[ozzy]

This little formation has been on my list since the early years of hiking for me. When we climbed Larrabee it was a bit smokey but they still stuck out in my mind. The reason it first got my attention was when I climbed Tomyhoi and met a principal from Anacortes and his son, we climbed the majority of the ridge together and it was up top he told me the story. The story being how Mr Kloke met an unfortunate fate up towards the top of the the pleiades! Man what a bummer... cheers definitely has to go out to a man of his caliber! So that definitely added the gnarliness of this peak! After seeing Fletcher's TR on the ABP I knew the snow wouldn't be an issue so the time was now! As usual Bryan and Hans would be coaxed once again. We decided to get a early start to high pass to try and catch the meteor shower...the sky was pretty clear but the shower was not as good as years past. We made it to high pass around midnight and crashed out hoping the day would dawn a clear one lol!! Well when we awoke at 6am you could smell the smoke in the air and the visibility wasn't that great either. How fitting I thought, the last time I was in the area it was just as bad lol! So we were on the move around 630am and followed the climber's path to 6700ft where it intersects the east ridge of Larrabee. From here the smoke added to the evil allure of this nasty formation. Bryan at this point had some stomach issues so decided to hang back and wait for us. Man we felt bad for Bryan and were hoping this wasn't some kind of omen.

walking to saddle

smokey days

first light on Larrabee

the pleiades from the saddle at 6700ft

So we dropped around 200ft into a little basin of sorts on the eastern flank of Larrabee. From here we aimed for a nasty gully in between the two summits of the western group. The travel from the saddle was on horrible hard packed dirt with choss/scree thrown into the mix! Lol, yeah it sucked mostly. I was surprised how much running water there was in the basin though. The traverse was rather quick too so we climbed up the gully to around 7000ft then made a hasty exit climber's right, on exposed hard pack, and climbed some fun class 3-4 gullies to gain the ridge at 7100ft. We just wanted to tag the main summit so we had to head east up and over the east summit of the west formation. On the ridge we had to drop down to a notch 20ft then climb up the other side. The downclimb was definitely class 4 maybe bordering on 5 for my fat ass lol. Hans made it work pretty easy and we soon found ourselves on the broad summit of the east summit west formation! The climbing up high was pretty enjoyable, there is lots of loose sh## but if your use to that kinda thing it's trivial. We took a break here and admired the gnarly mess we were about to weasel our way up...god willing! We were hooping and hollering at Bryan across way who had eyes on us the whole time! Cheers buddy! We made it up there around 830am.

dropping from the saddle and nice flowers too

awesome country down here

snowfields on Larrabee eastern flank

the gully between the two west peaks

closer view, it's nastier than it looks

up thy gully

Hans feeling the pressure on the hard pack

finally some fun sh##

Larrabee looms

fun stuff

the climb up from the class 4 notch

the eastern peak of the west formation

the main summit lingering

evil

let's go get it buddy

We got moving around 9am and were aiming for a notch at 6880', which meant dropping 400ft. Hans was becoming a little apprehensive looking at the foreshortening view of what we had to go up on the other side lol. I can't blame him the smoke and the seriousness of a fall was taking it's toll on me. Like usual he eventually shrugged it of and we made it down to the spot where everyone rappels. From the top of that if you look skier's right there is a little gully one can use to bypass the rappel. You gotta kind of search for it. It's a little spicy but easy for competent scramblers. There is a massive chalkstone wedged in the notch that's impressive too. From said notch we ascended choss slopes 100ft or so and located the infamous goat ledge!! I was expecting the ledge to be a bit more chill than it was but it went. There is probably 3 or 4 airy moves on its entirety. Beware of the loose sh##! We followed the ledge to the first doable looking gully to climber's left, it was probably 25mins from the notch. A little over half the length of the goat ledge. At first we went too far towards the far east summit, no gullies looked worthy. We worked our way back to the only one that looked good really and shimmied up that. After 300ft or so we arrived at a notch in between 2 sub summits. We chose the peak on climber's left and it was the right one. It was a steep climb up on hard packed heathery stuff. All the hand holds could be loosened up if one tried. I tagged the highpoint first and found the orange register still soaked inside. The summit is pretty airy too and loose. I was getting kind of sketched out on it and tried sliding off, I dislodged a baseball sized rock as Hans was coming up! It would have hit him in the face if he didn't use his ninja reflexes and bat it down with his hand! I am truly sorry my dood...I still feel bad! Anyhow crisis averted he came up and tagged the summit as well and we went down to gentler terrain to sip whiskey and eat a little. Wow this one was fun and probably on the DNR list as well! Satisfied again for the moment we took it all in before the not so easy climb off of this beast. We made the summit around 1130am.

goin down to the notch at 6880ft

the gully bypass

gnarly spire above the notch

Hans on the bypass

at the notch at last

scrambling some nasty slopes up towards the goat ledge

yewww

sizing it up

the beginning of the fabled goat ledge

Working the ledge... will it go lol!?

One of the airy parts on the ledge

Our gully was just beyond this rib, we took that all the way to the summit

sketchy terrain

The gully to the top

Hans bringing it up

oh buddy

Hans on the true summit

45mins later we were on the move and everything seemed a little easier on the way back. We were gonna make a bid for the far east peak but already had our fill of being in the danger zone for the day lol. Nothing too crazy on the way back down to Bryan, we definitely got to enjoy the scenery a bit more! What a beautiful place even in the smoke! The hard packed dirt definitely took it's toll on me lol. We met back up with Bryan around 2pm and took a short break here to soak in the day's work! On the way back down we were excited to get back to twin lakes to go for a nice swim/bath. We made the car around 4pm. What another badass peak to get in the bag! Love this area and the history that surrounds it! Gotta say Cheers to Mr Kloke because he is probably the only reason I wanted to climb this gnarly choss heap! Thanks to Hans and Bryan for coming along too! Another great day to be alive! Cheers, all!!

going down the notch between the two sub summits

the gully to the top again

woweeee

a tight fit

chockstone in 6880' notch

up from the 6880' notch

the gully bypass

back in the basin below

Hans with the West formation behind

success

Reunited at the 6700' saddle

high pass views

parting views

a little dip

[iron]

i think this was one dallas kloke's favorite climbs. good work

[zephyr]

[Off Route Randy]

Nice work guys and thanks for the extra beta. I can't really sleep at night because I orphaned this one over a stomach issue. I am gonna sleep at Twin Lakes tomorrow night to wait out the weather system and give her another go. Wish me luck!

[Chief Joseph]

Wow, that ledge looks scary! I was a bit freaked out hiking up Pugh, a walk in the park compared to that.

[ozzy]

[Fletcher]

The Pleiades has been on my mind since I was up there a couple weeks ago. Nice job!

[ozzy]

[Sepultura]

Nice work on a truly remarkable Slag pile. Definitely a Repulsive 69 tic and worth lots of Choss Dog Millionaire bucks! Need to get back up there someday and put a Dallas Kloke shrine on the summit, but yeah, not so sure I wanna go back on that one.. You truly are collecting a nice list of worthy summits Ozzy and Crew!

[ozzy]

Sepultura- why is it always the gnarly slag piles are the funnest!!?? Maybe cause no one else wants to do em lol!! Love the 69 list too, what little bit has been leaked lol. If you ever find yourself up there again I'd love to partake! Btw, how many Rainiers can I get with my choss dog bucks!! ---oh yeah and a quick sidenote. Bryan ended up going and bagging it yesterday and replacing the register as well!! He graciously added Hans and myself as well, thanks dood! And cheers bro that's a pretty bold solo for some!

[raising3hikers]

Ozzy and crew, you guys have been tackling some cool and rare pks. Way to go! It's been on the to do list since my larrabee trip earlier this year.

[ozzy]

[rocknclimb]

Good stuff Ozzy

[Sepultura]

Ozzy- I will personally gift you a half rack of Rainiers! If it get a hankering for a revisit I will let you know. Be fun to climb something with you boys someday and talk about what you feel like belongs on this holy grail list know as the Repulsive 69! It’s good to see peps putting in there time on what Jason G calls Blue Collar climbs, Skagit style! Cheers

[Off Route Randy]

I would have never made it past the Middle summit without the beta y'all had! I don't know if I would consider this a "fun" peak but it definitely fits our style of climbing. Also the new register is in a Blue Nalgene with a mechanical pencil/notepad. Don't know how that will age over time but bringing up replacement graphite seems easier? (I left the old register up there as well). Posting this from an old phone because the other phone is sitting in rice right now. Hopefully will have more pictures to contribute soon.