Fallen Angel Peak, Act Like You’re Having Fun!

Washington, North Cascades
Author: Chris Mutzel. Climb Year: 2016. Publication Year: 2017.

In mid-September, Eric Wehrly and I snagged a new and aesthetic line within a day’s “walk” from the road in the North Cascades. It was my first rock FA in the range and a chance to learn from Eric, who has many first ascents to his name.

We parked near the measuring station on the west fork of Newhalem Creek and followed the creek to a junction where we turned west. We followed this drainage up into an alpine basin beneath the north aspect of Fallen Angel (ca 6,840’). On the approach we encountered just about every terrain obstacle the Cascades’ subalpine zones have to offer, perhaps even meriting a "New Wave" bushwhack rating. A physical, but not mental, respite from the eight-hour approach was offered by a sustained and exposed stretch of moss-coated, fifth-class chimney climbing, which granted passage through the lower cliff bands.

The climb itself was great. After 100’ or so of easy soloing, we climbed eight roped pitches to the summit. The rock was quite solid and clean, even on the junky-looking first pitch, requiring only sporadic, to-be-expected alpine gardening. The harder technical climbing followed high-quality crack systems up bright gneiss.

Swapping leads, I drew the spectacular crux pitch (5.10+), which follows a striking arête that we named the Scythe, in reference to Cascades climber (and Fallen Angel first ascensionist) John Roper’s original name for the north-northeast-facing prow that defines this side of the peak: the Grim Reaper Arête. On this pitch I avoided a belayer-slayer block, which Eric inadvertently trundled while following. Unfortunately, this marred our otherwise pure ascent as Eric weighted the rope to avoid a crushed foot. When the flake went rocketing through our previous belay stance, we were reminded that you can’t afford to lose focus for a second out there. The final ridge to the summit afforded views of the area’s devil-themed peaks and other peaks of the North Cascades.

We descended the south face via four 65m rappels, then followed fourth-class ledges east to a notch in the ridge. We returned to our camp on the slabs beneath the route at 4 p.m., and, knowing the descent to the car would require a lot of daylight and luck, we spent a beautiful night in the alpine recounting the day over beers. Despite our best efforts to learn from our route-finding mistakes on the way in, it took us nearly nine hours to descend the six miles back to the car. The grueling nature of the approach has prompted Eric to offer a six-pack to anyone who repeats it. We had to jokingly remind each other to smile in any photos taken. Thus the name: Act Like You’re Having Fun! (1,000’, III 5.10+).

– Chris Mutzel



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