My preparation started off quickly with an ascent of the NE Ridge of Mt. Triumph in the North Cascades National Park. Taking advantage of the good weather, my fellow examinees (Justin Merle and Anne Keller) headed out for a 2 day trip.
(Triumph is the peak in the back center of the picture.)
I try to limit my pack weights as much as possible on trips like this, and I found the Osprey Mutant 38 to be practically the perfect pack for an overnight mission such as this. It boasts plenty of room for a trip of this length, and it climbs very well when it is not loaded down. Simply the smartest pack design for alpine climbing I have seen yet from Osprey.
The hike to Thornton Col (bivy sites) is about 6 miles, some of which is on a nice, wide, easy-to-follow hiking trail. The last 2 miles, however, takes just as long as the first 4 to complete with some difficult trail finding and a steep climb to the sites at the col. The camps at the col allow for great views of other peaks in the range like Eldorado, and affords one a perfect view of the NE Ridge of Triumph.(Anne getting after it on Triumph)
We woke up the following morning at 3:30 to begin the approach to the climb. From Thornton Col, we dropped down a few hundred feet below the E. Face of Triumph, and traversed granite slabs for quite a ways to the start of the real climbing on the ridge.
The climb itself is characterized by a series of 4th and low 5th class steps, with one perfect 5.7 pitch about 2/3 the way up the route, and plenty of airy knife edge ridge traversing. After the crux crack (which we climbed in mountain boots), it's a few more pitches of 4th and easy 5th class climbing to the top, with some heather bushes mixed in for spice. All in all a great route with perfect weather the whole day.(Looking down the lower sections of the NE Ridge)
After the climb and descent we returned back to our camp and hiked back to the car. All in all about a 14 hour day from camp to summit to car. Great way to start the trip! I've always
been totally impressed with the climbing in the N.Cascades and it felt good to get out in the mountains after the long drive from Durango. Hopefully the weather will hold and we'll have more days like this!!(5.7 pitch high on the ridge takes the obvious wide crack in the center)
