mkporwit Posted May 30, 2009 Posted May 30, 2009 (edited) Trip: Ingalls - East Ridge Date: 5/29/2009 Trip Report: Four of us, including CC's KaskadskyjKozak, tagged the East Ridge today. We got a late start, leaving the cars at 8:30. That delay was soon compounded by playing Marco Polo in the trees, as the trail disappeared under snow. The snow is continuous above the tree line, and we found it helpful to have snowshoes. Given the amount of snow, we cached our snowshoes at the base of the access gully and kicked steps up. Soon we were on the rock, scrambling towards the ridge. We roped up at the giant chock stone near the top of the ridge. It looked like we were the first party up there in a while, and we had a couple of close calls with swept from the route by the rope above the chock stone. The that location was also the only place we encountered serpentinite on the entire climb. The route was pretty clean aside from those first few rocks. Downclimbing into the notches had us wallowing in deep, soft snow, but there isn't too much of that -- a little on pitch 2 and some more on pitch 4. The rest of the route is dry. The crux took a #4 C4, which KK had fortunately brought along. Rapped down the south side, retrieved our cached gear and snowshoed out. Got grub at the Cottage Inn in Cle Elum. Gear Notes: Small cams. #4 C4 for the crux, though there looked to be a small crack that should take a green alien? yellow tcu? if you want to leave the boat anchor behind. Didn't lead that move so I didn't have the gear to verify... Approach Notes: Floatation helpful. No crampons. We had ice axes but could have done without. Edited June 2, 2009 by mkporwit Quote
mkporwit Posted May 30, 2009 Author Posted May 30, 2009 No pics by me since I didn't bring a camera. The other three had cameras a d I will post pics when I get them. Quote
KaskadskyjKozak Posted May 30, 2009 Posted May 30, 2009 No pics by me since I didn't bring a camera. The other three had cameras a d I will post pics when I get them. I'll post some pics Sunday night. For those interested in heading that way, the parking lot is melted out, but the hike up to Ingalls is at least 90% snow-covered. Lake Ingalls is frozen over, the ridge above and behind Ingalls Lake appears to be all under snow, as is the gully for the W Ridge of Stuart up to at least Long John Tower. The route between LJT and W ridge notch appears to be mostly snow. The summit block appears to be dry. Mkporwit failed to mention that the heat on the snow was absolutely oppressive and life sucking. Bring sunscreen and drink tons of water and still be prepared to be cooked like a Thanksgiving Turkey. There are some exposed rocks with running water near the pass and in Headlight Basin. Thanks to all for a fun outing! Quote
Tokogirl Posted May 30, 2009 Posted May 30, 2009 Yippee, skippee! I love to fer days out in the mountains. Carrying the extra weight is often worth the turns. Quote
KaskadskyjKozak Posted June 1, 2009 Posted June 1, 2009 No pics by me since I didn't bring a camera. The other three had cameras a d I will post pics when I get them. The approach: The objective: Looking back - team mates a bit behind: Looking up at pitch 3: A party of folks we knew: Stuart, baby! The end of the final pitch: Ah, rappelling: Quote
kevbone Posted June 1, 2009 Posted June 1, 2009 Nice pictures. I climbed the east ridge several years ago. Some good pitches, some bad. The second to last pitch was terrible. KKK....nice....I did not know you climbed. Quote
Le Piston Posted June 1, 2009 Posted June 1, 2009 Nice pictures. Marcin, no use of the new tools? I hope they work out well for you. Cheers! Quote
KaskadskyjKozak Posted June 1, 2009 Posted June 1, 2009 I did not know you climbed. Umm, yeah, whatever dude. Quote
mkporwit Posted June 1, 2009 Author Posted June 1, 2009 Nice pictures. Marcin, no use of the new tools? I hope they work out well for you. Cheers! I got them for Adams Glacier, which is supposed to be happening this coming weekend assuming the road melts out far enough. Quote
Tokogirl Posted June 2, 2009 Posted June 2, 2009 Had an excellent climb/ski there this past weekend! Good snow up high but getting sloppy as we descended. Thanks for the beta and thumbs up to the skiing! Teresa Quote
plaigar Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 Thanks for a great trip. Some more pictures from it: Last pitch Stuart in sunset Moonrise over Esmeralda Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.