Forum Index > Trip Reports > Tatoosh Traverse - Unicorn, Foss, Castle, Pinnacle - 6/21/14
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Gimpilator
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Gimpilator
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PostSun Jun 22, 2014 11:47 am 
Matt Bellow invited me to join him and a few friends for a climb of Unicorn Peak in the Tatoosh range, but he warned me that he heard a rumor that a bus load of The Mountaineers were also planning to climb Unicorn that day so we would have to try to beat them to the summit block or risk waiting several hours behind their group. I agreed to join the trip but I asked if he wouldn't mind traversing as far as Castle and Pinnacle as well.
Unicorn
Unicorn
approach gully
approach gully
We started hiking around 9am, an hour after The Mountaineers. To our dismay, The Mazamas also had a large group ahead of us. shakehead.gif
mounties conga line
mounties conga line
mounties
mounties
I decided to see if I could get ahead of all the groups and secure us the 5.6 route before the hordes arrived. I asked Matt Bellow to give me the rope and I hiked ahead of Matt and Meagan along with Matt Hutch. I was able to pass all the groups on the way up to the summit block except for one guy.
summit block
summit block
Matt leading
Matt leading
our group on the summit
our group on the summit
When we reached the summit block he told me he had been rushing ahead with the same intent. He had pro and I had a rope so we secured the preferred 5.6 route by climbing it just before everyone else showed up. When the rest of my group showed up, Matt Below took his turn leading the route and only placed 2 pieces of protection. We were all a little disappointed that it was such a short pitch, but we were happy to be at the highest point of the Tatoosh and the view of Rainier was very good. As we were rappelling The Mountaineers were busy setting a fixed line on the exposed 4th class route on the east side of the summit block.
looking south
looking south
rappelling
rappelling
here comes some more
here comes some more
The Mounties
The Mounties
leaving the crowd
leaving the crowd
Cowlitz Chimneys
Cowlitz Chimneys
view north
view north
Stevens Peak
Stevens Peak
We plunge-stepped/glissaded down and around to the Unicorn/Foss saddle. The south ridge of Foss was narrow, icy and still corniced in a few spots. We wore crampons. Closer to the summit we had to push our way through krumholz.
Pinnacle and Castle
Pinnacle and Castle
Foss south ridge
Foss south ridge
Foss summit
Foss summit
steep snow
steep snow
Foss summit
Foss summit
The castle
The castle
Little Tahoma
Little Tahoma
Pyramid and Glacier Island
Pyramid and Glacier Island
Castle/Foss saddle
Castle/Foss saddle
approaching The Castle
approaching The Castle
From the summit of Foss we descended to the small lake between Foss and The Castle. Here Matt Hutch decided not to continue since he had already done Pinnacle and The Castle before. We asked him if he wouldn't mind moving the car from the Snow Lake trailhead to the Reflection Lakes trailhead.
Matt leading
Matt leading
climbing
climbing
climbing
climbing
climbing
climbing
my turn to clean
my turn to clean
At the base of the summit block on The Castle, Matt Below decided to climb a direct 5th class route rather than search around for the 4th class route. The line he chose was fun and solid and all three of us were pretty happy to be on the third summit of the day. It was very exposed up there.
Pinnacle seen from The Castle
Pinnacle seen from The Castle
Meagan climbing
Meagan climbing
The Castle summit
The Castle summit
rappelling
rappelling
rappelling
rappelling
To reach Pinnacle Peak we had to descend several hundred feet around the south rib of The Castle and there was some minor scrambling involved. Then a steep snow traverse along the south face brought us to the scramble route on Pinnacle. We were surprised to see a group The Mazamas were protecting the scramble route with rope. One woman told me it was a 5.0 climb. Our guide book back in the car had said it was class 2. In my opinion it was mostly 3rd class with a couple of 4th class moves near the top which might be avoidable. There is a lot of loose rock on the scramble route, but the feet are big and blocky and there are a lot of big juggy hand holds.
Pinnacle
Pinnacle
steep snow traverse
steep snow traverse
scramble route on Pinnacle
scramble route on Pinnacle
exposed section near the top
exposed section near the top
Pinnacle summit
Pinnacle summit
looking back to Unicorn where we started
looking back to Unicorn where we started
group shot
group shot
looking west at the rest of the Tatoosh
looking west at the rest of the Tatoosh
We didn't spend long on the 4th summit as we were all out of water. We descended Pinnacle/Castle saddle and glissaded/plunge stepped down to the car where Matt Hutch had taken a nice long nap. Thanks for moving the car and driving Matt! up.gif biggrin.gif
Pinnacle/Castle col
Pinnacle/Castle col
Rainier with nice clouds
Rainier with nice clouds
descending the "Pinnacle Glacier"
descending the "Pinnacle Glacier"
The Castle and Pinnacle
The Castle and Pinnacle

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostSun Jun 22, 2014 12:16 pm 
Cool TR. Traversing along the Tatoosh is fun. It's stuff like this that gives the Mounties a bad name. Unicorn is just not an appropriate peak for a big group and siege tactics. down.gif Safety is good, but protecting class 3 terrain seems like a bit of overkill to me.

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AlpineRose
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PostSun Jun 22, 2014 12:32 pm 
Au contraire. Unicorn is a fine little beginning climb, with a little bit of all kinds of terrain. Perfect for a basic climbing experience. One can always check the various groups' websites to see where they are headed and avoid those areas. Travelling anywhere to a popular area on a nice weekend will mean crowds. To highlight the Mountaineers for this phenomenon is not only unfair but just plain silly.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostSun Jun 22, 2014 12:39 pm 
I stand by my opinion. There are plenty of peaks where a large party can cause a bottleneck, this is certainly one of them. Those pics just look ridiculous. I've never been keen on the whole "everybody else has to check the Mountaineers schedule so they know where to avoid going" mindset. How about the Mountaineers do their best to not monopolize routes for an entire day or weekend?

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostSun Jun 22, 2014 12:41 pm 
I counted 21 Mounties in that one pic. That's too many. They should try to keep their group to a manageable number on a climb like this.

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Bryan K
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PostSun Jun 22, 2014 3:37 pm 
Crowds like that make me glad I have Monday/Tuesday off work.

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belowfellow
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PostMon Jun 23, 2014 2:48 pm 
your pics turned out great. fun day out.

"Wilderness is bliss"
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Matt
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Matt
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PostMon Jun 23, 2014 5:55 pm 
olderthanIusedtobe wrote:
I counted 21 Mounties in that one pic. That's too many. They should try to keep their group to a manageable number on a climb like this.
No, you did not count 21 Mounties in that one pic, because there are not 21 Mounties in that pic. There are 12 Mounties in that pic. The other people are from a different organization from a different state. The Mountaineers publish their destinations and trip capacity ahead of time, so it's easy to plan around them. It also should be easy to refrain from slandering them with incorrect captions and comments.

“As beacons mountains burned at evening.” J.R.R. Tolkien
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Michael Lewis
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PostMon Jun 23, 2014 6:18 pm 
I don't know what all the fuss is about. He clearly identifies the Mazamas as being one of the groups that were ahead in addition to the Mountaineers. There were no conflicts on the mountain so why bring them here? Glad you got ahead of them Adam. I know it can be stressful climbing alongside the mounties. That and the crowd. Nice report

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iron
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PostMon Jun 23, 2014 6:25 pm 
olderthanIusedtobe wrote:
I stand by my opinion. There are plenty of peaks where a large party can cause a bottleneck, this is certainly one of them. Those pics just look ridiculous. I've never been keen on the whole "everybody else has to check the Mountaineers schedule so they know where to avoid going" mindset. How about the Mountaineers do their best to not monopolize routes for an entire day or weekend?
perhaps, then, no one should climb rainier. lots of bottlenecks there. or any peak that you're looking to do... those should all be verified with your schedule. nice trip gimp.

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mhutch
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PostMon Jun 23, 2014 6:36 pm 
glad we were able to haul it up to the rock pitch on unicorn and meet up with some friends, worked out well. looks like I missed out on some sweet lighting while you guys were up on pinnacle, you got some nice pictures. fun trip, here are a few shots I got from Unicorn to Manatee/Foss...

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostMon Jun 23, 2014 9:08 pm 
My bad, I didn't realize that was 2 different parties.

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Jetlag
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PostTue Jun 24, 2014 7:31 am 
Cool pictures! Congratulations on finishing the traverse all the way to Pinnacle. Good to see there was lots of snow in all the right places. (Unicorn is really tedious by mid-summer!)

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Forum Index > Trip Reports > Tatoosh Traverse - Unicorn, Foss, Castle, Pinnacle - 6/21/14
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