[awilsondc]

I guess this was another revenge trip for me. Last year I attempted West McMillan Spire in a day. It took me five hours to get to the saddle above Terror Basin. I was exhausted, I had swallowed a bug or something that inflamed a neck gland, and I underestimated how far I had come and thought I was looking at a 20 hour day (probably would have been 15-16 in reality). The summit looked so far away and I couldn't force myself to continue. I decided to bail. Good thing too because this time I did it as an overnight trip with a summit bivy and it was incredible. It would have been a perfect trip if it weren't for the snafflehounds. The day before I hiked Hawkins and Esmerelda in the Teanaway and watched the sun set from Esmerelda. I got back to my car around 11. Wanting to get to the WIC to get my overnight permit when they opened at 7, I set my alarm for 2:30. During the night my inflatable air pillow suddenly stopped holding air, an omen of things to come. I woke up tired as hell. I had to stop a couple times on the way up for some eyes closed time, and an unsuccessful stop at WalMart for another light weight pillow. I got to the WIC at 7:30, got my permit, and headed right for the trail. By 8:26 I was hiking.

Trail along Goodell Creek

steam crossing

A flat spot amongst the steep climb up

One of the nicer sections of the climb up

The trail up Goodell Creek was easy. Bugs were out and I got a bite about every 5 minutes or so, maybe a dozen mosquito bites but not enough to bother with bug spray. I find that if I don't scratch mosquito bites AT ALL they go away within a couple hours. If they itch I'll rub them with the pads of my finger tips, but if I use finger nails even one time it'll bother me for days. Is it just me? Anyway, I thought I'd mention this strategy since it's worked for me. After about 1:20 the trail heads straight up hill. This part sucks. I hate it, and it was even worse with an overnight pack. I lost the trail once and just bushwhacked uphill following a GPS track from Gimpilator (thanks for the great beta!) until I found the trail again. After several hours of suffering I finally made it to Terror Basin. I felt like throwing in the towel again this time, but I had a rejuvenating lunch break above Terror Basin that got me feeling refreshed. The route north of Terror Basin is adequately marked by cairns and easy to follow. I passed by a lake and its outlet and started up the final 2600 ft of elevation gain up to the summit.

Eyes on the prize

The Southern Pickets

Triumph

Looking down into Terror Basin

Taking a lunch break above Terror Basin

Triumph from the traverse north of Terror Basin

Lake below West McMillan

Water was plentiful

Starting up the snow finger

For footwear this trip I wore lightweight hiking boots (Salomon X Ultra 3) and brought ultralight aluminum strap on crampons (Petzl Leopard FL) and the combo worked perfectly. I felt totally secure climbing the steep snow. Every trip report I've read involving trail runners and either microspikes or strap crampons remarked how the steep snow felt sketchy. Full on mountaineering boots and steel crampons seemed like overkill not to mention extra weight. I was really happy with this choice of footwear. On the steepest sections I took extra time to kick / scrape bucket steps figuring I'd appreciate it on the way down in the morning. (I did) The snow finger was getting thin with a section melted out ~40 ft from the saddle leaving dirty choss covered slabs to scramble up which was not fun. Like Gimpilator mentioned there is a trail starting to form on the west ridge which is pretty loose and chossy. There is a bit of fun class 3 but not nearly as much as I was hoping for. Soon enough I found myself on the summit! It took 9 hours car to summit with plenty of breaks. Not a fast time, but I was in no hurry. I arrived around 5:30 with several hours to chill and take in the sights which was really really cool. Very much like my experience on Luna, I was surprised an how grand everything feels up there. The peaks feel tall, and the thousands of feet of vertical relief make you feel way up there. That feeling doesn't come through in pictures. I has glad I had several hours to bask in the glory of the Pickets!

Inspiration

The McMillan Spires from near the west summit

Luna

Looking south at Glee, Roost, Davis, etc

Not a bad place to chill

Dinner on the summit

Azure Lake and the McMillan spires shadow

Climbers heading south

Admiring Fury and Luna

Southern Pickets

Stetattle Ridge and Jack

Prophet and Hozomeen

Glacier north of Inspiration

Around 6 pm I started hearing voices to the east. Soon a couple climbers appeared on the saddle west of Azure Lake, then another. They headed south. I have no idea where they came from, but I bet it was epic! I ate dinner on the summit and watched the light change over the peaks as I took pictures of sunset. Not the best sunset I've ever seen, but I'll take it! Soon the sun was set and it was time to settle in for the night. There are two tiny bivy sites about 30 feet below the summit, one miiiiight be big enough for 2 sleeping shoulder to shoulder. No room for a tent, maybe some kind of rigged tarp structure but I just brought a bivy. There is also a larger bivy with room for a tent near the saddle at the base of the west ridge. There was a pointy vertical rock above my bivy where I hung my food. As I was settling into my bivy I checked my PhotoPils app and noticed the milky way would be out so I set an alarm for 1:20 to try and get some star photos. I used my down jacked as a pillow which worked well as a replacement for my failed inflatable and slept well for a couple hours until my alarm. I got up to take some star photos, and that's when the snafflehounds attacked!

Looking south as the light fades

Fury

Sunset pano

Whole lotta awesome peaks here

<3

I had seen a rodent while eating dinner but didn't think it would be an issue. While I was taking star photos I had a rat run right across my leg. It was mildly startling but really no big deal. The star photos were just ok, but I was happy to see my 24-105 f/4 lens was adequate for astrophotography, at least for internet viewing purposes. As I got back to my bivy I noticed that my air mattress looked a little deflated which I just figured was from an older patch and a slow leak that it occasionally does. I had left my bivy open while taking star photos which, in hide sight... was kinda dumb. As I crawled back onto my sleeping pad I could hear air rushing out of it right by the nozel and thought it must be loose. It wasn't. Soon I discovered the culprit. Rat bites. Some m&#&*!* snafflehound bit my pad! No worries I had patches! I got them out, used an alcohol wipe, waited for it to dry, and applied the patch. It wouldn't stick. WTF? I tried the other patch. It wouldn't stick either. I tried duct tape. Wouldn't stick. Damn... I had deliberately left my Z-rest pad in the car to save weight thinking my thermarest would be fine and it would have been if I weren't an idiot and left my bivy open. Also, my gloves were missing. I searched around for those, including a thorough search in the morning but they were gone, stolen by snafflehounds. I hope they make a nice bed for those little bastards and keep them warm for the rest of their days at least.

Milky way

Big dipper over Fury

Summit

Pickets at night

I resigned myself to an uncomfortable night. Sleeping right on the hard ground didn't bother me but the earth was cold. I figured my body heat would warm it up, but not so. The cold of the mountain was deep and penetrating. After about 40 minutes I began to shiver uncontrollably. Then I remembered something! One of the features advertised for my backpack (Cold Cold World Chernobyl) was that the back pad could be used as an emergency sleeping pad. I had even taken it out years ago and thought... this thin little thing? I'd hate to have to sleep on that! I hopped up and grabbed it. It unfolded and was just big enough for my torso. What a god send! It provided virtually no padding, but was wonderfully insulating and I felt no cold from the ground lying on it. I even slept a couple hours, kicking a snafflehound off my bivy once when it ran across my legs. I had an alarm set for sunrise but I slept through it. I needed it. I still managed to get up in time for some alpenglow.

Golden light over the pickets

Bivy and sunrise views

Triumph

After breakfast I packed up and headed down. The bucket steps I had kicked in the snow were awesome and I just walked facing out back down to the rocks. The morning was lovely. I took a few photos on the way back to Terror Basin.

Inspiration and Terror. That's the pickets in a nutshell.

Saddle / west ridge bivy site

Snow melt

Tiny tarn at the base of West McMillan Spire

A-06173

A cozy little scene

Pickets + flowers

I'm so done with this trail, get me outta here!

The brutally steep 4000 ft drop back down to Goddell Creek sucked. I hate that trail and hope I never have to do it again, but I bet I will. Again, there were mosquitoes along Goodell Creek and another dozen bites on the way back to the car. 7:30 summit to car. I didn't record a track. r3h's report says 19 miles 9700 ft gain, the mountaineers report 16 miles 9800 ft gain. Those gain numbers seem high to me, but it's a haul.

[Brushbuffalo]

[Matt Lemke]

Damn! Those are some awesome photos. What ISO setting did you use for the night shots?

[awilsondc]

[contour5]

Magnificent photography! Really nice write up, too. You do a great job of describing the pendulum of mental/emotional vibes that tend to accompany this sort of enterprise. There is no deeper suffering nor any greater joy than that which can be found pushing one's limits in the mountains.

[Matt Lemke]

[neek]

Had to save this one for the big screen. Wow. But I'm now reconsidering attempting this as a day hike. Adam's track, even with overly-generous smoothing, suggests at least 18 mi round trip with over 10K cumulative gain. So I'd bet r3h's report is pretty spot-on, and he no doubt took the optimal path, which I certainly would fail to do.

[awilsondc]

[Michael Lewis]

I love summit bivys. Wish we had tried this but it might have been cozy up there with the 3 of us. That trail is steep but I hear back in the day there was no trail. Gotta earn that view. FWIW I've used an ursack in the Sierras and never had any critters getting my food. I also used to use my pack as a pad but find I need better sleep these days. Popped a mattress at Guitar Lake below Whitney and its been closed cell foam ever since.

[trent]

Your fight with the snaffles reminds me of a few funny stories. The best, from my standpoint, was Perro Rapido at the bivy on the Torment Forbidden Traverse. Cinched in his bivy sack (arms and all) and half awake, a snaffle jumped directly onto his face! Unable to use his arms or hands to get it off, he sat up with vigor, launching it into space, but not oblivion. An all night battle ensued; three (snaffles) vs. two (climbers). Not sure who claimed victory!

[cascadetraverser]

Nice TR! Too bad about the snafflehounds; never heard of one puncturing an air Mattress before! Unlucky you...

[geyer]

Great read Aaron! I had never heard the word snafflehound until last week, and now I've been seeing it everywhere... Kind of a funny word. Those pickets trails are nasty, huh? The other branch to chopping block is a doozy too. Gotta love a summit bivy though!