West Ridge in August

Nutshell version

 

The photo here shows the Usual Greeter to the Lake Ingalls area. Numerous goats around the area.   

 Well, we made it!!! We caught up to a team of two...slower than us if that was possible. One said he climbed this route twenty years ago and he couldn't remember it very well. Told us not to follow them. I said I climbed this route 45 years ago and I was no help either... We did pass them at Long John's Tower and we did summit before dark and descend to a nice bivy site at about 8,500 feet.  I wouldn't call it a cold night, just didn't plan to sleep here...got up several times to do aerobics to warm the chilled body. I was so tired... did get some sleep. Night sky was amazingly clear with no Moon. Stars were bright as was  a few city lights off to the South. Didn't plan it this way, suppose to make it back to our gear, tent and bags at Ingalls Lake per suggestion from Fred, owner of this route and many others, but we had issues... route goofs, rock fall that cut rope down to almost half, old legs, and a few other alibis as soon as I can make them sound good... but up and over we went... down Cascadian on Friday and back to our gear for some food and rest, then out we went for another amazing mountaineering experience with Nick...

Incidental info

 We did follow Fred's route on this site, West Ridge. It's a good report. We had other trip reports to. Like other routes that are a bit meandering, traversing and "you really want to hit this spot just right..." it can take some time to climb this kind of route. So I'm saying, "plan for the time it takes or get someone who's been there before". This photo is the secret passage to the last traverse to the "West Ridge Notch" just below the summit pitches. I was standing right on top of the tunnel and did not see it right away...felt like an idiot while Nick came up and we looked around for awhile before I about fell into it. It's a downward tunnel, not right in front of you. Anyway, down the hole Alice and over to the Notch. Summit pitches should have been easier to, but no...not us. One short, no doubt off route pitch, I got the rope zig/zaged around pro and rock. Rope wouldn't budge trying to bring Nick up, so I braced my legs against the rock to get some leverage and pulled as hard as I could. This file cabinet size rock I was semi sitting on dislodged and only my sling anchor kept me in place sliding just a enough to scare me to death, then the bolder free falls to small ledge by Nick who crouched under the shelf he was near and it exploded into pieces, but never touched him. Whew!!! I belay him up and as I am running the rope through my belay, the rope snags... the rock had smashed the rope... ouch. We shortened it to about 50 plus feet, two leads later we are on the summit. Sun is setting and we shake hands, head down to find a spot to shiver at until Friday morning. Well, glad Nick and I still have the legs to try these moderate routes. Always an adventure, beautiful place...  We were concerned about finding water on the route. There is none running. We took three quarts a piece and it was adequate. There were several patches of snow on the way up if you have a stove.

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