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Fletcher Member
Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Posts: 1870 | TRs | Pics Location: kirkland |
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Fletcher
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Sat May 16, 2020 9:10 am
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The only decent looking weather day for this week was Friday, and the weather looked best in the NE Olympics. Inner Constance has been on the list for a long time so we decided to go see what kind of shape it was in. Team Kirkland Junior High (hard to believe we've all known each other for nearly 20 years!) assembled on Thursday night for the Dosewallips Trailhead Bivy. We knew getting up and down the peak as early as possible would be vital to a successful summit, so we were hiking at 1:15am on Friday morning. Since we all carpooled out there, we did not utilize bikes.
At 5.5 miles in, we blew by the Lake Constance Trail turnoff in the dark, and didnt realize our mistake until 10 minutes later. Back on track and up through the burn area and the wonderful forest above, we were already climbing the long headwall below Lake Constance at first light. On schedule!
scrambling the Lake Constance Trail in twilight
The trail was snowfree until the lake, and constant snow beyond. We switched to boots and traversed around the lake with only a few postholes. The clouds seemed to be lifting and spirits were high!
alpenglow on Inner C Inner Constance is the furthest left point getting hit by the sun The Brothers
The morning snow was nice and firm, making progress up Avalanche Canyon efficient. We found some running water coming off of The Thumb, then threw on crampons and began ascending the steep snow slopes towards Inner C.
our objective looms love this place pillow basalt everywhere Jake climbing towards the upper basin almost to the sun
Once in the basin between The Thumb and Inner C, we did an ascending traverse towards the first of the two couloirs of the route. This couloir is hidden until you are below it. Steep and runnelled, we were happy to have brought extra tools for added confidence. Awesome front-pointing conditions!
Reed breaking trail toward the first couloir stoked front pointing up the runnel Jake and Reed nearing the top of the first couloir Kyle coming up
From the top of the first couloir, the second couloir that leads to near the summit is on the far right. Note that the summit of Inner Constance is mislabeled on the topo, which apparently causes some parties to go the wrong way. The summit is actually the point to the NW. To access the second couloir, we had to cross a downsloping snow slope with bad runout. There was recent wet slide activity here with weird, saturated punchy snow that gave us pause. Well, all of us except for Reed, who was already front-point up the couloir towards the summit! Emboldened by his stoke, we all agreed to go tag the summit as quickly as possible to make it back down through this section before conditions might get more sketchy.
should we cross? the route to the summit with Reed setting a strong pace Constance Jake and Kyle midway up the couloir nearing the top
Topping out of the couloir, we were all weary of a small cornice at its apex. From here, its a short class 3 scramble to the comfortable summit. Be wary of a loose soft ball sized rock here and there.
the scramble finish Kyle and Jake finishing up
We summited at 9:17am, just about 8 hours in from the car. Stoked! We all took a few minutes to take in the views and Reed had to make a work call, then we began our descent.
Mystery, Deception, and the Royal Basin peaks socked in to the south Rainier Constance summitshot heading down Warrior makes a quick appearance the first downclimb
The downclimb of the upper couloir was chill, we had excellent conditions here. The traverse back across the slope wasnt any worse than it was an hour before.
dudes downclimbing dudes downclimbing
Downclimbing the lower couloir was more of the same. We'd hoped to tag The Thumb on our way out, but the snow had become far too sloppy for that. We then postholed and glissaded down into Avalanche Canyon, where we enjoyed a nice game of frisbee before continuing out.
looking down the lower couloir The Thumb, next time! postholing towards Constance alpine frisbee alpine firsbee alpine frisbee alpine frisbee
The snow had softened up enough to warrant snowshoes out of Avalanche Canyon back to the lake. I really enjoyed the views hiking out of here. What a place!
current state of the lake
The descent back down to the Dosewallips Road went by pretty quick, then we all made great time back out to the car in great time with no suffering.
easy to miss in the dark blooming Rhodie
~25 miles
~7900 ft of gain
~14 hours
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meck Member
Joined: 31 Dec 2010 Posts: 920 | TRs | Pics
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meck
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Sat May 16, 2020 10:15 am
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Very cool Fletcher, I was wondering when we'd see a TR from one of the big Oly peaks! Those pics of the surrounding peaks are great (good info too)! That pic of the Thumb definitely makes me rethink my plans of climbing it; without the snow would it be climbable w/o ropes?
*Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*
*Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*
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zephyr aka friendly hiker
Joined: 21 Jun 2009 Posts: 3370 | TRs | Pics Location: West Seattle |
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zephyr
aka friendly hiker
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Sat May 16, 2020 12:40 pm
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Such an inspiring trip report. And even alpine Frisbee to boot. Great planning and execution. Well done! ~z
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graywolf Member
Joined: 03 Feb 2005 Posts: 808 | TRs | Pics Location: Sequim |
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graywolf
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Sat May 16, 2020 1:08 pm
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Nice climb - takes me back 40 years to when I climbed it.
The only easy day was yesterday...
The only easy day was yesterday...
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ozzy The hard way
Joined: 30 Jul 2015 Posts: 476 | TRs | Pics Location: University place, wa |
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ozzy
The hard way
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Sat May 16, 2020 3:15 pm
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Nice peak guys! Damn that's crazy I was just thinking about getting there soon but was gonna approach from crystal pass! Thanks for the conditions report too, cheers!
“I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames”-Mr Mojo Risin
“I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames”-Mr Mojo Risin
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bobbi stillaGUAMish
Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 8012 | TRs | Pics Location: olympics! |
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bobbi
stillaGUAMish
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Sat May 16, 2020 4:11 pm
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fabulous climb! great tagging Inner Constance!
well, I've only been to Lake Constance and I think that's enough for me,
bobbi ૐ
"Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!" - Oh, the Places You’ll Go! By Dr. Seuss
bobbi ૐ
"Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!" - Oh, the Places You’ll Go! By Dr. Seuss
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awilsondc Member
Joined: 03 Apr 2016 Posts: 1324 | TRs | Pics
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cascadetraverser Member
Joined: 16 Sep 2007 Posts: 1407 | TRs | Pics
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Well done! So beautiful up there. No suffering on the way down from all that?
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Fletcher Member
Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Posts: 1870 | TRs | Pics Location: kirkland |
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Fletcher
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Sun May 17, 2020 9:42 am
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meck wrote: | That pic of the Thumb definitely makes me rethink my plans of climbing it; without the snow would it be climbable w/o ropes? |
We really wanted to climb The Thumb! I cant comment on what its like to climb without a rope, I've never had eyes on it in the summer. I think theres a report on here from a couple years ago where a guy did it though.
cascadetraverser: None of us had done a day that long since last summer. Im a bit sore today.
Video up!
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timberghost Member
Joined: 06 Dec 2011 Posts: 1331 | TRs | Pics
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