Obiter Dicta | The Blog of Ehren J. Brav

Last year I took the Basic Climbing Course with the Seattle Mountaineers. As part of the course, we all were divided up into “Small Instructional Groups” (SIGs) under the leadership of two experienced climbers. I’d intended to join up with the Mountaineers even before we moved to Washington, so I was pretty excited to get to take the course only shortly after we arrived. Your experience in the course is largely determined by which SIG you’re assigned to, as the leaders and other SIG members are the ones you have most contact with. I was first assigned to a SIG group meeting out in Kirkland, a good hour-long trip from Bainbridge. After noting that this probably wasn’t the most logical matching, by sheer serendipity I landed in the SIG group of Cebe Wallace and Mike Warren – as far as I’m concerned the best SIG group the Mountaineers has ever seen!

Aside from having two immensely experienced, patient, and fun leaders, our group was made up entirely of strong, enthusiastic climbers. In many cases, the SIG members themselves had significant mountaineering experience, and so the group came together very quickly. It was actually quite a sad day when the course was over – fortunately, many of us continued on into the Intermediate Climbing Course, and the others I still often see on trips. But to relive a bit of all the fun we had last year, Mike and Cebe organized a reunion climb this spring up Colchuck Peak.

The approach to Colchuck is off of Icicle Creek Road, the main climbing route out of Leavenworth. We bivvied out at the trailhead (I was outside and got rained on quite a bit) and got up early for a 5 AM start. Doing Colchuck in a day is a long (5000′ plus) day, taking a good 12 hours to complete. We hiked first up to Colchuck Lake and then ascended a snow gully to the col between Dragontail and Colchuck peaks. From there, it’s a scramble up snow and rock to the top.

Like every mountaineering trip I’ve ever been on, it’s long, hard, and goes on farther than I think it will. I was a bit nervous about the avalanche risk, since it was a hot day in the relatively early season, but whatever was going to slide on the route we went up had already slid, and the opinions of our several exceedingly experienced folks was that there was really minimal risk.

It was a purely fun climb – good folks, great weather, and no unpleasant surprises. Ascending that long snow gully is a slog, but the views from the col are spectacular. Looking out from the summit you can see all the neighboring peaks, including the formidable Stuart, Dragontail, and down to Colchuck Lake far, far below.

Photos are courtesy of Mike Warren. Mike has an extensive gallery of very fine work at Mountain Groove Photography.