MattBrown

we did see the chipped footholds. the trickiest section was the snow covered slab directly below the lookout (see photo above).

yeh the plod down from snow lake was kinda long and dull. would have been nice to stay in the gold for longer... no rocks on the icicle creek road that I saw.

Trip: Enchantments Traverse Date: 10/6/2007 Trip Report: After a leisurely 10am start from the Stuart Lake trailhead, we just about made it round the Enchantments Traverse before dark. The snow started at around 4000ft, but didn't really get deep until Aasgard pass. In the Enchantments basin itself there was probably 1-2 feet of snow, drifing higher in places and windblown in others, but the trail was packed down enough that we made good time. (colchuck lake pano) We got to Colchuck lake after 1.5 hours (11:30am), and Aasgard pass was looking pretty snowy (see this TR for the story of how that happened). (colchuck lake) Nevertheless there wasn't so much snow that the boulder hopping was a problem. (climbing to aasgard 1) (climbing to aasgard 2) Higher up the snow had drifted pretty deep, and we passed several parties retreating from the white out at the pass. (lots of gold!) (aasgard pass) We got to the top at 1:30pm. It was pretty windy and cold, but as we descended we dropped out of the weather. (prusik peak) Prusik peak emerged to grace our lunch spot by Perfection Lake (2:30pm). (perfection lake) (descending to the lower enchantments) With all this white stuff it might well be the ski season, but still the hiking here was fabulous. (slabs nr lake viviane) The trickiest part of the route was the slabby section just above Lake Viviane (3:20pm). We got down to Snow Lake at 4:10pm. (author + snow creek wall) After a long plod down the Snow Lake trail we made it back to the car at 6:50pm (for a total of 8hrs 50mins). Thx to Rob for meeting us there and insisting that Oktoberfest was the best method of rehydration! Gear Notes: hiking boots, gaiters, took an ice axe but didn't use it. Approach Notes: lots of snow on the trail, but a good boot path at the time of writing.

Looking for a partner for a 4pm departure to Exit 38. Probably Freeway Gun Show or other 9/10s. PM me for phone #.

Thanks! will do...

Climb: Mount Constance-Finger Traverse Date of Climb: 7/23/2006 Trip Report: Zosia Bornik and myself climbed Mount Constance on the weekend of the 22-23 of July (where is it?). After cooking Kadai Paneer and Malai Koftas into the early hours of Saturday morning, we just about dragged ourselves out of bed to catch the 10:40 ferry to Bainbridge island. From there we drove out onto the Olympic Penninsula and the town of Brinnon where the Dosewallips River road heads out towards Mount Constance. Unfortunately it stops about 5 miles from the trailhead at an amazingly big washout so we had to get on our bikes and pedal the last bit. (the washout) We stashed our bikes in the trees and headed up the trail. The approach trail climbs 3400ft in 2 miles which by my calculations is about 30% gradient. Ouch. After making it to the top we found a nice campsite and jumped straight in the lake to cool off. Then we jumped straight out again because it was bloody cold. After dinner and a minor recce we put our heads down and managed to get 7 hours kip before the alarm went of at 4:30. We ate breakfast and drank as much of the lake as we could before heading out up the Avalanche Canyon. (cats ears) (The first notch) (The second notch - rectangular thing on right) With great views back to the Brothers we battled scree up to the Cats Ears and finally emerged into the sunshine and the long ridge of Mount Constance. After careful deliberation of guidebooks, trip reports and terrain we climbed up a gulley (the first notch), kicked steps down snow and up again to a rectangular notch (the second notch). We'd planned to do the "Finger Traverse" route which is supposed to be 3rd class, but the terrain looked nasty in all directions. Finally we spotted some pitons at a seemingly impassible corner which with a bit of Olympic 3rd class led to the aforementioned finger traverse. The traverse itself was pretty spectacular, a fine dihedral of suprisingly solid basalt, in contrast to the choss pile that was the rest of the hill. The back drop was a spectacular view into Puget sound and the ever present Mt Ranier in the background. (start of the finger traverse) (finger traverse) Just after the traverse we met a group of climbers from Wenatchee who kindly pointed out the route ahead. This climb is fairly easy but the routefinding is tricky. Off down another snow face and up a scree ramp we reached the summit block and almost completley circumnavigated it before winding up on top. The very top was a bit precarious and strangely buzzing with flies so we dropped off a few meters to a sub-summit with fine views for lunch. (notch 1 from notch 2) (summit from finger traverse. We followed the scree ramp bottom right - better than it looks) We ate a fine lunch of veggie ham and senf bagels and comtemplated the majesty of life from our vantage point on top of the world. Well, I'd been carrying a diamond ring in my pack and it was time to use it. Here's what Zosia has to say: "I was anxious to get going down the hill as a) it was roasting hot up there and b) I hate descents and knew this would be a tough one. But Matt had a different plan. In fact, he'd been carrying a diamond ring in his pack, and decided the time was now. He told me to take my sunglasses off... then, down on one knee, he asked me to marry him. I said yes, and slipped the ring over dirt-caked finger nails... it didn't matter - it was gorgeous. Unfortunately I had to take the ring off about 5 minutes later as we had the finger traverse to do on the way down. Eight hours later (including much time for contemplation and cursing the descent), we arrived back at our bikes and eventually the car. Our engagement dinner was held at the Gooeyduck Cafe in Brinnon. We also managed to find excellent home-made pie at a bar about 30 min down the road from the Gooyeduck." Gear Notes: bikes, ice axes, 30m 8mm rope, a few nuts + hexes, we took crampons but didn't use them (warm temps) Approach Notes: take bikes for 5 mile approach, no snow until ridge of Mt Constance

Thanks for the great TR. Did you need crampons anywhere? My Olympic Mtns guide recommends crampons, but I think the temps would barely hit freezing at this time of year...