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User-Name
Member
Joined: 10 Aug 2010
Posts: 312 | TRs | Pics
Location: bellevue |
Joined Nick and Max for a great hike this morning. The Gothic Basin is familiar ground for our crew, but this year's conditions are unusual and we wanted to check out the weird snowpack. The approach was incredible--felt like early summer! Upstairs, the basin was nothing short of amazing, with grabber views of Gothic, Del Campo, and still-frozen Foggy Lake. We completely underestimated the amount of snow on Del Campo itself, and things got a little sporty near the summit. Still, a fine romp was had by all and after a fun bit of trail running we made it back to the car to finish the 7-hour push. After that, it was beer and pizza in Granite Falls to round out a great day in the hills. Snaps....
 Approach trail is mainly snow-free till you just before the climb up into Gothic Basin.  ..good boot path after that.  ...aaaah! Words fail.  Gothic Peak. Foggy Lk. is just behind the little ridge.  ...getting down to it.  Foggy Lake and surrounding peaklets...  The regular scramble path is still buried and the terminal summit slope, which runs to 55 degrees, really needed a picket. But Nick (goaded by Max) pounded a nice set of toe-buckets in the semi-soft snow and our party was soon topside.  ..to soak up this jaw-dropping view of Foggy!  ..and this one--with approach path visible, lower left.  Gothic, from high on Del Campo.  Nick on deproach.  Max traversing the last snow before the main, lower scramble.  Happy to be down. Erick Johnson: please join us for the next one!
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reimember
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Joined: 22 Aug 2014
Posts: 15 | TRs | Pics
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Good times! We definitely need eeeeeeej back. The more bucket makers the better as far as I'm concerned. 
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olderthanIusedtobe
Member
Joined: 05 Sep 2011
Posts: 7709 | TRs | Pics
Location: Shoreline |
Nice! I was admiring Del Campo from Dickerman yesterday. Was wondering what conditions in Gothic Basin are like currently. Now I know. I definitely like the way Gothic Peak looks when it is snow covered.
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Magellan
Brutally Handsome
Joined: 26 Jul 2006
Posts: 13116 | TRs | Pics
Location: Inexorable descent |
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Magellan
Brutally Handsome
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 Mon Mar 09, 2015 12:37 pm |
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Nice work.  Looks like the snow was a bit punchy, but no real need for snowshoes?
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User-Name
Member
Joined: 10 Aug 2010
Posts: 312 | TRs | Pics
Location: bellevue |
| Quote: | | but no real need for snowshoes? |
...we all carried 'em, but they stayed on the packs all day. the micro spikes were handy for the approach trail, and the aluma-pons were nice to have as well.
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ryleymyers
Member
Joined: 25 Apr 2014
Posts: 111 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle, Wa |
how bad is the exposure on the way up there? looks like theres a pretty visible bootpath but any immediate danger climbing up?
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mehitabel
archyologist
Joined: 23 Mar 2009
Posts: 519 | TRs | Pics
Location: the Emerald City |
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mehitabel
archyologist
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Fri Mar 13, 2015 10:50 am |
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ryleymeyers although not technical Del Campo has significant exposure in any season and there has been at least one death.
toujours gai toujours gai
toujours gai toujours gai
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User-Name
Member
Joined: 10 Aug 2010
Posts: 312 | TRs | Pics
Location: bellevue |
| Quote: | | how bad is the exposure on the way up there? looks like theres a pretty visible bootpath but any immediate danger climbing up? |
The main scramble never goes above class 3 or 4, but when the final summit slope is covered in snow, as it was last weekend, things get more interesting. It's nothing too tricky, just a 55-degree snow slope. Normally, I don't attempt things like that alone, but when you get three guys together, well...
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gneiss
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Joined: 09 Apr 2012
Posts: 59 | TRs | Pics
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gneiss
Member
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Fri Mar 13, 2015 12:32 pm |
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Nice one! Looks alot different than when we did a winter ascent back in 2010...we started climbing straight up from the top of the notch instead of the normal scramble route.
 04 the objective  06 final gulley to notch  08 first lead from notch  10 looking up first pitch  11 second pitch  12 looking down route  17 gothic basin  22 final rap
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ryleymyers
Member
Joined: 25 Apr 2014
Posts: 111 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle, Wa |
| User-Name wrote: | | The main scramble never goes above class 3 or 4, but when the final summit slope is covered in snow, as it was last weekend, things get more interesting. It's nothing too tricky, just a 55-degree snow slope. Normally, I don't attempt things like that alone, but when you get three guys together, well... |
Im always solo, maybe i will wait a bit. I'll take a look from dickerman tomorow. Thanks for the reply
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User-Name
Member
Joined: 10 Aug 2010
Posts: 312 | TRs | Pics
Location: bellevue |
Sweet shots, Gneiss! We took the same line for the final slope that your 'second pitch' shot shows. Your pix show the steepness better. I really hated the idea of reversing that pitch unprotected, so I actually groped around for, and finally found, a downclimbable route along the rock ridge to climber's left. To get decent footholds, I had to clean a couple of large-ish rocks from the ridge, but this option got us most of the way back down w/o having to reverse the snow climb, which I think would have been tough to arrest in case of a slip.
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