Climb: Mt. Carrie Attempt-The Catwalk
Date of Climb: 11/27/2004
Trip Report:
My little brother and I clipped bolts at the Elwah on Friday, and on Saturday we hiked up to climb Mt. Carrie. We got a later start then we wanted to, and didn't get to the trailhead til 7:30. We followed the Soleduck up to Heart Lake, hitting snow at around 2600 feet. Oscar fell into a creek on the way up, his first of many aquatic explorations on this trip. Skys were blue, but when we hit the High Divide, Olympus was socked in. After about ten minutes, it opened up.
We continued on the ridge, around the base of Cat Peak and onto The Catwalk.
Cat Peak:
By the time we reached the end of The Catwalk, it was already getting late (2:30). Damn lollygaggers!
Mt. Carrie from the end of The Catwalk:
The Bailey Range:
It was hard to turn around at this point, but there are only so many hours of day light. We hiked up the ridge over The Catwalk, eventually dropping back down and rejoining the trail. We reached the end of The Catwalk and brewed up some tea and watched the sunset:
And the moon rise:
We still had over 10 miles to hike out, but by the light of the moon and our headlamps down in the forest we made it back to the car by 9:20. I did suffer a mild case of dehydration, and ate my fill of snow till we reached Heart Lake. It was an awesome day out in the snow, even with being shut down as far as a summit.
More pics at:
http://www.hammertec.net/index.php?set_a....php&page=1
Gear Notes:
Don't need snowshoes yet, Oscar should have brought an iceaxe. Crampons would have been a nice to have to give us more options for ascent/descent.
Approach Notes:
Snow level was at 2600 ft. Nice crisp, powdery snow the whole trip.