A long, hot day on Center Ridge.
- September 3, 2017
- Team: Ruby
- Peak: Center Ridge, 8268'
- Lists of John
- Stats: 9.5 miles, 2870' gain, 6:34 hours RT, trail-less Class 2
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
I've made several attempts on this peak from different angles, and been out much of this route before when I climbed Mac Han Peak (shown here, from today's trip). So today was the day to get 'er done. |
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You climb and traverse out of Fisher Creek Saddle heading northerly. As you gain the north-south ridge, which runs from mac Han to Blacktip Peak, you get a shaded, smoky view of Blacktip itself. |
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At the saddle in the ridge, we had been walking for close to an hour. And it was already getting hot. So Ruby was really happy to see her old buddy, the snow. |
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This shows one way to get down off the ridge to the saddle: follow the green. That snow patch is hidden on the far right. |
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| After climbing up onto the ridge, this is looking back at our route. To get back to the rig, climb the ridge to the right of center into the trees, then do a descending traverse right to just out of frame. It's a ways, and there is no trail. None. |  |
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Looking off the ridge to the west, there's Mac Han Lake. Also, up high on the ridge opposite, you can see some of the road we took on a recent attempt on this same peak from the Goose Creek Road. |
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Keep trucking north. The map showed a narrowing ridge, but nothing suspicious. Uh oh..... Big drop-off ahead, and crenelated ridge to contend with.
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From the little prow above the drop-off, this is looking down at French Creek Lakes. That's Buisson Peak across the way. After doing a sketchy downclimb to get off our overlooking perch, we had a lunch break in the saddle (above pic), then traversed left. |
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Just for fun, here's those same lakes from Buisson Peak. So today we are moving across the ridgetop, left to right. |
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After getting back onto the ridge, the way forward was looking a little easier. This is our summit on the far end of the ridge, but first we had to drop into another saddle with a big meadow, which is hidden in this photo. When we got down to the meadow, I was surprised to see a tent set up in the trees. Didn't see any campers, though. |
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| The top of the ridge is a broad expanse. As usual, we had a time trying to figure out exactly where the highpoint was (dead center). |  |
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| Looking back at where we had come from. |  |
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It had taken about 3 hours total to get out to the summit. By now, it was blazing hot- crazy temps for September. I had been working on my three quarts of water, sharing some with Ruby. But I knew we were going to run out. So instead of taking the best lines on the way home, we detoured to where we had seen water along our approach route. Nonetheless, I ran out. And became quite miserable. When we finally got back to the truck, it was 85°. My emergency bottle of gatorade under the back seat was very welcome. |
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