My dad and I got a late start today, after lounging in the Leavenworth McDonalds and eating breakfast with the rest of the fam.
Got to the trailhead at 10:45am and took off intending to make a loop up Chatter Creek, across to Ladies Pass, and then down Frosty Creek to the Icicle Creek trailhead.
Trail was beautiful...Grindstone Mtn is incredibly impressive, and we had great views of Cashmere Mtn and the whole Stuart Range in the distance. Didn't hit snow until 6200', and the last 400+ feet wasn't all that bad.
Made the first pass (6638') at 2:30pm and decided that we just hadn't started early enough. Spent a half hour at the pass, soaking in views of Cape Horn and the Index Creek basin, and then headed back down to the trailhead.
Side note: The last time I was up this way was 25 years ago. At age 4, my dad decided we'd have a great time going cross country to Lake Ida. All I remember was the rats in our tent that first night...voracious little bastards gnawed a hole in the tent, chewed on my dads shoes, bored a hole in his pack, and, oh yeah, gnawed through my right thumb. The next day we were a thousand feet up slide alder and talus before I decided I'd had enough and was ready to go home. Perhaps one day we'll revisit that cross country route (minus the rats) and have a better time of it. I'm just amazed I made it as far as I did at age 4...the trail from the valley floor up to the first hanging valley is steep and agressive! and the route my dad pointed out was a long haul up.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
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"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
We had great views of Cashmere Mountain all the way up.
Twisted..! The joys of life in an avalanche chute.
Grindstone Mountain looming above us...
Here's the pass we're heading for...elevation 6650'.
The view from the top to the south is magnificent!
To the northwest from the saddle, Cape Horn is in the distance. Behind this prominence lay Ladies Pass...
To the northeast is the Index Creek basin...a very pretty vale indeed.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
0
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
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