[TR] Cannon Mountain - North Colouir 6/28/2009

[spotly]

Trip: Cannon Mountain - North Colouir

 

Date: 6/28/2009

 

Trip Report:

My friend Dave has been wanting to climb Cannon for some time now because it's one of the top 40s. It didn't look too appealing to me due to the approach and better views to be had (I thought) on other, closer summits. I was interested in checking out Druid Plateau though. Most of the picture I've seen of the plateau showed a baren landscape with a scattering of rocks and dried up pools. I thought the views earlier in the the season might show a more watery landscape.

 

So it was with semi-eagerness that I picked Dave up at his house and we drove off towards Leavenworth for the second weekend in a row. There were relatively few cars at the trailhead. We picked a spot with enough room in front of the car to throw down the bivy bags then commenced to snoring till 3:20am.

 

The old road was a surprise though I'm not sure why. It was very grown over but the trail through the alder was easy to follow even in the dark. We arrived at a large slide area in short time. We were both expecting the road to switchback once before the slide but it didn't and we stood staring at the drop for a few minutes before turning right (south) and whacking the bush. After several hundred vertical feet, a faint path appeared and disappeared and we mostly followed that upwards. We negotiated a few very steep steps by shooting up the middle and worked our way through a little swampy area. Eventually we reached green trees, some hard snow then the open NE ridge. We followed the ridge on top and below the crest on the right till reaching a notch at around 8kish'

 

A strong breeze kept things cooled off nicely but it disappeard as we stepped through the notch on our decent to Coney Lake. We traversed the talus and compact snow west of the lake, heading towards a large snow bowl (felt like being in a microwave) below the north colouir. Dave led off up the colouir, kicking good steps as he went. The snow was moderately steep but the run-out was a "fun" slide into the bowl. We topped out on the snow and began to pick our way up the loose pebbles towards Druid Plateau. Pretty soon, the summit block was in sight and we both took turns climbing the easy slab up. I was impressed with the views from this vantage point. It was an excellent angle for a sttraight-on view up Mountaineers Creek and Mt. Stuart's north ridge. We enjoyed the summit area for a while as we ate lunch then packed up and started back down.

 

We decided on the NE ridge for a decent and had a great time navigating through tunnels and around blind corners till finally reaching a saddle above the basin next to Coney Lake. We knew we should have been able to continue along the ridge with no need to decend towards the lake but the route must have been hidden by some special magic because it certainly wasn't appearant to either of us. The drop from the saddle to the basin was just plain crap. I hugged the wall to the south and was thankful for the bomber hand holds as my feet slipped from under me a few times. We eventually decided on a loose chimney, which we downclimbed face in till reaching a narrow but solid ledge. The ledge took us over to where the snow reached the rock. We negotiated a small moat and continued the face in downclimb on 60 degree snow till it tapered off a bit. Neither one of us cared for that crappy route down. We were glad to be back on solid ground and looking gleefully forward to regaining several hundred feet back to the ridge after traversing above Coney Lake.

 

By the time we regained the ridge and started back down through the burn, the sun was swelting. We stopped at the little swampy area to pump some water. Before too terribly long, we had regained the road and did the short slog back to the trailhead. We stopped at Cashmere for a "world famous" Rusty Burger. It was a little more than ok.

 

I enjoyed this route up Cannon. I think we should have spent some more time looking for the way back to the notch via the ridge rather than dropping down that crappy gully back to the lake though. Either way - all worked out and I need the extra exercise anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Had a hat but lost it. Ice ax and crampons used. Drugs for the decent back into the basin would have been nice.

 

Approach Notes:

Maps on SP show the old road switchbacking but we ran into the slide on the straight away so that seems innacurate. Walk to the slide then whack yer way up.

Edited June 30, 2009 by spotly

[spotly]

So, anyone here who's done this route care to chime in on the NE ridge route? We decended nearly to the lake to get to the north chute but if we had wanted to follow the ridge proper, a way didn't appear obvious from the 8kish notch.

[Doug Smith]

Nice pictures.