olyclimber Posted May 4, 2004 Share Posted May 4, 2004 Climb: Mt. Constance-Chute's Notch/Finger Traverse Date of Climb: 5/1/2004 Trip Report: The night April of 30th my little brother and I left the new trailhead at the washout on the Dosewallips at around 9pm and we ended up camping at the trailhead at Constance Creek on the road. The next morning we headed up to Lake Constance, and this has to be the longest two miles I have ever hiked (especially with an 80 lb pack). I bet my little brother's weighed even more...I like to call him Sherpa Oscar, because we like to make him carry any extra gear. Rope? Throw it on Oscar's pack. ? Oscar's pack. etc... We drug ourselves up to Lake Constance, and I immediately attempted to break through a snow bridge and fall into the lake. Oscar rescued me by dragging my pack away so I could crawl off of the chunk of ice before it fell all the way into the lake. After lunch and setting up a camp, we headed up Avalanche Valley, up through Chute's Notch and to a point above Point Schellin before heading back down to camp (the glissade down was fun). Up Chute's Notch Glissade Down The Bros and Lake Constance A friend was supposed to come up on Saturday, but he never showed, so we wrote him off as dead, probably perishing on the gnarly trail on the way up. However the next day, right before we left to go summit, he showed up. Luckily, he was not trying out any new internal body cleansing experiments like he did on the last trip I made with him, and was in good shape. We left around 8:30 and made good time up to the second notch, just below the South Summit. We decided at this point to go the Finger Traverse route. After flailing thought a couple of snow fields, we made it to the actual 'Finger Traverse', and then on to the ridge that leads to the summit. We scrambled up to the summit, and then proceeded to trundle a ton of rocks down as we traversed the last 25 feet to the crack in between the last summit blocks. (There is a way better way to reach the summit around the corner). After reaching the summit at 1:30pm, we spent 1/2 hour before slogging back in, arriving back in camp at 4:00pm. There we met up with Steve from Port Townsend. The plan was for him and I to climb Constance again on Monday, but he had to work...so after working Sunday night, he ran up Sunday morning and tried to catch us. He mad it up to the Cat's Ears before turning around. So instead, we headed back to Steve's house for a hottub, pizza, and beer. Gear Notes: Used ice axes, brought rope and crampons but did not use them. A full case of Rainer was packed in and utilized. Sherpa Oscar and I brought 80 lb packs full of gear you would never use in the Olympics, in the name of training for another climb. Approach Notes: Everyone should know by now that the road is road is washed out 4 miles from the trailhead at Constance Creek. Lake Constance is still 90% iced over. Snow starts right at Lake Constance. Bits of exposed scree on the way up (up to the second notch after the Cat's Ears), but snow with minor post holing the rest of the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweezer Posted May 4, 2004 Share Posted May 4, 2004 Nice TR man!Looks like you guys had alot of fun. How many hours did it take you to reach the summit from the lake? Im considering tagging this one over memorial day weekend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted May 4, 2004 Author Share Posted May 4, 2004 Nice TR man!Looks like you guys had alot of fun. How many hours did it take you to reach the summit from the lake? Im considering tagging this one over memorial day weekend! 5 1/2 hours to the summit from the lake. 2 hours from the summit back to the lake (7 1/2 hours round trip). I'm pretty sure this is a dog-less ascent record, but I'll have to check with -. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue_weasel Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 Hullo, Sherpa Oscar here... Figured I'd add a couple of notes: The snow up Avalanche Alley have become very slushy and we made dozens of avalanches from our footsteps both ascending and descending (while glissading I almost burried myself in avalanches caused by glissading... ). I figure conditions are only gonna get worse, so snowshoe while you can... Ummm... Take a bike!!! A bike makes the trip up to the trailhead go much faster (supposedly) and the trip down, well, Steve carried my 80 lb back as well as his own 35 lb pack with me jogging along side with hardly any trouble on his part at all. A cool guy up there said he did the hike from the trailhead using a bike and Day Tripped Mt. Constance in 14 hours. (He was on his way to C141.) Anyhoo, it was one of the most spectacular trips I've been on, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Thanks for the TR, P. Sherpa Oscar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blakej Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 beautiful climb with some really great pics. sorry I wasn't able to give you that info but it turned out to be a successful climb anyhow. Top notch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted May 10, 2004 Author Share Posted May 10, 2004 Panorama looking south from north of Point Schellin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazyboy Posted May 10, 2004 Share Posted May 10, 2004 Nice panorama shot. Thank you for posting it. What peaks are the lines pointing to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted May 10, 2004 Author Share Posted May 10, 2004 I was going to label all the peaks, but I ran out of time, so I just posted it anyway. Maybe I'll put numbers on the peaks tonight and repost so people can name them. I can see the Brothers and Mt. Stone pretty obviously there. Also, here is a rough drawing of the route we took on an aerial photo. Also, on the far left is Destroyer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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