[ozzy]

I had been wanting to bag Constance for a few years now and after seeing Aaron's(awilsondc) TR from last year I figured now was a good a time as ever!! I'll spare all the details as he did a phenomenal job already describing the way! The route was the east route via Cunningham pass. What always shied me away from Constance was the road walk. Than I read Aaron's report and before then I never even knew it was an option. Thank you kind sir we had no route finding issues at all, thank god! My partners in tow would be Bryan and Hans, surprisingly they didnt hesitate to jump on board! We knew it would be a long day and it seemed fitting, with Jake being gone I wanted to just grind something out for a while. So I picked up the boys and we made our way to the tunnel creek trail around 4am and began our journey shortly after. Didn't see another soul all day not even in the parking lot. We made quick time up to April basin, I think that's what it is called, and soon after slogged our way up to Cunningham pass. This whole little area is pretty badass, cool little basin down low and the pass up high. Sweet little corner of the olys!

first light

red light on the walls

the 2nd boulder field

scree slope leading up to Cunningham pass

bryan comin up last boulder field

scree, Hans, the Nun

the pass

Bryan and April peak

Hans gettin some choss

Constance proper from pass

big wall immediately west of pass

well let's go get this over with

From the pass we were in awe because of the commanding view you have of the Constance massif! On the other hand we were demoralized because we could see how much further we had to go!! Well sh## let's get it over with. We dropped N 400ft or so to get over to our scree slope that would lead upwards W about 1000ft to link up with the regular route. On the way we ran across the 1941 B18 plane wreckage, so f### gnarly, RIP soldiers. The climbing became an all out scree slog, luckily the smoke wasn't bad and the temps were alright too. I found that when the scree got nasty I would stick to the rock walls and it would be more solid there. When we joined the standard route we made the first notch and were still astounded at how far away we still were. The route ahead looked intimidating but we knew that there was a way. I had a lot of fun, there were many ups and downs with plenty of route finding! The climbing was fun too, exposed in places and sick views!! We chose the terrible traverse which had no snow to contend with and from there the key ledge was like a walk in the park!! Actually there is quite a long ledge system that traverses the upper part of the mountain and spits you out right under the summit formation. It's crazy that it's just naturally there! Once off the key ledge we aimed towards the east ridge and ascended that to gain the summit proper!

wreckage

wing section

debris field

prop

choss slope of hell

poser lol

chossy

more choss

choss again

pt harrah

choss up to the first notch

Hans leads towards notch

Bryan down low

almost to the notch

S from notch

Constance from notch

Hans in notch

closer

water/snow

crossing a gully to get to terrible traverse

Hans and a goat under the big rock

key ledge from top of terrible traverse

Bryan on TT

lookin back at the TT

chossy slopes under the summit formation

bewilderment

Hans getting to the east ridge

up the east ridge

slabs and cracks toward the top

finally there she is!

oh damnnnn

knifey traverse

royal basin, Olympus, and others

We were stoked to finally be on top! The time was 145pm. We lingered on the peak for 1.5hrs and took it all in! It was nice to get out and get a peak for Jake, I know he would approve! Best of all the smoke didn't really bother us the whole day, we were one of the only clear areas, took that as a good omen! We were all glad to get this old notch in the belt, this route was a suck fest lol! We departed the summit at 315pm and made our way back across the upper traverse. The scree slopes kicked ass going down and we made decent time. Another note is that there is not much water on route above 4200ft. There are snow patches up high though, that's what we used lol. We made it back to the car at 930pm. Another great day to be alive! I love that I can look at Constance now from across the water and say I've been there! Bout damn time lol! Cheers to all!!

cheers Jake!!

boys in their element

downclimb

gettin it

key ledges descent

scketch gully crossing

the last bit of the upper reaches

wreckage again

last look

we came, we saw, we got smoked!

[IanB]

Congrats on getting this one! Brings back memories of being up there in September. I know what you mean - I looked at it for a few years before making it to the top. Great photos!

[Gimpilator]

Good work gents! That's one of the best in the range.

[Midnight Slogger]

I love the report, Ozzy, thanks for posting. Despite the choss morass I'm intrigued by your and awilsondc's reports. I wonder if anyone has done both this route and the standard from Avalanche Canyon and could weigh-in on their preference. Cheers!

[Redwic]

This looks like the route I will want to take, whenever I end up going there. Thanks for the great TR!

[Nancyann]

That looks like a good one to get for Jake. Nice work, Ozzy. I always enjoy reading your trip reports!

[raising3hikers]

Interesting route choice, thanks for sharing! I had to go back and look at awilson's TR as well. Both helpful reports, nice to have multiple options for a peak

[NBL]

Righteous. Constance is so high on my list and I'm bummed I didn't make it over this year. Didn't even know of this approach route and thought the only way was the long walk and the root climb up to the lake. Looks like a beautiful crumbly choss pile I like watching the snow on the TT shrink throughout the summer from West Seattle.

[puzzlr]

Getting to Constance summit it a big deal no matter the route. Congrats -- you'll never have to do it again