The Enchantments

The Enchantments. The name itself alludes wonder. It allows your mind to wander to magical places. When I first heard it, it was like something of a fairy-tale. I am not one of those people who look into the details of something early on, planning and dreaming. I do not plan trips in advance, or pour over photos or maps. Instead, I allow it to become bigger and greater in my mind than perhaps it exists in real life. For me, that is dreaming.

On our way to our journey, about an hour into the drive, we hit a traffic jam. Two cars pull hasty u-turns in quick succession, tires squealing, accelerating fast. My mind went to the 90's flick "Twister". Why else would people be driving away in such a hurry?!

Unfortunately, it was neither a tornado nor a tsunami. Just a fender bender.

We arrived at the trailhead late after dropping off a second car at the Snow Lakes trailhead. The parking lot at the start was full as expected, it was the last weekend before permit season and everyone was anxious to knock out objectives with the option of an overnight. The hike in was much easier than expected, and significantly more pleasant in the cool(ish) of the night. I hate the east side in summer. The heat and I are not friends.

We got to Colchuck Lake around 11pm, and I was amazed at the view. Dragontail took up the horizon, surrounded by a blanket of stars, all reflected in the lake. Beautiful. I tried my hand at some night photos but was still figuring out settings, a project for another trip. Anxious, being eaten by bugs and starting to get chilly, we decided to hike around the lake and find camp.

Bumbling around the lake we came upon quite a few camps and bivies, plus we were having approximately zero luck finding and staying on the trail. Luckily we found a spot not quite halfway around the lake up on a rocky ledge. It was warm, we were lazy and that led us to skip the tent. Zeke scored a 4lb pillow which I was nice enough to carry up for him. It was the perfect night to lay out under the sky, endless stars spread out in every direction. Sleep came fast.

 Speaking of pillows, I scored this one before the trip. I've never carried a pillow and try to remain as ultralight as possible. Sometimes that means sacrificing some things for others, and comfort has to be number one priority with my back. The pillow is amazing by the way. If you can justify the ounce of weight, it's worth a pound in comfort. 

Saturday I woke up early to the sunrise and snuck away to get some photos. The lake was this stunning blue-green that seemed tropical at early light. I wanted to swim in it, but I was shivering in the shadows of the valley and crawled back into my sleeping bag for some more shut-eye. I nudged Zeke with my foot at 7 and Zeke, Roger and I shared a chilly breakfast, reluctant to leave our bags. We  both craved the sun to warm us up, but dreaded it's presence with the impending heat.

Zeke and Roger, pretending to be excited about the pass

We made it around the lake and stopped to shed layers and filter some water for the push up Aasgard pass. It was faster than I imagined, and surprisingly easier than I had thought. The idea of gaining 2000 feet of elevation over a short 3/4 of a mile does not sound (or look) fun. But I found the step-style hike much easier than the slope of a trail. There were people everywhere. And goats.

We made it up the pass, took some photos and headed out into the core. The higher of the alpine lakes were still mostly snow-covered, which robbed us of the classic view but gave us motivation to hike quickly. We passed through with quick photo stops, mostly just anxious to set up camp and start our climb. After a slow descent into the valley we left snow and met mud. Camps were few and far between as the last-minute crowds and still-snowy patches made space scarce. We chose a spot in a wet meadow and dropped gear.

Looking back at Colchuck Lake from Aasgard Pass

The view reminded me of Valle Frances in Torres.

Roger and Zeke rock-hopping in the core. 

Camp with a proper view of our objective. Apparently we were camped on recovering meadow, which was unfortunate :(

It was still early afternoon but clouds started to work their way across the valley. We made haste packing our gear for the climb up Prusik Peak. Worried the weather would turn, we hiked up to see what would come of it. The view of Prusik from the base was stunning. Jagged, sharp rock juts up seemingly from out of nowhere from that angle. Balanced Rock provides a nice staging area complete with good people and goats a plenty. It started to snow.

Our goat-guide who led us up to the climb

Woke up a napping goat. What a view!

Roger and I chillin on the balanced rock, waiting.

We met a women at the balance rock who was the wife of a climber currently on-route of the West Ridge of Prusik, where we intended to climb. She informed us that a large party of 6 (6!) had clogged up the rock. Her husband's team was atop the first pitch, and had been waiting for nearly 2 hours. Other parties were ahead of them and more behind, a total of 5 parties currently stuck and waiting on various parts of the wall. This wasn't looking good.

So much hail. It looked like a bean-bag massacre. 

As we gathered our gear and grumbled, a 2-man team swooped in, unaware of the situation. We let them go and got ourselves ready to start up behind them. However, after an hour they were still working their way to the first belay ledge and no parties had moved. If not for the large belay ledge, many teams would have been forced to bail. At this point it's steadily hailing, cold and windy. We were wearing all of the layers we had and were still cold, with the protection of the surrounding rocks and lower elevation. Getting on route would ensure that we would be colder, it would be windier, and that we would be sitting for hours just waiting. To top it off, it was already after 4, with a probable 5-6 hour climb (without waiting) and not enough daylight. Zeke and I were in agreement that we didn't want to rappel in the dark on unfamiliar face, let alone in a hailstorm. We called it.

It sucked to bail, especially when we were so close. Prusik is super impressive looking and just begs to be climbed. But you cant win them all. We had added the prospect of climbing last minute on the trip, and weren't even sure my ankle could take it, but that didn't mean we weren't disappointed in having to turn around. Zeke reflected that he had recently bailed more than succeeded in completing objectives, and that it's an important step in learning and progressing at any sport. I was digging the optimism and attitude, I am not one to grovel over what could be, instead I greatly enjoy basking in the good of any situation. We were in a beautiful place, with great company, and we were outside doing what we love. Life was good man.

A little gloomy but still amazing

Prusik in the gloom. We'll be back for you!

Back at camp we made dinner and wandered around. The weather was just depressing and I retired to my bag to read. We all hoped for good weather for the last day.

Sunday we woke up to gorgeous weather and obnoxious baby goats prancing through camp. Sure, it sounds cute, but when you hear thundering hooves and papa goat bellows feet from your tent at 5am, it's hard to see it that way. Apparently the babies were getting their exercise and the parents followed with warning groans. We took a leisurely time with breakfast, coffee and conversation, watching 3 goat families wander around camp. They would literally wait next to a person for them to pee so they could sneak in and lap it up. They tell hikers to pee on rocks to keep the goats from destroying the grass and shrubs. They aren't shy about watching you either!

Zeke is a lesson in dreaming. He has inspired me to do many adventures in the last few years, and planned the whole Prusik Peak climb. He is looking back at the missed objective in this picture, and I know for certain he will be back to tackle it. 

The hike down was uneventful and grueling. We were grateful that we chose to do the steep part as our 'up' and the gradual for the 'down'. It was long and steady, and less preferable than the quick steep of Aasgard Pass. I vowed to swim in an alpine lake this trip and made true on my word around noon at Nada Lake. I found a big rock to jump off so I wouldn't have to feel the water, eliminating my chances of backing out due to cold. It was too damn hot to care anyway. I jumped.

It was so hot we all stopped at the river about halfway through the day and dunked ourselves. The heat was unbearable and much worse as we left the forest and made our way down to the car. Zeke and I took a long dip in the river and tried to cool down before the drive home.

Overall it was a great weekend. I am glad we got to do the trek before permit season. We all have plans to go back and tackle Prusik, possibly in the fall. I plan to hike back up to Colchuck Lake this summer to score some night photos, it's not an "overnight" if it's an alpine start, right?!

Sometime life's obstacles make you stop and smile :)