[TR] Mt. Persis to Mt. Index traverse- West ridge of Persis and South slope of Index 2/28/2005

[thinair28]

Climb: Mt. Persis to Mt. Index traverse-West ridge of Persis and South slope of Index

 

Date of Climb: 2/26/2005

 

Trip Report:

Headed out with a perfect weather forecast on Saturday to hike up Mt. Persis and check out the traverse to Mt. Index. Accompanying me was my good buddy Andrew, a hardy soul, but not much of a climber yet. Little did he know he was up for more than he signed up for…

 

We took our time getting to the top of Persis, stopping to admire the views and the fact that we were hiking up high in February comfortably in t-shirts! We goofed around on top for too long probably and spent a while looking at the route to Mt. Index. It didn’t really seem that hard, albeit very long, so we decided to give it a go.

 

After figuring our way through minor cliff bands we found ourselves next to peak 5362 (called ‘Persindex’ I belive). We were impressed with how easy the going was so far, so we kept at it. From there we stuck to the south part of the ridge negotiating sometimes steep, but forested terrain. There were many small cliffy outcroppings, but there always seemed to be an easy way around. With every up little up and down we got closer and closer, but it also got later and later.

 

We didn’t bring a watch, but the long shadows indicated we should turn back if we wanted to get back to the trail before it got too dark. “Naw” we thought, “the summit is ours!” When we finally were directly below the south slope of Index we ran into a mystery climber descending from the summit (wearing a cotton sweatshirt and pants!) that had approached from the N. fork of the Tolt somewhere. He said the brush wasn’t really that bad. I imagine this route would be the simplest, but maybe most unpleasant, route to the top if you can figure it out.

 

From there we followed his tracks to the top. The way is easy except for a 100 foot traverse on moderately steep snow with very bad run out. Except for this little part, our route was entirely a hike!

 

By then it was dark and Andrew was physically beat, so we decided a night out wouldn’t be so terrible given the unseasonably warm temps, even though we didn’t really have any overnight gear. I was thankful my ‘survival-first aid’ kit contained matches and we broke the burn-ban order to stay warm that night. I spent most the night adding wood to the fire and finding the balance between staying close to the fire and not having my highly flammable clothes engulf in flames. Andrew’s attire wasn’t as lucky as mine, but that’s another story…

 

We got a lazy post-sunrise start Sunday morning and returned to the car by about 11:45am.

 

Overall, the route is technically very easy, but quite long with lots of ups and downs and a little bit of routefinding fun. I think a fast, fit party would easily finish in a day if they had conditions like ours or more daylight.

 

Gear Notes:

Snowshoes would have helped, but not needed. Ski poles and ice axes only.

 

Approach Notes:

the approach to the persis TH is a little complex, but good directions can be found. PM me if you can't find any

[rock-ice]

Haha. Good read. Persindex is the correct name, or at least the one used by all my peakbagger buddies.

[Stefan]

Wow. you had a fire? Good job on getting one going! Wish I could spend an extra night in the woods if something went wrong....with a fire. mmmmmm fires.....

[thinair28]

Thanks for the correction Rock-Ice. It was freakish to have such warm dry weather in February. And to have a bare patch of dirt with abundant dry wood at 5000'!