rodeo Posted August 30, 2001 Share Posted August 30, 2001 I'm thinking an approach from the Whitechuck with a start up the Pumice Creek basin is my start. Once on the hill we'd skirt the upper edges (southwest) of Ptarmigan and Vista. Cross Kennedy and travel along the upper (southwest again) of Dusty and move past North Guardian Rock to the Rabbit Ears and then shoot for the summit from there. This will all depend upon current conditions once we start up the hill though. Any input? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swalsh Posted August 30, 2001 Share Posted August 30, 2001 Be prepared for hard ice on the last couple of hundred feet to the true summit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zee Posted August 30, 2001 Share Posted August 30, 2001 We did Frostbite Ridge last weekend. We camped in Pumice Creek Basin at 5,500' due to time constraints. We went through the basin, onto the Ptarmigan Glcaier. We traversed to the top of it, dropped down to the upper Kennedey Glacier, climbed to the saddle below Frostbite. Just below the Rabbit Ears we encountered to short pitches of alpine ice, climbed throught the ears, dropped down 100 ft to the ridge leading to the false summit. Here, we encountered a 30m pitch of alpine ice and a bergshrund buried in new snow about a quarter of the way up. Then a traverse across to the false summit, down to the crater and below the full pitch of alpine ice at 60-65 degrees. Very good quality ice with little dinner-plating. We simul-climbed through this with two screws for pro. After this it's 400-500 ft of snow at 40 degrees to the summit. A long day (8 hours up) and long day down. You can also camp on the ridge at 7,200' at the Ptarmigan by taking a climbers' trail approximatley a mile before Pumice Basin. Where the trail rounds the corner after a long climbing traverse is where the climbers' path is, although we did nit use it nor did we look for it. You may want to bring a spare tool for the alpine ice pitch at the top as it is fun and the most direct route. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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