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Black
Peak : South Gullies  Highpoint Elevation: 8970
Feet Region/Location: North Cascades / Rainy Pass Trip Length:
1 Day (Hiking
Time: 12.5 hours car to car) Route: Lake
Ann Loop/ Heather Pass Difficulty: Snow,
talus, scramble, exposure, long day Elevation Gain: 4170 Feet Roundtrip Distance:
14 Miles Trailhead Elevation: 4800 Feet Date: September
9, 2002 Photos
by: Scott Harder & Sergio Verdina |
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Sunday September 8, 2002Sergio, Ryan and I decided to head northeast this weekend and tag one of the taller peaks in the state (#17), so we got a lazy start on Sunday morning and headed up towards Washington Pass. After a good 3+ hours we arrived at Rainy Pass only to find sprinkles and gloomy weather. Our plan was to camp at the trailhead, but it did not look as inviting and we had planned. We decided to head down towards the other side of Washington Pass and check out the car camping opportunities. We arrived and set up camp in a totally unoccupied area. It rained on us just enough for us to boogie out and check out the town of Winthrop. Sergio said if I had not been there before that I needed to go. So we threw our packs in the car and took off heading even more easterly than I have ever gone. Within 10 minutes or so I see a sign that says "Mazama", and I think "Hmmmm, them climbers do rock climbing near these parts huh?" So w/o any delay I made the turnoff and headed into town, which was basically a 4 way stop. I spotted a general store and steped inside to ask the loser question to the clerk, "Where is the Rock Climbing?". She told me, "Down the road a few miles and turn at the sign that says "Rock Climbing". So we set out and found the parking lot quite easily just as she told us. There
were only a couple of cars in the lot, and we had no idea where the hell
we were going so we just followed the trail until we spotted a few creepy
bolted lines, but decided to stay on the trail and see what else there might
be. Within less than a minute we came upon a cragging area that had numerous
bolted routes and some interesting crack routes for trad as well. Some guys
were on a route that had a double overhang that looked pretty sweet, and
I asked them for some beta and we found a couple of steep routes that looked
do-able. Sergio and I TR'd what we could, and walked off. I got on the climb
and went up a damn long route, it must have been 85 feet or so. Hard to
say where the crux was as it was pretty darn sustained and kept me pumping
near the top. Sergio did the same route next and we both finshed it clean.
After that we TR'd another route that seemed 5.7ish and then I cleaned it
and rapped down in the dark. After the trip I looked at Smoot's book and
the routes were rated 5.10b and 5.7. Not sure if I agree with the 10b, but
to each their own (5.9+ IMO). We
headed back to camp and grilled our NY Steaks and chowed for an hour or
so until we went to bed. Monday September
9, 2002 4amWe awoke and got ready to travel to the Rainy Pass/Lake Ann Trailhead. After about an hour or so we left the camp and arrived shortly thereafter. We left the trailhead at 5:30am, and after about 15 minutes up the trail I remembered that I did not have any sunglasses, so I ran back most of the way, and ran back up to Sergio and Ryan as quickly as possible. Sweating and tired, I joined them and we continued with a brisk pace up towards Lake Ann. We reached a junction and took a right heading uphill towards Heather Pass that eventually leads to Lewis Lake and Wing Lake. We descended 300' on ugly talus and boulders to Lewis Lake at 5704' and then walked the obvious trail up to Wing Lake gaining 1200' in the process. The sun was up now, but we had no idea where Black peak was as it was socked in the entire time. We followed the climbers path and went around Lewis Lake on the right (got real wet from all the brush), and then up a hill. The trail is somewhat steep in portions, but easy to follow up to Wing Lake as it meanders through heather and boulders. Larch trees are abundant, but they were not in their fall colors just yet. We continued on and found ourselves at Wing Lake, partially frozen with some icebergs floating around us on the shore. It was then that Black Peak revealed itself to us. It was daunting, over 2000 feet above us. After reading the wrong route information over and over to my accomplices, we finally were able to cross the benign glacier on the right side of the mountain and crossed underneath large rock faces of the northeastern side. There were a couple of crevasses the spanned the middle portion of the glacier (snowfield) that were easily negotiable, but crampons on the hard ice and snow were nice to have. We gained the 2nd & 3rd class ledges that got us up on the ridgeline and then traversed towards the base of the climb. Once we looked over on the North Face all we could see was snow, ice, and the large hanging glaciers and crevasses . Sergio
scoped the route and looked for the easy way up, but ice and thin amounts
of snow on heather made it difficult to gain the ridge. After I read the
route description a little more, it described that the last 2 rock pitches
gained the north side of the ridge, which
is some 800+ feet higher than we were, meaning there would be a good amount
of snow and ice. I wasn't into doing a mixed route on this particular day,
so we all decided on scrambling back down the ledges to the glacier and
retreating to Wing Lake. Half way down the choss pile we all thought that
we had enough time to go tag the peak via the walkup route, and leaving
our gear behind would make the ascent that much quicker. We stopped for
a few minutes above Wing Lake and headed up towards the south face gulleys.
There is a somewhat good boot trail that leads up to the col, yet it gets
steeper the closer you get to the col, and very loose. Once at the col,
turn right and go up. It doesn't really matter how you go up from what I
could tell, as we descended a different gully than we ascended. The gulleys
are a big worthless chosspile, loose big chunks all over the place. I was
the only one wearing my helmet, and I was in the middle of all of us, and
halfway up the route I
sent a bowling ball size boulder loose and had Ryan dodging it below me.
We reached the false summit and traversed around to the right of it and
hit the small ledge system that got us up to the last moves to the summit,
which were class 3, with a little exposure going on. The views were great
once the clouds cleared, but that was only after 30 minutes of hanging out
on top. It did not matter as it was a nice day, and we were able to summit
via the "chossy route". The descent
was uneventful pretty much, except we got some yummy filtered water at Wing
Lake, and we never saw another sole on the entire climb. The talus and scree
fields really sucked on the way back, especially losing a bunch of elevation,
only having to gain it again near Heather Pass. A long ride back to Everett,
but it was a complete climb, all 1.5 routes. Directions: I-5 to Highway 20 heading east, drive through Marblemount, past Diablo and Ross Lakes, to Rainy Pass Turn right into the picnic area parking lot and find the sign for Lake Ann/Heather Pass Trail. Maps: Green Trails: USGS: Mount Arriva Latitude
/ Longitude: 483124°N 1204856°E Permits: A Northwest Forest
Pass is required for each vehicle parked at the trailhead. Camping: There is car camping down on the north side of Washington Pass at Lone Fir campground, as well as a few others towards Mazama. You can also camp at Wing Lake right below Black Peak for a leisurely 2 day trip.
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