[TR] Primus & Austera - 7/6/2012

[SoundSummiter]

Trip: Primus & Austera -

 

Date: 7/6/2012

 

Trip Report:

 

Justin and I headed out to Cascade River Rd to head up to the Inspiration Ice Cap on the first day of a gorgeous weather window for the North Cascades. Our plan was to try and hit Primus, Austera, Klawatti, and perhaps Dorado Needle in three days. It was a steep bill.

 

On Wednesday we picked up our permit and hit the trail at about 0830. The log crossing was easy to find and the trail / boulders were mostly snow free up to about 5k feet. While in the second boulder field we encountered some marmots engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Each on it’s hind legs with the fore knocking around the other. This was a bit comical to watch until another, larger, marmot showed up and bitch-slapped one of the former before chasing it down the slope and out of sight. It was also at about this time that we started to emerge from the morning clouds that had kept us reasonably cool through the first couple thousand feet. J-berg looked pretty rad with the clouds framing it and its massive hanging glacier.

 

Marmot MMA

 

J-Berg

 

We crossed the rib over into the Rouche Basin and headed up the final slopes to the Inspiration glacier. The sun was now fully out and it was warming up quick. We stopped at the crest to have lunch and rope up. It was about 1pm. We were heading to Klawatti col to make camp and could see that we would be breaking trail most of the way. There was another party doing Eldorado and we followed their steps as long as possible. After their path broke from ours we began to weave our way through the Inspiration glacier. The glacier was still pretty filled in which made route finding easy, but there was a good layer of unconsolidated snow that made breaking trail slow going. Constant post-holing and wallowing through snow that was sometimes knee-deep got us to Klawatti col at about 1645. We set up camp and started to get familiar with our surroundings. Around 1715 a ranger showed up. I didn’t think that we would encounter a ranger this far out, but being that he had been part of the party on Eldo, he figured he come make sure we had a permit. After chatting with him for a bit we got to bed at a reasonable hour to prepare for the next day.

 

 

 

 

We got up at 0530 and were moving by 0630 for our first destination of the day: Primus peak. It’s a long slog to Primus, although not technical, and the views along the way are fantastic. The first obstacle is to cross the Klawatti-Austera col, which can be either a 4th or 5th class problem later in the season, but turned out to be an easy snow crossing for us. Once across the col we skirted along the Klawatti glacier staying high enough to avoid crevasses, but not gaining any unneeded elevation. Across the valley was Forbidden with Boston and Buckner rising on its flanks. To the north stands the mass of Mount Logan and the sheer western profile of Goode. Once near the Austera ridge we descended to ~7200 feet and rounded the toe of the ridge. Here we got our first good views of Primus and could see we still had a ways to go. From here it is just a descent on the North Klawatti glacier and then up an easy slope. We arrived at the summit at 0945, ate some food, and took in the great views. Primus isn’t much of a climb, but the vantage is outstanding. We sat naming peaks for a while before heading down and making our way back to the Klawatti glacier.

 

Klawatti-Austera Col

 

Primus Summit shot 1

 

Primus Summit shot 2

 

The way back was a little easier with the steps to walk in, but the hot sun was melting them out quick. Once back around the toe of the Austera ridge we started following it until we ran into the south slopes of the false summit. We scrambled up to the ridgeline and got our first view of the summit tower. The chockstone gulley was still completely snow filled so we took the 4th class option to the right. This went easily and led to a bit of snow above the chockstone gulley before the final step up to the summit block, it was now 1330. Again the views were awesome. The main highlight here is the view down over the McAllister icefalls. We kept hearing things break off, but rarely could see any of it. After a half hour on the summit we descended and began the trudge back to camp. We arrived back at camp just before 1600, threw down the rope and pack and took an hour nap on the warm rocks. Around 1700 we walked over to take a look at the south face of Klawatti, but backed off due to avy debris and the warm sun still baking the face. We discussed giving it a try in the morning, but ended up leaving it for another day.

 

 

McAllister Icefalls

 

 

It was a bit of a bummer to have to leave Klawatti, but I will be happy to have to return to this place to bag it. The hike out was pretty uneventful. We had not seen anyone really on Wednesday on our way up, but ran in to multiple parties on the way down.

 

 

Gear Notes:

Standard Glacier gear.

 

Approach Notes:

Glacier is still pretty filled it, but melting fast. We saw multiple cracks opening up in our path on the way back.

[Alex]

sick amount of snow. feels like 1999, which was a 150% snowpack year!

[BirdDog]

Nice, beautiful photos. Klawatti looks like it has more snow now than it did the 1st week of July last year when I was up there. Weather turned on us and we left Klawatti for another time as well, have to get back there. Awesome area!