[TR] Prusik Peak - West Ridge 6/14/2014

[Greg Dwulet]

Trip: Prusik Peak - West Ridge

 

Date: 6/14/2014

 

Trip Report:

The West Ridge of Prusik Peak (II, 5.7) is a route that I have wanted to do ever since I saw a picture of the mountain and read the description on Summitpost:

 

[img:center]http://images.summitpost.org/original/53560.jpg[/img]

 

Prusik Peak is a clean, solid granite icon nestled into the Enchantments. Its mere presence will make anyone a shameless shutterbug, and views from the top are even better. The Enchantment basin is a peaceful and unique setting for this memorable climb. The area embraces an alpine desert-like ambience coupled with many lakes at different levels and a variety of peaks including Little Annapurna, Dragontail Peak and Mt. Stuart.

 

Furthermore, the West Ridge seemed to be a perfect choice for me and my friend David, whose previous hiking experience in the Cascades has lead to a desire to climb the peaks that cannot be summited via non-technical scrambling routes. After much time in the amazing Whitman College Climbing Center and a few trips to Wallula Gap, a local crag with climbs on basalt columns that sit in a scenic location above the Columbia River a few miles away from the town of Wallula, WA (many, many thanks to Kemper Brightman for his work in route development and documentation at Wallula!), David and I chose the West Ridge of Prusik Peak as a perfect introduction to alpine climbing.

 

Jim Nelson describes the West Ridge in his very useful guidebook, Selected Climbs in the Cascades (Volume 1):

 

The West Ridge is a fun, not-as-hard-as-it-looks ridge route to the top of this famous peak, whose name derives from the first-ascent climbers' resorting to lassoing the summit and climbing up the rope for the final few feet. No such measures are required on the West Ridge, however, where the routefinding is straightforward and the climbing surprisingly moderate. But the notorious crux moves require a cool head as protection is minimal for this short but exposed section midway on the climb. This now classic route in the heart of the Enchantments, with the good weather typical of the immediate vicinity and the solid rock on Prusik Peak, is hard to beat. The main problem now is getting a permit to get in to the peak.

 

The final factor in our decision to climb this peak was the fact that permit season starts on June 15, and as Nelson says, the cap of 15 people per day in the Snow Lakes area makes it very difficult to do an overnight climb of Prusik with short notice, especially on a summer weekend.

 

David and I met on Thursday (the 12th) to pack gear and buy food. We departed Walla Walla on Friday at about 10am after finding fortification in the local taqueria's breakfast burritos. We found ourselves in Leavenworth at about 2:30pm and shortly thereafter left the Snow Lakes trailhead at 3pm.

 

 

Friday's weather was mediocre, exactly as forecasted. We were very wet for most of the hike in, partly from our own sweat but mostly because of the cold drizzle that started about 20 minutes in and followed us for the next two hours. The rain eventually let up about when we got to Lake Nada, and we finally got to our campsite close to Lake Viviane at about 8pm. Motivated by the still-threatening clouds, we found some heavy rocks to weigh down the tent and rain fly. This turned out to be a very good decision since multiple times during the night we were awoken by the sound of the wind trying to blow our tent over. NOAA had predicted winds in excess of 30 mph during the night, and I'd say that was definitely accurate. Despite the strong winds, we were exhausted enough from the hike that we were able to fall asleep quickly.

 

 

 

 

We woke up with the sun on Saturday morning at 5:30am and were surprised to find our tent unharmed by the night's wind storm. After a quick breakfast of peanut butter and jelly tortilla wraps, we hit the trail at 6 and got our first good view of Prusik Peak since the previous day's clouds had obscured all of the peaks in the area and hadn't allowed us to scope out our route. Saturday's weather was fantastic and we had clear skies and warm temperatures for most of the day.

 

 

 

We marched our way across granite slabs and firm snowfields towards the very obvious balanced rock of Prusik Pass. We roped up, fueled up with some food and caffeine, crossed the small gully that separates the Pass from the West Ridge proper, and began our climb.

 

 

 

Two pitches of blocky low 5th class climbing on the shady and windy north side of the ridge brought us to the exposed crest of the ridge, from which we had excellent views in all directions. After taking a few minutes to warm up our hands in the sun, we set off on the 3rd pitch of the climb, which was probably one of the most amazing pitches I have ever led. The friction pitch was the mental crux of the route and is protected by clipping one of Beckey's old, rusted pitons in a crack right below the runout section. I backed this up by slinging a block to the right of the piton and powered through the friction moves, which were definitely not as bad as I had expected. The top of the friction pitch leads to a large block on the ridge which is passed on the right. This section is one of the most exposed parts of the route and is thankfully very easy to protect.

 

 

 

 

3rd class ledges lead to the bottom of the summit pyramid. There are several routes to the top from here. I found a 5.6(ish) right-facing lieback crack and took that up to a ledge. From there, I traversed to the right, where I found an oddly located bolt and an easy low-5th route to an offwitch chimney on the west side of the summit pyramid. A couple of awkward chimney moves (which David comically but effectively squeezed through while wearing a pack) lead to the summit. We got on the route at 8:30am and were on the summit by noon.

 

(David is good at selfies)

 

The first rappel is impossible to miss and begins with a bolt and a large chockstone on the north side of the summit. The three rappel rings and probably six loops of webbing that make up this station are very confidence inspiring. 5(?) 30m rappels down the north face took us to a snowfield which we hiked across to get back to Prusik Pass. Note that the second rappel requires rappelling off the end of the rope to get to a secure stance then scrambling down easy 3rd class ledges for about 10 feet to get to the next rappel station. Be careful with this since the shady north face has patches of snow and ice that can surprise the unsuspecting rappeller.

 

I would definitely recommend this climb to anyone who is willing to suffer the long approach! The views are unbeatable, the rock quality is surprisingly good, and the climbing is fantastic.

 

Bonus: obligatory mountain goat shot!

 

 

Gear Notes:

Rack:

 

BD Stoppers #5-10: used most of them

 

Pink Tricam: so light that I couldn't justify NOT bringing it. On top of that, I placed it on every pitch I protected.

 

BD Hexes #7-9

 

BD C4 #.5, 1, and 2: were nice to have but not really worth the weight on this climb. If I were to do this climb again, I would bring a few extra tricams or hexes and ditch the SLCDs.

 

LOTS of single and double slings for the many blocks and horns that can be slung for protection and quick belay anchors.

 

The Green Trails map for the Enchantments area was valuable for situational awareness and identifying peaks but was not entirely necessary since the trail is well-marked and easy to follow

 

Approach Notes:

We approached via the Snow Lakes Trailhead (approximately 10 miles to the climb) and camped just below Lake Viviane. The hike in was very easy to follow and many cairns mark the trail from Upper Snow Lake up to Lake Viviane/Prusik Pass.

 

The descent sucked.

[Lukas]

Nice TR! My partner and I were hiking in Saturday as you were hiking out. We experienced the same high winds at night as you've described

Edited June 17, 2014 by Lukas