Enchantments Part 3, Little Annapurna and the Knitting Needles

This will be the last installment in a series of posts about our last big hurrah in the Stuart Range.  If you missed out, check out the overview, a report on some adventure-neering up the south side of McClellan Peak, and a pioneering scramble up the south face of Enchantment’s Southwest Peak.  This post is from day 6 of our trip, another great day of unknown adventure climbing at its finest.  We topped out on two of the highest Knitting Needles and blazed a line up the South face of Little Annapurna Peak.  Capped off with an amazing sunset this day was one I’ll not soon forget.

Although this day was a memorable one, it’s been a while since it all went down, and my notes are sparse.  I’ll try not to ramble too much and keep my poetic musings to a minimum.  That said, this was a big day in a spectacular area.  I’ll rely more heavily on pictures instead of prose to give a better idea of where we were and what went down, or you can skip to the end for another shitty video.  Really it looks good on my computer but I’m obviously still struggling to figure out how to upload it so y’all can share the glory, any suggestions?

After our “rest” day poking around on Enchantment Peak, we awoke to day 6 of ‘Occupy Enchantment Pass’.  Eager for adventure, our legs were feeling ready for another trundle down Crystal Creek.  With the intention of getting personal with some of the Knitting Needles and finding a line up the impressive East or South faces of Little Annapurna Peak, we set off to the South.

After dropping 1000 feet from camp we came to our first decision, try and scramble up some 3rd, 4th, and possibly 5th class terrain towards the East Face of Lil’ Purna, possibly bagging some needles along the way, or take the obvious gully leading to a col just below Purna’s South Face.  Well, we tried for the scramble, but quickly retreated after some foreshortening revealed this route would require a lot more 5th class then we wanted.  We were hoping to move quickly and avoid using the rope until we were higher up on some of the needles and getting after the Southern aspects of Lil’ Purna.

So we backtracked a little and began the long slog up the huge gully that separates Purna’s East flank in two. The gully was steep and we managed to avoid knocking any rocks on each other throughout the lower sandy scree section.  After 1000 feet or so the gully narrows and the terrain turned into some moderate 4th and 5th class broken slab.  We were forced to break out the rope a few times but in no time we arrived at the col just below Purna’s Peak and some spectacular looking Needles.

Our main objective was getting up the towering wall to Annapurna’s summit.  Although we had no information on previous routes, we agreed on some moderate looking South facing terrain that seemed to lead directly to the summit.  With plenty of daylight left we decided to try our luck and summit a few of those impressive needles before heading up Little Annapurna.

After scrambling around their bases, Liz lead a pitch up to a narrow pass between the two highest towers(in elevation that is, for there were certainly taller towers to be seen).  Another short and easy pitch and we found ourselves on our first summit of the day.  Hurrah!

It was evident from our perch that the next tower to the Southwest was higher, so we down climbed back to the narrow pass and lead another moderate pitch to its summit.  Hooray!

From this summit we had a direct view at the terrifying and gravity defying Flagpole.  Liz had remembered some beta about the Flagpole from Becky’s Cascade Guide.  There were bolts, she said, and anchors at the top.  A quick look with the bino’s proved her right, some sort of ratty tat and rap rings could be spied, along with at least one very old looking bolt sticking out from the tower.  Somehow drawn by its irresistible lack of gravity, I tried to make my way down the knife edge ridge toward its base, but gave up soon after realizing doing so would require me to vomit from fear.  I figured the proper way to approach the ‘pole was from below, so I backtracked to Liz and we began our decent.

Not being able to down climb from this summit we slung a horn and made a couple of rappels.  Once we were back on firm ground we scrambled around to have a look at the Flagpole from its base.  This view made it no more appealing and with daylight on the wane, we decided it would be prudent to start out and find a route up the 750 wall we knew nothing about.

We made our way to the slabs that lead to the base of the wall and recognized some moderate broken terrain that cut across the wall.  We were now old hands at this adventure-neering stuff, equipped with all the tools and confidence to jump on a big wall and pick our way to the top, and that’s just what we did.

I lead out first and we simul-climbed until the terrain got more interesting.  I built a belay and expressed to Liz my hopes that we could pitch it out and find some fun climbing.  Liz took the first lead and found some fun fins, flakes, and cracks.

On the next swing I pushed up a long clean slab that offered some relaxed and fun climbing.  Although the sun was shining, the wind was blowing hard and I was beginning to feel the fatigue from a long day of hiking and keeping myself warm.  Liz then lead up a shallow corner and through a series of small roofs, most definitely the crux pitch of the climb, and the day for that matter.  Another long pitch of corners, knobs, and blocks and we had made it to the summit.  Woo Hoo!

The sun was just beginning to set when we topped out and we took a minute to soak up the incredible beauty while the wind whipped around us.  We were thankful for our decision to bail on the Flagpole if it meant we would have experienced this sunset from half way up the cliff, left to climb the rest in the dark.  As it was we began our descent just after the last rays of light passed between the distant Mt. Rainier and the closer Mt. Stuart.  Amazing.

The walk back to camp was mellow and we were greeted with an awesome dinner of pasta, wine, and another great Enormocast on our dying ipod.

I won’t be writing anymore about this trip but I would like to mention a few words about the next day, our last full day in the Enchantments and one of the best of the summer(redundant I know).  The next day we awoke satisfied and mellowed.  Because access to the other side of the Enchantments was blocked due to wildfire, we had few real “goals” in mind when we started out this trip, so we were pretty well satisfied with all that we had accomplished, and in reality, just sitting by a lake and chilling for 8 days would have been a fine trip indeed.   But we couldn’t sit still for long and with another days food to burn, we decided to make a bid for another stellar route up the South Face of Prusik Peak.

The Becky-Davis route’s claim to fame is its immaculate last two pitches, following cracks and corners up the flawless stone that Prusik is known for.  Liz and I wondered up the lower pitches and managed to find the “Snafflehound Ledge” and corner system that would deliver us to the summit.  My favorite climb is usually the last one I did, but I can remember following Liz’s pitch to a point just below the summit and we both agreed that was pretty much the finest climbing we’d ever experienced.  Clean, beautiful stone, unequaled views, it was all there.  The final 30 feet to the summit followed an impeccable splitter handcrack that shot up between dead vertical granite walls.  Becky lore is that the first time this peak was climbed they had to “rope throw” the summit and Prusik to the top, hence the name.  But we managed to jam and layback our way up this monster with the wind howling and smiles beaming.  With only t-shirts on our backs our stay on the summit was short, but sweet.  If you’re ever in Leavenworth, put the Becky-Davis on your list.

The next day we pretty much jogged the 12 or so miles back to the trailhead, packs were heavy but seemingly empty after laying to waste the food that had made up most of the weight we carried in.  We found our bikes still safe, stashed in the trees and quickly loaded up for the ride home, dreams of dinner already dancing in our heads.

Enchantments Trip, by the numbers:

• Miles of Cycling – 10
• Miles of hiking – 65+-(?)
• Summits – 6 (Prusik 2x)
• Liters of wine – 1
• Enormocast Podcasts – 7
• Total fuel used – 40 0z’s White Gas
• Still no car.