Alpine Scramble - Not Hinkhouse, South Ingalls, & Fortune Peaks

Trip Report

GPS track: https://www.gaiagps.com/public/13LXbYW7ud7oCBbcEPSDwNpN

We arrived at the trailhead around 8am and it was already filling up fast. We set out at 8:10 and hiked up the trail to Longs Pass, arriving around 9:45.

From the pass we followed the ridge north toward Not Hinkhouse Peak, often following a boot path for much of the way or otherwise easily following the class 2 ridge to the summit, arriving at  10:35. From the top we had a grand view of South Ingalls and Fortune Peaks which awaited us.

We scrambled down the really fun class 3 ridge to Ingalls Pass. There was some brief mild exposure here and there and the rock was really solid and ideal. Don't be tempted to drop off the left side of the ridge too soon; stay on the fun stuff on top of the ridge! If you encounter anything too tricky, it is always easy enough to go around it to the left.

We arrived at Ingalls Pass at 11:30, then enjoyed a nice hike through the golden larches to Lake Ingalls where we arrived at 12:25.

A couple of us filtered water at the lake (I don't understand how the others didn't need to!) and then we began to head up really nice slabby rocks up toward Ingalls-South Ingalls col. We stayed a bit left to make sure we stayed out of the big gully more to the right. As we got higher we began to follow cairns and as we approached sort of a "mini-peak" ahead of us, we wrapped around the left side of it. Once on the other side of it, we came to a place where we dropped to the right into the main gully where we followed the climbers path up some nasty loose scree and dirt to the Ingalls-South Ingalls col. 

At the col, most parties heading to South Ingalls seem to go around the back side of the peak. This is absurd, as you can instead go directly up onto South Ingalls from the col. There is a really fun move of high class 3 (maybe low class 4 in spots) solid rock with good holds and only brief exposure. To avoid the worst of the exposure, once can squeeze through a big crack between the rocks, too. This was certainly the most fun rock scramble section of the entire day. Above that, we followed the upper ridge to the summit, with a bit of a ledge of some brief exposure just before the summit. Arrived on South Ingalls summit around 2:20. 

From the summit, we dropped down the south slope. We crossed a little ledge across the top of a gully, then dropped down to this place where it looks like you want to stay left, but actually are supposed to hook right a bit. Dropped down steep slope that led to a class 3 move that got us down to the ridgeline.

I didn't take any photos along the ridge traverse to Fortune, but when we got to the first big rock on the ridge, we briefly dropped off the east side to skirt around the side of it to bypass it. We worked our way along a traverse just under the ridge on its east side. But the key is not not drop down any further than you need to. There were a couple spots of loose scree/dirt to cross, but brief and not bad. Otherwise we found a pretty good route to follow until we were able to regain the ridge just before Fortune. Then it was a simple walk up to the summit, arriving at 3:50. This was my first time on this summit, and this was the final summit in Rochelle's Teanaway 20 list!

From the top of Fortune, there appeared to be several ways down. One option is the west ridge down to the pass before Lake Ann to hike out that trail. Another is the east ridge back to Ingalls Pass or to drop down from Lake Camp Fire Girls. But by far the best option that I picked was top drop down the NE broad open rocky slopes  of the peak back down into Headlight Basin. My GPS track is an ideal route! The key is to keep working NE back toward the big broad gully that comes down from the South Ingalls-Fortune ridgeline and it leads right back to boot paths that lead to the main trail. We passed a group of 5 goats on the way down.

We returned to Ingalls Pass at 5:10pm and the trailhead at 6:30pm.

Map