[TR] Black Peak- North Ridge 9/8/2005

[Alex]

Climb: Black Peak-North Ridge

 

Date of Climb: 9/8/2005

 

Trip Report:

Smelling the end of days, I decided to stop being a model employee and (*shock* ) took a good weather day off work to solo Black. What spurred me on was, while perusing trip reports on this site about the route, my own freakin' post from 2002(!) saying that I would go do it soon. Well, 3 years later seems soon enough, so with Rafael_H along who wanted to solo it too, off we went.

 

I had never been to Lake Ann, or Wing Lake, and if anyone had told me the area was so scenic I wouldnt have put it off for so long! Started at 6:30 and took the perfectly graded trail to Heather Pass, fantastic morning light, perfect temps, autumn smells in the crisp air.

 

The trail is easy to follow all the way to Heather Pass, Lewis Lake (why so green??), Wing Lake (why so Rockies limestone blue??), and onto the heather meadows beyond. The trail and approach is so easy, the area so scenic, its a crime. From the heather meadows beyond Wing Lake you have to make a slightly inobvious route finding decision: a low spot in the large moraine half way along that guards the E face of Black. But the access ledges to the N Ridge are obvious, and after a short icy slope (crampons, no axe), the notch is gained.

 

From here the climb travels first on the E side of the ridge, over loose 3rd and 4th, before scrambling to the crest at an obvious place before a vert wall bars any further progress on the East side. Whenever making routefinding choices, just look for the obvious lichen-free trail of cleaned holds and bootprints...the route is well travelled enough and the options plenty that you should never get into trouble and have to climb harder than 4th. Here the crest is very sharp with dramatic exposure, certianly much more exposed than most ridge routes in the Cascades. The climbing is never harder than 4th, and can be climbed in approach shoes or good mountain boots. All the while you are surrounded by the remarkable green of Lewis Lake, the remarkable blue of Wing Lake, cool gusts from the N side of the mountain, warm gusts from the E side of the mountain, all the WA Pass peaks close at hand, really stellar location!

 

The technical and exposed section is fairly short, perhaps 100m or so. Here there are still traces of recent snowfall on the higher elevations of Black, which gave things an appropriately alpine feel. After that the ridge broadens a little, and soon after, you pull a steep wall above a slab and the ridge abruptly kicks back to low angle, 3rd class again, with the summit in view. From the summit you get your first views of Goode, challenging you from across the valley. Yet another reason to climb Black.

 

The decent is not nearly the horror show its made out to be, in fact its much better than many established decent routes. I thought it was fun and easy. For the not-so-adventurous, it offers a fine route to the summit in its own right, with the only suffering the scree section between the moraine and the saddle. 45 min back down to Wing Lake, and on out to the car, with blueberries, cool winds blowing, spectacular scenery, and just a few idle souls about. Perfect fall day!

 

The route is short, but the climbing is not the reason to do this route, the position and the environment is. The hike to Wing Lake alone is worth the trip. Even with the shorter days, this is an easy objective, it took us 8.5 hours round trip, moving at a very leisure pace.

 

Gear Notes:

helmet, crampons

 

rope and light rack if exposure makes you jittery

 

no need for rock shoes

 

Approach Notes:

one of the most obvious and straightforward approaches you will ever do

[Mr._Natural]

Is this the NE ridge as described in Cascades Select?

[Alex]

Its the route described in pms' Volume 2.

[Mr._Natural]

thanks

[plexus]

I had never been to Lake Ann, or Wing Lake, and if anyone had told me the area was so scenic I wouldnt have put it off for so long!

 

Opps! Sorry. Hey Alex, tis pretty up there and the ridge kicks ass!!

 

Seriously it is a nice climb and a good place to camp as well. I just remember when we got to the summit and looked out at the sea of peaks, how reasonably close all the big boys are (Logan, Forbidden, etc).

 

That might sound stupid, but if you think about how far and how long all of the trailheads are, and then when you get up there, "Oh it's only two valleys away." Alas, to own a pair of wings!