dadoufergy Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 Trip: Black Peak - NE Ridge Date: 6/13/2015 Trip Report: Awesome rock ridge with sustained exposure. One camp spot was melted out at Wing Lake, water available through the ice of the lake nearby. Mountain goats in the area are nosy and brazen, best to shoo them away. Left Wing lake after a late start at 1000. Made the col in two hours, didn't need the crampons we brought. Small summit packs for each of us. Start of the climb is small five foot scramble, then walk along ridge and around left side of the first gendarme. Roped up here and moved through loose exposed 4th class on east side of ridge until a gully presented a direct way to the top of the ridge. Being a novice myself we pitched out most of the route from there, staying on top of the ridge. Excellent climbing with multiple variations. At the one "headwall" on the ridge or "5.6" section, the route goes straight up the middle pleasantly. Simulclimbed from the top of this to the summit. Fantastic alpine feel of a ridge. The passing rainstorms hitting liberty bell group and other mountains nearby, and snow pellets hitting us added to the ambience....and urgency. Scrambled down standard route following cairns. Recommended beer pairing for this climb: Uinta Baba Black Lager Gear Notes: Most reports cite smaller rack. Wouldn't have minded a few large cams here and there. Lots of double runners (a triple runner wouldn't hurt). No crampons needed to the col (we left camp at 10am, were able to kick steps.) If you go earlier, crampons recommended as the snow slopes to the col are steep. Approach Notes: Headed up to Wing Lake at noon from the parking lot. Took our time and made the lake around six or seven. Snow all the way from Heather Pass. Lewis Lake melted out. Bypassing Lewis Lake on the east side is much faster if the snow is good. 2 hours from Wing to the col, 6 hours of climbing from the col to summit, and 2 hours from summit down scramble on SE ridge back to Wing. Quote
ilias Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 Nice work! Really fun route I enjoyed it a lot last year. Quote
JonParker Posted June 26, 2015 Posted June 26, 2015 The weather that day was pretty fun, actually. I decided at the last minute to climb Cutthroat N Ridge instead of Black NE ridge. I was watching Black from Cutthroat and it looked like Black had better weather generally, but I see you got that light snow too. Provided a nice ambiance. Quote
Devin27 Posted June 26, 2015 Posted June 26, 2015 Those furry monsters stole one of my trekking poles and ate the strap off the other when we did the route 2 years ago Quote
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