[williswall]

Continuing with my daughter's vacation with dear old Dad, our long day on the West Side Road had us sleeping in and packing late for our date with the ROAD FROM HELL, otherwise known as the Mowich Lake road. After getting a cross country permit for the Ptarmigan Ridge area, we finally hit the trail rather late on the 27th, but with plenty of time to make our bivy site before dark. We had very nice weather indeed, cool and sunny, and proceeded through Spray Park to the turnoff to Ptarmigan Ridge. The mountain was still hiding behind cloud layers but we aimed for a good viewing point on the ridge, not too close so as to not obstruct good lines. Luck was with us as the thin cloud layer slowly cleared and we found a good spot at 6700' on the ridge to lay out our bivy bags on Monday night. Pack-It-Gourmet came through with excellent bean and cheese burritos and cheese cake with lots of time to take in the views and fading light. What a fantastic evening! My daughter loves to sleep under the stars unencumbered by tentage so who am I to deny her? I was snug in my Nunatak 3D quilt, a work of art for sure, but Cassie started to get a little chilly in her FF 35 degree Wren after the sun went down. This problem was solved by wearing my Nunatak Skaha Apex Pullover...this company makes meticulous incredible stuff. Pricey but well worth it. We settled in with Pugetopolis lights in the background and shortly enough the spotlight otherwise known as the moon arced its way over Rainier the entire night.

Lower Spray Park

Trail to upper Spray Park

Things are looking up

We found our spot

The view

Fluffing up my Nunatak 3D Quilt

Evening lighting

Sunset from 6700'

My daughter is in there somewhere

This vacation was totally laid back for us, meaning that we were sleeping in 'til 9 every morning and limiting our days to avoid trashing ourselves. After another PIG gourmet breakfast we got going for our peak bagging day. We set off for the Flett glacier, climbing the right ridge to a lower angled cross over to the base of Echo Rock. We left our packs on the snow and made our way to the base of Echo, all the while thinking, "how the hell are we gonna get up that thing?" Of course, we knew how as the intel had this as a moderate scramble and we could espy the line up, eventually making our way to the summit on the other side. No matter, looking at this thing is still intimidating. However, we hiked up our skirts and made a go of it.

Fullish moon early morning

She's up!

Lower Flett glacier

On the Flett glacier

Really round ptarmigans

Echo Rock "are we really climbing that?"

Cassie making her way up Lower Echo Rock

Climbing south ridge from Echo...find Cassie

Cat Eye lake

Upper Moraine Park from lower Echo

Nearing summit of Echo Rock

Williswall descending from summit of Echo Rock

Room to move on Echo Rock

Observation Rock from Echo

Looking towards Russell Glacier from Echo

Cassie descending Echo Rock

Cat Eye Lake and Spray Park on descent from Echo

West face of Echo

Cassie- "Glad that's over"

Observation Rock, not as bad as it looks

Working around to the south side of Observation Rock

Very hazy Rainier from Observation summit

Hero shot- Cassie on Observation Rock summit

Williswall on Observation summit

Shortcut back to our packs

Shadows

Looking down on Flett glacier and Echo Rock from Observation summit

Working down the snowfield

Return trip

Sunset in the forest

Backlit

Back in Spray Park

Yes, this is a solid class III scramble, but at no time did we feel any significant exposure. Lots of hand work had us circle on the other side to the base of the actual pointy summit. Cassie went most of the way up the crack but had enough and came back down. I went up to the top but had no desire to actually place my feet on the spire, so put my arms over it and called it good. There is a flattish area on the summit area so we lingered taking in the views towards Moraine Park, Curtis Ridge, the Russell Glacier, Observation, and back to Spray Park. We basked in the cool breeze and sucked in the amazing views, then rehiked our skirts to do the down climb, always more difficult than the ascent. Cassie got stuck for a moment on sliding scree but we eventually made our way to the base and our waiting packs for a snack and rehydration. Then it was off for Observation, basically a walk up. Climbing the ridge out of Echo was harder than summiting Observation, but we made short work of it and enjoyed another summit with great views, cool breezes and solitude. We looked down on Echo thinking "how the hell did we get up there?" While we were making our way across the saddle we saw two people descending on a trail that proved to be a shortcut back to our packs at the base of Echo, thank you very much. The more I explore MRNP the more I discover, likely a lifelong undertaking for yours truly. We regained our packs, snacked and watered ourselves, then found a better way back to the base of the snow fields to avoid downclimbing the steep ridge we had ascended in the morning. We thought about summiting Hessong and Pleasant on the way back but thought, "why trash ourselves out and hike back in the dark when we can do those tomorrow?" So back to the truck we went, cleaned up, ate dinner and tried to stay up until dark, with limited success. TBC

[Kenji]

Nice trip I've skied by Echo many times, but never been up there...