KaskadskyjKozak Posted July 8, 2013 Posted July 8, 2013 Trip: Primus Peak - Borealis Glacier Date: 7/7/2013 Trip Report: I recall looking over at Primus last year from the McAllister glacier as we approached Dorado Needle, and thought "damn that looks far from here". So, I did a little research and learned a little about the approach from Thunder Creek: rugged, steep, some route-finding shenanigans - my kind of trip. So I talked a few willing victims into this masochistic endeavor and we headed out early Saturday morning. We were surprised to find out we were obtaining the very last available permit for the Klawatti Zone and wondered if we'd actually see anyone else up there. Well, we'd find out. The hike to McAllister Camp went quickly and we found there was no creek to ford - there is a bridge to the camp, despite what some TRs had said. And a good thing too as the creek is full and flowing fast with no logs spanning it anywhere in sight. Thunder Creek near McAllister Camp: We noted the ridge we wished to ascend and proceeded into McAllister camp. The trail was trivial to find - just follow way trails through campsites, bearing up and torwards the ridge and you will be on the climber's path. We soon hit the first steep, cliffy section. It was a lot less than I expected with just few steep steps involving veggie belays with some exposure. The trail continued from here up and up until about 4000 feet where we hit one more cliff band which you traverse under the left side then up and over the top of. At this point the trail becomes indistinct and hard to follow. We just stayed in the middle of the ridge and headed up. Eventually we hit trail again, then broke out into a nice sunny rock outcropping with views of the back side of Snowfield Peak. Breaking out: From here the trail becomes hard to follow again and brushy as it goes through forest for a few hundred feet, mostly flat. Eventually you break out into open heather slopes with an obvious climber's trail. We hit snow patches starting around 5000'. After a 1000 feet of this we hit the moraine below the lower Borealis Glacier and camp. We were surprised to find a couple there who were apparently just finishing the Inspiration Traverse. We camped below and away from them near some flowing water and pools below snow. It will not be there long. Views from camp here are absolutely amazing. One of the best camps I've stayed at by far rivalling even Ouzel Lake. Back side of Snowfield Peak as viewed from camp: Tricouni and Primus: We set off early in the morning (5), following the boot path from the couple who had arrived a day earlier. They were skirting the lake on the right. About 200 feet into the traverse I punched through and fell waist deep into the icy water. Booyah! Bring on the frozen gonads and sure-to-come ass-crack chaffage! I extricated myself from my bath, thought of Bear Grylls jumping into that stream on Iceland, and told my party we'd need to move until I got dry/warm - which we did. We opted for the right/late-season variation to the upper Borealis Glacier. The left variation looked to be a go, albeit a steep one, but we figured it best not to have any shenanigans get up there and go with the "sure thing". We traversed way right, then up and left to an elevation of maybe 7000 feet then did a rising traverse above the cliff bands and exposed ice. View of upper Borealis Glacier as we skirted to the right: View of the traverse on descent: We did not go all the way to Lucky Pass as snow made it possible to make a steeper, more direct line up. Pic of team on the steeper (40 degree top) section on the downclimb: We headed that way hitting just a couple or three rocky sections to scramble though before hitting the final summit area. The views from here were even better than I thought they'd be! Baker, Shuksan, etc: Eldorado Ice Cap area: Buckner, Forbidden, etc: KK summit stoke: The descent to camp went fine. The hike out was actually pretty exausting - mentally and physically. The 2 sections that were hard to follow going up were even harder going down and we did have a little bit of schwacking and route-finding shenanigans, but nothing major. It was opressively hot, and when we arrived at the cars at 9pm our beer in the coolers was warm and no restaurants were open. But it was well-worth it! Quote
Off_White Posted July 8, 2013 Posted July 8, 2013 Awesome TR of a less visited Cascades peak, TFPU! Quote
dougd Posted July 8, 2013 Posted July 8, 2013 Truism: a warm beer, is better than no beer at all... d Quote
KaskadskyjKozak Posted July 8, 2013 Author Posted July 8, 2013 Also, apologies to the two folks we camped by. In retrospect we were too close. We were tired and lazy and should have spent 5-10 minutes to go farther along the moraine. Quote
KaskadskyjKozak Posted July 8, 2013 Author Posted July 8, 2013 Truism: a warm beer, is better than no beer at all... d It was a Big Sky IPA. That helped offset the temperature. Quote
KaskadskyjKozak Posted July 8, 2013 Author Posted July 8, 2013 Awesome TR of a less visited Cascades peak, TFPU! thanks off - and happy b-day! i got a lot of beta from a previous TR from this site. so thought i'd give back some Quote
BirdDog Posted July 9, 2013 Posted July 9, 2013 excellent! an outstanding area. sorry about the unplanned dip. Quote
JasonDowns Posted July 9, 2013 Posted July 9, 2013 Great work and nice TR! That was one of my favorite trips...such a memorable camp. The views were amazing. Quote
KaskadskyjKozak Posted July 9, 2013 Author Posted July 9, 2013 Great work and nice TR! That was one of my favorite trips...such a memorable camp. The views were amazing. Agreed! And thanks for your TR - I used that beta for planning! Any advice on Klawatti -- we are thinking of doing it in a week :-) Quote
JasonDowns Posted July 10, 2013 Posted July 10, 2013 No prob...glad it was of some use to ya As for Klawatti, it looked like it may be moated out already. When we climbed Dorado Needle a couple weekends ago, it looked iffy. I hear the SW buttress (I believe thats what its called) will go. It heads right out of Klawatti Col. From what I remember it had some interesting moves off the snow but other than that looked to be class 3/4. When we climbed Klawatti last year, we took a gully that was climbers left of the base of the south face...that was sketch and I don't recommend it. Good luck and I look forward to your TR! Quote
ajpederson Posted July 10, 2013 Posted July 10, 2013 We did Klawatti on Friday via the SW Buttress. We did one low 5th pitch off to climbers left of the camps at the col and then simuled up the ridge until the climbing got easy. For the most part its 4th and 3rd class, but pretty loose. We downclimbed and then did one rappel to reach the snow to climbers right of camp. The snow route looked to have a big crack through it. Quote
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