JakeA, Dave, and I tagged North Craggy yesterday, great trip!
We camped (legally) along the Chewuch the night before and were able to drive to within about a mile of the hairpin near the end of Eightmile Creek Road. We were hiking just before 6. Travel along Eightmile Creek was fairly easy although there were some boggy sections. We turned uphill well before the creek that drains No Dice Lake and traversed into it at 5600 ft. This worked really well. Super steep terrain leaving Eightmile but it eases after 300 ft.
walking the road
looking up at North Craggy
Dave leaving the road
The snow was a little punchy at first, but firmed up pretty quick and we didnt need snowshoes. There were some postholes to be had, but not many. Eventually, we arrived in the beautiful No Dice Lakes Basin below the Craggies.
Jake in the burn
watch out for sucker holes
nearing the lake
West Craggy
From the lake, we werent exactly sure what the route was. We were also surprised at how melted out the face was. We thought we would be on snow from the lake to the ridge. Not so much. We ascended chossy terrain for several hundred feet until we got to the "leftward trending gully below the yellow tower". Smaller, very mobile talus followed by easy ledges with short class 3 steps. We had really good firm snow from 7300 ft to 7800 ft. Good stuff!
melted out
Dave asending choss
stoked
good conditions
West Craggy
Three Pinnacles and Eightmile
steep
Snow ended near the top of the gully. The next 150 feet were the crux of the route for us. Nasty terrain there. Super loose class 3. There are two gullies that run parallel. The right one had just a little snow in it making it sketchy looking although its probably the better option when its melted out. There was one really exposed move on loose terrain that induced pucker. Great care was taken in here to avoid rockfall.
from snow to rock
The gullies top out into easier terrain but still super loose and fairly exposed. A fall would have potential to be very bad.
looking down our route
easier but airy still
nearing the summit
summit!
We topped out just before 11. Killer views. The best thing about T200 peaks is the interesting perspectives and dramatic views of the higher stuff.
Big Craggy
West Craggy and the view SW
view west
Lago Group
view north
Remmel and friends
register page 1
register page 2 and 3
summitshot
We hung out for 45 minutes before deciding it was probably time to go. We toyed with the idea of dropping Roper's eastface route but decided the snow would be too rotten.
The descent wasnt as bad as I thought it might be. We just had to be careful. The snow was a little too soft but still plunge-able. Before we knew it, we were all breaking at the lake. =descent route
choss
Dave loves choss
the snowy gully actually ended up aiding our descent
Eightmile
looking back up
choss to the lake
The hike back along the creek was pretty punchy but went quick. We did mostly the same thing as we did on the ascent. At 5600 ft we dropped skiers right and did a descending traverse towards Eightmile Creek. We found a route down through this section that was perfect plunging snow which was hugely pleasant surprise. The hike out along Eightmile was hot but quick. Cool peak!
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