Trip Report
Basic Rock Climb - Ingalls Peak/South Ridge
A successful climb with some spicy mixed climbing to get us started. Car to Car 10.5 hours.
Scott Shafer
- Mon, Jun 20, 2022
- Basic Rock Climb - Ingalls Peak/South Ridge
- Ingalls Peak/South Ridge
- Climbing
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Typical early spring conditions. Our only concern was getting on the route. Fortunately, we had a strong team and a lot of stoke. The first pitch was the crux of the day. Our route up you can see on the left. Our rap down is the green line. The red circle is a large snow block that looks scary when viewed from above. Not much holding it to the rock.
The road to the trailhead is snow free and in good condition. The trail to Ingalls pass is still about 50% snow-covered. No snowshoes were needed. The snow is firming up and melting fast. Watch for post-holing when walking near rocks. The whole trip took us 10.5 hours from car to car. We had our team of 6 all on the top in a little over 7 hours. We started at 5:30 AM with plenty of light but cold and very windy conditions.
The day started with limited visibility and a windy approach.
Funny how the day went. Once we got to the base of the climb summer started.
Important note on the first pitch. We were able to use 3 pickets and some rock gear to get up the snow ramp and set up a hand line. We stayed far climbers left as we ascended the snow. The leader needed to do some tricky mixed climbing in crampons to reach the top of the pitch. Note the red circle in the photo below. This large chunk of snow is barely hanging on. I suspect it won't be there in a couple of days if the sun keeps coming out. We made an effort to stay out of the fall line as much as we could. Note the green line. This was our rap down from the top of the first pitch. A 70-meter rope is a must to get you back to the snow.
Justin Munn setting up a handline on the first pitch. 3 picket and a little pro. That was an impressive lead.
Following on pitch one with handline and crampons. The first part of the pitch is steep snow which transitions onto the rock. Not a good place to try to take your crampons off so we climbed on.
Once we got to the top of pitch one it was a classic Ingalls climb on a bluebird day.
The descent consisted of a single rope rap from the chains to the top pitch two. From the chains at the top of pitch two, we did a double rope rap to the top of pitch one. The rap down from the top of the first pitch, a 70-meter rope is required. Note the large block of snow on the right side of the photo. Not much holding it to the rock.
Be aware there are still active avalanches going on. This happened while we were climbing.
