Ingalls Peak via East Ridge, 5.7
September 28-30, 2024
With a beautiful 3 day weekend coming up, Ashley and I knew we had to squeeze in one last alpine climb. The weather was looking mediocre near Vancouver, and we were feeling pretty stoked on larch season so decided to head down to the enchantments for a weekend of camping and climbing.
We made the drive on Friday after work, saving ourselves a bit of effort in the morning so we were able to sleep in a little. We made breakfast in the back of my car, before heading upwards on a typical well-groomed Washington trail. We arrived at camp around mid day, and chose a little spot with fantastic views of Mount Stuart to set up our tent. I dream of one day climbing that epic ridge, but the days are much too short now for such an endeavor, so it was cool to at least have amazing views of it.
After repacking our bags, we set off to Ingalls peak. We started by hiking to the lake, then traversed across some slabs before heading straight up the gully. I found this trip report as well as mountain project super helpful for finding the start of the route, and we scrambled up until it was apparent we were at the start of the climb.
Hiking in to the campground
Pretty fall colours as we approached the lake
The larches were almost in season… but not quite 🙁
Ashley coming up a short slabby section on the approach
Arriving at Ingalls lake
Views of Mt Stuart over the water
Heading over to the slabs
The “approach sidewalk” that the route description talks about. Cool feature!
Looking up the approach gully, the route line approx drawn on.
We’d decided to simul as much as possible, so I started us up P1 and then continued over the slabs and past the first gendarme to the start of P3. I offered the next lead to Ashley since it was supposed to be the “money pitch,” and she gladly accepted. The first move out from under our little boulder was weird, but after that she climbed through some very fun moves up and over to another ledge.
I was beginning to worry about time a little bit since it was already 5pm and we only had 2 hours to sunset, so we made the call that I would lead the simul straight to the summit. After that, we only stopped 2 more times for me to re-collect gear, speeding through the entire ridgeline super efficiently. The climbing was really easy for the most part, and we moved so fast that we hardly stopped to even take more than a couple photos, something that I regretted as soon as I realized the summit was in sight.
The single 5.7 move near the top was totally fine, and we’d brought the #4 which easily protected it. I felt like it was a bit silly to carry the weight for that one placement, but if 5.7 is your maximum for leading I could see it being nice to have since there’s not much else there! The route-finding was also straightforward, and I didn’t even have to check the description since the entire thing just follows the top of the ridge.
Me heading up the first pitch on the slippery rock
The first gendarme on the route
Ashley down-leading a short section into a notch
Ashley coming up the ridge
Very picturesque views!
The ridgeline nearing the summit
Me leading that final 5.7 move
The ridgeline to the summit!
Ashley following up
One final awkward move
The sun going down, starting to make pretty colours
Once on the summit, we realized the timing was perfect since the sun was just setting, and some clouds were starting to roll in. We donned our huge winter puffy jackets which were such a blessing for the fall weather, then walked over to the top of the South Face route where we found the first rappel. As noted in other trip reports, some of the rock on this mountain is exceptionally slippery, and as I descended over the lip into the rappel, my feet slid out and I almost smacked straight into the wall! I made a quick recovery, and then zipped down to the next station to set up the anchor.
We made two more raps with the dimming light before reaching the final one in the dark. Ashley led this one and we figured it would be fairly straightforward to get to the ground, but man were we wrong. I’d pulled out the tagline so we could make a full length rap, but as she descended, the two skinny ropes tangled themselves into a rats nest, and she spent many long and frustrating minutes trying to detangle them and herself until she reached the ground. I feel so bad that she had to deal with that, especially since it was my tagline and brand new skinny rope that had given her so much hassle.
We coiled both ropes up and shoved them in our bags, now very eager to get back to the tent for dinner. It was pitch black out as we hopped down over boulders and back towards the main trail from the lake. Back at the tent, the wind had picked up significantly, so it didn’t take us long to devour our dinners and tuck into bed.
Us on the summit! 🙂
Ashley coming down the first rap
The sun starting to turn everything orange
Aka pretty light for glowing selfies 😉
Around 2am, I suddenly woke up with the most intense stomach cramps, and quickly threw my jacket on and rolled out of the tent. I sat there in the cold thinking I was going to either puke or shit myself, but neither happened and I simply curled up outside, unable to move from so much pain. Ashley woke up sensing my distress, and brought my entire sleeping bag out to wrap around me while we tried to figure out what was going on. She offered a SAR call since I dramatically declared that I thought I was dying, but I dismissed that suggestion, knowing it just felt bad but I would probably be okay. My only guess as to what happened is just that I skipped lunch and instead opted for candy to get me through the entire day, but I had truly never felt so sick backcountry, and my whole body was shaky as we sat outside.
Eventually after a painkiller and maybe another hour of suffering in the dark and cold, Ashley finally convinced to come back in the tent and try to sleep. We chatted for a bit and listened to a podcast, and I finally dozed back off.
In the morning, the sun was out but the wind hadn’t died down, so we began our two man operation of tent take-down and make-sure-our-shit-doesn’t-fly-away. We packed up completely and hiked over to a more sheltered spot by the river to make breakfast and decide on a plan for the day. My stomach was still feeling super queasy, and I took Ashley up on her offer of a more solid dehydrated meal instead of my noodles.
Our plan for the day was to hike up Fortune peak, and although I wasn’t feeling great it didn’t look super far away, so we began our hike with a direct path to the summit. We took only one day bag and hiked nice and slow, stopping every time my stomach cramped up. On the way, we found a gorgeous cave with more of the smooth and polished rock, and listened to the squeaks of pikas darting among the rock piles.
We made in to the summit in great time, and with the wind coming at us directly from the West, we were actually able to find a completely wind-free spot on the East side of the summit where we chatted and had a lazy early afternoon nap. At some point we realized that if we dipped out soon, we might make it back to town for a Mexican dinner (my favourite thing about Washington)! This would be a big question mark for my tummy, but it certainly sounded delicious so we began our descent.
We collected our packs among the almost-yellow larches, and then hiked back down to the car. It was easy to locate a good restaurant, and much to my surprise, the meal actually made me feel a lot better.
Some of the cool rock textures in the area
This type of rock is why people describe the climbing as “slippery”
Ashley in the little cave we found
Me on the other side of the cave 😀
Ashley coming up a very optional scramble route we took to the summit
Views from the summit with Ingalls lake below
A little gem lake in the opposite valley!
It was so windy and bright I could hardly see hahaha
It was so windy and bright I could hardly see hahaha
Our warm summit nap spot
Hiking out with nice fall colours 🙂
Heading back to the car
10/10 dinner – enchiladas!!
Our camping spot for Sunday night was near the Middle Fork Snoqualmie trailhead, where I’d found this random and gorgeous looking sport multi for us to do on Monday. This was the best camping spot we’d had all weekend, since the first was in a parking lot, and the second involved 50km/h winds. We both slept so deeply with the quiet sound of the river next to us, and the perfect outside temperature in the woods.
The hike in to Lipsy Lake for a climb called “Poppy’s Peril” was super easy and flat along an old service road. We stopped many times to take photos of pretty moss and interesting mushrooms, but for the most part we kept a speedy pace. The forest was incredibly beautiful, and although it’s not an alpine route, this multi is definitely made more fun by the gorgeous 7km hike to get to it.
The lake was stunning with huge slabs running directly into it, and we realized that with it being a Monday, it was almost guaranteed no one else would show up! We took our time up the route, enjoying some delicate slab climbing with generously spaced bolts. The position was fantastic, with a waterfall running down the slabs right next to us and a cute little lake under our feet.
At the top of the route, we were both sweating, and greatly regretting our choice of long sleeve shirts. I thought it would be fun to do a summer-style rap in bare feet, but as we made our way down the raps it began to get more and more painful as our poor feet cooked on the rocks! Ashley joked that it was like the worst pedicure ever, and I even sacrificed some drinking water to cool off our poor little toes. I couldn’t believe how hot it was for an end-of-September weekend, and by the time we’d rapped down the route we were actually grateful to be back in the shade of the trees!
Ashley posing in our cold-morning outfits 😉
One of the many cute mushrooms we saw
Really nice easy forest trail to the lake!
Lipsy lake with the slabs above
Heading up P1
Pitch 2
Heading up P1
The first barefoot rappel 😀
Weee 🙂
She looks relaxed but our feet are burning! haha
Last rap back down above the lake
We reversed our hike out, and easily made it back to the car in time to get a sushi dinner before crossing the border. It was lovely to have a weekend with the two of us, and other than me weirdly getting sick, it was honestly a perfect type 1 fun kind of weekend.
Gear
- 1 60m twin rope
- Single rack of cams, with doubles in .5-2, nuts and lots of slings
- Regular 60m rope and 14 draws for the sport route