[Bright River]

I found Richp with Janice Raddatz and her husband at Lake Wenatchee State Park commiserating about the accident that had killed her two horses, and the difficultiers of getting the equipment out. NO packers that I called would go on the Little Giant Trail; she had finally found a weekend packer that had a small mule that wanted to give it a try. The Packer was going in on Saturday morning so we said that we would be back at the trailhead then, and left for a little climbing trip we had been thinking about in the same area. We drove to the Phelps Creek trailhead late and headed up the Carne Mountain trail and camped in the first basin with water just below Carne Mt. It was very cold at dusk and frost was already forming in the meadow. Half way through the night the temp rose to a more amicable level, and it was clear in the morning. We headed upslope and climbed Carne Mt, and then traversed basin to basin to the base of the highest point on Ice Creek Ridge (Icebox). It was at this point that I realized I that I had probably picked up Giardia somehow (Janice had the same symptoms); and it was a struggle to climb. Eventually, the 2,000 feet to the summit was behind me and we had a magnificent view from the summit - clear, warm, slight breeze. Ah, August climbing!! The descent was hot and dry. We traversed further north and reached the Maude Col after climbing another 2,000 feet off and on. The area just below the col is getting so much traffic that it has become more difficult to keep your footing. The stones and edges that make the footing passable has been dislodged by many feet, and it is probablly better to approach the col from the south by climbing up a slight ridge and descend down the same ridge into the col. It was a easy and late descent into Upper Ice Lake. What a beautiful Lake! We watched a porcupine in the meadow on the inlet of Upper Ice Lake from our camp the next morning. A wet medow, no trees, nothing but small alpine flowers - hardly the place you would expect a porcupine, but it amble slowly right toward our camp and was unmistakable. Can't ever remember seeing a porcupine above the tree line, although I have seen others in Alaska under similar circumstances. We left camp for South Spectacle Butte at 7 am and would spend the next 11 hours trying to reach that objective. I was still tired and my knees swollen, We went to the outlet of Upper Ice Lake with repeated route finding excursions, and finally found a cl 3 rock chute that got us down to the outlet. we dropped to the lower lake and admired its color, and found the first party we had seen in three days camped there. Our plan was to drop into upper Ice Creek, contour around the head of the basin at about 6200 feet to the Southwest ridge, turn the ridge on to its south east face and climb to the summit of South Spectacle Butte. Becky, Goldman, and B and S. all said that this was an easy scramble. Talus, then avalanche debris, then a real Vshaped gulley that could only be climbed by decending to 6,000, then more gulley , more forest and debris, and finally we were in steep forest, and we used a talus slope to climb up and onto the SW ridge and rounded the ridge. Up to this point, the climb had been tedious, the footing continuously unstable and tiring, the routefinding time consuming - a lot of small obstacle. The slope from now on was generally steep slab, overlain with debris, and the footing allowed no coasting. We worked our way up small gullys and ledges, and rounded the first small Genardarme on the right as S and B recommend. The second Genardarme was less obvious. We climbed up steep eroded gullies, which became thinner and thinner, and less and less opportunity of "turning on the right". I tried to slip around various ledges to the eastside. No rope and Rick was not enthusiastic. Where was this easy scramble and Cl 3 stuff? We dropped and rounded the Gendarme at the bottom, and then climbed about 500 feet up steep ledges and slab to the 3rd Gendarme. We topped out at a slight notch above a gully that steepened to vertical after a dicey 50 feet of steep downsloping slab . Here we found our first cairn. Richp sat down. I traversed the top of the gully on a ledge and went around the corner. Not 3rd Class!! There was a deep vertical Notch on the east side of the Genardarme, from which steep walls on both side of a gulley steepened to near vertical and went out of sight hundreds of feet below. There were foot and hand holds, very small ledges, and larger ledges on the opposite wall, but all of it was very exposed. Looking farther on, there seemed to be one more Gendarme, I could not really tell, and the routefinding looking equally daunting. I decided that I did not want to go on alone, and we had taken a lot of time routefinding. How could three description of this route be so far off. Both Rich and I had climbed most of the surrounding mountains without incident; we were both frustrated and it was getting late. We retraced out route pretty much and it was a little faster. Getting spooked on a summit climb can take the stuffing out, especially with the whole scenario that I had been trying to deal with Janice and her 2 horses. We took a faster and different route to Upper Ice Lake. Climbing the waterfall half way, we crossed the creek, and ascended a slope nw and ended up at our camp on the west end of the Lake near the inlet. The next morning, we climbed NOrth Spectacle Butte, which turned out to be very simple and much like the climb of Maude. then we packed up and Ascended to Maude Col and descended southerly on a shallow ridge to the basin below and met the High Route Trail after a small climb to a notch. Descended the notch into the Leroy basin and various talus field and then the Gully of Doom ( cairns here and there, grundgey edgey stuff), We lost the waytrail and climbed 700 extra feet to below the face of Maude. Here a pretty place and water and solitude overcame any urge to find the trail and rush down to the Trailhead. The sky was clouding up, but it had been doing this for weeks. AT 10 -11 pm it pour, and then it blew. Every crack in my tarp strategy became evident, and I figured in another hour I was going to be camped in a lake - those nice little shallow flat spots, kick back in a good rain. When I crawled out in my raingear to redo the tarp setup, the rain ameloirated. Half way through the night, stars were shinning. In the morning, Maude and 7 Fingered Jack were obscured in blowing fog, Peaks and ridges to the west were in various pieces of sunlight. Easy down the Leroy and then the TRail to the trailhead. After 6 hours of searching I finally found Janice and after dark the packer and his magic mule Sparky, came into the camp having retrieved Janice's equipment. Most of the these good people were too overwhelmed by the experience to do much talking until the next day.

[RichP]

Thanks for another fine trip, Bright River. Unfortunately, I forgot to pack a camera I'll be back for South Spectacle Butte, but next time with some climbing gear. It's easy to underestimate some of these T100 peaks after doing a number of them without problems. b00 wrote in detail about this short, exposed traverse. I wish I had read his report prior to the trip. https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7970759&highlight= Still, even without attaining the summit, it was worth the effort. Seeing that porcupine lumber by near camp and later an osprey snatch a trout from Lower Ice Lake were special moments indeed. I also enjoyed the hand caught trout that Bright River provided for our last night's dinner. She employs a method similar to "noodling" used in the swamps of Louisiana for catfish. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noodling

[Bright River]

Rich the report you posted is a different route, and on the opposite side of the moutain than we were on. Strange that it reads so much like what we were on, but they did not have the big gardarmes . That route is classed as a class 4 in parts, and Goldman indicates that a rope would be needed. It still does not explain why we ran into even worse stuff on the SW ridge when it was just supposed to be an easy scramble. Nor that the Gendarmes can simply be turned "on the right". We scrambled and looked at routes both high near the gendarmes ridge top and also lower near their bases. Neither of us thought this was a Cl 3 scramble. It is also interesting that he describes that nasty gulley as "the crux". It required a little routefinding, but was nothing compared to the stuff later. The gullies are probably deeper this year than last as well, what with last winters storms. "Noodling"- I had never seen anybody do this. Once at Sunset Lake in the Olympics a fellow explained that this was possible, and described that fish hide out in rocks. I was intrigued and had been doing it ever since when I have a chance( Richp waited patiently). I have noted a real secondary advantage. I take off my shoes and socks and pants (or roll them up in this case), and wade in the cold water and rough rocks looking for a fish. In the heat of the "chase", I forget how sharp the rocks are and how cold the water, it does wonders at energizing and massaging your feet and cooling down those swollen knees.

[cartman]

Thanks for the beta. I was thinking of leaving the rope behind for this one, now I'll bring it. Good try though. Glad to hear Janice was able to work things out to get her gear back--great of you two (and others) to be able to help her out.

[wildernessed]

Sounds like quite the adventure, had some good views of both Buttes last week. Good effort as usual.