I put a call out in the partners section to see if anybody was interested in getting out to Robinson, and I was pleasantly surprised when Fletcher responded and said he was in.
I picked him up in Kirkland at around noon and we made our way out past Mazama. We got on trail at about 4 pm.
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There was a new(er) bridge crossing Robinson Creek that wasn't there the last time I attempted this route.
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An hour to Beauty Creek and we finally started gaining some serious elevation. We made it to the tarn at 7600' in about 3 hours and found a suitable place to bivy.
pano
We were treated to a spectacular light show of lightning to the east and a completely clear, moonless sky with satellites and meteors. We stayed up for a while just stargazing and chatting.
We were up for sunrise by 5:30 am, and on trail by 6 am.
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I got turned around due to weather after ascending the scree slope and gaining the ridge on my last attempt. Weather was not going to be a problem today.
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We negotiated our way up the ridge and over some false summits. I'd heard about the exposed scrambling portion of the route, and found the climbing here to be quite enjoyable. Fletcher made short work of this section.
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The weather had turned from a cloudless sky (from what we could see) to an interesting cloud layer that was holding at about 8500'. It was being pushed up and over some of the ridges on Robinson.
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The resulting view of Canada was lousy.
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But we were able to relax on the summit for a while and dream of other high peaks that had escaped the cloud layer.
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The descent was quick and uneventful. We were car to car in a bit over 20 hours.
The beta: Everything is melted out up there and no snow gear was needed. The scree really sucked. Fletcher is a great climbing partner.
We negotiated our way up the ridge and over some false summits. I'd heard about the exposed scrambling portion of the route, and found the climbing here to be quite enjoyable. Fletcher made short work of this section.
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The difficulty of the 'crux' section is very season dependent:
May 2010
What an awesome trip! Great thanks to Matt for organizing and driving all the way out there. The bivy at the tarn was probably the best night I have ever spent in the backcountry. The stars back there were simply unbelievable and the meteor and lightning show were just icing on the cake. Some snaps...
Nice report and photos guys. Looks like a fun scramble.
It looks like it gets real spicy early season Dicey. Fun I bet.
Fletchers on a rampage this year!
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