Sloan was closed for maintenance (as of the previous day, argh!). We decided to do the S ridge which looked entertaining enough.We met in Monroe and I drove to the TH (punishment for being late??? - that's not the first impression that I really wanted to make). We took 2 to skykomish to NFD 65 to NFD 63 and right on a spur road just before the barricade on 63 to the TH. I have never been to this area so I was happy that Z-man knew exactly where to go. However, the check engine light did lead to some significant anxiety for him, but it still didn't stop us.
Unfortunately weather was not quite as predicted and we were hiking in low lying clouds - we hoped it would burn off soon enough. We headed up the relatively steep switchbacks at a relatively quick pace... 39 ft/min for most of it. It was all I could do to keep up and not drain myself for the rest of the climb. I feared for a long day where I would just slow us down! We arrived at a snowy Virgin lake in no time thanks to our pace. I later found out that z-man hates mindless switchbacks on the trail with no views so he powers through them at the pace that sometimes makes him sick. Sweet. At least I wasn't too far off of that description!
From there the pace slowed substantially (thank god) and we headed off the main trail onto the ridge, attempting to find the path of least resistance. The ridge itself was mildly interesting and we continuously found and lost a faint climbers path. It was pretty jagged (pic left) so there was a bunch of up and down to annoy most anyone. Also the going wasn't too easy since you had to keep hopping from one side to the other instead of walking on the crest, again kinda annoying. The worst part is that
there were limited views in any direction because of the weather. Having views in all directions is normally the benefit of ridges. ... but not today. At 6200' we finished the ridge and started up the snowy faces to the summit. Pic right as we ascend the snow with the (false) summit in the background.the route to the summit was straightforward and offered some fun class three. This was true class three (3+ for me :-), with significant exposure (pic left). Fun times and the views were improving a tad. It cleared to mostly cloudy, but at least the clouds were high enough to give us some views of the cirques around us. The Columbia glacier flowing into Blanca lake was gorgeous. The pride glacier to the N nice --- I just wish I could have see more of the surrounding area. ... I'll definitely have to get back there to take it all in and see Blanca lake in the summer.
After some lunch we decided to head out. We both had been fed up with the annoying ridge so we decided to go straight down to the lake. --- it looked like a few couloirs went all the way down. Halfway down the mountain we found out that this was not the case (at least for our chosen route). Undaunted, some bush wacking and down climbing some spiciness got us to the lake eventually. We made it around, forded a miserably cold outlet of Blanca lake (pic left), and continued to the car on the mindless switchbacks of the trail.
All in all a great climb with a bunch of fun, different terrain. Time was 11:15 (from 7:00 - 6:15) round trip and ~6,000' gain (but who knows on the ridge). A great first experience with a previously unknown partner - thanks Z-man! I'll post pictures later when I get them from Z-Man, i stupidly left my camera in the car. :-(
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