[TR] Black Peak - NE Ridge 7/27/2013

[Devin27]

Trip: Black Peak - NE Ridge

 

Date: 7/27/2013

 

Trip Report:

Team- Devin Monas (Scribe) and Danika Globokar.

 

After calling the ranger station to discover that Boston Basin permits were gone for the entire weekend by noon on Friday, plans for Forbidden and Boston Peak were dashed and Danika and I quickly rallied to our backup plan for the 50 peaks weekend and headed for Black Peak. We knew there would be several other BOEALPS teams heading that way, so we decided to hike in to Wing Lake on Friday and make the climb Saturday to avoid crowding on the route. This would be my first technical alpine climb of the season (having spent the last two months abroad for work) and both of our longest to date.

 

We cruised the trail past Lake Anne and arrived at Heather Pass to gaze with wonder at our objective….and the endless boulder field that separated it from us. The hike to Wing Lake was uneventful and we arrived at our camp 3.5 hours from the car.

 

Lake Ann

 

Who loves boulder fields????

 

First view of Black

 

Given the nice weather and relatively short hike out (It would feel much less so later), we decided to get up with the sun and let the snow soften before we headed for the base of the NE Ridge and the technical portion of the climb.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the bright half-moon served to eliminate any chance of seeing the milky way, but did light up Black nicely for some star shots.

 

 

 

 

We woke up the next morning as the sun hit the tent to discover that both of my trekking poles; which I had left next to the tent; were gone. Oddly, both of Danika’s poles which were right next to mine were untouched. A search of the area discovered one of my poles about 100 years from camp with chew marks on the handle. Seems a furry thief stole them in the night for the salt on the grips. An extensive search of the area showed no sign of my other pole, which means I have now lost two trekking poles in two weeks after dropping one on Unicorn

 

It wouldnt be a true cascades climb without choss

 

6:45am had us up and hiking and at the base of the NE Ridge in two hours. Roped and racked up, we simulclimbed the first section in three long pitches before pitching out the middle three pitch when the climbing turned from 4th to low 5th class.

 

 

Fortunately the climbing; while long and featuring great exposure; never got too difficult. One last simulpitch across the top of the ridge and up the summit block had us on the summit enjoying the views five hours after leaving the base of the ridge.

 

Adding our contribution to the 50 peaks for 50 years of BOEALPS!!!! (Hopefully we can count Black a few times)

 

Random team on the last pitch of the NE ridge

 

Wing Lake from above

 

All was great with the world……Then we began our descent into choss purgatory on the South Ridge route. I have heard the South Ridge wasn’t too bad, though I suspect people who have climbed this route may have suffering induced amnesia from down-climbing class 3 choss and kitty litter. We saw no sign of a trail once down 300 ft or so from the summit and proceed down the steep gullies following the path of slightly less resistance and the few carrins we could find.

 

 

Where is the descent trail?????

 

Finally down, now just pack camp, mile of trail, mile of boulder field and more trail....

 

 

A 1000 ft of choss later, we were blessedly back on snow and back in our camp. Stopped on the way out to chat with the ICC team headed in to climb the same route, then headed back to the car 13 hours after leaving camp that morning.

 

And just for fun, here is a happy chipmunk

 

 

Gear Notes:

60 m rope, kiwi coiled for simulclimbing

Set of chocks, BD cams .3-2. Needed the small gear much more often than the big. Bring lots of double runners and leave the singles at home

 

Approach Notes:

Hope you like boulder hopping because the snow is long gone

[dpforestry]

Phenomenal photos and great report, thanks for sharing. Incidentally, what lens do you use? Polarizer?