April 2-3 - Tatoosh Haute Route
4/15/04
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2097
0
I don't know if there is an official Tatoosh Haute Route already, but if
not, it seems like this would be it.
Trip report: Tatoosh Haute Route, Unicorn to Longmire
Map: http://students.washington.edu/balcs/transfer/tatoosh_map_small.jpg
Chris Simmons and Greg Balco, April 2-3
On Friday morning, we parked at Narada Falls and ascended the usual boot-pack. We skied out along the Stevens Canyon road until reaching the Louise Lake basin, then left the road at about 4700' and traversed E to gain the Bench. Skied across the Bench to an obvious notch in the small ridge to the SE, then dropped into the lower Unicorn Creek drainage. Ascended past Snow Lake into the large lower bowl of Unicorn Creek, then skied SSW towards the prominent X-shaped pair of chutes. Booted up the lower right arm of the X. Put skis back on near the center of the X and ascended a lower-angle exit to the right, to gain the upper Unicorn Creek basin. This was fairly slow going. Continued SW to the obvious col leading out of the basin near 6100', and crossed into the large basin on the south side of the Tatoosh. At this point, we should have traversed a few hundred yards to the north and descended the fall line to 5200', then skinned back up to the Castle col. What we did instead was make a high traverse to the Castle col that was not high enough to avoid the steep gully system, full of wet loose snow, near 6000' under the unnamed summit on the Castle-Unicorn ridge. Regardless, we got to the Castle col about 4:30 PM and called it a day.
On Saturday, we crossed the small basin behind the Castle and downclimbed through the notch directly S of the Castle to enter the bowl on the south side of Pinnacle and Castle. Descended to about 5500', then skinned up to the Pinnacle-Plummer col. We then made a steep traverse below the small buttress W of the col to get on the summit plateau of Plummer Peak at about 6000'. Headed W across the plateau and then descended NW to the Plummer-Denman col at 5800'. Traversed across the bowl beneath Denman Pk., staying well above the lake, and then descended the treed ridge to the Denman-Lane col at 5450'. Made a climbing traverse across the bowl S of Lane Pk. to the northeastern end of the Lane-Wahpenayo ridge. This involved another steep, although not very exposed, traverse. We crossed over the ridge and descended to the N, going around the right-hand side of a cliff band hidden in the trees, to 5000'. At this point, the correct route to ascend W through cliff bands into the upper Chutla-Wahpenayo basin was not completely obvious, but after only minor indecision we made a climbing traverse to the W between 5000' and 5200'. This turned out to be the correct move, and we were able to enter the main drainage near 5200' and ski directly up the center of a narrow, snow-filled gully between large cliffs into the upper basin below Chutla Peak. This was a very cool route, but we got the impression that it would disappear very quickly with a little less snow, which would make this part of the tour a lot harder. Once in the upper basin, we ascended another few hundred feet to the lowest col on the Chutla-Wahpenayo ridge at 5600'. We skied into the Eagle-Chutla bowl to the west, continued descending into the trees, keeping the main drainage to our right, and joined the Eagle Peak Trail near 4200'. We were able to ski the trail for a bit longer before running out of snow, at which point we walked down another mile or two into Longmire and hitchiked back to our car.
We started after the gate opened on Friday (10 AM?), started at 8 AM on Sat., and got to Longmire pretty early, about 230 PM. It seems like it would be possible to do this whole tour in one day if the gate opened early.
not, it seems like this would be it.
Trip report: Tatoosh Haute Route, Unicorn to Longmire
Map: http://students.washington.edu/balcs/transfer/tatoosh_map_small.jpg
Chris Simmons and Greg Balco, April 2-3
On Friday morning, we parked at Narada Falls and ascended the usual boot-pack. We skied out along the Stevens Canyon road until reaching the Louise Lake basin, then left the road at about 4700' and traversed E to gain the Bench. Skied across the Bench to an obvious notch in the small ridge to the SE, then dropped into the lower Unicorn Creek drainage. Ascended past Snow Lake into the large lower bowl of Unicorn Creek, then skied SSW towards the prominent X-shaped pair of chutes. Booted up the lower right arm of the X. Put skis back on near the center of the X and ascended a lower-angle exit to the right, to gain the upper Unicorn Creek basin. This was fairly slow going. Continued SW to the obvious col leading out of the basin near 6100', and crossed into the large basin on the south side of the Tatoosh. At this point, we should have traversed a few hundred yards to the north and descended the fall line to 5200', then skinned back up to the Castle col. What we did instead was make a high traverse to the Castle col that was not high enough to avoid the steep gully system, full of wet loose snow, near 6000' under the unnamed summit on the Castle-Unicorn ridge. Regardless, we got to the Castle col about 4:30 PM and called it a day.
On Saturday, we crossed the small basin behind the Castle and downclimbed through the notch directly S of the Castle to enter the bowl on the south side of Pinnacle and Castle. Descended to about 5500', then skinned up to the Pinnacle-Plummer col. We then made a steep traverse below the small buttress W of the col to get on the summit plateau of Plummer Peak at about 6000'. Headed W across the plateau and then descended NW to the Plummer-Denman col at 5800'. Traversed across the bowl beneath Denman Pk., staying well above the lake, and then descended the treed ridge to the Denman-Lane col at 5450'. Made a climbing traverse across the bowl S of Lane Pk. to the northeastern end of the Lane-Wahpenayo ridge. This involved another steep, although not very exposed, traverse. We crossed over the ridge and descended to the N, going around the right-hand side of a cliff band hidden in the trees, to 5000'. At this point, the correct route to ascend W through cliff bands into the upper Chutla-Wahpenayo basin was not completely obvious, but after only minor indecision we made a climbing traverse to the W between 5000' and 5200'. This turned out to be the correct move, and we were able to enter the main drainage near 5200' and ski directly up the center of a narrow, snow-filled gully between large cliffs into the upper basin below Chutla Peak. This was a very cool route, but we got the impression that it would disappear very quickly with a little less snow, which would make this part of the tour a lot harder. Once in the upper basin, we ascended another few hundred feet to the lowest col on the Chutla-Wahpenayo ridge at 5600'. We skied into the Eagle-Chutla bowl to the west, continued descending into the trees, keeping the main drainage to our right, and joined the Eagle Peak Trail near 4200'. We were able to ski the trail for a bit longer before running out of snow, at which point we walked down another mile or two into Longmire and hitchiked back to our car.
We started after the gate opened on Friday (10 AM?), started at 8 AM on Sat., and got to Longmire pretty early, about 230 PM. It seems like it would be possible to do this whole tour in one day if the gate opened early.
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