Forum Index > Trip Reports > North Face of Petes Point, Aneroid Lake (Wallowas)
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Jamin Smitchger
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Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Posts: 673 | TRs | Pics
Location: Pullman
Jamin Smitchger
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PostSun Jul 08, 2007 5:46 pm 
At 9675 feet, Petes Point is the fifth highest mountain in the Wallowas. It is an easy scramble on all sides but the north face. In order to make it more challenging, I decided to try the north face. After driving 3 hours to the East Fork Wallowa River trailhead, I started hiking up the highway to Aneroid Lake. At the beginning of the trail, the dust was a half-inch deep in many places, and there is definitely a large amount of horse poop on this trail. At Aneroid Lake, I was attacked by large amounts of bloodthirsty mosquitoes. I hoped that they would leave once I got up to a higher elevation so I headed up the easy class 1-2 gully to the basin below the north face. This basin, which contains the spectacular Jewett Lake, appears to have been only recently freed from a glacier.
First views of Petes point
First views of Petes point
Aneroid Lake
Aneroid Lake
Toward Jewett Lake
Toward Jewett Lake
The couloir I took is in middle
The couloir I took is in middle
Aneroid Lake and the north face of petes point
Aneroid Lake and the north face of petes point
The skeeters were much better in the basin so I took a break. The route up the north face still looked scary, but as always, snow slopes always look more technical from far away. I could see a section in the middle of the route that almost appeared to look like ice, but I quickly dismissed the thought. It was July 7th, and there couldn’t possibly be any ice climbing that late in the year.
North face couloir, petes point
North face couloir, petes point
As I started the route I quickly found that in many places the snow was pretty thin for a good self-belay, but for the most part it was okay. About midway up the snow I started to encounter ice. The ice was probably not more than 50 degrees, but it was about as featureless as ice on a pond. I did about 10 feet of easy WI2, about 20 feet of snow, and then I ran into a section of about 20 feet of featureless WI2. I only had my straight axe with me, but it was doable. Unfortunately, I had no way to protect the ice, and a slip would have resulted in an unstoppable fall down to the bottom of the couloir. The ice was not very bad, and tool placements were pretty solid. However, I did wish that I had another tool. The rest of the route was only about 45 degree snow. Although it is definitely out of season, this was still a fun route.
Looking down the couloir
Looking down the couloir
Once I topped out on the face, it was just an easy walk to the top of Petes Point. There were great views of most of the Wallowas. The summit register is actually a geocache.
Aneroid Lake
Aneroid Lake
So why is there glacial flour in this pond when there are no glaciers around?
So why is there glacial flour in this pond when there are no glaciers around?
The trip down the mountain was uneventful. I did some awesome glissading on the way down, and I took about 15 pictures of the beautiful Jewett Lake. I reached the trailhead at about 9:00pm. Trip time was about 10 hours. Total length was about 15 miles with a bit over 5000 feet of elevation gain.
Jewett Lake 1
Jewett Lake 1
Jewett Lake 3
Jewett Lake 3
Jewett Lake 2
Jewett Lake 2
Basin below the North Face
Basin below the North Face

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Gil
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Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Posts: 4057 | TRs | Pics
Gil
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PostSun Jul 08, 2007 6:16 pm 
Looks like a pretty place. But be careful out there!

Friends help the miles go easier. Klahini
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