Stephen Perry, a long time TMG climber from Minnesota, came out to the Washington Cascades again this August. This time however, for the first time in years, the weather didn't pan out very well for climbing on the west side of the range. With showers and snow predicted down to 7000 feet, we headed south and east to sample some climbing in the Stuart Range of the Central Cascades. We chose the East Ridge of Ingalls Peak as out first objective. Below is Stephen hiking in with Mt Stuart behind him in cloud cover.
During the evening we got some rain, but in the morning it was just cloudy. Below is the East Ridge of Ingalls Peak rising from right to left from the obvious low notch.
Ascending the gully towards the notch, we made steady progress. We broke out the rope a few times.
Once on the ridge, the clouds moved in, which lent a "mysterious" alpine air to the climb.
On the descent back to Ingalls Lake, we were greated by a furry friend. He seemed curious, but never ventured too close to us.
After Ingalls, we made tracks for Winthrop, Washington. Another dry, east side town. We settled on the Northeast Ridge of Black Peak in a long, one day push. Here is Stephen below on the approach after a few new inches of snow had fallen the night before. Is this really summer alpine climbing?
The route starts with a fairly low angle snow patch, and then joins up to long, rock ridge.
The views were exposed, and the austere weather and fresh snow kept the climb feeling serious.
We were happy to be topping out around mid-day after an early morning start.
Here is Stephen on the summit.
On the way out, we had good views to the east and were satisfied with our day. Twelve hours and four minutes after leaving the car, we returned to Root Beer and chips. A great day!
