea lead one more pitch since the first had just been to reach the first part of climbing. From there we swung leads and there came a few 5.6 moves up some grainy/friable section of rock and then onto slabs. I was supposed to go climber’s right here and ended up following another party up left instead. The slab pushed the limit of my approach shoes and I realized I should have swapped shoes earlier. In any event I climbed up the slab traversed left under a large block and made to mantle moves before location a suitable anchor. I had landed us under a less travelled dihedral, but it looked doable. Andrea and Carly came up and then Andrea bravely lead this hard to protect section. Above the dihedral she found a ledge system and traversed all the way back on route.
I took the next lead and climbed up more 4th class terrain and under a massive chockstone which clearly marked we were on route again. After everyone followed up we moved the rope climber’s right along a ledge and Andrea climbed a great 5.8 pitch almost a full rope length. This was probably the most fun pitch on the route, but we didn’t know that at the time. Now I swung leads again and climbed through some 5.4ish slabs up the base of two options. Out left was a small gully, with good stemming but no pro. Above was an overhanging hand crack, but it appeared to have great feet to over come the verticality. I went for the hand crack and it ended up being way easier than it looked afar. Andrea and Carly cruised up and then Andrea lead one more pitch to the start of the notches near the summit. This pitch was basically one hard down climb move and then easy terrain for the rest.
My final lead was through two separate notches with a 5.7 move to start and another reachy/bouldery move below the usual gear anchor spot. The notches were pretty awful for rope drag despite placing just one piece and I struggled to pull in slack while Andrea and Carly came up. Now the last pitch was a short 4″ off-width which Andrea gracefully ascended and took us the rest of the way to the summit. The views were really great and despite the climbing being not all that classic the company was fantastic. I was dealing with some stomach issues in the final pitches to the summit but otherwise the moment was very much enjoyable.
Now for the descent! The super topo beta we were following mentioned two bolted rappels and then a down scramble along the west ridge. So off we went. I located the first station and started down but had issues locating the next station. Eventually I found it out skier’s left. However, there were numerous rap stations of tat along the gully that added some uncertainty about where to go. We made a second rope stretching rappel down to some exposed ledges and then traversed west to gain the west ridge.
The ridge was exposed with sections of loose rock and kitty litter, but we made it through uneventfully. Andrea located the third rappel station above a massive dihedral and took the lead next. From there we performed one more rappel down the dihderal and reached the upper scree slopes. I lead the way following some existing foot prints and initially went too far skier’s left and cliffed out next to a rappel station. I climbed back out and located a cairn across the large scree bowl and that lead us to better terrain. From there we zig zagged our way down the slope with relative ease and reached the top of the boulder field after a short boot ski down scree.
All of us filled up water at the creek and then headed to the boulders to collect our poles. Andrea got to hers first and started commenting something about the poles. I couldn’t quite hear, but when I pulled mine out I saw what she had been talking about. Marmots had chewed through our poles! Only one of my two poles was damaged but both of Andrea’s were totally wrecked. Carly did not make it unscathed either. A hard lesson to learn, but we moved on and started the descent. The rest was an easy walk back to the car.
The climbing on Cutthroat was mediocre with only two good pitches of 5.8 and the rest being mostly low 5th ledges and scrambling. However, the position, views, weather and company more than made up for it. I was honestly just happy to be out at all and it was nice for Andrea and I to finally summit one of our more sought after peaks together.