EJohnson Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 Climb: Redemption on Argonaut-NE Gully Date of Climb: 5/9/2004 Trip Report: Went back to Argonaut on Sunday. John was feeling real guilty about not summiting the Sunday before and wanted to make it up to me. How could I not pass up free food and gas. Anyways on the trail by 9am on the summit by 4. We had very good conditions with hard snow. Wore crampons up the gully and on the upper snowfield. Check out the summit register, it looks like we were the first party to summit this year We had a nice traverse over to Colchuck Pk, Thanks to the Sergio party for the boot path. Took this picture of the route on Argonaut from the summit of Colchuck. Erick Johnson Gear Notes: Ice axe, Crampons & rope for one short rap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 Check out the summit register, it looks like we were the first party to summit this year Ya think? I guess if we don't sign the register, we were never there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klenke Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 russ, you missed the joke. I is a dumbass with writing dates. How much of our tracks were still visible a week later on the upper snowfield and on the traverse to Colchuck? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EJohnson Posted May 13, 2004 Author Share Posted May 13, 2004 The upper snowfield track were visible but partial filled in. Ones going to Colchuck were starting to melt out but easy to follow. According to Topo software, TH to summit to Colchuck and out via Colchuck Col is around 7400' gain 11.5 miles. Erick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klenke Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 Interesting. I was telling the guys the total gain for the day was 6,100 ft (but I wasn't accounting for the ups and downs on the approach trail and other little things like that). Plus, we didn't go all the way down to the base of that south-trending spur ridge halfway between Argo and Colch. Instead we went up that little couloir on the spur ridge that's visible in the extreme bottom-right corner of the image below. That saved us about 300-400 ft of loss. Of course, if you were following our tracks, I'm guessing you went up that little couloir too. It sure felt like 7,400 ft, though, especially after losing the trail for a spell coming down from the lake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EJohnson Posted May 14, 2004 Author Share Posted May 14, 2004 (edited) I ran the Topo software again heres what I came up with. Edited May 14, 2004 by EJohnson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klenke Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 Ha, that's funny! It keeps getting bigger. Run the software again. Keep at it until it's over 10,000 ft of gain. Then we'll be hardcore. My methodology for the calculation was as follows (rounded figures): T.H. = 3,500 ft Argo summit = 8,500 ft Low point of Argo-Colchuck traverse = 7,500 ft Colch summit = 8,700 ft Total gain = (8,500 - 3,500) + (8,700 - 7,500) = 6,200 ft. The rest was downhill mostly. This analysis ignores those annoying ups and downs on the Stuart Lake Trail and the Colchuck Lake Trail and the traverse around the lake. Who knows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCash Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 There was been major tectonic activity in that region since our ascent of over a year ago Klenke. That must explain the difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tod Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 Klenke's math is pretty much dead on and shows that TOPO isn't necessarily correct. It's a helpful tool, but don't rely on it because there are too many variables between you, the computer and the map. As an example, here's what I got doing the same profile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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