Colchuck Peak

Colchuck Peak

 The climb up Colchuck Peak, suggested by a friend whom spent many years in the area in a earlier life and wanted to climb again, had been planned for the greater part of the year. Located in the Enchantments outside Leavenworth, Washington, this would be my first experience and privilege of climbing in the area which holds eight of the Washington 100 peaks.

We left the busy trailhead and headed up the well maintain trail to Colchuck Lake. We set camp and enjoyed the afternoon thunderstorm predicted by the ranger. After the sky clear, we decided to climb up part way up the route to break up the lazy afternoon in camp. Our new partner was well familar with the area pointed out the many routes up Dragontail Peak with emphasis on the Serpentine Route. Once back at the camp, we made dinner and prepared for a uunusual night of long sleep with the alarms set for 7 am. Our usual approach is to climb late in the day, set camp and prepare for a midnight run up the mountian. I snuggle in and welcomed my cozy enjoyment of a peaceful night and great upcoming day of climbing.

Morning arrived and we slowly crept from our warm bags for a breakfast of coffee and oatmeal. We broke camp a bit before 8 am and made our way around the lake to the edge of the rocky slope which leads directly to the glacier above. As we climbed steady toward the col, I reflected to myself why I had focused my attention to such a small group of mountains in the past 10 years, however dreamed forward to the hundreds of new mountains I will enjoy as I continued with my new quests of both Project360 and Washington100. Life is grand and what a remarkable new area I was in.
Once we gained the col, we took a short break and I glanced across the North Cascades to Rainer and the Emmons Route which was remarkable clear and such a beautiful day. Quite the change I thought to last week when I left the house still feeling a bit “toasted”. We proceed on and ascended onto the high plateau which reminded my of the southwest in some respects with it’s immense smooth boulders surrounded by green brush. With Mount Stewart and Argonaut Peak in the background, this climb was truly a memorable one with a deep sense of satisfaction as I reflected once again at the Emmon's glacier so far, far away. We spent 15 minutes on the summit before starting our way back down the mountain. Once past the col, I glissaded 1800 feet to back of glacier edge which might have broke to record from the previous week. The main difference today was the snow was perfect for glissading.

Not more than 5 minutes after getting back to camp, an intense storm quickly set into the basin including a downpour that prevented our ability to make dinner and entertained us with an impressive lightening and thunderstorm show resonating off the lake and massive cliffs. We held out to break camp until there was no choice but to go. With everything wet, we made our way down the trail and by the time we finally made it back to the trailhead, the blue skies proved once again how unpredictable the mountain weather is at all times...

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