[TR] Ice Creek Ridge--Icebox and Chilly Peak - By way of Carne Mountain 6/13/2004

klenke · June 15, 2004

Yes, another Klenke trip report full of longueurs. If you don't want to read it: don't.

Climb: Ice Creek Ridge--Icebox and Chilly Peak (by way of Carne Mountain)

Date of Climb: 6/13/2004

Trip Report:

Well, it seemed only appropriate that I should climb on Ice Creek Ridge on a snowy, chilly day....

MORE PICTURES TO BE PROVIDED IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE BUT RIGHT NOW HERE ARE THREE:

Ice Creek Ridge from the east I

Ice Creek Ridge from the east II

Ice Creek Ridge from the north

My initial plan was to climb Chiwawa Mountain from a car camp at Trinity but the ceaseless rainfall through the night washed that plan into nature's sewer. That is because I had intended to bike the trail as far was possible. I knew the wet trail would result in a lot of spin outs for my bike's semi-slicks.

I needed a secondary plan. The weather was cold and showery (raining lightly down at 3,000 ft) so I decided to head up the Carne Mountain Trail, which junctions not far from the Phelps Creek Trailhead (c. 3,500 ft). I didn't even have a map. I figured the trail would go close to the peak then I would climb whatever looked to be the highest point in the area. The trail takes 3.5 miles to ascend to the 6,300-ft saddle closely south of the summit. At 3.0 miles I left the trail at a nice meadow (c. 6,140 ft) and beared upslope to the NE then to the east up Carne's west ridge. I located Carne's 7,080+ ft summit rather quickly (130 minutes from the car) and wondered what I would do next since it was only 11:00AM. I thought about taking the vanishing trail over to Old Gib Mountain to the south but after seeing how far away it was and what beckoned to Carne's east, I 86'ed the old Gibster.

To the northeast, running roughly in a high north-south alignment, was Ice Creek Ridge looking oh so close. Furthermore, a nice high connecting ridge (the divide between Rock Creek and Box Creek) led to it from Carne. Wow! It looks so near, so accessible. Here's your opportunity to climb on this often forgotten but nonetheless high and important ridge, I said to myself. It seems like I'd never purposely set out to climb this ridge but when an on-site Plan B needs to be hatched, it is there for the bagging. I knew from memory there were two "peaks" (points with >400P) on the ridge. One is unofficially called "Icebox" and is 8,112 ft. It is at the north end of the ridge closely south of Mt. Maude. Icebox is among the Top 200 highest peaks in the state. Near the south end of the ridge is "Chilly Peak" (Pk 7960+) whose nomenclature, according to John Roper, goes with Carne Mountain. That is, as Azteca's would be proud to endorse, you've got Chilly con Carne (con means "with" in Spanish). Do you see the tasty burrito connection? Anyway...

I wasn't positive which peak was Chilly. I had a fair idea that the peak I was seeing to the N was Icebox. From the Carne angle, it looked like a diminutive version of Maude, which loomed to Icebox's left. No technical difficulties appeared to guard Icebox. I surmised that someone had left the Icebox open (perhaps this is why it was so cold out) so it was there to be climbed into and up. I debated how to climb it. Should I climb up through the ice maker? Or perhaps backdoor it by way of the compressor? I eventually decided to take the ridge from Carne all the way up to the high point it connects with on Ice Creek Ridge. This high point is Pt. 7800+ and is 1 mile NNE of Carne. I reached it in about an hour. There were no real technical difficulties getting to this point but the fresh smattering of snow on the ground and the driving snow passing through in a shower made things a little more interesting. The ridge was living up to its gelid name. Moreover, I couldn't see a darned thing in the whiteout. It was like a darned white T-shirt had been draped over my eyes.

The traverse north along the ridge was mostly Class 3 but with enough dicey Class 4 moves (during upclimbing, downclimbing, and contouring) to make it interesting. The dampness didn't help. I either stayed on the ridge or skirted gendarmes on its west side (the east side is precipitous). At about halfway I came upon a deep cave. It looked like a mine shaft but there was no tell-tale tailings pile. It went in and down slightly under a fault in a crag for about 100 ft. I peered into its depths and was momentarily startled by a brown mass on the left. I flinched thinking it a bear but it was only a brown wall.

All looked well at the 7,600-ft saddle immediately south of Icebox but the Glacier Peak pumice took a lot out of me with its standard "two steps forward, one step back" punishment. It was easier to stay on the snowpatches. The summit of Icebox provided great views--especially of Maude and the Spectacle Buttes. There was a cairn at the summit but no register.

On the way over to Icebox I had spied a great snow-covered basin on the east side of Pt. 7800+. I knew that if I could get down onto the snow there, I could traverse that basin over to Chilly Peak, which peeked from over the top of Pt. 7919. If I couldn't get onto that snowfield, I probably couldn't manage Chilly in the 6-7 remaining hours of daylight because it meant I'd have to traverse all the way around the corner of the west side of Pt. 7800+. That did not appeal to me. Luckily, I observed a possible Class 3 downclimb off the ridge to get to the snowy basin. This place on the ridge was about halfway between Pt. 7800+ and Icebox.

With mostly Class 3 and two moderate Class 4 downclimbs including a squeeze under a big ex-cornice block ready to peel off at any moment (yikes!), I managed to get to a snowfield tongue and subsequently down to the basin. It was the first time I used my ice axe. The low point of the traverse was about 7,300 ft. I took the snow all the way up to the broad 7,440+ ft saddle between Pt. 7800+ and Pt. 7919. I next ascended up and over Pt. 7919 with the stiffening wind pushing me on. Upon reaching that point I got my first unobstructed view of what it would take to get to Chilly Peak. And the answer was: nothing more than a snow traverse. Woohoo! Good to go.

The snow contour was steeper than I had anticipated. The cool temperatures meant I was not sinking in for stability. However, this was also to my benefit as it meant that plunging through was at a minimum. In short, it was an excellent day weatherwise to be climbing on Ice Creek Ridge. Plus, in looking to the west, it seemed I was just beyond (east of) the wall of weather that seemed to stop at Buck Mountain and periodically blow pathetic snow showers my way. If I had done Chiwawa after all, I would have been in the thick of it (I never did see the top of Fortress Mountain and only saw Buck's summit once earlier from the trail).

The final Class-3 scramble to Chilly Peak's top entailed more damp rock but it otherwise put up no defense. Another cairn, another lack of register, another set of good views--this time to Spectacle Buttes, Pinnacle Mountain, and peaks of the Cardinal Peak group.

Instead of going back up and over Pts. 7919 and 7800+, I chose to descend obliquely below these until I arrived at the connecting ridge between Pt. 7800+ and Carne Mountain. Then, instead of going back over Carne (would require a 400 ft snow climb), I chose to take the trail (Carne Mountain High Route/Rock Creek Trail) that streaks through this area to the 6,800-ft pass immediately south of Carne. From there only knee-jarring trail action remained to get back to the car.

Some data

Total distance traveled: 3 miles of trail + 3.5 miles over Carne to Icebox + 1.5 miles from Icebox to Chilly + 2.5 miles from Chilly to trail + 3 miles of trail = 13.5 miles roundtrip

Total elevation gain: (7,080 - 3,500) + (7,800 - 6,600) + (8,112 - 7,600 + 200 gendarme skirting) + (7,919 - 7,300) + (7,960 - 7,700) + (6,800 - 6,500) = 6,700 ft

Total time: 10 hours, 45 minutes roundtrip (9:00AM to 7:45PM)

Recommendations

Ice Creek Ridge is readily accessible from Carne Mountain and the Carne Mountain Trail. If you desire to bag Chilly Peak and Icebox, you could probably do so quicker than me because I didn't take the most efficient route. My suggestion would be to climb Chilly Peak (Pk 7960+) first, then take the eastside snow basin (talus later in the year?) below Pt. 7800+ in order to see where you would need to go to climb back up onto the ridge in the easiest manner possible, then north up the easy south slopes of Icebox. From Icebox contour SSW about 1,000 feet below Pt. 7800+ (it is not necessary to climb 7800+ unless you really want to) to get back to the connecting ridge from Carne.

Gear Notes

Ice Axe, crampons only if really cold/icy.

This is a scrambling ridge that is mostly Class 3. Class 4 lurks and Class 5 is there if you screw up, but you won't really need technical gear.

There did seem to be plenty of running water but there were also lots of marmots running about. As such, beware of contamination issues. You might wish to bring iodine tablets or a lightweight filter if you plan on refilling.

Approach Notes:

Take the Chiwawa River Road to the Phelps Creek Road thence to the trailhead (3,500 ft). Hike Phelps Creek Trail for about a quarter-mile to the junction with the Carne Mountain Trail.

Kyle_Flick · June 15, 2004

Nice TR of a Plan B traverse in wet and woolly conditions. With the good weather forecast this weekend we're planning a loop in the area with a return on the Carne Mt. high trail. Is there a way to link Chiwawa Mt. and Fortress?

JoshK · June 15, 2004

Nice TR of a Plan B traverse in wet and woolly conditions. With the good weather forecast this weekend we're planning a loop in the area with a return on the Carne Mt. high trail. Is there a way to link Chiwawa Mt. and Fortress?

Most definitely. Here is the easiest way I can think of. Park the car at trinity. Approach via buck creek pass, climb fortress, traverse across upper chiwawa basin to chiwawa and deproach via chiwawa valley.

Here is the better way I can think of. leave a car at the phelps creek trailhead. Start like above but instead of going down chiwawa basin go down the lyman glacier. the climb back up to spider gap, and down and out through spider meadow. Ride the 4 mile phelps creek road (all downhilll) back to the car. I've been in all those places but never linked them together. It would be a great trip.

klenke · June 15, 2004

Re: Kyle

Yes. But you'll have to climb up and over Phelps Ridge. There is a Phelps Ridge High Route or it might be called Red Mountain High Route that supposedly leaves the Phelps Creek Trail and climbs NW over Phelps Ridge to the other side. I think it climbs to the saddle south of Red Mountain. You can also climb up the trail to the Spider Glacier from Spider Meadow then scramble talus/scree up and over the ridge north of Red Mountain. Completing Chiwawa via its East Ridge could be problematic but going up the southeast slope looked feasible. The standard/easy route up Chiwawa is via the South Ridge.

From the Carne Mountain High Route, which skirts below the west side of Ice Creek Ridge west of Icebox (Pk 8112), you can get into the Leroy Creek drainage then take the Leroy Creek Trail down to the Phelps Creek Trail. From that junction, it would probably then be easier to get to Chiwawa via the Spider Glacier route previously described.

Fortress can be climbed from the east side via the East Ridge. The crux is a 10-ft Class 4 chimney. Rest is Class 3.

In terms of a loop trip car-to-car, you would have to walk back up the Phelps Creek Trail Road from Chiwawa River Road. The junction is south of Trinity by about a mile. I walked up PCTR once and it wasn't fun (it's about 2 miles and 700' of gain). If you had two cars, though...

A better alternative would be to climb Dumbell Mountain and Greenwood Mountain (NE Dumbell) at the head of Phelps Creek. These two peaks are as high as Chiwawa and just as technically interesting. If you did Dumb and Green instead, you could just walk the Phelps Creek Trail back to the car.

JoshK · June 15, 2004

Paul, that is why I said go down the lyman glacier and back up. I think the trip down to lyman lakes is really need. The route you mentioned up over dumbell is one I have planned for this summer. It's all a really beautiful area.

Stephen_Ramsey · June 15, 2004

Hi Paul,

Do you know how close one can get (by car) to the Phelps Creek Trailhead, at this point?

Thanks very much,

Steve Ramsey

klenke · June 15, 2004

Steve: you can drive all the way to the trailhead no problem. There is rutting I hadn't seen before but it is completely manageable for a lower clearance vehicle.

The trailhead is at c. 3,500 ft. I didn't even hit snow until over 6,000 ft. No worries. There doesn't appear to be any snow in Phelps Creek all the way to Spider Meadow and beyond. You have to get out of the valleys to encounter snow. For example, the Ice Lakes area south of Mt. Maude is still quite snowbound.

Timcb · June 15, 2004

Steve- as klenke reports, phelps creek is totally clear. I did the n face of maude weekend before last and we didn't even find snow until we were well up in the phelps ck subalpine basin, past the steepest part of the approach hike.