Climb: Dragontail-Backbone Ridge
Date of Climb: 7/2/2006
Trip Report: This route is a lot of fun: 50% 4th class scrambling and 50% well-protected rock climbing on solid granite. The offwidth pitch in particular is spectacular!! One of the best cracks I have climbed in Washington. We brought a single #5 camalot (old sizing) which protected it perfectly (there is gear for the first 40 feet, then you slide the #5 for another 40 feet before reaching other placement options). The pitch is less than 100' long so the leader hauled the packs using the remaining rope.
We then climbed 2 60m pitches,
and simuled to the base of the fin. From here nice cracks led upwards,
and an absolutely spectacular tip-toeing traverse to the right (easy and well protected) took us to the ridge crest.
We traversed awesome cracks on the NW side of the ridge, with easy scrambling on solid rock leading to the summit.
Much of the route is scrambling, so it goes by fairly quickly if you simul the class 4 sections (some low class 5 to gain the fin) We took 6.5 hours moraine to summit, and we weren't rushing.
Gear Notes: nuts, doubles yellow alien to yellow camalot, 1x #3 & #5 old style camalots. This was more than adequate.
Approach Notes: Snow free and dry to Colchuck Lake. Ice axe & running shoes worked great (it was a warm day). You could even do without an ice axe by avoiding the upper snow creek glacier via the descent mentioned in Kearney. (The top of the glacier is melting down to ice so this section may require crampons soon.)
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