Date: 2006/10/20 to 2006/10/22
Trip type: scramble
Elevation gain: approx. 8,300 feet
Car-to-car time: 2 days 8 hours 46 minutes
USGS quads: Enchantment Lakes, Cashmere Mountain
In area: Alpine Lakes Wilderness
Cannon Mountain. We approached via Prusik Pass. We found a cairned
bootpath that starts slightly to the west of the pass and heads NW,
contouring the slopes on the north side of the ridge. We completely
overshot and accidently summited Elf Ridge first. Ack. Once we
oriented ourselves, it was a straight-forward scramble to Druid
Plateau (the 8,320'+ plateau just below the summit) via the east
slopes. The summit of Cannon was a rock scramble, and the last 15-20
feet was steep and slabby. It was a little intimidating downclimbing
the short section of slabby rock at the top, a slip could have
deposited us 30 feet down the slope. Enchantment Peaks, NE summit. The NE summit was a straight-forward
walk-up from Prusik Pass, with 15 feet of 3rd class scrambling to the
top. We checked out the SW summit and decided it was far past what
we'd be willing to do with only a 30m rope and a few biners and
slings. Too bad since the SW summit is the true summit. Dragontail Peak. The standard Valhalla Cirque route was out because
the glacier was mostly ice. So we skirted the SE side of Isolation
Lake, then ascended granite slopes to the 8,120'+ pass between Little Annapurna and Dragontail Peak. At the pass we walked across the
snowfield at the top of the Snow Creek Glacier, then ascended SW to
the Dragontail Plateau. From the plateau, we hiked the west side of the ridge
to the top of Dragontail. Witches Tower. This was my favorite. It started with a short,
exposed, slabby ledge on the SSE side. The ledge was very easy, but a
bit intimidating with all the exposure. After this short section, it
was a fun, unexposed rock scramble to the summit, with a bit of 3rd
class. The top was solid granite and very roomy with loads of
exposure on all sides. On the hike down my headlamp batteries gave out just as we reached the
car. How convenient.
References
Travel Times Car-to-car time: 2 days 8 hours 46 minutes
- 2 hours 52 minutes driving there (via Blewett Pass) from Capitol Hill to Colchuck Lake trailhead
- 4 hours 51 minutes ascending from Colchuck Lake trailhead to Aasgard Pass
- 1 hour 26 minutes ascending from Aasgard Pass to camp above Crystal Lake
- 5 hours 3 minutes ascending from camp above Crystal Lake to Cannon Mountain summit
- 2 hours 18 minutes ascending from Cannon Mountain summit to Enchantment Peaks, NE summit
- 39 minutes descending from Enchantment Peaks, NE summit to near Enchantment Peaks, SW summit
- 1 hour 13 minutes descending from near Enchantment Peaks, SW summit to camp above Crystal Lake
- 3 hours 35 minutes ascending from camp above Crystal Lake to Dragontail Peak summit
- 1 hour 48 minutes descending from Dragontail Peak summit to Witches Tower summit
- 5 hours 2 minutes descending from Witches Tower summit to Colchuck Lake trailhead
- 2 hours 47 minutes driving back (via Blewett Pass) from Colchuck Lake trailhead to Capitol Hill
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Go to the full-sized map
Druid Plateau | Prusik Peak and The Temple from N of Prusik Pass | Enchantment Peak, NE summit | Enchantment Peak, NE summit | McClellan Peak at sunrise | Jabberwocky Tower from Aasgard Pass | Colchuck Balanced Rock from Colchuck Lake |
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