In a desperate move to squeeze out one more trip before The Move, Dean and I had a bit of a late start to knock out the Tooth after work. The weather was perfect, and I was able to slip out of work a bit early without feeling too guilty. With Ames and the kids gone, it was now or not for a very long time, so we picked up our packs and headed up to the Pass. We hit the Snow Lake trail at exactly 4:30, knowing we’d be coming back down in the dark. The question was how much of the trip would be by headlamp…
It took a little over an hour to reach the Source Lake overlook, and from there it was another hour across the talus and ridges coming down from the peaks above us. We picked our way through the rocks, sometimes on a boot track, or following cairns – and sometimes not. In retrospect we should have marked our path a bit more, as following cairns in the dark isn’t always the most effective way of returning to civilization on time. Reaching Pineapple Pass and the base of the climb, we decided we’d go as far as we could without having to rappel in the dark, and hopefully make it back down to the talus in time for the full moon to help us back down. I started up the first pitch and soon reached the first belay station, or at least the last rap station in order to let Dean get some climbing in sooner. The next pitch I ran out the full length of the rope, and quickly brought Dean up again. The sun was setting on the western horizon, silhouetting McClellan’s Butte and causing us to decide to get out. The summit was so close, but we could easily be back any time we wished, so we felt it was better to set up the raps in what daylight was left.
TBC
The Toothache on Vimeo
I’ve been afraid that if I wait too long to put something together, I’ll forget the good parts of this trip. Honestly, this was a pretty dull trip as far as my usual epics go, but the fact that we summited in perfect conditions makes for as good a trip report as any. The progress on this thing will be spotty – I plan on just throwing notes and such up as I remember, and then going back and re-organizing when necessary. The important part is that I document what we did, both right and wrong, and hang on to it for the next time, which hopefully is soon.
The pain is quickly forgotten.
The weekend of the 18th was the second date we’d planned on this year. The first was Memorial Day weekend, but due to weather and such, the trip was canceled. I had originally planned on going with the group then, but as the date approached, and with everything going on just then – I bailed. It just didn’t feel right, and with family coming into town that weekend and my impending jobless situation, I made the right decision and backed out.
Luckily, things came around and the new date showed up. With the perfect combination of good weather and my ducks in a row at home, it was a sure-fire winner. The plan was to meet up Friday morning with Steve, Jordan, and Ryan at the White River Ranger station. They had driven down on Thursday night, while Chris and I cruised down early that Friday morning. The permit situation had been taken care of, and we were pretty much all set to go as soon as we arrived. We drove up to the trailhead and unloaded everyone’s packs. After distributing the group stuff and making sure everyone’s pack was nice and heavy, we started down towards Glacier Basin. The weather was absolutely perfect. Bluebird skies, and a nice cool breeze coming up from the river made the three miles or so up to the foot of the Interglacier quite nice. We ran into snow about two-thirds of the way up the trail, which is when I stashed my approach shoes and laced up the plastics. In retrospect, I probably should have waited a bit more, just to save my shins those first few miles of flatfooting it. There was still enough dry trail coming through the snow that it wasn’t the best experience to hike in those big green boots…
Interglacier
long slog up
ryan slows down/cramps
rope up above camp curtis
sooo hot
descend onto emmons glacier
schurman
tent, eat, sleep
watching the clouds coming in – looks like thunderheads
up at 1, hiking at 2:15 under clear skies
not much moon, lots and lots of stars
not feeling so hot
psyche out
keep on truckin
sunrise
passing groups
only a few crevasses
crampons rock the casbah
feeling the pain
blue ice
windy
summit!
traverse to columbia crest
no register found (wrong place?)
nap time
decision time (ice or new route)
plunge step for 5 hours
Steve’s beat
trying to glissade
too slow, too hot
back to camp pretty late – 4:30?
pack up
back down unroped onto emmons
pellet snow
up the ridge to interglacier
best glissade ever
shovel buried
longest 2.5-3 miles ever
boot bang sucks
perma-smile
mexican food
fin
August 1999
marty
the other guy
orange beetle
off trail
rope practice
up hogsback
camp
early up
wanding it
marty’s light goes down
sloppy snow
roman wall
bonk!
falling over
foodage
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