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raising3hikers Member
Joined: 21 Sep 2007 Posts: 2343 | TRs | Pics Location: Edmonds, Wa |
Davis Pk 7051'
Saturday morning, Kyle, Jake, Dave and I met at the Gorge overlook parking lot on highway 20 for a trip up to Davis Pk. There were several ideas tossed around during the week and this is the one that we went with.
We started hiking up the burn area a little after 7am. It was steep from the beginning and travel was mostly brush free. There were several rocky areas that was easily bypassed and a couple interesting gullies to get through. I think we put snowshoes on around 2000' as the snow finally was deep enough to make them useful. Jake did a nice job breaking trail for much of the way up to Pt 5872. The sun was out and many fine views of the surrounding mountains had opened up at the ridge.
From Pt 5872, we had to get down to a saddle 100'+ below. We spent much time trying to find a safe way around the Pt but ended up rappelling from a small tree to get down. We also made the choice to leave the rope in place to use as a hand line to get back up. That meant that we had just 1 rope left to use on the crux area on the South ridge of Davis.
North Cascade Pks the big rock and snow step to get the Davis ridge Jake on rappel Jake at the saddle
As we neared the big step, the sun left and clouds cooled everything down a lot. My water bottles froze quickly just like my hands did. We studied and searched for a couple different ways up the steep snowy and rock slopes. After a couple dead ends, we got everybody up to an area with nothing left but steeper snow with a bad runout. If the snow wouldn't take good kick steps, we'd have to turn around. Luckily, with crampons on, we were able to kick good steps high above the cliffs before turning a corner and going straight up even steeper snow to gain the ridge. The last 5-6' were near vertical. The decision to bring 2 axes each was the difference in making it to this spot.
Once on the ridge, we put snowshoes on and hiked the ridge to the top doing our best to avoid the massive cornices. We reached the top around 4pm with great views. The clouds made for some great scenery as did the sun shedding spotty light in places.
The Pickets Elephant Butte Dave and Kyle getting ready to leave the summit The Colonial group
Jake and I left the summit early so we could find the best spot to rappel and get an anchor set. Dave's 70m rope was just enough to get us down off of the steepest snow but we'd still have to down climb exposed snow to get down to the 2nd anchor. A double rope rappel would have been ideal here. Anyways, we carefully made it down and reached the easier rap anchor that would lead us back down to the saddle.
downclimbing the steep slopes Kyle rappelling
We used the handline we left earlier to get us back up to Pt 5872. The sun was setting and the skies and peaks were beautiful. By the time everybody was there, the sun had gone down and it was headlamp time with almost 5000' of elevation to lose. We kept our crampons on during the steep descent. It was kind of slow once the snow thinned. We had to be careful about dislodging rocks as we went down.
last light on Jack Trapezoid and Big Devil Triumph and roper's Roost
We finally reached the parking area and we all decided that it was a tough day but well worth it. Davis definitely isn't an easy peak, we had to earn it's summit. Any day in the North Cascades is a good one. Thanks for the trip guys!
6.25 miles
6300' elevation gain
14.5 hrs
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Jake Robinson Member
Joined: 02 Aug 2016 Posts: 521 | TRs | Pics
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This was the hardest 6 miles I've ever done. Thanks everyone for a great trip! And thanks Eric for leading the way on the steep snow portion and finding us a good route up to the ridge.
Team climbing up through the burn up, up, up First views of the day, Snowfield group Break time Mount Triumph and Roper's Roost Kyle and Dave starting up the steep snow section Finally above the steep section. Moody light on Snowfield group Final ridge slog to the summit Ruby illuminated We gave these huge cornices a lot of room Summit looking north to Elephant Butte Pickets Eric reaching the summit Kyle about to arrive Dave on top Descending Downclimbing Golden light on Snowfield group Looking towards Newhalem and Big Devil as sunset approaches Eric and Dave downclimbing Alpenglow on Jack, Crater, and Ruby Nice colors Kyle making the final rappel at sunset Mount Triumph is on fire, contemplating the long descent ahead
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iron Member
Joined: 10 Aug 2008 Posts: 6391 | TRs | Pics Location: southeast kootenays |
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iron
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Sun Mar 10, 2019 2:35 pm
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great light on the colonial group. glad you finally got this one --- no more debating with me every year.
seeing your time gives me mucho respect for sjolseth. i think he had like an 8 hour trip in february 2010 or thereabouts (acct now deleted). obviously, bigger party = slower than solo.
glad to see the familiar mountains views from there!
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Tom Admin
Joined: 15 Dec 2001 Posts: 17835 | TRs | Pics
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Tom
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Sun Mar 10, 2019 2:47 pm
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Nice report. Tough? Hard? Had to do a double take in a r3h TR. Are you guys mortal or just getting old.
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KTizzle89 Member
Joined: 04 Aug 2017 Posts: 10 | TRs | Pics
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Great trip out there fellas!!
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silence Member
Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 4420 | TRs | Pics
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silence
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Sun Mar 10, 2019 5:28 pm
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PHOTOS
FILMS
Keep a good head and always carry a light bulb. – Bob Dylan
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Bootpathguy Member
Joined: 18 Jun 2015 Posts: 1787 | TRs | Pics Location: United States |
raising3hikers wrote: | last light on Jack Trapezoid and Big Devil |
Fantastic!
Experience is what'cha get, when you get what'cha don't want
Experience is what'cha get, when you get what'cha don't want
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Roly Poly Member
Joined: 02 Jan 2013 Posts: 711 | TRs | Pics
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Stunning views. Gorgeous alpenglow photos.
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ozzy The hard way
Joined: 30 Jul 2015 Posts: 475 | TRs | Pics Location: University place, wa |
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ozzy
The hard way
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Sun Mar 10, 2019 6:57 pm
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Hell yeah thats a pretty sweet bag! Damn i need to get out. Cheers doods!
“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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Nancyann Member
Joined: 28 Jul 2013 Posts: 2313 | TRs | Pics Location: Sultan Basin |
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Nancyann
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Sun Mar 10, 2019 7:21 pm
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Fantastic trip report and spectacular pictures!
“it was headlamp time with almost 5,000’ of elevation to lose”...Pretty impressive, I can’t even imagine!
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zephyr aka friendly hiker
Joined: 21 Jun 2009 Posts: 3361 | TRs | Pics Location: West Seattle |
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zephyr
aka friendly hiker
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Sun Mar 10, 2019 7:52 pm
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Nancyann wrote: | Fantastic trip report and spectacular pictures!
“it was headlamp time with almost 5,000’ of elevation to lose”...Pretty impressive, I can’t even imagine! |
Exactly.
This is superhero stuff in my book--these winter ascents. Inspirational! ~z
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puzzlr Mid Fork Rocks
Joined: 13 Feb 2007 Posts: 7216 | TRs | Pics Location: Stuck in the middle |
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puzzlr
Mid Fork Rocks
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Mon Mar 11, 2019 12:07 am
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Great to see another big winter mountain climb report! Enjoyed every word and photo.
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Stefan Member
Joined: 17 Dec 2001 Posts: 5082 | TRs | Pics
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Stefan
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Mon Mar 11, 2019 9:34 am
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Pretty good show you old folks!
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awilsondc Member
Joined: 03 Apr 2016 Posts: 1323 | TRs | Pics
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iron Member
Joined: 10 Aug 2008 Posts: 6391 | TRs | Pics Location: southeast kootenays |
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iron
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Mon Mar 11, 2019 11:24 am
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any views of azure lake, or were the cornices too big to get unobstructed views that low?
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