Ingalls Peak (Wenatchee Range, North Cascades, WA; 7,662')

The next morning we left the trailhead at 7am and hiked in about two hours to Ingalls Pass. The peak was drifting in and out of the clouds, and Mt. Stuart was solidly socked in, but it did not looks as if the weather would deteriorate altogether. On the way over to Ingalls Lake we weaved in and out of the snow and found that there was more snow left than we had expected (2004/05 had been an extraordinarily dry winter). Monique and I were glad that we had opted for boots over sneakers and Paul, who was carrying skis, got in a few turns.

While we stopped at the lake we had a visit from a mountain goat with a kid. They are entirely unafraid of people and came to within a few feet of us. Amazing animals, whose hooves somehow manage to combine sticky rubber soles with built-in crampons! After traversing above the partially frozen lake we started up the slopes to the Ingalls col and found contiguous snow all the way.

In the col we discovered, not unexpectedly, that a large Mountaineers group was on the route, in addition to another pretty large party. To avoid the two-way traffic low on the route we started out according to Beckey's topo, around the Dog Tooth Crag, rather than climbing the slab on the lake side of the crag, which now seems to be more popular. Still, at the first belay we caught up with the second party. I managed to avoid the traffic for one more pitch by climbing the harder crack to the left, rather than the easier one to the right, but then I got stuck for quite a while. The weather improved somewhat, however, and although it was pretty cold and windy the clouds mostly lifted. Eventually I brought up Paul and Monique, and Paul led through for the final pitch to the summit. The exit is guarded by the slickest rock we had ever seen in our lives, we yet have to find out what that stuff actually is. (Postscript: Dana Johnston of the UO Geology Department provided the answer: It's Serpentinite [Mg₃ Si₄ O₁₀ (OH)₄], a close relative of soapstone.)

We enjoyed the views and then got down by a combination of rappelling and downclimbing. From the col Paul managed to ski all the way to the lake, while Monique and I plunge stepped. In the valley down Ingalls Creek a huge thunderstorm was building, which soon engulfed Colchuck and Sherpa Peaks and produced lots of lightnight strikes, but stopped just east of the Mt. Stuart summit. We stayed at its edge on our way down and got only a few sprinkles.

After another night in camp we proceeded to Leavenworth and got in some harder granitic crack climbing before returning to Seattle and eventually to Eugene. Late at night in the Portland area we drove through ferocious thunderstorms, and later learned that Redmond, OR had experience golf-ball sized hail that night. Good thing we camped in the Wenatchee Range, and not at Smith Rock!