[Randy]

Friday was supposed to be the weather window and I believe it probably was. Everywhere, but where Craig and I were at least. We had planned on a nice, high traverse through a bit of new snow, but we ended up with an unconsolidated snow slog with no views. Still, it beat being holed up with the other cube rats in Hellevue! The idea was to traverse along Wenatchee Ridge to summit Whittier. On the return we'd possibly hit 4 peaks including Bryant and Irving with quick jaunts to the top of Poe and Longfellow. We had bluebird skies upon arriving at the Irving Pass TH, they even lasted for the first hour or so.

Whittier Lookging Good in the Morning

Early Morning Tracks

The further north we went, the deeper the snow got. It was 12"-18" deep as we bypassed Poe to the west and slowly increased to 36" deep as we got under Longfellow. Needless to say the going was fairly slow.

Starting to Slog

Collapsed

Between Poe and Longfellow we traversed at about 6200' for most of the way. Just after Poe, a rogue fog bank came up and sat against the ridge and didn't lift the rest of the day.

Winter is Here

So Close

Wading

It was always hard to tell exactly where we were as we couldn't see the top of the ridge and everything else looked more or less the same on the featureless slope we were traversing. When we finally came to the basin SW of Longfellow we'd had enough of the exhausting trailbreaking and headed up and to the left in an attempt to find the summit. After 350' of wallowing, we finally made the top of what we thought was the summit, but with the fog and wind it was hard to confirm. The altimeter said so and the one or two breaks we got confirmed there was nothing higher for a very long ways. We stayed only long enough to add layers and take a couple pictures. Whittier would have to wait for another day.

Waiting for a Break

Up Towards Longfellow

Swimming

We retreated by way of our tracks and made our way back over to Poe. It took just about as long going back.

Reality Check

Winter is Here

Heading Out

Looking Towards Poe

We ascended Poe easily from the north where the weather was just a little better. At least we could see something.

Looking Towards Irving

We had good views of Irving from Poe and decided we still had some time to make it to the top. We retreated back down the ridge towards Irving Pass and started up another 1000' of gain. Irving was a bit more interesting than the other two peaks. Less snow, but cliff bands made the going a little more variable. We stayed more or less right along the ridge going left or right where the terrain dictated. A faint trail persists for much of the way, but I'd guess it sees mostly animal traffic.

Valley Views on the Way to Irving

The final 250' were up a steep mud gully and some rock bands. The summit block is fairly prominent and has a host of possible routes from class 2-5. With all the snow and ice we were fine with booting up the easy way. We did find a tiny register buried under a bunch or rocks, but unfortunately Fred didn't leave us a pencil.

Craig Approaches Irving Summit

Irving Views

Irving Views1

Where is the Pencil Fred?

Sticking with the day's theme, we didn't stay long on the summit as it was already past 6 PM. We got back down to the pass and then the cars in short order. It's that time of year again where the highlight of a trip is often changing into cotton and cranking up the heat in the car! Longfellow, Poe, Irving: 11.5 miles, 5500', 11 hours

[the Zachster]

What a fun trip! But I keep looking at the great pics, and then I look at my calendar...and it just doesn't seem right I feel like I need to go Christmas shopping...Glad you got to enjoy it!

[wildernessed]

Nice Randy !

[Mark Griffith]

Well done! Bummer on the lack of Friday weather where you were. Seems like late November has come early this year.

[naturealbeing]

Just in case you were wondering what the views look like from Longfellow on a clear day (9.1.06), He He He! If you really wanted to know what the views from Whittier looked like on a clear day (9.1.06). it would look something like this.

[Randy]

Nice pictures NB. After abandoning Whittier I began to think about a fun traverse from David all the way back around to Poe. I'd probably throw Bryant in there too. One could leave a mountain bike at the Irving Pass TH then have fairly quick ride back to the Mount David TH. This would also make for a great ski traverse...I'll be back!

[Magellan]

Solid effort. Great captions on the pictures!!

[fettster]

Awesome. You posted some stellar reminders there why it's so grand living in the PNW.

[Beave]

LOL!!! I can't believe you posted that! I thought we agreed never to speak of that trip again! j/k Yeah, the weather left a lot to be desired. Thanks for catching the last couple TR's. I'll add some pics tomorrow. BTW, that picture titled "collapsed" is a great depiction of what happens to me everytime I try to keep up with Randy the RotoTiller.

[Sabahsboy]

I agree with the Zachster....too Christmassy! In any case, aside of the gorgeous collection of snow shots, "Brrrrr.....!!". Whittier sure looks splendid in winter coat. Thanks for the effort and sharing it! Oh, oh....gotta go and "shiver" some more...!