eldiente Posted July 6, 2010 Posted July 6, 2010 (edited) Trip: Prusik Peak - Stanley-Burgner Date: 6/27/2010 Trip Report: My first time in the Snow Lake permit area, they aren't lying when say this one of the most beautiful backpacking destinations in the lower 48. I don't really enjoy hiking very much, but going up there makes me want to give up this whole climbing thing and take-up backpacking. The scenery up there is incredible, especially with the half-frozen lakes. Wow! Here is what we found conditions wise. Hike-in. It is indeed long. We hit snow and mud as soon as we got around Snow Lake. There is a lot of snow up there, everywhere that isn't covered in snow is a running river. Following the trail was difficult above snow lake, we missed it and went post holing and river wadding for the last 2 hours to the camp at the base of Prusik. There are dry bivy spots above vivian lake. Beta online and in the guidebook is spot on. Despite having good beta, I still got us lost around P3 and ended up doing two pitches of "der sportsman, 5.11+" before realizing I was off-route. Did 2x raps and some down-climbing to get us back on the route. How I messed that up I don't know, I guess I was getting tired of thrashing around in this dirty gully and got lured in by these lovely cracks to the left. Lovely indeed, but not 5.9. P1. Did the fist crack start. Hardish climbing with flared fist jams. Start of route has a snow-cone on it, shoes will get wet. P2. Link with P1. Easy to link, stop at tree belay. P3. Short finger crack (can we have more of this please!) Move way right on slab and nobs with no pro. Easy climbing but falling here would ruin your day. Move up through short bulge double crack and onto dirty gully system. Do not go left. P4. Climb nice crack below chockstone that you tunnel under. Trick beta here is to drop a loop of rope down to partner to haul pack through chockstone. P5. OW flare, not real long but hard thrashing in there. Good pro though, takes C3s on the right-side and #4 BD higher up. Again, have leader drop a loop of rope down and haul pack or drag it under harness. P6. Finally some good climbing. Crux is a wide OW that you stem around. The stem section was a bit wet on the right side. Save a few C3s for this part, they fit well on the pin scars on the right side. Descent. 5 raps to the snow. Did not need crampons but we got soaked wadding through knee deep snow gaining the ridge on the North side. [img:center]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/TCuKFSHw5SI/AAAAAAAAKTk/L58uCOs_zhI/s640/P1010385.JPG[/img] [img:center]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/TCuKTyp3jmI/AAAAAAAAKVE/w1apv_NKPcE/s640/P1010411.JPG[/img] [img:center]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/TCuKWIrydfI/AAAAAAAAKVU/6nARucAO90E/s640/P1010413.JPG[/img] [img:center]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/TCuKYrXsGjI/AAAAAAAAKVo/cMlo6ckZlZQ/s640/P1010415.JPG[/img] [img:center]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/TCuKcZCTYXI/AAAAAAAAKWQ/pvQzt7p9gBQ/s640/P1010420.JPG[/img] [img:center]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/TCuKOSrMVeI/AAAAAAAAKUg/yo2T6rZhaac/s640/P1010404.JPG[/img] [img:center]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/TCuKo6KHEDI/AAAAAAAAKX8/rTOIjDVzFH4/s640/P1010439.JPG[/img] Gear Notes: Single Red C3-#4 BD. Double on .75-#2BD. Nuts. Many long slings. Approach Notes: 9 miles, 5,000 feet of gain. Snow above snow lakes. Edited July 8, 2010 by eldiente Quote
kevbone Posted July 6, 2010 Posted July 6, 2010 Nice Nate. I thought it was only 4 pitches. At least that is what we did it in. Quote
mountainmatt Posted July 6, 2010 Posted July 6, 2010 Sweet! It is one fantastic route for sure! Looks like its still full on winter up there! The key for me on the chockstone pitch was to attach my pack to a daisy and drop it below my feet. Once you make it through, just pull it right on up onto the platform. Quote
eldiente Posted July 6, 2010 Author Posted July 6, 2010 Yes, it would be easy to link this into 4 pitches, Jaime gave me good beta for linking it into 4 and it sounds good. I elected to break it up into smaller pitches so I could keep a close on eye on my partner, she's new to alpine rock climbing. -Nate Quote
kevbone Posted July 6, 2010 Posted July 6, 2010 Jaime gave me good beta for linking it into 4 Ironically, he gave me the same beta. Quote
telemarker Posted July 7, 2010 Posted July 7, 2010 What a great climb and supercute ponytail helmet! Quote
Crillz Posted July 8, 2010 Posted July 8, 2010 We did that route Monday. It was cold. Sorry for the blood smears in the flared chimney - that thing kicked my ass. Dragging ice axes up those offwidths and chimneys is not recommended , and not really needed if you make it off before the sun goes down. Quote
justinp Posted July 8, 2010 Posted July 8, 2010 Nice Nate! Could you make ur life look any worse All these alpine rock TR’s are making me consider getting off my lazy craggin as and getting back up in the hills Did you unlock the secrete to time travel? Ur TR is dated July 27th 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.