Brice and I had planned to climb Big Mac Couloir on the NE face of McHenrys peak on Saturday. However, when we got to the basin beneath the climb we saw that the route was threatened by a whole series of massive cornices perched along the ridge-crest above. Given the warm forecast, climbing beneath them seemed like a quick way to get killed. However, another route on the face, the Right Gully, appeared to be sheltered from serious objective hazard by the projecting rock buttress that separates it from Big Mac Couloir. We decided to give this option a go.
In the shape we found it, I'd grade it (the Right Gully) at 5.8, WI3-, 45 degrees, but mostly it was just steep snow. To start the climb, I led a 30 m pitch of 5.8ish (M4?) rock. I pulled on gear at the two distinct cruxes, even stepping up in a sling at one point, so it's hard to know the grade. Call it 5.7 A1. From there, Brice led a long simul-block up easy 40-45 degree snow with one short mixed step (easier but hard to protect) and perhaps a 15 m stretch of water ice (WI 2/3). At this point, wet slides from the cliff bands above started to come down around or ears, though the snow in the gully remained blessedly stable, and the slides small. Nevertheless, we felt the need to exit the couloir post-haste in case something larger and more dangerous were to come down. Rather than traverse left under the headwall to join the end of the Big Mac Couloir, Brice led right along a snow ledge to gain the northeast ridge. Brice belayed at the ridge crest, and I led the final long simul-block to the summit. I climbed on the northwest side of the ridge which was consistently 40-45 degrees and remained well shaded and frozen. Finally, a short easy mixed gully led to the summit.
We rested, sucked down some sour-patch kids, and slurped water from a melt puddle on a concave rock. The views from McHenrys are outstanding! The descent down to stone-man pass was straightforward. We remained roped for the first bit, not knowing what to expect, but this was probably unnecessary.
It took us 16 hours, car-to-car.
In general, conditions were good and quite spring-like. The snow on the approach slopes showed signs of wet surface slides from the previous days of warm weather, but the only slab activity we noticed was a shallow (6") crown just below Stoneman. Even after it had warmed up, the snow in the Right Gully was firm enough to kick solid steps, and snow conditions on the northeast ridge were ideal for climbing. The water-ice steps appear to be rotting out fast. Later in the day there was significant wet slide activity, but we did not observe any further evidence of unstable slabs. We descended the long way around Black Lake in order to avoid the steep sun baked slopes to the west (near Stoneman) that we had ascended in the cool morning shade.
An awesome day out! My only regret is that we didn't start the route sooner (perhaps camped in the basin). One hour earlier, and we likley could have completed the route without the scary wet slide activity.
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