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March 7 and 8 Chaval

3/7/15
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Posted by Jake the Brit on 3/9/15 2:22pm
It was an epic day. After all the bushwhacking and my easy deposit at the foot of Chaval I finally made it to the summit on foot, leaving my board half way up the slope.
There€™s a steep 60 degree bit in the middle of the top section and it would have ruined my lovely day out.
Rock on the bushwhackers, getting down into nature!

http://jakeevans.smugmug.com/Washington/Chaval/47930863_hRxcHW
http://www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaGRychULEghTYXZlZE1hcBiAgIDguN6nCgw
(I think the summit name on this map is in the wrong location)


First J-berg, now Chaval; inspired choices.


ha! nice one!  I almost went there last weekend... seemed like a good time to go, access can be problematic, but checked out OK on the atv site... Would have been weird running into anybody back there!
I probably would have have tried the Jug Lake route tho... that Illabot schwack rates way up there on the sch-wack scale. You're a monster, you deserve medals..!  tho maybe a little less foliage than in June?

Looked like this early last June -


beautiful area




I hear Agnes is nice.

author=cumulus link=topic=33868.msg139932#msg139932 date=1425999060]
You're a monster, you deserve medals..!  tho maybe a little less foliage than in June?


I'll take the medals, GRRRRRRRR
The reality is that if I've got to do that schwack in the dark it's nice to be able to follow the river as a handrail. I'm very cautious of getting totally lost. It only took 2 hours to get upstream, and the valley wall wasn't so bad in the AM, I came down through the old growth .2  mile further upstrem and that was just lovely steep mossy forest, walked out in the river on the way out which was loads of fun. Selling it?
Agnes?? mmmm,

Now this is a smugmug:


Agreed.  You deserve medals.  I'm super appreciative of your post because I've always wanted to wander out there and wondered if anyone ever went there.  Now I know... So someday I'll go.

Excellent!

I made a foray in that direction years ago, got beat back by brush, never made it above timberline. Looks like your line is a better choice. That north facing cirque is attractive, a good motivation to take the steep mossy challenge from the illabot side!

Agreed that stomping directly down the creek makes a quick and fun exit, in dry season. Have you any more photos of the steeper bits in the trees?

I climbed Chaval with my older brother and a friend in May 1983. No skis.

We approached from the Illabot Creek road by thrashing up through the woods to the ridge north of Jug Lake. I think we climbed near the vague streambed above the north end of the clearcut above the road, visible on the USGS topo map.

We traversed the basins above Jug Lake and bivied near Point 6356. On the second day we climbed the SE ridge of the east peak, the west ridge of the middle peak, and traversed over the west peak back to camp.

I've never been there with skis. It's been years since I've been up the Illabot Creek road, but I take it that you can still drive to the Illabot Creek crossing. That's good to know!

I don't have any pics of the battle. I was engrossed in the spikes and the gravity and the thicktness of it all.

I do have this:
10 U 0623099
5361759.
It's 0.2 mile upstream from my camp spot. From there go directly uphill, the timber is big (probably it's the skyline in teh 2nd pic) , and the travel is steep but there's no brush for at least 1/2 the slope, probably more. Deep forest.

I went up the boulder field, which was great for 700vf whilst on the boulders but it was heavy going getting out of the boulder field with 5.6 moves on moss covered rock with alder stuck up my nostrils & then the brush was evil. You can see the beginning of the brush on the left of the 1st pic.
The road is in great shape, cleared by the local folk, I reckon.
Let's be clear though, I'm not recommending these antics...

,,and yes John, that is a damned Smugmug. Ha, I've been after that one for a while. Rock on my friend

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2015-03-09 21:22:12