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b00
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PostTue Aug 17, 2010 12:36 am 
cradle 8-15-2010
cradle_route.JPG
cradle_route.JPG
we anticipated this too be a hot, long, buggy and strenuous trip. we needlessly worried as it was not nearly as bad as we thought. the bugs although present throughout the trip, were never awful. the heat was often abated by the wind. although a workout, this proved not anywhere near as hard as feared and although we finished a little over an hour past my best case scenario, we finished many hours earlier than my worst case - probably because we shortened the route by doing a variation that my buddies jp-labs and last will came up with. the three of us each started with a liter of water and hiked the easy trail up to paddy go easy pass and descended to where a stream crossed the trail. not knowing if the creek in the valley would be flowing, we guzzled and filled water here. although we were not hot yet, we pro actively soaked our shirts and hats in the water. we quickly hiked down to the valley and we turned right and followed it to where it crossed french creek and were pleasantly surprised to find a lot of water flowing. we again tried to guzzle as much water as possible and each filled three liters. we also again soaked our shirts and hats. the obvious trail on the other side of french creek did not correspond to the map, instead of following the creek, it headed ese angling uphill. the trail ended as we came to the first meadows. it was here we needed to turn uphill. we carefully looked over our proposed route to the ridge. we had three main choices of heading up the meadows: left, center and right. we took a game trail up the middle of the meadows and were able to avoid all but 10' of brush as we looked for long stretches that stayed in meadowy terrain. unfortunately some bees took umbrage to our journey and stung jp-labs 3 times and also stung last will. being in the lead at that time, i escaped unscathed. a little below the south ridge, we realized we were farther right than we wanted and began a climber's right traverse that soon took us over to ridge top. this route up the meadows took a lot more time than we anticipated. the route descriptions and trip reports we had, all spoke of descending a few hundred feet. this did not look fun, tons of loose rock, talus and scree that would need to be ascended and descended. this looked very tedious, time consuming and problematic. we now started to talk about turn around times*. jp-labs said 4:00pm as he did not want to get home too late, neither did last will. there was no way we could do that rubbly route to the east ridge and summit before 4:00pm. fortunately jp-labs and last will had spotted a potential route that did not require descending into the ugly terrain - traverse the east side of south ridge just below the ridge top. where the south ridge meets the east ridge, it looked very steep, but fortunately things that look steep when you look straight at them often are not. this again proved to be the case.
jp-labs and our route that traversed high on the east side of the cradle's south ridge
jp-labs and our route that traversed high on the east side of the cradle's south ridge
the traverse, although a little time consuming, was much, much better than the alternative. the first part of the traverse took a little longer than we wanted and again the words turn around time* came up. when we hit east ridge, jp-labs was still worried until i showed him that summit was on the left, not the steep craggy one on the right. now we all felt better as we knew we were going to summit. jp-labs got a real spring in his step and his joy of rock scrambling moved his feet quickly over the east ridge and up to the summit block where he scrambled up the right side on some, what he said was nice, solid, class 3 rock. last will followed him.
jp-labs works the cradle's east ridge - cashmere, stuart and in the background
jp-labs works the cradle's east ridge - cashmere, stuart and in the background
i heard a few rocks coming down when they were going up, so after getting to below the summit block, i figured i'd stay safe, speed up our ascent and check out the left side where there was supposed to be an exposed class 3 open book leading to the summit. i soon found a very pleasant, short, class 3 shallow chimney that led up to some class 2 loose rock that quickly led to the summit. the summit was filled with flying ants and we were worried about getting out before dark, so we shot a few pics, signed the register and quickly descended.
class 3 shallow chimney that led to the cradle's summit
class 3 shallow chimney that led to the cradle's summit
the descent and then re-ascent up to paddy go easy pass went quicker than we had feared. although we were too late to fulfill my original plan of taking a dip in sprite lake, we made it out without headlamps and made it to the mexican restaurant in cle elum before they closed at 10:00pm. nice ending for a great day with great guys. doing trips with nice people who have positive attitudes and are in good shape, leads to fun times! thanks guys!
IMG_8958
IMG_8958
equipment: ice axes(brought them but did not really need them), helmets (brought them but did not really need them - an experienced, well managed party would not have issues), gps references: summitpost http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/153349/the-cradle.html, ragman's t/r in nwhikers: https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7960876 and a mountie route description. * turn around time(s) = not really a time, but a place(the summit) :>) stats: 13.47mi 6878' gain 7:02 car to summit: 1:47 car to paddy go easy pass 1:24 paddy go easy pass to french creek crossing 2:07 french creek crossing to south ridge of the cradle 1:12 south ridge of the cradle to cradle east ridge 0:20 cradle east ridge to summit 5:21 summit to car: 0:17 summit to cradle east ridge 1:00 cradle east ridge to south ridge of the cradle 1:31 south ridge of the cradle to french creek crossing 1:05 french creek crossing to paddy go easy pass 1:18 paddy go easy pass to car

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puzzlr
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puzzlr
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PostTue Aug 17, 2010 12:49 am 
I can't believe you did all that in one day! Up, down, up, down, up, down. Yikes eek.gif

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iron
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PostTue Aug 17, 2010 7:23 am 
you're a machine hollywood! quote of the year: * turn around time(s) = not really a time, but a place(the summit) :>)

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Eric
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PostTue Aug 17, 2010 7:38 am 
Thanks for the beta. That is a long day in this heat. Did you happen to get any pics of the routes on might take to get to the North summit (which looks to have the same elevation as the South summit)?

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b00
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b00
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PostTue Aug 17, 2010 8:50 am 
Quote:
Did you happen to get any pics of the routes on might take to get to the North summit (which looks to have the same elevation as the South summit)?
thanks to all for the nice words and sorry to say i have no photos nor ideas about the route up the north summit. :>)

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yukon222
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PostTue Aug 17, 2010 9:11 am 
Nice fast trip on a hot summer day!! up.gif When I did it a few weeks ago with some friends, we camped at Sprite Lake so we could tag Paddy Go North, Sherpani on Sat, then visit the Cradle and Nursery on Sunday before heading out. Beautiful area. Eric - here is a pic of the North Summit from the South Summit. I might have another pic of the North summit from my approach up the East ridge. Not sure which direction you are thinking of an attempt.
DSE_0361 - the north summit of The Cradle
DSE_0361 - the north summit of The Cradle

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dicey
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dicey
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PostTue Aug 17, 2010 9:39 am 
There is some info on scrambling the North summit in this trip report

I'm not always sure I like being older but being less stupid has advantages. http://www.flickr.com/photos/32121172@N00/sets/
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Eric
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PostTue Aug 17, 2010 11:51 am 
Thanks for the info folks. I didn't have any particular route in mind, just whatever works.

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