Upper Snow Lake is the gateway to the Enchantment Lakes Plateau.
Pretty much the only thing that was on my mind was that I had 2 CLIF bars to last me the entire way out from the Enchantment Lakes plateau, and I was already tired. And it was already late. No one else had any extra food, so if I started bonking, no one was going to save me with a spare PowerGel or two. Actually, the other thing on my mind was that we would not get back to Leavenworth in time to get any dinner, let alone a celebratory beer.
But lets back up a bit, to the beginning. This year, unlike years past, I resolved to not fall into the classic alpinist trap: get excited about alpine climbing early in the season, do nothing but alpine trips, and by the end of the season when the long hard routes beckon, have not gone cragging enough to boost the leading level to achieve anything significant. So instead, I focussed on cragging and rock climbing in the Spring, and worked out a tick list of alpine routes that would fall when I bumped up to leading mid-10 and lost a few pounds. On the top of the list (for June) was the S Face of Prusik.
Tim Lawrence and Summer Locke also had this route on their lists, and since we had been climbing a fair amount together during the Spring, we planned to take a crack at it together in the first weekend of June. Climbing the route as a party of three seemed like an OK idea. The weather forecast was favorable - a long sunny and hot spell through the weekend. Perfect for early season rock climbing at elevation!
"..lo and behold! a big fat rattler was slithering along the right side of the trail"
We got a late start on Saturday, leaving Seattle at 8am after going back to get some extra trekking poles. The trailhead was already baking in the heat, and Tim had the foresight to talk about rattlesnakes as we crossed Icicle Creek starting up to Snow Lakes. Now, I have never been to Snow Lakes on the Snow Lakes trail, and I have never actually seen a rattlesnake in my climbing at Leavenworth. First time for everything. Thinking about rattlesnakes made me a bit jumpy, and lo and behold! a big fat rattler was slithering along the right side of the trail a mile from the car! I eased past. The rest of the way to Snow Lakes was a grind in the oppressive heat. It seemed much longer than the 6.5 miles, and it took much longer than anticipated. Our slow pace got us to the lake late in the afternoon on Saturday.
Upper Snow Lake is the gateway to the Enchantment Lakes Plateau.
Half way around Upper Snow Lake the snow started. We all had gaiters, so the going was pretty easy and straightforward for the most part. The final several hundred vertical to Lake Viviene were a bear, though, as we were very tired, it was getting late, and there was no trail to follow. Finally we made it to the lake. From this vantage, the S Face of Prusik is large and ominous, certainly intimidating. Watching the mountain nervously, we hunted around for a campsite that could accomodate Tim's "cascade condo", a 3-person Sierra Designs tent. We found a site, exposed to the strong winds coming off the plateau, and made dinners. A serious night of farting and unfomfortable sleep ensued.
The next morning it was still windy, and in the wind it was cold. We decided to hike around to the base of the peak to see if it would be cold there. We got to the base, and of course it was sheltered from the wind, and starting to get hot. There was a party of two a few pitches up the route. We had decided that each of us would lead parts of the route, according to our specialties: I would lead the first 2 pitches, Summer would lead the middle pitches, including a 5.8 chimney since she likes that kind of climbing, and Tim would lead the last chimney and final crack pitches. I started up the first pitch of 5.8 quickly, and brought Summer and Tim up. Another party appeared below, but we were climbing fast enough with 3 (2 seconds simulclimbing) not to hold them up. Summer lead the third pitch, which consists of face climbing off the belay up and right into a large chimney and crack system to a spacious belay, then more of the same to a very short and easy squeeze slot, then up finger cracks and stemming to under a huge chockstone. These first four pitches were quite moderate and enjoyable, and would be a classic route in their own right.
"These first four pitches were quite moderate and enjoyable, and would be a classic route in their own right."
Tim got the last two pitches. The fifth pitch is an initial squeeze under the chockstone (tight!) to lower angled terrain, then a nice 5.8 chimney that in its last 10 feet becomes a serious tight 5.9 grunt-fest, leading to a final few face moves out left. Tim is a chimney wizard though, and made quick work of it. I am not and while Summer and I simulclimbed up it, she made it up OK, but I had a tough time of it, finally pulling on a fixed sling to get up the final critical foot to the face holds. This would have been a very tough lead for me. The ledge below the crux pitch is spacious (in fact all the belays on this route can accomodate 2 parties easily), and while Tim psyched up for the final pitch, Summer dozed off and I enjoyed taking my shoes off in the baking hot sun.
Tim climbed the last pitch slowly, partially because he was tired and partially because he was nervous about the climbing and the gear. There are a fair number of tottering loose blocks on this route, and the last pitch is no exception. The pitch starts with a hand traverse in from the right, and does some stemming and tricky jamming past blocks to a rest. Then some strenuous and tenuous moves get you past a difficult vertical flake. The upper corner is now rapidly approaching with stemming and more tenuous moves. The final corner, which is intimidating from below, is steep but actually the easiest and most secure part of the pitch, with great jams, gear, and footholds. Great fun!
We rapped off with another party, and traversed snow around Prusiks West Ridge back to camp, where we packed up in about 10 minutes. It was 6:00pm and we needed to get going to get as much of the trail behind us while we still had light. We took a long last look at the Enchanments, Prusik, and high-tailed it out of there.
I hadn't believed Tim when he told me he's gone from Lake Viviene to the car in 3 hours before, but we made it down in just over four hours even when fatigued and with very hurt feet. We were at the car at 10:45, only needing headlamps for the last 45 minutes or so decending past Snow Creek Wall. A quick trip to Safeway, and then the long drive home.
