Spilt Mountain - Ginger version:
On the way up. Lots of scree, heat, sun and sweat.
Little Red Lake; lots of people, rumor of fish - no fish seen
Red Lake; clear crisp water, dip & sippable, lots of people, salami stealing marmots, rumor of fish - 1 fish seen. (But how did he get here?)
Perfect place to soak your feet, have a fire & laugh with friends.
Ascent to Split 4:30am; walked high on the ridge instead of ascending via the scree filled lake feed drainage. Larger talus, easier to walk. Lots of moving rocks - yuck and f*ck.
slog slog slog, oh look - a patch of snow, more slogging. 2 chutes (this is where I don't tell you about the detour Tracie and I took to attempt to gain the ridge instead of the scree chute.)back to the shoot.
Like scree and large falling rocks? Stick to the left side - you'll get your fill.
On the far right side of the left shoot is a more manageable ascent route. I however, did not find this more desirable shoot until a bit before the cuss inducing notch. At that point the chute/shoot became sh!t and other non-lovely words. I then found the class 3 climb and gained the ridge. Walking over the ridge I hear Tracie... "was that Carole, "?
more slogging - but longer.
really big shifting rock. ever-disappearing trail.
holy crap are we there yet?
Summit - and there was much rejoicing. Huzzah! Rogue Dead Guy Ale, Woodson Bourbon, marmot chewed salami and cheese, chocolates and friendship.
Down - laughing, cussing, falling. Was it this long on the way up?
Camp - Woot!!! Feet soaking & packing up. 4pm
slog slog slip - nice little jungle, wet & muddy. Not dirty enough so fall in muck. Find that mud provides a nice cooling effect on buttocks.
more slogging. Cloud cover moves in bringing a reprieve from the heat.
Option of lower route exit: thorn bushes and willows - cussing and blood-letting.
or Higher route exit: counter-intuitive, leads upwards and across all drainages. Yet ends with a 1000ft sand scree ski into parking lot - yeehaw!!!!!!
collapse in dirt, happy but tired.
Great friends, great fun, great weekend.
Conditions: dry dry dry - small patch of snow at base of chutes. No snow at top or on trails.
Last edited by Mountain Ginger; 07/15/13 06:41 PM.
and I love your picture - it's almost a mirror image of the Danish "Little Mermaid Statue".... and just as pretty!
