onetoole Posted July 3, 2003 Share Posted July 3, 2003 (edited) I know I know, I'll be lucky if I drag my bottom up just one of them, but I still like to entertain the idea of climbing Fury and Challenger in one trip. Any words of wisdom about this? Which end to start on, how to get from one to the other (Beckey seems to think that traversing Luna Creek cirque can be problematic). Edited July 3, 2003 by onetoole Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wayne Posted July 3, 2003 Share Posted July 3, 2003 Easy pass is the easiest way in there, so Chal 1st. Which leaves you with which rt on fury? ne butt? tough climb after any peak. If you could somehow get to the backside you could do the easy rt. The peaks are not conveniently connected unless your Croft Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onetoole Posted July 3, 2003 Author Share Posted July 3, 2003 NE butt of Fury is the main goal, Challenger would be the dessert. Might be too crunchy a dessert idea? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billygoat Posted July 3, 2003 Share Posted July 3, 2003 Do a search and read all the beta on this site about Perfect Pass because it seems easy to end up taking the hard way up there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billygoat Posted July 3, 2003 Share Posted July 3, 2003 If you are going with partners do a loop from Ross Lake to Mt. Baker highway. It's been done and works. There is beta around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onetoole Posted July 3, 2003 Author Share Posted July 3, 2003 I already know how to get to each of them separately, thank you very much. The question is how to link them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billygoat Posted July 3, 2003 Share Posted July 3, 2003 Climb hard mother fucker! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meganerd Posted July 4, 2003 Share Posted July 4, 2003 My advice: give the area some time. Give it a couple extra days than you think you'd need, particularly if you aren't familiar with the Picketts (not assuming anything, just saying...). I tried to bum rush Challenger via Easy Ridge in three days late last September knowing that would be enough time if everything went absolutely according to plan. It didn't. We couldn't quickly find the safe way across the imperfect impasse (gully just before Perfect Pass) and had to turn around; not because we couldn't have found a way across, but becuase we couldn't get across, climb, and return to camp on the other side of Easy Peak in the same day. So, three gorgeous late September days in the Picketts wasted (at least from a climbing perspective; great challenging "hike" though). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onetoole Posted July 5, 2003 Author Share Posted July 5, 2003 Your trip sounds like the quintessential pickets experience meganerd. The pickets just laugh their ass off at people with ambitious plans. Â Sorry if I was rude specifying the type of information I'm looking for. Dude, I don't go around posting stupid questions before I check the information that's already out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Parker Posted July 6, 2003 Share Posted July 6, 2003 Doing the N. Butt of Fury first and then trying to get over to Challenger does not sound ideal. If you want to climb both routes, do Challenger first and then traverse Luna cirque over to the n. but of Fury. Once up Fury, you really don't want to try to get back down into Luna cirque again. Just my humble picket opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted July 6, 2003 Share Posted July 6, 2003 some guy just did challenger car-to-car solo in a day, ran into him at the impasse. was that someone here? hope the meth didn't were off before hannigan pass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onetoole Posted July 7, 2003 Author Share Posted July 7, 2003 What's the Luna Cirque traverse like? Has anyone done it? I'm just frightened because Beckey says the glaciers are all broken up and you can't do it anymore like they used to in the golden days before we were born. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm Posted July 7, 2003 Share Posted July 7, 2003 (edited) I've toyed with this as well but have yet to make it happen. My advice would be to go up Access creek and climb Fury. You'll get a good view of the sketchier part of the route around the cirque to Challenger. If you've still got juice after Fury you can head over climb then descend via the Eily-Weily traverse. The ridge traverse is cake and the bushwhack down to Beaver Pass is not bad by No. Cascades standards. Especially going down where a reasonable climbers trail (visible at the top, but not at the pass) will get you through the nastier parts. Be forewarned the Pickets have humbled many a hardened climber especially on their first trip in, but it’s always worth it.  edited to add. I've gone in via both Perfect Pass and Eily-Wiely. I prefer the Eily-Wiely because it's shorter and the bushwhack up to the ridge is preferable to the Imperfect Impasse. But that's just my opinion.. Edited July 7, 2003 by Norm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncascademtns Posted July 7, 2003 Share Posted July 7, 2003 Did the Luna Cirque Traverse from the Challenger Glacier in September of 1999. That was that great snow year so it went excellently well. We only had a 50 ft. 3rd class down climb to cut over to Luna Lake. Without the snow we would have had a rougher time. We came in E-W (Challenger Arm), climbed Challenger, East Fury and Luna than exited out Access Creek. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowell_Skoog Posted July 7, 2003 Share Posted July 7, 2003 I'm not sure what people mean by the Luna cirque traverse. Do you mean staying high along the shelf glaciers? That's not the only way to get from Challenger Arm to Fury. You can drop to the bottom of Luna cirque. You generally work rightward (west) as you go down from Challenger Arm. This descent works well when there is reasonable snow cover (i.e. early July). In 1980, my brothers and I went from Challenger Arm into the cirque, climbed the NE face of Fury, descended the Fury Glacier route, and returned to our camp on Challenger Arm in a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toast Posted July 7, 2003 Share Posted July 7, 2003 iain said: some guy just did challenger car-to-car solo in a day, ran into him at the impasse. was that someone here? hope the meth didn't were off before hannigan pass  Yeah... who was that masked man? Here's one for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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