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We awoke to yet another clear day. Everyone else was up as well. Michael and I were usually the ones to set out first (we got up earlier and didn’t bother with stoves) so I got my things ready to go and packed up. Michael hadn’t come over to my camp yet so I took the time to take some sunrise pictures. I had plenty of time since Michael had overslept some! No problem there, as a physician adviser to the Lewis and Clark expedition said, “Men need their rest. And the rest means prone!”. We actually repeated that quote a lot. Our only real rest was at night; each day was packed with peak climbing and traveling which took its toll. A few minutes later, Michael showed up and we were off.
The day before we tried to spy a trail leading up to Spire Col but didn’t have much luck. We concocted a plan, however, on how to deal with the glacier. Our plan was to hit a left trending snow field with distinct gray-splotch markings on it and then to cross over the majority of the crevasses to the far left side, and then gain a prominent wide fin of snow that would probably lead us to the col. There is a decent trail through the vegetation, past several falls, and then peters out in the talus under the glacier slabs. Using our previous plans, we were able to pick a way up through the talus and slabs and ended up in the exact spot that we wanted – the gray-splotched snowfield.
We put on our crampons and headed up. The going was quite easy, what looked nearly vertical yesterday was actually about 30 degrees. The snow became quite icy as we exited on to rock. We decided to follow the rock up, still wearing crampons, to its end. The alternative was to downclimb about 200 feet back to the glacier. Heck with that. Climbing up saved us a good bit of elevation though it also led to more crevassed terrain. The going was totally manageable though and we were able to cross over and then easily make our way to the snow rib.
Sure enough, we were able to follow the snow rib up to Spire Col. We took a break here while checking out our options for a climb of Spire Point. From a distance, Spire Point is impressive! The Beckey guide mentions that the route is 4th class. Cascade climbers know what to make of that! We packed up again, got the rack and rope ready to go and headed up the glacier to the base of Spire Point.
We exited the glacier and scrambled over to the north face. I decided to take the lead on this climb and headed up. The first pitch was quality 5.4 and I stopped at a small but comfortable belay spot at a rap station. The second pitch led us over to the left. I headed out again up similar slopes and came to the crux move – an exposed, hard to protect, sloping slab that was about 30 feet long. The slab wasn’t very steep but it sloped over the cliffs on the left which made it awkward. I had a pretty bomber sling at the base of it and tenuously headed out. We were in boots, this would be distinctively easier in rock shoes, and had to really pay attention to foothold. The holds appeared as needed though and I was soon at the top, the belay for the final pitch. I think I rated it 5.7 (boots).
The final pitch looked easier. Indeed it was, but I thought it would end up being 4th class, it was more like 5.2. What looked like to be a super exposed final summit move was actually pretty comfortable with a nice ledge on the right. Soon enough I was on top. I saw other White Rocks Lake camp companions heading up the glacier below and let out a holler. They were able to see me and hollered back! Michael then quickly came up and we enjoyed the summit.
We downclimbed the last pitch then rappelled the remainder of the route. Our next objective was to get back to our packs and then down to Itswoot Ridge, the traditional last camp for the Ptarmigan Traverse.
Probably my least favorite part of the trip was the descent to Itswoot Ridge. It was long, loose, and dusty. At one point, I decided to take grassy slopes down. Michael got disgusted with the potential slipping and opted to slide the rest of the way down on scree. We caught up with the remainder of the parties who were already down at the ridge. We set up the Betamid tent and then scrambled inside to escape the sun. We ended up laying around for at least two hours and let the most intense sun diminish. We then went about the usual tasks of cleaning up and getting ready for dinner. After dinner, I opted for a bivy site on a rocky outcropping on the ridge that had perfect spots for sleeping. Yeah, it was rock but it was flat as a pancake and there was even a small depression for your feet! One of the parties headed down to Cub Lake to camp but the other two were planning to climb Dome Peak. We spent the last few moments of daylight checking out the route and making plans for the following morning.
Posted 6 years, 11 months ago at 2:34 am. Add a comment
We arose to a crystal clear morning, excited to push even deeper into this remote wilderness. Our goal at the end of the day was to be at White Rocks Lake, which is the most remote spot on the Ptarmigan Traverse and, not surprisingly, the most stunningly scenic. We followed the trail that we’d scouted the day before, made our way through talus, and wound our way through cliffs along easy grass slopes until we were way up on the broad alpine ridge under LeConte peak. We had ideas to climb LeConte Peak but it didn’t look too exciting from here and decided to save our energy for a more remote peak, namely Old Guard.
The trail faded away up here and we spread out a bit searching for the best passage. We probably went higher than we needed to but after passing through much talus, cliffs, and snow, we got to a point where we could see a clear path to the LeConte glacier. It was mostly through snow so we donned our crampons and headed out.
It’s kind of tricky to see how you get from the LeConte Glacier to the other side where the South Cascade Glacier was. We had to travel quite a long way on the LeConte Glacier to a high col that’s right next to Sentinel Peak. We came to a point on the glacier where we weren’t exactly sure where to go. To the left was a jumble of crevasses and seracs that might have a passage, straight a head was another jumble that looked impassable, and to the right was an unsavory muddy and steep gully along the moat to squeeze through. We tried the left route and soon realized that all potential routes ended in crevasses to wide to pass. We then tried the straight route and found that what looked impassable was done with a short steep snow step. If that route wasn’t available, I guess you’d have to climb through the moat somehow or descend and try to pick your way through upward the crevasse maze. Fortunately, it was just a few steep steps aided by the picks of our ice axes to arrive on top.
From here, it was casual glacier travel to the col that led to the South Cascade Glacier. Just before arriving at the col, we dropped our packs and headed out for Old Guard Peak which looked really close to us, at the top of the ice cap. We skipped over several thin crevasses on the way up. There’s a snow finger that leads pretty far up on the south west side of Old Guard Peak. It’s pretty steep and there’s a bergshrund underneath it. So, I found this a little intimidating with this loose Cascade snow. Exiting on to rock was tricky too because the rock was very sloping. We ended up using an ice screw to hold our packs, ice axes, and crampons. Armed with our cameras, we scrambled up solid and exposed 4th class terrain to easy 3rd class terrain. On the top, we had the best views of the trip! Old Guard is situated in a great spot with great angles to view the Chickamin Glacier.
The view back on to the LeConte glacier revealed a fish-gill design of crevasses. We descended and were soon back at our packs. There were also some other Ptarmigan Traversers at the col, two parties of two. The view down to the big South Cascade Glacier revealed terrain that looked a good bit easier than we had been on. We all headed out for the top of the glacier where we would then descend to White Rocks lake, our third camp. Michael and I had ideas to climb Sentinel Peak though.
We were on a snowfield well above the glacier and the terrain was easy enough that we didn’t need crampons. We crossed plenty of talus and slabs as well. Michael and I dropped our packs again and headed up the grassy slopes of Sentinel Peak. Michael spotted a bear pawing his way up the glacier. We climbed maybe a third of the way up the peak and realized that we were pretty tired. We rationalized that we should continue to save our strength and that the views wouldn’t be too different than Old Guard (not any better, that’s for sure), and it was getting pretty loose. So we stopped, rested, then turned around.
The route down to White Rocks was a steep one, but not too long, thankfully. The turquoise lakes are picturesque. Across the valley (the west fork of the Agnes) we had a 5000 foot view, from the base of the valley, to the glacier slabs-lined with steep waterfalls, to the broken glaciers, to the high rocky peaks. There were three other Ptarmigan parties at the lakes here. Michael picked a spot next to the lake but I wanted to have the big view so I picked a small bivy site overlooking the valley and up to the peaks. We all got together as the sun was going down to share Michael’s bottle (”gimme that bottle!”) of White Tequila – a great bedtime drink that warms the stomach! – and chat. The climb up the Dana Glacier and to Spire Col looked quite intimidating from here. That was the plan for tomorrow.
Posted 6 years, 11 months ago at 1:33 am. Add a comment
On awaking, we packed up, had a little breakfast, and headed deeper into the Cascades – always a great feeling! We strolled an easy path to talus that led to the Middle Cascade Glacier and the indeed formidable north face of Mount Formidable. After a look at the broken glacier hanging on the face, our ideas to climb the easier south side were cemented. The traverse and climb up the glacier were straightforward and pleasant – we didn’t have to deal with too many crevasses and certainly the heavily broken part of the glacier is easily avoided. We were heading for the Spider-Formidable col which would lead us down and around to the back side of Formidable and eventually to Yang Yang Lakes which would be camp 2.
There are two cols at the top of the glacier and we couldn’t recall which was the correct one. The right looked more prominent but there were scary cliffs under it on the other side. The left one, the much more narrow one, is the correct one. From here, the LeConte Glacier is perfectly framed in an awesome display of rugged nature. And we’d be heading in to that terrain on the third day.
Coming out of the col, we had to descend 45 degree snow. The snow, as I recall, was quite solid (a pleasant surprise) and the descent was easy. We then traversed right along snow and talus to the base of a prominent saddle. Along the trail, below the saddle, is a campsite. I pulled all of the stuff out of my pack and threw everything but the essentials of a climb of Formidable in my pack. Michael gave me his stuff as well. I carried the *stuff* and Michael carried the rope. We set out for our climb of Formidable. Most of the approach to Formidable is over a lot of talus and scree. We had to traverse under the peak for a long way before we started heading up, further than feels natural, but the summit is indeed actually pretty far to the west.
It’s hard to tell where the summit is even from the saddle. We mistook the summit to the east of the true summit as the peak that we were heading for. Formidable is a pretty complex mountain. Anyway, we traversed a couple of snowfields and headed for a ridge further to the west. We heard voices and spotted another party apparently heading down. As we got closer, we realized they were trying a different route, moving from the west back to the east. We were within echo shot of them and communication was hard, but they were indeed trying a different route. Once we got up on the ridge on 3rd class scrambling, we realized we were in the right place and we hollered at them to follow. The ridge featured some prominently smooth, flat slabs and this would be our landmark on the way down. Easy 2nd class terrain got us to the base of the high snowfield and we put on crampons and headed up. At the top, we left crampons and began the long, loose scramble to the top.
We scrambled up 3rd class terrain and slabs to a prominent gully. We recognized this as the one that Peggy Goldman and her husband had mentioned to us – it had a cairn on both sides of it. So, we crossed the 4th class but pleasantly solid terrain to the other side. From here, it got loose again. I headed up a wide gully on a right hand, slightly more solid, rib and Michael stuck to the talus and scree. We noticed two points that looked like summits. The left looked higher, but the right point was the one we saw from the saddle, which looked higher from that point. I spotted a cairn leading to the right, so we went that way. Fun scrambling got us to the top, but not the summit! (I hope that someone has destroyed that cairn…we didn’t have the option to.)
The true summit was indeed the west one. I followed the ridge, a solid sidewalk in the sky, to the true summit, hoping for a direct route. There wasn’t one and we had to rappel back down. From here, we scrambled the remaining bit to the top. On top, we saw the other party (BTW, this was Steve and Julianne, whom we met later on the trip) appear on the false summit as well. The views were just as good from over there and they were content to stay at that point.
We had a long way back, across a lot of loose slopes, talus, and scree. We made a single rappel on some of the steeper terrain. Climbing back up to the saddle was a big hassle (very loose), so we jumped over to some grassier and more stable ground. Back at the packs, we reloaded and headed down to Yang Yang Lakes. The hike into the lakes is beautiful, the backdrop being the LeConte Glacier and surrounding peaks.
We arrived at camp with plenty of daylight to relax and unwind. We spent some time following the trail beyond the lakes to see exactly how we were going to get through the cliffs below LeConte Peak. The trail dog-legged backwards in a talus field and we saw how that would work. I wanted to swim, however, it was a bit too late and, being a lake situated on the east, was already out of direct sunlight. Michael kindly shared a smashed turkey sandwiched that he’d forgotten about and we had our real dinner about an hour later. Michael turned in early and I strolled around a bit and found a nice vantage spot where I could casually view the LeConte Glacier.
Posted 6 years, 11 months ago at 1:19 am. Add a comment
