[Fletcher]

I had originally planned to stay the night somewhere above Aasgard but the possibility of thunder storms had me back off. I was sitting at home Tuesday morning, it was raining but I knew I had to go do something with my days off. I decided to go stay at Colchuck instead. I contacted Sergey last minute to see if he was interested. Surprisingly he was in, 3 hours later we were on our way to Leavenworth. I think we got to the TH around 6:30 and were on our way.

We took our time on the hike in. Judging from all of the cars in the parking lot I figured all the prime camp spots would be taken anyways.

There were bits of blue sky

Trail is snow-free all the way to Colchuck. There is a lot of dry ground to camp before you get to the inlet/mini Colchuck area. We set up camp and cooked dinner. Weather looked promising.

Lake is melting out fast

A few goats were hanging out near camp. One was the biggest I had ever seen.

crappy goat shot I stayed up until 11 or so and then hit the hay. It sprinkled most of the night. We never heard any of the forecasted thunder. I regretted my decision not to camp up high. Up and moving at 5:45. The rain had stopped and the clouds were seeming to lift.

playing with the camera in tent

Dragontail early morning

It seemed to take forever to get around the lake. There was a group of 2 ahead of us on Aasgard. They did not appear to have axes which surprised me. I think they were heading for Prusik. I party of 8 were right behind us but they went up Colchuck Glacier.

Aasgard

Dragontail

looking back down the lake

Cashmere- summit in the clouds

Starting out

Long ways up

Really impressive

traversing climber's left

The sun!!

recent rocky slide

Colchuck Peak

Off snow on rock

Up

We were able to ascend the rock finger on the left for quite a ways. We seemed to be on the summer trail but I am not sure. This was my first time going up Aasgard.

We had to traverse the snow here, Crampons were required

Sergey killing it

Getting close

Eightmile and Cashmere with lifting clouds

I think it took us just under 2 hours from the base to the top. I found Aasgard's notorious reputation to be exaggerated to a certain degree. Its probably worse without the nice long bits of snow. The sun was completely out at this point and the wind was howling making for some chilly conditions.

Little A

DT

We had a snack and discussed our options. My original plan was to climb Dragontail but this having been my first time in the Upper Enchantments all I could think about was exploring down into the basin. Little Annapurna also looked quite inviting so I thought I would go check that out.

Looking back at the pass

I think this is Isolation Lake

Prusik and McClellan

Sergey dwarfed by DT

cool rock

Prusik Pass and Peak, Perfection Lake

I found a nice dry spot above Crystal Lake that had nice views down into the lower E's. This is where I started ascending Little A.

Heading up

Sergey with Enchantment Peak and Cannon barely peeking above (i think)

I came across what I believed to be a female grouse on my way up. She wasnt shy had a very pretty plumage.

female grouse?

I want to explore there next

I arrived at a saddle between Little A and another high point. I could not tell which one was my summit. I started heading up the western highpoint and realized it was not Little A.

I thought this was Little A

So back to the saddle and up again. This kinda sucked because I had already gotten quite a bit above the saddle on the real Little Ana before descending to the saddle the first time.

Wasted elevation

Rainier

The real Little Ana

From the saddle, I was able to get all the way to the summit on rock and dirt. It was nice to be off the snow for awhile.

Teanaway

whoa dude

Stuart and DT from Little A

I thought the summit of Little Ana was pretty cool.

Navaho framed on Little A

McClellan

looking back at the pass

sweet

Rainier, Stu, Ingalls Creek below

Earl and Bean

I started heading down and met back up with Sergey.

Sergey on Little A

We decided to start making our way back. We had a long ways back to the car.

Tracks down Little A

Tarn below Little A

Witches Tower

We made quick time back to the pass and started our descent.

Long ways down

Cashmere with Big Lou behind

Goat on descent

cliffs of DT

almost down

back at the slide

Looking back

The descent was uneventful and went by pretty fast. We encountered a couple that were thru hiking to Snow Lakes in sneakers without any climbing gear. It was fun to watch them use their hands as anchors as they were ascending the snow

Watch out, lots of this near the lake

back at Colchuck

still lots of snow too

We got got back to camp around 3:00, just over 8 hours after leaving. We broke down camp, lounged for a bit and set out.

Parting shot

The hike out with the overnight gear was a death march but totally worth it. Back at the car at 6:45 so right around 24 hrs c2c. Awesome trip with great company.

[Fletcher]

Haha Sergey beat me to it. I guess there are never too many Enchantment reports.

[hermes]

Never too many -great photos and very valuable info! Thank you.

[Mike Collins]

The photo shows a female rock ptarmigan moulting out of her winter white plumage. In this species the change in plumage occurs on different schedules for each sex. The female will change into her earthen tones much sooner than the male. She will pick her mate based upon his retention of the winter plumage. This leads to the male becoming quite conspicuous against the background as the snow diminishes on the landscape. As the male becomes increasingly visable he is a noticeable prey for goshawks and other raptors. That is the point. The female is more valuable for the species as she is the egg layer. Reduced predation allows her a survival edge over the male. Once mating has occured the male will attempt to intentionally dirty himself as the molting process to earthen toned feathers takes time. Read all about it http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/12/4/429.full

[Fletcher]

Thanks Mike. I thought it was weird seeing a grouse all the way up there.

[Spartan]

[SergioNapelo]

Thank you for the trip Fletcher!!! It was amazing, Now I know that I want to get to the top of the DragonTail Peak I will be back for it someday!!! (even more pictures for this trip: https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7998834 ) Sergey

[Type E]

Looks like a nice trip, glad to see you have some better weather on the East side.

[Get Out and Go]

Great pictures, nice trip!

[ONELUV1]

saweet pics dood! it looks like the new canon is treating you well.

[Foist]

way cool.

[almosthere]

Nice pics! Glad you guys had good weather. I am healing up well, will be ready to be base camp manager by the end of august!

[Fletcher]

Good to hear that Adam. Looking forward to seeing you in August!

[Fatal Justice]

It would be hard talking some of my friends into this. They cant take the cold without a campfire lol.

[mhomola]

Fletcher. Sergey said I should chat with you. I've got a group I'm taking up July 15-17. We are doing a 2night 3 day trip, but entering from the opposite side. I'm curious about snow pack around lakes like Perfection...do you think it will still be covered? Also, I would love to know more detail about climbing up Little A. Where is the best place to start...does it require gear, etc. I'm hoping to make a day hike out of it. Thanks Milan