July 9, 2011 - Ingalls Peak

The classic south face of North Ingalls peak had been on my list for a while- a wonderful moderate climb with a straightforward approach in a beautiful setting- what could be better? In true mountaineer style we (leaders Dustin and Karl, myself Nicole and one other student) headed out from the trailhead at 5AM with the goal of getting on the route before any other groups could get there.

The trail is perfectly graded for easy uphill travel- we made it up to the junction for Longs Pass in no time. Not long after we started running into patchy snow and lost track of the trail. Rounding the ridge between the junction and the rising traverse to Ingalls Pass revealed more snow which was still hard and slick, but was discontinuous enough to allow for non-cramponed travel. Not long after we could see our next objective- Ingalls pass- and a legion of mountain goats waiting for us to pee.

Ingalls Pass, and some goats if you care to squint

There were 7 total goats there to greet us, including one really cute baby goat. They were rather aggressive and we were glad to be armed with axes, which they stayed clear of for the most part. That did nothing to deter them from running up to you while relieving yourself on a rock, though. That was a hasty zip up and retreat, let me tell ya.

Ingalls Pass mountain goat family

We took a short break at the pass marveling at the beautiful morning and gazing off towards Stuart which now reigned over the skyline. The rest of the travel to the base of the climb would now be on snow, but there were already plenty of tracks and the way was obvious, so it was fast traveling.

Traversing over towards Ingalls Lake. Climbing route visible on the right

Rock formations we climbed underneath on the way to the route

We traversed over without loosing much elevation towards Ingalls Lake and from there continued up steeper snow slopes towards the climb. The final push had us arriving at the notch between North and South Ingalls Peaks.

Ingalls Lake (under snow in middle ground) and Mt Stuart

The route usually starts with a scramble around the dogs ears which puts you at the base of the 5th class climbing. Due to the snow we actually climbed directly up to that base with Dustin leading the pitch and Karl scrambling around.

First pitch in the foreground snow (Karl on top of 1st pitch) and rest of climb visible above

Our second pitch consisted of a short climb to get us to the base of the face- the real climbing. From there we proceeded up the face to a bolted belay station about 2/3 the way up the wall. There were now numerous parties on the route, a couple guys behind us were relaxed and in no rush- enjoying the day out. A group of 3-4 guys were simul-climbing the whole thing, and proceeded to go up a crack on our left after we shot down their strongly worded offer to allow themselves to go ahead of us. I'm all for letting faster groups climb though, but these guys were trying to pass up two groups and were just asking for their rope to get tangled the way they were setting out to do it.

Waiting to start the third pitch- the first real pitch for the day. Excellent climbing

The group of two eventually came up beside us and built a gear anchor next to the bolts- sweet! Looking forward to doing that comfortably.

The face climbing

The last pitch was about half as long as the third pitch but still had some nice moves- especially if you looked to make it a bit spicier when pulling yourself up to the top where the rap bolts start. From there it is an easy scramble up to the top where we enjoyed the summit for a while- Rainier, Glacier, Daniel and of course, Stuart were all clearly visible and the weather was beautiful.

Nicole plunge stepping here way on down from the base of the climb

We headed down from the climb- teaming up on some cascading rappels with the group of two and then proceeded back out to our cars- getting there around 8pm. Certainly a long day, but a wonderful first rock climb. Just one more climb needed to complete the trip requirements for Basic!

We were treated to some excellent late evening light on the way out. Gorgeous!