OlympicMtnBoy Posted July 11, 2012 Posted July 11, 2012 (edited) Trip: Crystal Lake Spire - SW Rib - 19p, 5.8 Date: 6/28/2012 Trip Report: There are blanks on the map, places illustrated with dragons and skulls and names like nightmares. Some of these places lie in our back yards, just off the beaten path, but never visited by those who return to tell the tale. This is the story of one of those places . . . Ok, not really, but judging by der internets, people don’t go here very often despite it being spitting distance from Prussik and the Enchantments. Or at least the people who do visit are a little strange. I knew the approach wasn’t too bad from a day hike last year so I recruited James (he had no idea what he signed on for) to head up and check out a mysterious 19 pitch 5.8 line on Crystal Lake Spire. Crystal Lake Spire has nearly zero prominence from McClellan Ridge and the Chessmen as you look at it from the Upper Enchantments, but it rises in a beautiful ridge over 2000 ft. from the floor of Crystal Creek valley. We struck out under gray skies with a light rain and were soon soaked by the bushes overhanging the Ingalls Creek trail but it kept us cool and we hoped to take advantage of clear weather the next day. We made quick work of the trail and fairly quick work of the off-trail bit and were at camp after about 6 hours with a few stops. The Bangers and Mash James brought along were just what was needed in the cold and very windy evening. We crawled into our bags early. - brought to you by Salted Nut Roll - The SW Rib is the obvious ridge up the center of this pic although the summit is not visible. Unfortunately being on the bottom of a steep valley means late sun so it was still pretty chilly when we set out at 7 the next morning under the forecasted perfect blue skies. It was only about a ten minute walk to get onto the toe of the SW Rib and after a short constitutional break we scrambled up gullies a few hundred feet and then roped up on a sloping sandy ledge below a steeper looking bit. Some easy simuling and one short hand/fist crack got us above the bulge and we began following the more defined ridge higher. Stellar ridge scrambling interspersed with easy climbing led us higher and higher to the base of an obvious white headwall mentioned in the brief Beckey description. We followed the obvious ramp up and left and back onto the ridge crest past some loose rock and tiny bits of snow and ice still clinging on. We finally broke into the sun and had a nice break then James set off up a gravelly chimney and I enjoyed a stellar 5.8 finger crack and some more great ridge climbing. One more pitch, with a short traverse where we should have gone straight up the nice 5.9 looking hand crack brought us to the summit . . . of one of the major points on the ridge. Here we found a small rock cairn, the first sign of any other human travel in this area at all. Not knowing exactly what still lay between us and the summit we took a quick picture then headed on, downclimbing a bit along the ridge from the point and then taking another ramp up and left around a steep headwall. Some more ridge scrambling, another short but protected downclimb, and one more simul pitch up and right of the last steep bit brought us to some compact cracks and then the true summit boulders. Swarms of thousands of ladybugs greeted us and we basked in the sun on the top. - Looking back at the spire we topped out. Overall about 8 hours on the route with four simul blocks and four pitches which probably is close to the 19 pitches mentioned in Beckey although the wording was a bit curious since nothing else around is described that way. I made the scramble up the nearest Chessman and we enjoyed several long glissades making it back to camp in the valley in less than an hour and a half. We soaked our feet in the Crystal Creek Tarn which has mysteriously lost a good foot of water that day (ice dam melt with the warmer day?), and enjoyed camp before hiking out in the morning. No dragons or skulls, but a heck of a great trip with some fun moderate climbing and hardly any sign of humans merely a stones throw away from the usual hordes! Great area and plenty of more climbs in the book or new! I'd be happy to head back in there if anyone has the desire! I'll try to draw a route line on one of these pics later. A couple more bonus scenery shots: Lots more pics here: https://picasaweb.google.com/104708573545176184583/CrystalLakeSpireWithJames# Gear Notes: Took a double rack to #2 plus a #3 and some large hexes. Big gear not needed. Aluminum ice axe handy for the cold morning and afternoon glissading. Approach Notes: Head 7.7 miles up Ingalls Creek, turn right up Crystal Creek and head 2.5 miles up, look for cairns. Edited July 17, 2012 by OlympicMtnBoy Quote
Tyson.g Posted July 11, 2012 Posted July 11, 2012 (edited) Great TR! I cannot wait to give the route a go. Edited July 11, 2012 by Tyson.g Quote
mountainmatt Posted July 11, 2012 Posted July 11, 2012 Very awesome Stewart and James! That looks like a full on fun, off the beaten path route! How was the rock quality on the route? Quote
telemarker Posted July 11, 2012 Posted July 11, 2012 Nice one! That big yellow gash up high on the crag has always looked impressive! Quote
layton Posted July 12, 2012 Posted July 12, 2012 very cool to see a forgotten classic posted in a TR. I believe Pete and Kat did this several years ago, and I didn't really believe there was a 19p 5.8 over there. Nice work Quote
kevino Posted July 12, 2012 Posted July 12, 2012 Very cool. Did you guys find the perfect bivy boulder? Should have been just before you made it to the meadow, or snow in your case. Quote
OlympicMtnBoy Posted July 16, 2012 Author Posted July 16, 2012 Hmm, we saw several large boulders, some with snow still under them, but must have missed the "perfect" bivy boulder. The wind was howling that evening so we opted for the "also perfect" melted out spot in the trees. It seems improbable with that much snow in the valley, but there always seems to be a spot in the trees by the tarn by mid-June. Ivan should know how much I love sausages. Quote
sparkytheflash Posted July 28, 2012 Posted July 28, 2012 "crystal lake tower" as becky calls it is everything stewart and james said it would be and more. thanks for scouting it out for us guys. jens holsten, his buddy ryan and i took their advice, went and checked it out 7/24/12. we left the ingals creek trailhead on mon evening at 6pm after jens finished work and hiked the 7.5 miles to crystal creek and made camp at a little site right by crystal creek, which is the biggest and first sizable creek crossing the ingals creek trail and flowing into ingals creek from the north. we probably would have gone up to the basin where stewart and james camped but we ran out of day light. no matter since we were going to wake up early anyway. we followed in our predecessors footsteps and also had sausages with tortolini, zucini and a garlic & herb seasoning mix. we left the next morning at 5am and hiked the 2.5 miles up the ridge slope and began the route at 7am by simulsoloing for a quarter of the route over mostly 4th class terrain with occasional mid-5th class moves. jens led the first simulroped up system for about 500' to 700' until he ran out of gear and brought us in across a really cool knife edge ridge. i then led around the white or yellow wall and up some vegetated ledges. the white wall is the most striking feature on the ridge line from afar. i've simulclimbed many times but our party was covering so much ground so fast that the individual sections all blended together after that point with a few specific exciting parts that another party may or may not find depending on which path they choose. the entire climb and its setting, however will remain with me for the rest of my life to be sure. we skirted many incredible pitches, since we were traveling the path of least resistance with two simulfollowers, that i would like to go back and do. but even still we had som good slab finger cracks and some exposed traverses that completed the experience. we celebrated on an excellent summit which we arrived at by 2:30pm with good views of McClellan, little annapurna, the flagpole, backside of dragontail, prusik and many more. we quickly descended to crystal lake and flowed crystal creek back into the basin that we had climbed out of and beat tracks back into the ingals creek valley, packed up camp and made the hike back to the trailhead, which seemed longer than it felt on the way in showing that our legs were signifcantly fatigued. every alpine climber that has done the n. ridge of stuart, the backbone on dragontail or any significant alpine route for that matter should tick this ridge off. good luck out there and stay safe. dave Quote
OlympicMtnBoy Posted July 30, 2012 Author Posted July 30, 2012 Cool, glad I inspired someone else to get out there (and to eat sausage)! You are correct on the name in Beckey, I must have been embellishing. ;-) 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.