[TR] Tatoosh - Assorted - Unicorn, Castle, Pinnacle - E Ridge, and 3 walkups 9/7/2013

[ajpederson]

Trip: Tatoosh - Assorted - Unicorn, Castle, Pinnacle - E Ridge, and 3 walkups

 

Date: 9/7/2013

 

Trip Report:

Justin has been getting in to rock climbing over the last year or so, but had never been on a summit. We decided to change that this weekend. Rather than just one, we decided it would be better if he got 6 in a weekend, and the Tatoosh sounded like just the place to make that happen.

 

We headed in to climb Unicorn and Boundry peaks on Saturday. Having only been in the Tatoosh with snow on the ground, this was a completely new experience for me. The boulder field and choss on the way up to Unicorn was a pain compared to the snow the last time I went up there. Once we got up to the summit block, Justin led the standard 5.6 route up to his very first summit.

Choss.

 

Justin leading up to the summit.

 

Unicorn summit. First of 6 summit selfies, don't worry I won't post them all.

 

Next up we headed over to Boundary Peak. This was a quick walk across the ridge and around to the backside. The way up was a simple walkup.

Heading to Boundary Peak.

 

We then hiked back across the ridge and down to the car by our ascent route. We grilled some sausages for dinner and spent the night camping at Cougar Rock. After day one of two summits, Justin was a bit skeptical that we would get four more on day two.

 

The next morning we headed up to Paradise to check out the views and take some pictures, as Justin had never been there before. After that, we headed down to the trailhead by Reflection Lake. We made short work of the hike up to the Pinnacle-Plummer saddle and then did the walkup summits of Denman then Plummer. The quote of the weekend was Justin saying the trails made it feel like we were cheating after yesterday.

Heading up Denman.

 

Pinnacle and Castle from the summit of Plummer.

 

Back at the saddle we had some lunch then headed over to Castle. There is a climbers trail that leads to a gully that accesses the back side of Castle. Once at the base of the rock you can climb it pretty much anywhere and they all looked to go at low 5th class.

Gully that accesses the back side of Castle.

 

Heading up Castle.

 

Next up was the last peak for the weekend. We decided we had time and had carried gear so we had might as well do the east ridge of Pinnacle.

East ridge of Pinnacle from Castle.

 

Summitpost had this down as 3 pitches, but it can be done in one. We scrambled what is described as P1, as it is loose and pretty easy. Our pitch combined P2 and the beginning of P3 of their description. Alicia go the lead for this one and started in the group of trees and headed up the ridge. She then traversed across the notch and up to a big horn a few moves above it. Justin and I followed. Not knowing if we actually had a third pitch to do, she took off on lead again but quickly realized we were at the scramble to the summit. We followed and packed up the rope and gear and headed up to the summit.

Looking up our pitch on Pinnacle.

 

The east ridge of Pinnacle.

 

Pinnacle summit, the last of the weekend.

 

We scrambled down the standard route on Pinnacle and then quickly hiked back to the car. Overall it was a pretty fun weekend and a great way to introduce Justin to some exposure and climbing some peaks.

 

*All pictures from Alicia.

 

Gear Notes:

Nuts (didn't use), Cams .4-2, half rope.

 

Approach Notes:

Choss to Unicorn, nice trails to the others.