Ingalls North Peak, East Ridge (I-II, 5.5)

August 3, 2003

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After our failure on the East Ingalls Peak two weeks ago, Elain and I had a score to settle with Ingalls Peak. Elain was also tired of hearing me talk about the East Ridge route of the Ingalls North Peak, so it was decided. To Ingalls we would go. Because of the significant rockfall hazard in the approach gully, we wanted to be the first party on the route. This meant getting an early start. So we drove out to the Esmeralda Basin trailhead Saturday night and slept in the Jeep. During the night we heard some wind in the Esmeralda Basin, but the stars were out and it seemed like the weather was pretty stable. We awoke at 4:00 AM and were hiking by 4:30 AM. A fast-moving party of two passed us on the trail, and we exchanged a perfunctory "hello" in the darkness. It turns out they were headed up to climb the West Ridge of Mount Stuart. It was chilly and overcast as we made our way up the switchbacks towards Ingalls Pass in the early morning light. At 6:00 AM we reached Ingalls Pass, where it was a bit windy, but less windy than in previous visits. By 8:00 AM we were perched on a ledge at the base of the route for the East Ridge. There, we switched to rock shoes, flaked out the double ropes, and got out the rock pro. A pitch and a half of moderate climbing and an awkward move around a detached flake got us to the "Notch", and onto the crest of the East Ridge. I kept going and set up a belay on the north shoulder of the "double gendarme". Rope drag was somewhat problematic, but because I had placed only two pieces on the second pitch, it was not too bad. Downclimbing into the notch on the west side of the "double gendarme" was straightforward, and I gunned for the top of the next gendarme. The rope didn't quite make it, so we simul-climbed another 50 feet until I reached a suitable belay ledge. The start of the next pitch had me puzzled. A large boulder blocked progress along the ridge crest. I would have to pass around it, but which way to go? Nelson's route description emphasizes passing obstacles on the climber's right-hand-side as you ascend the ridge, so I tried that. The boulder was too overhanging, and the ridge dropped away too precipitously to make the bypass on the right side. Frustrated, I pulled my gear and backtracked to the belay. As I backtracked, I was alarmed to encounter patches of green "serpentinite" rock that were as smooth as glass; my sticky rubber shoes had no traction on the stuff, as I found out when I slipped. I hadn't encountered this kind of rock before, and I resolved to be wary of it for the remainder of the climb. Bypassing on the left involved down-climbing 5' into a groove, but yielded an easy ledge on which to bypass the boulder and regain the ridge crest. At the end of the fourth pitch we reached a wall that guarded the final traverse to the summit pinnacle. We reckoned this was the "crux" that Nelson describes in his route description. The weather was overcast and breezy, but not windy. Still, I was anxious to get past this last obstacle and onto the summit. The first few moves were straightforward blocky climbing, just to the right of the ridge crest. However, I soon encountered an overhanging bulge of the dreaded green "serpentinite" rock. I reached up and got a good handhold, and tried to envision myself pulling over the overhang. It seemed doable, but harder than should be necessary. A fall would have me splatting on slab below, and the green rock on which I was standing was slippery. Must be time to move left, back to the ridge crest. Just as I started to back off and weight my rock shoes again, my feet slipped on the slippery rock, and I was very briefly sliding down the face. Fortunately my right shoe caught on a small protrusion from the face, and I regained my balance. Elain saw the slip and agreed that I was off route. Moving left, I quickly gained the ridge crest, where easy climbing on crumbly rock got me to the top of the face. I looked up and saw the summit about 25 meters away, separated by a short ridge traverse and a bit of scrambling. I waved at a pair of climbers on the summit, and debated about whether to continue or set up a belay. I decided to set up a belay right there, so that I could easily communicate with Elain while she was climbing up. Elain made short work of the face, and soon we were on our way up to the summit. I climbed the half-pitch to the summit and belayed Elain up, while chatting with the two climbers on the summit. They were from the Everett and Seattle Mountaineers, and they had just climbed up the South Ridge. The time was just after noon.

On the hike out, we ended up doing a fair bit of scrambling down the slabs and rock to get back to the climber's trail, but it was all pretty moderate and no backtracking was required. At one point there was a brief standoff with a stubborn marmot blocking the trail. The hike out went quickly, and we reached our car at 5:20 PM. We were surprised to bump into the Stuart West Ridge climbers in the parking lot. They had climbed the route without rope or rack, just tiny day packs and trekking poles. After a stop for dinner in Cle Elum, we were on our way home.

Gear we used: double 8.5mm x 50m ropes; hexes up to #8; small tri-cams (pink, red, and black); #2 knifeblade; WC Friends #2, #3, #3.5; medium stoppers (#7-#13); lots of slings. The small tri-cams and the slings were really useful on this route. A single rope would be preferable for this route, with a thin "tag line" in the pack for the raps down the South Ridge.

Ingalls North Peak (the East Ridge is the right skyline)

Steve climbing the East Ridge

Steve on the summit of Ingalls North Peak

Elain and Steve on the summit of Ingalls North Peak

Glacier Peak, as seen from the summit

Elain, with Mount Stuart in the background