svilar Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 Trip: Pickets - Luna Col - Wiley Ridge Date: 9/12/2007 Trip Report: I wouldn't normally bother to post my lame trip reports, but people seem to be interested in the Pickets. There also seems to be some confusion regarding the Luna Cirque, so hopefully this helps someone in the future. We had about 4.5 days between Smitherman dropping his wife at the airport on Wednesday and picking her up Sunday. He thought 4.5 days was too short for a Ptarmigan Traverse, but thought it was more than enough for the Pickets(??). His desire was for a couple of nights at Luna Col with an ascent of Fury - mine was for a traverse of the Luna Cirque. Negotiations pursued upon arrviving Luna Col and the traverse was on. Day 1: Took the rip-off boat ride on Ross Lk to the head of Big Beaver Valley, hiked the 11 miles, and followed Access Creek to the base of Luna Pk. A lovely cairn alerted us as to where to leave the Big Beav trail and a log was placed over the creek for our crossing convenience. We used the instructions in Nelson's guide which worked perfectly - only a short section of slide alder. Our camp underneath Luna at the head of Access Creek. Day 2: We hiked up the hill behind camp and were greeted by the best views of the Southern Pickets I've ever seen. A short rising traverse brought us to Luna Col where we stubbornly spent the afternoon all in the name of camping at the col. S Pickets after crossing the hill above Access Creek. Smitherman cooks dinner on the summit of Luna Peak. After a hearty Mountain Outhouse we stayed on the summit for sunset. The most impressive summit view I've personally seen in the Cascades. Day 3: I climbed partway back up Luna to take some sunrise photos. From the col we dropped down to incredible Luna Lake via slabs using vegetable aid (branches). We're not sure if our route was the best, but am sure this would have been easier earlier in the season with some snow. Like I said, Luna Lake was unbelievable and we both regretted leaving. From Luna Lk down to the bottom of the cirque we expected easy going scree, but ran into the nastiest terrain on our trip. At one point we picked a slide alder patch as our best descent route. This should tell you something about our predicament. After being "cliffed" out in the alder we finally descended the large gully below the Fury Glacier. The gully was a steep pile of sh_t, made even less pleasant by the threat of a glacier hanging overhead. With a bit more snow we could have gone all the way up against the cliffs on the lower part of Fury for a safer and saner descent. After crossing the bottom of the cirque on the glacier we crossed over two lateral moraines, the first of which provided us some more fun on massive teetering boulders. We finally started up underneath Challenger crossing a waterfall in an obvious spot (coming from the cirque) and stayed just above treeline - side-hilling our way to a small ridge that we followed vertically to the Challenger Glacier and our camp. Southern and Northern Pickets at dawn near the summit of Luna Peak. Smitherman pauses to take in Fury and Luna Lake. Icebergs in Luna Lake. Our route to the lake and into the cirque from Luna Col. Send me an email if you need a high res version. Route beneath Challenger and up to the Challenger Glacier camp. Day 4 Because of time we opted to not climb Challenger (ouch). From our camp on a rock island we headed around point 7374 opting for the glacier (again using Nelson's guide). To our surprise we ran into some 45 degree snow which forced us into a belay. At this time of year going directly over point 7374 would have been much easier. Next up was Wiley, then Eiley Lake where we got a little too comfortable. From this point we followed Nelson's guide to a tee... except for the steep heather. We crossed the steep heather hillside too high (6450') instead of the suggested 6300'. The heather became nearly vertical and both of us tried not to think about an un-glorious death tumbling down a heather covered hillside. The descent off of Wiley Ridge back to the Big Beaver trail was steep, but the bushwhacking was nearly non-existent. Except for our steep heather mistake this was an easy way to Challenger by Picket standards. We camped at Luna Camp. We did not see a cloud for the first four days except for this little fog roll beneath Whatcom Peak. Smitherman lords over the valley. We reluctantly turned our backs on Challenger and headed home. Day 4.5 Luna Camp to the Big Beaver dock. Our boat was on time and Smitherman was back at the airport to pick up his wife and I arrived back on my island in time to catch Sunday Night Football. This trip has be one of the most scenic in the entire range. The views of the Pickets were changing, yet absolutely dramatic the entire way. Next time I'll do it earlier in the season as a bit of snow would make the going easier. I'll also set aside at least 6-7 days for more climbing and any weather issues. Gear Notes: 30 meter glacier rope, 2 pickets, ice axe, crampons Gear MVP = trekking pole, especially on the steep heather sections Approach Notes: See above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClimbingPanther Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 wow, beautiful pics! no TR is a lame TR if the visuals are that good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrogdortheBurninator Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 Amazing photos. Especially the 4th one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmarch Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 Beautiful pictures! Thank you for sharing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Choada_Boy Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 Sweet Pics!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 that sunset picture is awesome. really! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pamczak Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 WOW! Totally outstanding pictures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericb Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 You might want to copywrite/protect that sunset pic....one of the best alpine pix i've seen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letsroll Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 great TR, nice sunset pic!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmace Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 Crazy shots...I wish I knew how to do that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevbone Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 Awesome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanl Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 ditto. One of my favorites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary_Yngve Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 very nice pics. looks like you're shooting w/ a DSLR, as you were able go down to F/22 or so for the sunset starbust? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iggy Posted September 20, 2007 Share Posted September 20, 2007 Man, that is a hell of a lot of work to not climb Challenger. Great photos though. I agree with the above that that one sunset photo is amazing. I did 3 Picket trips last year and those photos almost made me forget the bushwhacking and want to do another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeezix Posted September 20, 2007 Share Posted September 20, 2007 Holy crapoly! You got some keeper snaps there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marikos Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 We traversed from easy ridge to Big Beaver the opposite direction in early August and avoided most of the alder gully nastiness in Luna Cirque by staying low actually passing lousy lake (staying as close to the lake as possible to avoid the huge teetering boulders) and then headed up the main creek back the other direction without too much difficulty to Luna Lake. That is truely a magnificent sunset picture. Must have been a magnificent night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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