Kyle_Flick

Steve Tift, John Plotz and I only partially completed an enchanting traverse of the peaks in the Enchantments this past weekend. There's much more to do. We made a commitment of no alpine starts on this trip which resulted in us not climbing everything we had planned. Nevertheless, a wonderful trip that we'd highly recommend to anyone interested. We came up the south side of the Enchantments via Crystal Creek, and climbed Pennant Peak, but had to skip the Flagpole due to time constraints (2nd failed attempt on my part) and ascended the south face of Little Annapurna as the sun was getting low on the horizon. The next day we moved north and climbed the South Face of Prusik, but ran out of time for Box Top and High Priest. Instead, that evening we continued the traverse northeast to Toketie Lake. On Sunday Steve and John couldn't find the Firey/McCarthy route on Toketie Wall, but climbed two pitches of 5.9 that veered up and left of the prow before retreating. I scrambled up and cairned a nifty walkoff route back to Toketie Lake from the top of the wall. An area worthy of more exploration. The descent down Toketie to the Snow Lake trail is now easier to find than years prior due to use since the '94 fire. Other than Prusik Peak, we had the area to ourselves. The larches were just beginning to change color. There was some new snow on the north side of Prusik.

The snow is now discontinuous for about 40 yards with hard ice for about 60' near the top. I did a high traverse across from the Col to the north face and encountered few ledges--mostly steep compact dirt and loose rock.

I soloed up the north face of Mt. Maude Sat. morning and saw the fire increase in intensity and start making its way toward Phelps Creek from the drainage to the SW. I was tempted to stay high on the Carne Mt. high route on the return to the car, but opted for the faster descent to Leroy Creek. By the time I was driving out they closed the road. Talk about the nick of time.

I'll be taking my kids up Logan via the Fremont Glacier this weekend. Should be nice. Congrats John on your newborn.

Thanks Matt and Paul. Ryland, I did the Icefall several years ago, and this time I'm taking someone that's relatively new to steep snow and thought the north face might be easier for him.

Anyone know the condition of the face this late in the summer? Still a snow and ice climb or just a rockfall gallery?

Sit on a large plastic garbage bag.

I thought Mix-Up was the most fun to climb on clean granite. Formidable was nice. I wouldn't recommend the choss pile of Spider. LeConte was a nice viewpoint and quick to ascend. Old Guard and Sentinal could be by-passed. Skip Spire Point as there are dangerously loose sections (on the NE route). Dome is a must since you don't have to deal with the Bachelor Creek approach.

We skied up and off of Easy Pass a month ago on a scouting trip for Graybeard. It looked like a great tour with a lot of elevation and distance. Good job. Did you do it in a day? How long car to car? I thought we spotted boot prints over our snow shoe tracks on the way out last night.

Travis Hammond, Dave Piccarelo and I, due to thin potentially rotten ice conditions of the steep narrow gully accessing the upper third of the route, forged a new route of the upper section that trended up to the N.E. Ridge topping out about 700' below the summit. The weather cooperated with cool conditions. Given the lateness of our attempt (May 18) we were still surprised about the volume of spindrift that befell us especially timed when leading at the cruxes of the numerous pitches. Good stiff challenging steep snow, moderate ice and short sections of mixed climbing with several patches of rotten ice that caused us to traverse and wind our way up different gullys for better conditions. A very wild alpine experience that seemed out of place so near the highway. As mentioned in earlier threads, the descent off the mountain to the northeast is far quicker than to the west over Easy Pass.

I too got a ticket, but it states $50 --pay or contest it in U.S. District Court. I don't have the time nor the inclination to fight it. So I just paid. Couple of years ago I had a trailhead permit in my other car and wrote that on a napkin left on the dashboard for the trailhead for Vesper Peak. They gave me some kind of Fed. violation citation, but it didn't involve court; so I never paid it any mind. You're right this one, even though the ticket is paid to a location in Atlanta, appears more enforceable.

First time I've posted in a while and am trying to get the hang of the new format. Anyway, the Coulior is thin, but in good shape. With a continued freeze-thaw to replenish what Curt and I knocked down it should still go for another week or two. As the party that did it the weekend before described, the crux pitch protects well with a combination of rock gear--small tcus, stoppers and a knifeblade (which is fixed for anyone that wants to now use it) and one ice screw up high to protect the exit from the crux second pitch. Really interested mixed climbing. I was tempted to carry the snowshoes on the climb to eliminate the postholing back around the south buttress to retrieve the shoes left at the coulior entrance, but given the chimney moves involved at the exit from the second pitch, I was glad not to have them. Just consider the extra postholing as conditioning. Anyway the west gully has adequate anchors to rap. Most of the gully can be downclimbed with one rap needed (two ropes) to clear a rock band in the middle of the gully. As an aside, from the tracks of the earlier party, they took a more direct straight line to the summit after the second pitch. We veered left an came up as the guide book described just south of the summit. This way we got to test ourselves on 5.7 rock in mountain boots. The other party came up on the north side which didn't involve rock, but was probably more aesthetic. Highly recommend the route to all you mixed climbing aficionados.

Lambone, To get onto the rock of the NE Buttress of Colchuck, you'll need crampons because you're crossing a lobe of the glacier. Descending off of Dragontail's backside snowfield you'll need ax and crampons. Might be too much to do in a day though, if you're considering Prusik and returning to the car within 24 hours.

Thank you for the posting. As I was up there and saw you guys on my way down, I agree with your assessment. I thought it might be better in the early morning, but it sounds like even then the sun hits it.

We attempted it last weekend. The road is closed about 5 miles from the trailhead. We peeked at the road past the closed sign and it appears snow free and appropriate for mountain bike. When turned back we did Clark Mt. instead and got a view of Maude, and it didn't appear worth it to haul skis up there.

Is anyone interested in doing the Ruth Mt. and Icy Peak traverse in a day this weekend? My wife has put her foot down and will not let me do it solo.

Your post doesn't indicate whether you needed info on the approach, so I'll skip to the route itself. From Tamarack meadows where you'll probably be camping be aware that Temple looks smaller than the crag to the right of it (called Stack Crag). Even if you climb the wrong crag you can still access the Temple by traversing from the top of Stack Crag to the base of the climb on the Temple. The first pitch is an easy and short crack to the base of a face. The intial move to the left, protected by an old 1/4" bolt is the crux. The face moves are all there to the top. The next pitch is an easy slot to the summit. A double rope rappel off the top will take you to below the base. The snowfield on the approach and descent is intially steep but eases up after a couple of hundred feet. A worthy climb. Enjoy.

I took a drive out there mid-morning today and nothing is in.

We just got back from there last week. The temperatures were in the low 80s. One excellent climb not mentioned above that is 4 pitches of 5.6 - 5.7 is Olive Oil. The Red Rocks Select guide book errs in it's description of the approach. While it is only 1/2 hour from the car, you need to go up the 2nd gully before Juniper Canyon. Kyle Flick

I use Feathered Friend's Hummingbird sleeping bag which is good to 20 degrees and is/was the lightest and most compact down bag on the market.

Nic, You're thinking of another Paul (Paul Kelly) who climbed Slesse with us two summers ago. Lambone, Cliffhanger is a climbing gym in our neck of the woods in E. Wenatchee.

We were up in the Enchantments on Sunday doing a day hike in the Lost World Plateau. There was snow on the rock where we crossed over Cannon mountain (8000'). As we passed by Temple Ridge it looked fairly snow free. Expect pockets of snow in the shadows of your route.

I took my son up there earlier this year, and we had a wonderful time. He could have led several of the pitches. The first and third pitches you probably should lead because the former has a short exposed traverse and the latter is runout (but easy). Otherwise everything is quite reasonable. Enjoy.

Do Serpentine first to get familiar with the terrain. As far as Backbone, it still has loose stuff higher up, even on the Fin so be watchful if there is a party above. Protect the offwidth with a #5 Camalot (move it up or leap frog with another #5).

I've descended both ways off Dragontail, i.e. Aasgard and Colchuck. The Colchuck Glacier descent off of Dragontail will take longer as it isn't as direct. If you choose to descend toward Colchuck Col take an ice ax and crampons as there usually is a steep snow slope up to the saddle that leads to the gully that drops you down to the Colchuck-Dragontail Col. The gully down to the Col will be loose dirt and rock, but the glacier will be firm.