[TR] Mount Cruiser - South Corner 6/30/2007

[suge]

Trip: Mount Cruiser - South Corner

 

Date: 6/30/2007

 

Trip Report:

What was supposed to be a four day Sawtooth Fest got weather-ed out to just a single climb of Mount Cruiser. I'm sure everyone is shocked that the weather didn't cooperate, but remember that we forgot to sacrifice Vancouver Bob the other weekend on Demonslayer.

 

The approach is via Flapjack Lakes, where we camped in the rain on Friday and awoke to semi-blue skies on Saturday. The approach up to the lakes is snow free, and the trail out to Gladys Divide is snow free for a little while. By the time you reach the lower basin, you're in the snow. But, you also get some good views of the Sawtooth Ridge.

 

 

Cruiser is not the phallic thing in the middle. Rather, it is on the far right. Doesn't look like the standard photo of Cruiser? That is because the standard picture is taken from the other side of the ridge, where the climbing happens. Instead, locate the left most notch. That is Needle Pass and is where you want to head. We cramponed up and started moving to the upper basin where we could gain a snow finger.

 

Here is a photo of Needle Pass after we came down. Note the big needle in the middle.

 

 

The snow is in excellent shape and stays well below 35 degrees for most of the climb up to the notch. It stiffens to near 35 degrees at the top. Good depth now and it should stay around for another few weeks at least. Below you can see Steve working his way up the last portion of the snow finger to the base of the needle at the notch.

 

 

The Needle looks like a fun, if airy, climb, with a nicely overhung arete on the right. We lounged for about an hour here before starting the scramble over to the base of the climb.

 

 

The initial part of the scramble featured wet, slimy rock, which we chose to simul. The route heads up a bit and then traverses over to the Mildred Lakes side (ie. opposite from Flapjack lakes) of the ridge. The scramble was longer than expected, but fun enough and the exposure was thrilling.

 

 

We moved along and then descended a bit to get a nice view of Cruiser.

 

 

This is the view that we thought we'd get from near Gladys Divide, but it is on the opposite side of the ridge. Unfortunately, a big, massive snow moat was in the middle of the gully we had to descend. The moat is about 15 feet high, and oddly shaped: The other side plunges very steeply before mellowing out. Our day was running a bit long by the time we were all collected and ready to go. After a bit of exploration, we realized that we could bypass the moat, but that it would take a long, long time and we had nothing to protect the steep snow on the other side. We opted to turn around at this point.

 

Views into the interior Olympics were fantastic, but we couldn't see the tops due to low clouds. A big, expansive glacier was spotted, which we suspect is on Mount Anderson. Can anyone ID?

 

 

We retraced our steps down to Needle Pass, then made rapid work of the snow slope. The Horn (or is it the Fin?) looked really tempting and very accessible.

 

 

Now, I can't go climbing without doing some climbing, so I located a suitable boulder and sent a new V12+ problem, which I called Pork Buns. Everyone else agreed that it was really VB-, and that I can't send something by hanging on the rock and then jumping down, but I'm standing by my story.

 

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Well, you'll want a cool bandana if you attempt Pork Buns. Climb Cruiser and let me know what rock pro to bring.

 

Approach Notes:

Hike up almost to Gladys Divide. Spy Needle Pass, which has a big, whomping needle in it. Climb up about 700 vertical feet to the notch. Head east-ish (away from Needle) and scramble up the ridge line. Traverse along, following a faint climber-esque trail, generally on the Mildred Lakes side of the ridge. Traverse about 0.25 miles on airy terrain until you see Cruiser. Get stuck by the moat if you go in the next few weeks.

 

In early season, it looks like approaching from Mildred Lakes is the way to go. You're going to climb on that side afterall. The tricky part would be the brush down low, but once past it looks like a long, straightforward snow slog.

[bremerton_john]

Glaciered peak is West Peak (in clouds) and Mt Anderson with Echo rock in between.

 

The other pic you asked of was indeed the Horn.

 

Looked like a good day out. You'll get Cruiser next time.

 

John

[jport]

Heading up there this weekend! We'll see what we can do with the moat. I'll post what we find and/or our solution next week.

 

[jport]

We didn't have to contend with the moat at all. There's actually a nice ledge system (of rock) that leads from the gully to the base of the first pitch.

[cluck]

Interesting. I didn't see the secret ledge system on Saturday but we negotiated the moat by traversing below the snow patch around to the other side. From the east, the moat was wide enough to walk through and provided easy access to the first pitch.

 

Regardless, I'd say the route is in for the season. Go get 'er!

[suge]

Sounds like things have melted out quite nicely! How much snow was still in the gully leading up to Needle Pass?