So for the class’ first Alpine outing, I was assigned Argonaut Peak, with Kati, Tyler, and Curtis!

We knew the climb was a long one, and that it would be hot. We also knew the approach was notorious for a lot of bushwhacking through slide alder… but it all seemed doable.

On Saturday, we met up at Kati’s, made our way north, stopping at the Sultan Bakery, and eventually got to the trail head at around 1030. We geared up, and started off on the trail. We eventually made it to the Stuart Lake trail, and saw our first glimpse of the slide alder…

A little bit later, we got our first views of Argonaut, wayyyy off in the distance

I was already tired from the heat when we hit the slide alder…

… and it was a menace. It was seriously the worst fucking thing ever invented. Dow Chemical needs to develop some sort of aerial spray that can kill all of it, in an environmentally safe way. If that’s not possible, it needs to burn…

For the next few hours, we just headed along our bearing; through this shit. Looking back, I think we stayed too close to the creek, and should’ve stayed further west of the creek…

We eventually made it out of the #*&@#% alder, and into the meadow and snowfields..!

I was getting pretty gassed, and we all filled up on water. This was my first time not filtering or boiling water. It tasted great, and I didn’t get Giardia, so, yay?!

^Tyler demonstrating the tried and true alpine technique of, “well I can’t see anything in the water, so it must be safe”

It was around here when I fully bonked, and it was a rough going from there…

There was still a bunch left…

We had to ascent the fucking 2000-ft couloir, which took well over an hour, I think?

Making our way up… Curtis and Tyler kicked all the steps, because they’re badasses

Resting on steep snow, and cautiously looking back for a photo

Ten grueling hours later, we made it to the bivy site

Tyler said it was his favorite bivy spot in the state

I would agree

It was magical to rest, enjoy the views, and to eat dinner here.

^We all got glamour shots.

🙂

After dinner, we got into our bivies, and went to sleep

Sunday !funday

We woke up around 5am, at first light, made breakfast, and watched the sun rise a bit

I was feeling extremely shitty. Part it was probably nerves, but most of it was probably dehydration…

Kati got everyone started on P1 at 0630.

Tyler and I eventually made our ways up. He led the first pitch, and I spent up to an hour figuring out the second pitch?

Tyler led the third and fourth pitches I think

…and I led the fifth pitch, which was pretty fantastic!

From there, I was pretty bonked out, so Tyler led the remaining  two pitches to the summit.

We got there at 1100, which was 0.5h ahead of schedule. I was so happy for the rest. I had also developed a cough the day before at the bivy site, and it was getting a little worse… more on that later though

Summit photos!

Summit selfies!

From there, we scrambled down the east ridge of the peak

Then descended some snow…

This got us to the rappel stations. The first one was a slung rock, and here’s the second rappel station (a slung tree)

From the tree, you get to a rap station on the rock…

Then, rappel to the snowfield, where have to get across a moat first. That was a little tricky. We filled up on water at this point, and made our way towards the notch between Colchuck and Dragontail Peaks. Here’s a shot looking back, if you look closely at the summit, you can see our tracks in the snow, to the first rap station!

Maybe a better view?

Anyways, from here on out, it was a suffer fest for me…

Tyler shared his candy mix with me to fuel me up to the notch, and for the descent to Colchuck Lake. Curtis was pretty much a walking stand-up show, which was good entertainment while suffering. We got to the lake 1.0h behind schedule…

So close, and yet so far away from the trail head

Looking back at the descent of Colchuck Glacier

I wanted to swim, but I was so tired, I probably woulda drowned…

From here, it was just pure Type III fun on the way out for me. Kati did cheer me up by finding a goat! It was the first goat I’VE EVER SEEN IN THE FREAKIN’ STATE!

This looks like something out of the first season of True Detective. Right???

I think the instructors were tryna hype us up on the way out

I seriously wanted to die, cry a bit, and quit the class on the way out… we got to the TH 2.5h behind schedule, and that was mostly due to me being realllly slow. I feel like I definitely underestimated the approach and descent. I had trouble keeping myself energized, and it had a lot to do with my nutrition and fitness level on the climb. I probably drank 4+ liters of water each day, but it still wasn’t enough… all in all, it was miserable.

Tyler gave me some pointers with food, and recommended Black Peak for my next climb, and there will be a post on that later.

Oh, I had an appointment with my allergy doctor the following Tuesday, to discuss my allergy shots. Apparently, I’ve lost about 5-lbs since I started taking this class, and I talked to her about the cough I had on the climb. She suspects I have some sort of altitude or exercise induced asthma? Anyways, I now have an inhaler! #aid

Also, Kati found a tick on her head at dinner in Leavenworth.

Gross.