June 11, 2011, - Ingalls Peak country

Climbing toward Ingalls Pass on frozen snow with ski crampons.

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Good skiing in Ingalls Peak country right now. At the last minute I decided to head for the Teanaway this morning. Left Seattle by myself about 5:30 a.m. The road still has a few snow patches, requiring a walk of a half-mile or so. When the snow became fairly continuous, I left the trail and headed more or less straight toward Ingalls Pass. The snow was well frozen so I switched from floppy hiking shoes to skis and ski crampons. Headlight Basin was corning up beautifully when I traversed in around 9:30 a.m.



North Face of Ingalls Peak. There were old snowmobile tracks near where this picture was taken in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

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I skinned and booted to the top of South Ingalls Peak, then skied the NE flank down to Ingalls Lake. I decided to do a loop around North Ingalls Peak, dropping into Jack Creek basin and climbing out just northwest of the peak. The snow on north aspects was variable (crusty on steeps and mushy on flats), but the scenery was interesting. I traversed Fortune Creek basin past Lake Ann and climbed the west ridge of Fortune Peak to the summit. Clouds were backed up along the Cascade Crest, but it was mostly sunny all day. The south flank of Fortune was still pretty good when I started down around 1:45 p.m. I ran into a couple of eastside TAYers just below the summit. Generally the snow was well consolidated. Beautiful day out there.



On the summit of Fortune Peak with South Ingalls in the background.

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