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Randy Cube Rat
Joined: 18 Dec 2001 Posts: 2910 | TRs | Pics Location: Near the Siamangs |
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Randy
Cube Rat
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Mon Jun 24, 2002 6:47 pm
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This one starts at the Ingalls Lake trailhead, elevation 4250 ft.
One could combine these two summits in a variety of ways, but we chose to ascend to Ingalls Pass first. From the trailhead, the way is free of snow until a few hundred yards past the turnoff for Ingalls Pass. The trail does a series of switchbacks and traverses with only minor patches of snow until 5600 ft where constant snow takes over. From 5600 ft we followed a boot beaten swath in the snow that followed the main trail every now and then, but more or less made a direct line for the gap. Once at Ingalls Pass (6500 ft) the views really opened for us with Stuart right in our face and Rainier over our shoulder. From here we could see a party of 4 making there way up to South Ingalls Peak by traversing the basin all the way over to Ingalls Lake and then up to the ridge. We looked at this for a minute and quickly decided we'd do it a little different.
Instead of traversing below and around the E ridge of South Ingalls to Ingalls Lake as they were doing, we simply traversed the basin a bit, paralleled the south side of the E ridge, gained the south ridge, then ran it to the summit. A much more direct route with no difficulties. The final 100 ft to the summit is an easy rock scramble free of snow. Awesome views of Stuart are had at the top. We watched a party ascend the north peak and enjoyed the views down to frozen Ingalls Lake as well.
After 45 minutes we dropped off the summit of South Ingalls to the south and did a straight forward traverse over to point 7382' (Fortune Mountain). Along the way, postholing was a mild nuisance as the snow is melting off very fast through that particular stretch. Shortly after reaching the top of Fortune, a couple of ski touring guys joined us on top and we spent the next 45 minutes BS-ing about this and that before Craig and I had to leave. We returned to the truck by doing a direct-down via the open slopes of Fortune's south rib. Scree skiing and a blistering 500 ft glissade drop quickly brought us to the valley bottom and the Esmerelda Basin trail which we used to take us all the way back to the trailhead. For the day we walked 8 miles and gained 3850 ft.
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Scrooge Famous Grouse
Joined: 16 Dec 2001 Posts: 6966 | TRs | Pics Location: wishful thinking |
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Scrooge
Famous Grouse
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Mon Jun 24, 2002 7:17 pm
South Ingalls in summer
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I started out to do your route to South Ingalls last summer; then chickened out and went up more or less from Ingalls Lake (partly, Headlight Basin was too pretty to leave).
Do you or Craig have any idea how your route would go without the snow? I'm not up to the traverse to Fortune, so just the route up along the ridge from anywhere beyond Ingalls Pass.
Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you....... Go and find it. Go!
Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you....... Go and find it. Go!
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Randy Cube Rat
Joined: 18 Dec 2001 Posts: 2910 | TRs | Pics Location: Near the Siamangs |
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Randy
Cube Rat
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Mon Jun 24, 2002 7:39 pm
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I can't imagine that it would be difficult aside from some loose scree and talus. The slope didn't seem particularly steep yesterday where we were.
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JimK Member
Joined: 07 Feb 2002 Posts: 5606 | TRs | Pics Location: Ballard |
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JimK
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Tue Jun 25, 2002 3:27 pm
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I did the exact same route about 3 years ago. The route up the left side of South Ingalls was fine with snow. Near the top the snow was gone and it was very loose scree. I'm sure it could be done without snow but it would be much tougher. Here is a photo of the route without snow.
It was a very nice trip. The view from S. Ingalls is outstanding when the peaks and basin are still snow covered.
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-lol- Member
Joined: 17 Dec 2001 Posts: 767 | TRs | Pics
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-lol-
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Tue Jun 25, 2002 5:19 pm
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Scrooge Famous Grouse
Joined: 16 Dec 2001 Posts: 6966 | TRs | Pics Location: wishful thinking |
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Scrooge
Famous Grouse
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Tue Jun 25, 2002 7:00 pm
a happy thought
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Ya know. with all the people on the trails to Snow Lake and Spray Park, it's nice to be reminded that there are a still a few people who are out just wandering around the mountains.
Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you....... Go and find it. Go!
Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you....... Go and find it. Go!
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Randy Cube Rat
Joined: 18 Dec 2001 Posts: 2910 | TRs | Pics Location: Near the Siamangs |
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Randy
Cube Rat
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Tue Jun 25, 2002 7:54 pm
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For comparison purposes:
s ingalls from fortune s ingalls from ingalls pass
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JimK Member
Joined: 07 Feb 2002 Posts: 5606 | TRs | Pics Location: Ballard |
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JimK
Member
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Tue Jun 25, 2002 8:42 pm
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Scrooge,
I for one hope they never put day use limits on Snow Lake, Mt Si, W. Tiger 3, Ingall's Lake etc...
Those trails take up so many of the day hikers and leave other areas available for those who plan for some solitude. I have been to Navaho Peak, Goat Island Mountain, Earl Peak, Sasse Mountain, Koppen Mountain, several Tiger Mountian trips, and Iron Peak without seeing more than 1 or 2 other people. On most ot those I saw nobody. If you want to see others there are places you can go. If you do not there are also places to go. Last Saturday I spent 8 hours on my Koppen Mountain trip and had 2 brief encounters with other people. Up the road 5 miles I know there were 90+ cars at the Ingalls trailhead. A little effort goes a long way towards making for an enjoyable hiking experience.
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