tbyrnestl Posted September 2, 2008 Posted September 2, 2008 (edited) Trip: Three Queens - Cooper Pass - SE Shoulder Date: 9/1/2008 Trip Report: The Three Queens is the toothy ridge across the canyon NE of Hibox. These rocks are probably best enjoyed from that distance. The brief description in Beckey seemed to indicate a walk up until the final summit block so I thought it would be a good target for a late start. Not so much. It's pretty much third class for maybe 600 to 800 feet toward the ridge top, and a crappy third class at that. That and long sections of scree toward the top of the talus field make for some slow travel. The Mineral Creek Trail approach is in good shape. One blow-down, quite a bit of brush and some mud were the only negatives there. At about 3,500 you emerge from the forest with views of the peaks and of Alta and Hibox across the valley. Then about 100' of mild bushwhacking along a climbers' boot track puts you on the talus. From there you head up toward the notch to the right of the main peak following the path of least resistance. The first 1,000' are easy going over stable talus. The next 1,200' are a mix of not so stable talus and occasional third class gullies. The last 600' to the ridge is mostly up third class rock gullies. Once over the ridge you drop down 50' and contour around the back of the main peak to an obvious vegetated third-class ramp which gains the rige to the summit. The rock quality in general is poor. The gullies are loaded with choss with a lot of rotten rock besides. The rock is almost Olympics-bad. In fact the main peaks look a lot like the rock out in the Olympics when you get up close. It's all pretty harmless though with no big exposure. The biggest danger is getting hoarse from yelling *rock*. There's nothing like a day scrambling shifting talus and chossy third class gullies to make one appreciate better rock. Round trip from the car without pushing a pace was about 9 hours. Gear Notes: Nada - it's third class. Leather gloves could come in handy for the inevitable scree arrests on the descent. Approach Notes: Kudos to the Forest Service for the excellent shape of Cooper Pass Road. It sure looks like an easy walk-up from this angle. I think that's Stuart in the distance, from topside. The last climber drops out of the ascent gully. A closeup of the notch gully as we scramble back down. It's all easy third class with 15-20' of exposure here or there. Edited September 3, 2008 by tbyrnestl Quote
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