still_climbin Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 (edited) Climb: Ingalls Peak Traffic Jam-South Face Date of Climb: 7/27/2006 Trip Report: Four of us from the Tri Cities motored up to the trailhead Thursday morning trying for a quick shot at Ingalls sans weekend crowds. We arrived at the lake about 11:00 am and could see a climber on the skyline doing the route we wanted. No problem since he'd certainly be off by the time we arrived. No such luck. We hit the base of the route around noon and scooted up the first easy class 5 pitch in a few minutes as two independant rope teams. Arriving on the large ledge at the base of the face we were greeted by a party of five climbing as two teams strung out over the entire route. They included several climbers from Seattle and two from Texas. Two were teenage boys who had little if any climbing experience. The second team hadn't even started the first pitch off the big ledge! Well, we waited and waited some more. After an hour I led the 5.6 crack right behind the last guy. My toes suffered at times waiting for him to make his next move, but fortunately they let me climb through their belay which was only about 80 ft up from the ledge. Well, long story short, we slipped through them while they climbed, but soon after they reached the top rappel station they set their rappel rope as others of their party lounged on the summit. Hence we found ourselves in line once again. Turns out that was fortunate for them. Their trip leader, and the second rope leader zipped off the summit to set the rappel below, leaving one adult and the two kids to fend for themselves. One kid had an ATC and the other a BD Figure Eight. Neither had rappeled before nor did they have a clue how to use those devices. The remaining adult was using an old 70's vintage brake bar with an ancient oval binner and couldn't help the kids. Up to this point I was trying to not pay attention to their quandry but the adult asked for assistance so I agreed. I ended up baby sitting the three of them off the summit to the others waiting below. I caught up with two of the adults at the second rap anchor. There the one who had rapped second from the summit expressed great concern that he didn't know how to rig the 3 binner caribiner brake system he was using (This is after he apparently guessed right for the rap off the summit). Again I found myself as the instructor and corrected his hookup (it was wrong). We passed them as they were doing the last rap. In all we had waited at least two and a half hours for this party and finally made it off the face at 5:00. I'm guessing they spent at least 7 hours on the face. Well, so much for mid week climbing luck. I'm REALLY looking forward to my Liberty Bell/SEWS trip this comming WEEKEND. Pic of the gaggle on Ingalls: Gear Notes: Small racks Didn't need ice axes Patience Edited July 31, 2006 by still_climbin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slothrop Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 Sweet baby Jesus! You're a good person for helping those folks out. I look forward to next weekend's TR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary_Yngve Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 Yeah, those guys owe you some beer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 I think the Mounties are doing a 12 person trip up Liberty and and a 12 person trip up SEWS this coming weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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