[TR] Dark Peak - Swamp Creek 8/21/2010

[JasonDowns]

Trip: Dark Peak - Swamp Creek

 

Date: 8/21/2010

 

Trip Report:

Took off Thursday night with my dad, headed for my parents future retirement home in the hills above Chelan. The plan was to head up lake via the Lady Express and go try to climb Dark Peak. This is an account of that heinous bushwhacking adventure!

 

Arrived at Stehekin at around 11am via the Lady Express and promptly jumped aboard the shuttle that goes to High Bridge. Got to High Bridge around noon and were off on the PCT (Agnes Creek Trail) by 12:30pm. The goal for the day was to get up to Swamp Creek camp, maybe the lower basin if we had time. We made pretty good time to Swamp Creek camp (~9 miles in just over 3 hrs with a break at Five Mile camp for lunch) so we looked at each other and said "Lets shoot for the lower basin tonight, shit its only another few miles and bit of elevation gain, why the hell not!" The rest of the trip to the lower basin resulted in the most cursing ive ever heard on a climb...even more than the time we climbed that rotten piece of shit Jack Mtn!

 

The going from Swamp Creek camp to the lower basin started off innocently enough. The old trail was not too hard to follow (lots of blaze marks on the trees at eye and knee level). It wasnt till we hit the first plateau that the hell began. The devils club and slide alder was some of the worst ive ever dealt with. We tried following the path beat in by Tvashtarkatena and JoshK (thanks guys, your swath really did help at times!). Nonetheless, it took us 4 hrs to get from Swamp Creek camp to the lower basin, covering about 3 miles and roughly 2000 vert (thats my guess-timate). Having just had back surgery a month earlier, this was not what I had in mind! I read Klenkes report on summitpost and figured it would be bad, but not this bad! I guess my dad was just as frustrated as he would reply to every "FuckinA, this shit sucks!" said by me with a loud "ARGGHH, DAMN THIS SLIDE ALDER!!" The reason I say this is because in all the time ive climbed with my dad, he is never one to complain. Hes the epitomy of an old, tough outdoors guy. He just plods along, never bitching and moaning. I found it funny to hear some of the shit that came out of his mouth!

 

We reached the lower basin at around 7:30pm and started looking around for a camp spot. This was our next problem. As we looked around for suitable spots we realized there really werent any for two solo tents. The more we looked around, the more we realized how much bear scat there was too. One thing to know about me - I fear sharks, clowns AND BEARS! We settled on a lumpy, grassy spot between two tributaries of the creek. Lets just say I had a very uncomfortable nights sleep.

 

The next morning we woke up at 5:30am and started up the headwall by 6am. We thought we knew how to get up the thing but ended up going the wrong way and had to deal with some 4th class bushwhacking but with ample green belays. Even so, its was not how I wanted to start the morning off (note to anyone going up here in the future - from the lower basin, locate the talus slope on the east side of the headwall. Take this to near its end and look for an obvious climbers path in older timber...STAY AWAY FROM THE NEW TIMBER CLOSEST TO THE WATERFALL!!!). We got to the upper basin in about 1hr 15mins and saw we were not alone. Apparently Tvash, JoshK and a couple others were sleeping in the upper basin after having climbed Dark the day before. Also turns out it was Tvash's completion of the T100 list so congrats to him for that!

 

From the upper basin, we headed to the west side of the glacier then made an ascending traverse back east towards the summit ridge. We roped up, as a fall on the upper glacier would have probably resulted in being swallowed whole by a huge crevasse. We summited at around 10:30 or 11am, cant remember exactly. Hung around on the summit for about 15 mins, signing the register (only about 40 or so entries in it since 1995, mostly T100 climbers) and taking pics. Headed back down to our camp, packed up and started the dreaded trip back through the alder swaths. Got to Swamp Creek camp at about 7pm on Saturday night and called it a day.

 

Sunday morning we woke up at 4:30am and left camp by 5:15am so we could cover the ~9 miles back to High Bridge to catch the 9am shuttle to Stehekin. Got back to Stehekin, ate some pastries from the bakery, and waited for boarding of the noon boat back to Chelan.

 

Overall, in hindsight, this was a very rewarding climb. The views are amazing and the toughness of the approach really makes you appreciate all that those before us have had to deal with. The more T100 peaks I climb, the more respect I have for those like the original Bulgers, Paul Klenke, Dave Stephens, Tom Sjolseth and Pat Gallagher. Anyone who finishes that list has a ton of respect from me!

 

Pics here: FLICKR _DARK PEAK

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Trekking poles, Ice Axe, Crampons, rope (8mm x 30m), bug spray, LOTS OF PATIENCE!

 

Approach Notes:

Follow the old climbers path from Swamp Creek to a point where you come to the creek near the plateau. Look for 2 large logs to get you across to the east side of the drainage (roughly 2 miles and at 4000 ft.). From here, its just a game of trying to find the easiest way through the swaths. I think we lost that game Try to stay high. When we came back, we stayed higher up on the east side of the valley and this was a big help.