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Dark Peak in May


Josh Lewis

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oh, if you've never lead rock before and you call chalk "powder stuff" I might wait a bit.

nevertheless, if you find a strong partner who knows their shit, do bonanza, it's not that hard.

 

If I did it again I would be in really good shape and go do it in a day, the mosquitoes are the worst I've seen anywhere, and I'd rather run through the clouds then camp in them.

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oh, if you've never lead rock before and you call chalk "powder stuff" I might wait a bit.

nevertheless, if you find a strong partner who knows their shit, do bonanza, it's not that hard.

 

If I did it again I would be in really good shape and go do it in a day, the mosquitoes are the worst I've seen anywhere, and I'd rather run through the clouds then camp in them.

 

I called it powder stuff because it sounds cooler. I have not lead on rocks before.

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Josh,

Keep up on your great conditioning and getting out the way you have. Then hit Dark in may. Gimp would be a great guy to lead the trip. I would still talk with iron and see if he will join you and Gimp.

 

Wait for bonanza till you have many more C4 peaks under your belt.

 

Good luck...

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Dark Pk is a beautiful and worthy trip. People only gripe about it before going there. And it has one of the better waterfalls in the range draining the upper basin.

 

Your timing will be good if you have decent weather. We did it third week of June 2006 and were just a bit late re: the alder. Another party did it first week of June and were able to simple walk on snow on the right side of Swamp Creek all the way to the lower basin. We had to make a dangerous log crossing (good luck finding it) and do some bashing, but still not that bad, on the left side of the creek to get to the lower basin. From the lower basin, take a shallow gully on climber's left (hidden until well into the basin), then steep woods to reach the upper basin. Don't go up any of those slabs or do any of those spicy routes to the right of the waterfall. From the upper basin climb the right side of the glacier to the skyline then simply turn left to scramble the Class 2/3 rock to the summit. As long as you stay on route the only place you'll need a rope is for the glacier.

 

Spectacular view of the Company Glacier on Bonanza; this alone makes the trip worthwhile. Three day trip with the ferry/shuttle travel. You won't have time to do another peak.

 

Bonanza is a far more difficult trip requiring multiple double-rope rappels to downclimb safely, more routefinding, and a lot of experience scrambling hard, poor rock.

Edited by cartman
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