Trip: Cashmere Crags - High Priest and Temple
Date: 6/20/2008
Trip Report:
The Plan:
Fri - approach via Snow Lakes trailhead and Nada lake. Camp in Tamarack meadows.
Sat - climb High Priest first (N face) and Temple second (W side)
Sun - hike out in the morning
Summary Report: FAIL
Detailed Report:
Fri - got our asses kicked on the approach with (too) heavy packs and set up camp at the first nice spots in Temple canyon (around 6000 feet). I will not say how slow we were. It was slow. The weather was nice (a bit hot) and there were few bugs though.
Sat - hiked up to Tamarack meadows, slowly and painfully working up the snow and snow melt, cross-country.
At Tamarack meadows I convinced myself I was looking at Temple as seen on the left in the photo below:
My partner wanted to traverse west and see how far the ridge extended. We did and he convinced me that we could see Prusik and Prusik pass and that the peak I identified as Temple was actually not Temple, and the peak to the right of it (see photo above) is High Priest. I then convinced myself of this as well. We followed approach instructions to a small bench with trees, roped up, and then proceeded to get thrashed - both by harder lines than we were expecting and by intermittent rain showers. Either we were on the wrong peak, or were off route from the start. We couldn't find any blocky low 5.x route (up to 5.5), and tried powering over harder stuff in climbing boots for two half-pitches before finally giving up. We bailed, rapping into a steep snow-filled gulley in the photo above. We ascended that a bit, then scrambled to the top on rocks. The summit was lichen covered and didn't look too visited. We looked at surrounding peaks, but that didn't help with our bearings, so we scrambled down to to Tamarack Meadows. By then our on-and-off weather was getting worse, and it was past 3 pm, so we went back to camp. Here is a view from the summit of the peak we climbed to the peak on its left (West):
Sun: woke up early and hiked out defeated.
Gear Notes:
Ice axe, crampons (didn't need), picket or two (didn't need), small alpine rack
Approach Notes:
Snow above 6000 feet. Mostly make your own trail.