[Gimpilator]

Heather and I attempted to climb south Spectacle Butte last October as part of our Fernow to Carne traverse, but the Wolverine Fire stopped us. Yesterday morning we returned with Fletcher. We ascended the Box Creek bootpath which is sometimes there and sometimes not. A bear heard us coming up and went crashing down the slope to our right to get out of the way.

fire on the peak last October

When we came to the upper meadows of Box Creek we turned left and traversed over two passes to reach Ice Pass. We descended to the lakes and then dropped down an old faint trail into Ice Creek Drainage. Heather and I knew where to find this trail from our explorations on the previous trip. You ascend a rib for a few hundred yards above the lower lake.

stuck on a log

Box Creek bootbath

upper Box Creek drainage

1st pass

Ice Pass and Maude

Ice Lakes

the Spectacle Buttes

South Spectacle

Lower Ice Lake

Ice Box

Maude and Marmot Pyramid

We followed the trail down to a large cairn at 6400 feet and then traversed toward the basin between north and south Spectacle Butte. The gully which presents problems for some parties was full of snow and easy to cross. From the basin between the buttes we gained the southwest ridge and started up on some easy scrambling.

on the west ridge

the ledge option above the start of the crux gully

option 1, easy ledge with class 4 crux

The southwest ridge was more junky than any of us had anticipated. Plenty of loose talus and scree all the way to the summit, even on the narrow ledges. At the second large gendarme we came to the crux of the route. We were at the top of a loose exposed gully. There were two options to cross it. The first was a nice ledge traverse which ended with some very exposed class 4 moves into the top of the gully and the second was a rappel or belay straight down into the gully to reach a small promontory jutting out of the center of the gully 25 feet down.

crux gully

Heather on belay (we chose option 2)

Fletcher and Heather below on the promontory

scramble up the crux gully

Fletcher belayed me down and then Heather and then rappelled to join us. His new camera went flying down the gully over the cliffs below. He took it surprisingly well. We tried to pull the rope but it got stuck so we left it in place. We scrambled up the gully on the far side of the small promontory and then rejoined the ridge crest beyond the gendarme.

1 label

following ledges and gullies on the south face

summit

Tupshin and friends

Dome, Martin and friends

North Spectacle south face

Fernow

Clark, Luahna

David and Whittier

Pinnacle

summit

The rest of the route wasn't as straight-forward as I had anticipated. Scrambling the crest was not the best option. Rather following ledges and gullies on the south face was a better choice. Some of the ledges were narrow and loose rock was everywhere. I was glad to reach the summit at 3:45pm. We all knew at that point that it was going to be a very late hike out. Furthermore, descending the brushy Box Creek bootpath was probably no longer a good option.

ledges

more ledges

Wolverine Fire devastation

We carefully retraced our route to Ice Pass arriving around 7pm. We wanted to get as far as possible before darkness set in. Heather and I were familiar with the high route from our previous trip and after discussing our options we decided to descend the Carne Mountain trail. We were able to get nearly all the way to Carne Mountain before dark. A full moon was rising as we made our way over the peak and down the west side.

fading light

Ice Pass

coming darkness

Unfortunately there are numerous blow-downs on the lower section of the Carne Mountain trail. It will be a major undertaking to clear this trail. We got back to the car around 1:30am.

[awilsondc]

Goodness! What an adventure! That's a bummer about Fletcher's camera.

[Fletcher]

Great day! I had a lot of fun. Ice Lakes is beautiful and I look forward to returning and climbing other peaks in the area. We really hit it good with snow filling that gully. I am definitely bummed about the camera but it was my own fault. I had it stupidly too close to the rope, and knocked it off the edge when I was flaking it, preparing my rappel. I took the high route on the way back, which was easy, but looked daunting from above. Here are some phone pics.

Adam and Heather finishing South Spectacle

crux gully

Maude to Fernow

peaks Heather and I climbed last week

South Spectacle Butte 7/20/16

Burned Entiat

junky South Spectacle

looking back at the summit

Heather crossing conveniently filled gully

some Spectacle Buttes

South Spectacle Butte 7/20/16

Freezing alpenglow

[Fletcher]

Also, I feel the need to apologize to Adam for forgetting my shorts.... Again... This is the 2nd time in the last couple years that I have made him endure a full day of hiking with me in just my underwear.

[wildernessed]

Nice, except the burn areas.

[Ski]

excellent.

[gb]

To me the side of S. Spectacle Butte facing Ice Lakes looks problematic and "junky". Just curious, the SW/S ridge visible as a horizon on the right edge of the peak from Ice Lakes looks like it might be reasonable and from that vantage the rock looks good, too. Perhaps 5.2 to 5.5? Seems like I would prefer to try that route with a small rack. Has anyone done that ridge? Skagit Gneiss is often good rock if bedded as a slab. Nearby, the Entiat Icefall route reaches the upper east ridge of Mt. Maude (if it still does). Years ago, I (we) found 3-3-1/2 pitches of quite good rock to 5.4 above the Entiat Glacier.

[Distel32]

[RichP]

That crux gully became bane of my existence after my attempt of SSB until I got over the fact that I wasn't going to finish the T/100. Looks darn steep!

[Get Out and Go]

Wow, Ice Lakes still icy! I have seen other reports to the area via Box Creek and was just wondering if you feel the off-trail Box Creek approach to Ice Pass is "significantly" more efficient than blasting up established trail via Leroy Basin, the way I've always gone in.

[Fletcher]

Box Creek is the way to go! I'll go that way when I return for North Spec, Freezer, and Ice Box. There's tread much of the way and only a couple very brief sections that are less than pleasant.

[gray matter]

Nice work! I did South Spectale Solo about 4 years ago and really thought the route had some sustained and challenging class 3 terrain. Lots of fun!

[Sourstraw]

[Foist]

I thought that road was closed? Where did you park?

[Fletcher]

@Sourstraw, nice running into you guys up there. Did you camp at Ice Lakes that night? We kept an eye out for your tent but didn't spot it. Also, sorry you were subjected to my wardrobe that day. @Foist, the road had been recently re-opened. We parked at the Phelps Creek Trailhead.