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Jake Robinson Member
Joined: 02 Aug 2016 Posts: 521 | TRs | Pics
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Stuart Range Traverse 8/31-9/2/2018
Trace and I climbed Sherpa, Stuart, Argonaut, Colchuck, Dragontail, Witches Tower, Little Annapurna, Enchantment, Cannon, and McClellan in three days starting from the Esmerelda Basin TH and ending at the Snow Lakes TH. Didn't take many pictures and those I took were with my phone, sorry about that. I guess this could be considered a climbing report though 99% of this trip was class 1-2 hiking.
Our route. Stats were 49 miles, 20k gain, 3 long days.
Day 1: Sherpa and Stuart
We hiked up over Longs Pass and made camp at the base of the Sherpa climbers trail, then climbed Sherpa via the east ridge. This route is described well in TRs from Yana and Matt, Puzzlr, and Fletcher. I found this route to be very fun, with lots of class 3/4 on solid rock. There are a few fifth class moves here and there but the rock is always good and the holds are always positive. Trace had the key piece of information for getting around the balanced rock - we went around the right side (climbers right), and when we seemed to be faced with an exposed and scary downclimb, we looked left and found a hidden foothold that allowed us to make a short class 4 downclimb to easier class 2 terrain below. Class 2 ledges led us to one more low 5th class corner pitch (look for Fletcher's stuck cam here to mark the beginning of the pitch), and then awkward slabs to the top. Sherpa is a very cool summit.
Mount Stuart from below Longs Pass Looking up to Sherpa Climbed this gully to get to the east ridge Trace on the east ridge Trace climbing Trace about to make the class 4 downclimb, looking for the hidden hold Summit with balanced rock Summit (photo by Trace) Rapping off Sherpa
Stole these photos from Fletcher's report, but I drew the lines
Awkward class 4 chockstone gully at the beginning of the route After climbing the chockstone gully and then hiking up and left over a rib, we came to this class 4 chimney thing After the chimney, we climbed this short pitch to get up to the balanced rock. I'd call it about 5.3. The balanced rock from the other side (the side closer to the summit). Hidden foothold and class 4 downclimb is visible here.
We made three raps and then downclimbed the chockstone gully. A 30m rope is sufficient for every rap but just barely makes it to scramble terrain on the first rap.
We descended the way we came until 8200', then found a great class 3 traverse beneath the south face of Sherpa. The lowest we had to go was about 7950' to access the key gully next to the black pillar mentioned by Puzzlr. From there we dropped to 7800' in the basin between Sherpa and Stuart, traversed for a bit, and aimed for the false summit of Stuart. Some dirty class 3 scrambling got us to the top part of the Cascadian Couloir route on Stuart and we continued the rest of the way to the summit. We descended back to camp and went to bed at sunset.
A sandy gully we climbed to access the Cascadian Couloir 6 labels Looking back at Sherpa and the traverse Summit of Stuart
Day 2: Argonaut, Colchuck, Dragontail
The next morning we climbed Argonaut via the standard south route. Following summitpost, we were able to find a completely alder-free line. Leaving the Ingalls Creek trail ~100' east of the Fourth Creek junction, we went directly uphill, mostly following game trails, deviating left at 5100' to avoid alder, then back to the right at 5700' to enter the gully. We took the left fork of the gully at 7000' then climbed class 2/3 to the summit block. The little chockstone gully felt like fifth class to me, we should have brought the rope up with us to rap it. Our 30m rope would have worked fine. This late in the year there was no water anywhere on Argonaut, I was glad to have hauled up 3L from Ingalls Creek.
Above the brush on Argonaut The gully I wish I had the rope for (photo by Trace)
We dropped to 6250' then made a slightly rising traverse over easy terrain to pt. 6737'. We found a good access point to Porcupine Basin at about 6700'. We loaded up on water at Porcupine Creek then headed up to Colchuck Col. The Colchuck Glacier looked like it was mostly bare ice with a large bergschrund spanning its entire width near the top. After hiking up Colchuck, we scrambled up through Pandora's Box (class 3/4 at the beginning, easing off to easy choss at the top), tagged Dragontail, then made camp outside the permit zone about halfway between Dragontail and Little Annapurna.
Dragontail Peak above Porcupine Basin Porcupine Basin access point Colchuck Glacier and Colchuck Lake from the col Top of Colchuck (photo by Trace) Sunset from our bivy (photo by Trace)
Day 3: Witches Tower, Little Annapurna, Enchantment, Cannon, McClellan, Snow Creek exit
The next morning we scrambled up Witches tower, hiked up Little Annapurna's NW slopes, crossed the basin, then climbed Enchantment via the class 3 shortcut route described by b00 here. From there we descended to Prusik Pass, slogged out to Cannon and back, made our way to the lakes at 7000' NNW of McClellan, and climbed directly up class 2/3 slabs to the Prong gully and the summit of McClellan. From there it was 9 or so miles of rough and crowded trail out to the car at the Snow Lakes TH. We finished just before headlamp time and made the long drive back to pick up the other car.
Core Enchantments from Witches Tower (photo by Trace) 2 labels Prusik Pass from near Enchantment Pk. (photo by Trace) Heading out to Cannon (photo by Trace) 5 labels Looking back on our route from the Druid Plateau (photo by Trace) Our exit route from McClellan
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DadFly Member
Joined: 02 Jul 2012 Posts: 402 | TRs | Pics Location: Redmond |
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DadFly
Member
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Mon Oct 29, 2018 6:11 pm
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Great TR!
The pics are great!
"May you live in interesting times"
"May you live in interesting times"
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awilsondc Member
Joined: 03 Apr 2016 Posts: 1324 | TRs | Pics
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Awesome! Cool to see you posting some of your epic trips from this summer. The way you described day 3 made it sound almost trivial, when I'm sure it was very tough. Sounds like a hard trip! I don't think many have done the full traverse like this. Well done!
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Schenk Off Leash Man
Joined: 16 Apr 2012 Posts: 2372 | TRs | Pics Location: Traveling, with the bear, to the other side of the Mountain |
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Schenk
Off Leash Man
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Tue Oct 30, 2018 8:36 am
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I have done all of those a few times, and connecting them all in 3 days is pretty stout! Nicely done.
Snow lake looks real low!
Nature exists with a stark indifference to humans' situation.
Nature exists with a stark indifference to humans' situation.
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ozzy The hard way
Joined: 30 Jul 2015 Posts: 476 | TRs | Pics Location: University place, wa |
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ozzy
The hard way
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Tue Oct 30, 2018 11:35 am
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Good God! Thats one awesome traverse yall did! Sherpa is the only one i haven't done, it looks like alotta fun for sure. That chockstone on Argonaut still looks rather intimidating lol! Badass guys! Cheers!
“I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames”-Mr Mojo Risin
“I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames”-Mr Mojo Risin
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puzzlr Mid Fork Rocks
Joined: 13 Feb 2007 Posts: 7220 | TRs | Pics Location: Stuck in the middle |
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puzzlr
Mid Fork Rocks
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Tue Oct 30, 2018 3:17 pm
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Very impressive! I have yet to get to a lot of those peaks in the central Enchantments. You really knocked out a lot in one trip. Congrats.
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raising3hikers Member
Joined: 21 Sep 2007 Posts: 2344 | TRs | Pics Location: Edmonds, Wa |
excellent way to combine all those peaks on the same trip, that's a lot of work
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Brushbuffalo Member
Joined: 17 Sep 2015 Posts: 1887 | TRs | Pics Location: there earlier, here now, somewhere later... Bellingham in between |
Excellent detail.You guys are motivated and just plain tough.
Good going!
Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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Gimpilator infinity/21M
Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 1684 | TRs | Pics Location: Edmonds, WA |
It's amazing to get all those peaks in one go like that. And only 3 days. Wow
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Matt Lemke High on the Outdoors
Joined: 15 Jul 2010 Posts: 2052 | TRs | Pics Location: Grand Junction |
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Matt Lemke
High on the Outdoors
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Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:19 pm
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This is interesting! Nice work.
I ended up doing just about every single one of the 10 Stuart Range Peaks as separate trips, only actually combining Cannon and Enchantment Peak as a day trip. They were all earlier in my climbing career before I realized what was truly possible.
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Midnight Slogger 'Schwack Job
Joined: 04 Aug 2017 Posts: 96 | TRs | Pics Location: Greater Cascadia |
Inspiring route--and excellent detail. I appreciate your follow-through on TR's, even if they're a tad late!
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