Last weekend two friends and I topped out via the East Buttress and Mountaineer's Route and had a great time! Here are a few photos of our trip, beginning with the obligatory pre trip photo after picking up our permit:
A beautiful day at the Portal!
The North Fork was running so high we had to remove our shoes and wade past the waterfall below the ledges:
The snow above LBSL was firm enough to allow travel without snow shoes or crampons:
Camped at UBSL. Excellent, snow free, campsites abounded:
The next morning, we ascended to slope above UBSL on our way to Iceberg Lake. Fortunately, the snow firm and full of positive boot tracks. My companions pulled out their axes, but we left our crampons in our packs:
Iceberg Lake was completely frozen and still covered in snow:
We proceeded up the approach to the East Buttress, just south of the Mountaineer's Couloir:
And reached the first pitch of the East Buttress:
The views were incredible:
After starting up the East Buttress, we decided we were moving too slowly and decided to retreat and rap into the MR to finish:
Where we again found firm snow and positive boot tracks (don't walk in the glissade path!):
We ran into a large SWS group on their way down. They had been kind enough to not knock anything down on us:
When we arrived at the notch, we were pleased to find the lower half was free of snow. We scrambled up the rocks on the left:
Up to the summit:
Which we had all to ourselves, without a breath of wind and a good 10 degrees warmer than I had expected:
By the state of the summit hut, it appeared SAR had been busy recently (notice the spent oxygen tank and mask):
Rather than downclimb the steep snow at the top of the notch, we decided to rappel on existing webbing that was in great shape:
We arrived safely back at our UBSL camp just after dark and all slept well, waking the next morning to sort gear and hike out:
Be sure to store your food in a suspended bag or bear can; these monsters don't get this fat without help:
Another amazing day in the North Fork. I can't get enough of this place: