Trip Report

Basic Rock Climb - Lundin Peak/West Ridge

Via Commonwealth Basin approach

Alyssa Opland

May 30, 2021

Date: Sat, May 29, 2021
Activity: Basic Rock Climb - Lundin Peak/West Ridge
Route/Place: Lundin Peak/West Ridge
Activity Type: Climbing
Trip Result: Successful
Rating:

Road Conditions: Road suitable for all vehicles
Route Conditions:
-Trail snow covered from trailhead

-Rock route snow free but intermittent snow on scramble sections of the rock route (still found it easy to navigate and climb)

-Serious avy debris from earlier this season. Signs of small recent slides on both sides of the ridge. No wet/loose concerns when we were climbing though.

Trip Report

Summary:

- ~12 hrs. car to car.

- ~8 mi. RT & 3k' gain.

- Climbed from Summit West via Common Wealth Basin, cut over to gain West ridge @ ~5200', from Summit 1 rappel down east summit, glissaded down the gulley ~800' and walked the rest of the way out

-2 x 60M 9.5mm ropes, ~5 singles & 2 doubles, small rack (a few small nuts, cams .4-2).*

*I saw several reports suggesting 30M ropes, we didn't think this was appropriate since we had new climbers in our group, but if you are comfortable simul-climbing I think 2 x 30M ropes would be appropriate and then you could still rig a double rope rappel. If you're wanting to pitch it out I'd def bring 60s though for sake of time/efficiency.

-Group of 5, 3 students from this year's basic course and 2 of their first alpine rock climbs!

GPX track: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BOspoDbYbEvc5eIIGSzkymoFfYUFXHA2/view?usp=sharing

Details:

-Started ~6:30 AM from Summit West parking lot.

-Easy & gradual walk in on really firm snow for first few miles

-Walked through some crazy avy debris from downed trees from earlier this season and trended climber's left of the creek to gain the base of the gulley

-Crampons & helmets on, ice axe out once at the base of the gulley and we began our ascent up part of the gulley

- At ~5200' we trended up and climber's left towards the West Ridge. We didn't go all the way to the base of the west ridge as we were able to get onto the ridge and scramble up to the route with current snow conditions. We essentially skipped the first section of 4th class scrambling because of this and gained the ridge right where we wanted to rope up to protect a couple exposed low 5th moves.

-Climbed with 1 group of 3 on a 60 M so things moved a bit slower and we ended up doing 3 pitches. If you are pitching out on a 60M you could do this in 2 pitches. This is also great simul-climbing terrain. We built all belay station anchors with gear.

-There are a couple low 5th class/exposed moves on this route but most of it is exposed 4th class scrambling. Lots of big step-up moves on the climb. There is snow higher on the ridge, not on the rock, but on the scramble/boot path sections of the climb.

-Just before final summit block, we simuled the short scramble section that has a very clear boot path/trail. We then pitched out and protected the final 2-3 moves to the summit (belaying from the large boulder with the memorial on the summit).

-Scrambled down ~100' from the summit towards the E summit and found the rappel station. 1 x 60 M rappel to get down the tower.

-Took off harnesses and got on our glissading gear, ice axes out, etc.

-We booted down the first couple hundred feet in extremely soft/post-holey snow to get to the top of the gulley. This part was sketchy due to extremely wet/soft snow conditions that were quickly melting off. 3 people in our party fell but were able to quickly arrest.

-Assessed avy conditions and felt we were good to go and we glissaded down the gulley.

-Easy hike out and we were so grateful the snow was much better at lower elevation and we weren't post-holing the whole way out.

-Excellent weather & crew, we had a great day! Back to cars ~6:30 PM

Photos: