Spring and Tao had a six-person permit for Snow Lake and planned a nifty trip. Nathan, Joan, Annie and I drove out to the Snow Creek trailhead on Saturday morning with the plan of meeting Spring and Tao on the trail or at Snow Lake. I found the hike up to Snow Lake to be surprisingly grueling with an overnight pack and a rope. We arrived in the late afternoon and found campsites on some flat sandy areas near the lake. The plan for the following day was to climb Prusik Peak.
We woke up at 5am and were moving by 5:45. It took us an hour to hike up to Lake Viviane. Once on the flat area of the lower Enchantments we could cruise along. Unfortunately, we allowed ourselves to get split up into two groups of three and the second group took a wrong turn near Leprechaun Lake and ended up skirting some lakes on the wrong side. We were in radio contact with the other threesome and by the time we figured out what had happened and got in view of each other we were separated by a long lake. The water level was low on account of the prolonged dry spell and we found a narrow shallow spot and waded across with our boots on our packs. Reunited, we proceeded on to Prusik Pass and then on to the base of the West Ridge of Prusik Peak.
We had arrived somewhat later than we would have liked but the weather looked settled and we were eager to go. I started off on the first pitch. In spite of having route descriptions and beta from several sources, we were not entirely sure of the climbing route so I followed what seemed like a reasonable line up cracks and gullies. It was only when I reached the base of the friction slab that I could confirm that we were on route. I belayed Annie up and handed off the rack so that she could lead the unprotectable slab. As the follower on that pitch I could see that it would be a heart-pounding experience to lead it. The next pitch traversed a sharp exposed ridge part of which I negotiated by straddling.
Annie led the next pitch after that which brought us to a ledge with three possible routes: to our right, a dihedral with a left facing lieback crack, to our left a longer dihedral with an unprotectable off-width crack, and in the middle a face climb with a crack leading to a narrow diagonal ledge. I decided to try the lieback crack to our right. I started up and then down-climbed when I realized that I didn't have the finger strength to lieback the length of the dihedral while stopping to place pro. I didn't see any places where I could stem or switch to a face climb.
By now Nathan and Joan were on the ledge. Nathan decided to try the crack in the middle. With hand jammies protecting his knuckles, Nathan used fist jams and made his way up the crack. The middle crack was a go although the first couple of moves were tough on account of there not being any features for the feet. I struggled to get started with the first move. It was now late enough in the day that we were concerned about the time. In the interest of moving along, I cheated and pulled on my pro to get myself started. Annie later told me that there was a feature that I had missed that she had used for a lieback. I then made my way up the diagonal crack to a ledge and then past another diagonal crack and a ledge to a massive flake and another ledge. I belayed Annie up and we made our way up the final pitch, a short chimney. Nathan and Joan belayed us up and then we belayed Spring and Tao.
It had taken us four hours to reach the summit from the base of the climb and it was now around 4:30pm. We took our pictures and spent some time basking in the sun and then rapped down the north face of Prusik. Rappel anchors were solid and easy to find. Four rappels brought us to the climbers' trail and we were back at the base of the climb by 6:30pm. We hiked out back out to Lake Viviane. Soon after we started down the trail to Snow Lake it was too dark to see without our headlamps. Back at camp we were too tired to fire up the stoves to cook dinner.
On the third day of the trip we "faired the grasse matinée." Nathan and Joan took off to scramble Enchantment Peak. Annie decided to spend the day in camp to allow her heels to recover. I was feeling sluggish and was considering spending the day resting at camp but once I got some food into my system, I felt better and joined Spring and Tao to scramble Little Annapurna.
We were all back at Snow Lake at a decent hour that evening and we cooked a proper dinner. Annie had brought a bottle of port which was well received. Joan had a small bottle of peppermint schnapps which we used to spike our hot cocoa. [Note to self: On future trips, bring alcohol; it is worth carrying the extra weight.]
On the fourth day we hiked out. By the time we reached the cars everyone's toes were battered and bruised. We took a quick dip in Snow Creek before driving home.
I took a short summit video (for best results right-click and choose Save As and save on your hard disk before playing):
