Big Mac Couloir

A Night on McHenerys

     On May 2nd  Micheal Silva and I made our way out into the McHenerys cirque with the idea of climbing Big Mac Couloir. Not being the sharpest light bulbs in the drawer, we chose to approach via the creek on a rather warm afternoon. After countless falls into the creek, miles of postholing and general suffering we made it to our bivy. When we first saw McHenerys we were immediately intimidated by the massive cornice hanging over the route. From what we could tell, it was overhanging and 20+ feet in certain places. When we got up in the morning logistics didn't seem to be lining up and the hazards seemed too great to risk being on the face while the sun was out… that and Micheal left one of the ropes at our bivy.

    Micheal and I decided we would go back up if we could find ways to mitigate the hazard. We decided we needed a cold cloudy day or we couldn’t do it. Unfortunately none of those were in the forecast and our time was running out with summer encroaching on us. A few days after our bail Micheal reached out with the idea to climb the route at night. Doing this would mitigate the risks we were worried about and sounded like a great way to experience the route. 

    On May 9th we departed from the Glacier Gorge parking lot at 7pm and began hiking back in. When we reached Black Lake we were greeted with one of the wildest lightning storms I had ever seen. The odd thing was that there were no clouds in sight. How weird! 

    We waited out the lighting and began powering towards McHenerys as fast as we could knowing we had limited time. From Black Lake there is still a long section of hiking before you hit the base. 

    We hit the base of the route and I began the first lead of the day. The climbing was generally characterized by poorly protected slab climbing with intermittent ice. At one point I missed the turn right to hit the snowfield and continued into a steep headwall. The climbing went at spicy M5/M5+ but had great gear right before the cruxes. I belayed michael up after a short roof on 2 good nuts and an angle. After getting gear back I continued up the headwall into a vertical corner with interesting moves. The crux was a mantle off of awkward feet but with relatively good pick locks. This put me on an easy rock slab that transitioned into alpine ice and snow. From here I was able to make my way up into the start of the Big Mac Couloir.

    From the belay at the base of the couloir Micheal and I simuled about 350 feet to the base of the crux pitch. At this point we had climbed around 700ft and were not halfway yet. I feel that the length of the route on mtn. project may reflect the relief of the route but expect to complete over 1,600 ft of climbing.

    In person, the crux pitch looks pretty moderate. I led up the first half on poorly protected turf climbing but the pitch escalates in difficulty as one progresses. After those initial 50ft it was game on. The climbing featured thin ice, steep corners, and even a short roof section that is an epic sandbag at M4. This was the money pitch of the route.

    The pitch after this was mostly snow with one unprotected ice/rock step that went at M3. I found 2 gear placements on this pitch, the later being 30 feet below the delaminating ice/M3 move. While it would be a bad idea to fall on any part of this route, make sure not to fall off of this rock step as it would be disastrous. 

    At this point the sun was beginning to creep out and we decided to complete a simul block until we were out from under the cornice. These pitches were about as good as snow climbing can get. We found that avalanches had scraped away excess snow and we were left with hundreds of feet of perfect neve climbing. This block was about 300ft and look us to a belay in the snow ramp that leads to the ridge. We could breathe a bit easier knowing we were not underneath the massive cornice anymore. From here steep snow and some rock got us to the summit in two 200ft pitches. My advice is don’t take the ridge direct as I found copious amounts of loose rock on it. Instead continue north until you hit a couloir leading to the summit.

    Overall I found the climbing incredible on Big Mac and was blown away by the views on the summit. The climbing is exciting and hazardous but well worth it if you can catch good conditions. I think it is very important to time this route with caution during the spring. The cornice hangs directly over the route and the face itself slides all the time when temperatures are warm. We watched an avalanche sweep the route as we hiked out. This route is likely the most scenic route I have had the privilege of climbing in the park and I highly recommend it to those willing to get a bit scrappy. 

Getting There

Approach via the Black Lake trail. Once at Black Lake, take the gully to the Southeast that leads towards Spearhead and the Platau above. From here turn toward McHenerys and begin the hike to the large Northeast Face. 

Route Description

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Essential Gear

Rack included 4 pitons, 4 ice screws (most of which were stubbies), Single rack with doubles of .4-#1, 2 Spectars

External Links

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