Black Peak TR

[goatboy]

Climbed the NE Ridge of Black Peak this weekend in windy/threatening weather that turned nice as we climbed, then grew windier as we summitted and descended.

Apporach:

Approach to Wing Lake took 3.5 hours, mostly on trail with some talus. A bit of up and down on the approach, as you climb to heather pass, descend hundreds of feet on the other side to Lewis Lake, then climb back up into beuatiful larches and moraines, arriving at Wing Lake, where there is great camping in impacted sites above the lake.

The Climb:

The next morning we awoke at 4:30, drank coffee, and looked around at the clouds and wind. It looked pretty mediocre, so we decided just to climb to the col on the NE ridge and re-assess from there. Took about an hour and a half to get to the notch from camp, including a very nice firm snowfield (crampons and ax mandatory for that section).

The ridge featured pretty mediocre-to-bad rock for the lower 1/3 or so, but improved considerably as it narrowed, steepened, and became more difficult. It never really felt harder than 5.5, and we simulclimbed all the way to the summit block in two long "pitches" of simulclimbing. A short third pitch (maybe 60 feet) had us on top.

The views were excellent: Goode close up and personal, the awesome NE Buttress and very fractured glacier below; the North ridge and East Ridge of Forbidden; Sharkfin Tower, Boston Peak, Sahale and the Sahale Arm; Glacier Peak; Logan, Liberty Bell and Cutthroat and on and on, all the way to Rainier barely peaking up over the southern horizon. It was truly a good day for peak-viewing . . . .

The Descent:

One word: Dumb. Super loose gully, definitely better to descend than to slog up though! It would be MUCH better in early summer when full of snow, I'd reckon.

Here we saw descending parties knocking shit down on helmet-less soloists coming up, not that the descending parties could help it . . . Anyway, it took our party of three 7 hours camp to camp, including some hang-out time on summit and just below summit.

I do recommend this climb for the views, though the rock quality itself is suspect. Nelson likens the ridge to the West Ridge of Forbidden, and I would agree that it's similar in places -- a "sidewalk" with big exposure on either side, especially the north side and the big broken glacier over there.

It felt good to climb such a massive peak -- Black Peak is listed at 8970, so its definitely one of the bigger ones in the surrounding area.

I hope this info is useful to folks, either as entertainment while you're at work not working, or as beta for future trips.

Steve