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| Prusik Peak! |
With a couple days off and perfect weather there was no question I was going climbing! My friend Ben had been dying to get out and climb all summer so he could get back his street cred on Facebook as a badass climber. This was obviously a problem we could only remedy with an outstanding profile picture from the top of Prusik peak! Ben didn't have much experience alpine rock climbing so the West Ridge was a perfect solution if we survived the long and tedious approach and descent. I was also curious to check out the steep south face of this peak for future adventures.
We departed the trail head early at 5am right as the sun was beginning to rise giving ourselves plenty of time for the 11 mile approach.
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| One of the spectacular lakes on the approach |
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| Hello! |
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| Ben on the approach |
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| Baby goat! |
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| Mama goat |
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| The Enchantment lakes are awesome! |
After the long approach we scrambled up to the base of Prusik and began climbing! Ben changed into his Hawaiian shirt essential for an epic FB profile picture. We started climbing and once again I dominated the sharp end of the rope after hearing some hesitation from Ben (this was his first alpine rock climb). The route was totally cruiser and totally classic!
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| Climb faster Ben! |
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| Ben making the last move to the summit! |
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| Lance on the summit? (photo by Ben Brodin) |
Finally on the summit of Prusik peak we captured some epic profile pics for Ben, did some relaxing and massaged our sore feet. After our brief celebration we located the standard descent anchors and began rappelling over "kitty litter" ledges and loose blocks from one anchor to the next. A few rocks pitched down from above but we evaded those with our ninja skills and continued on. We traversed back around the peak to the route's base where we could have left our packs and eventually found ourselves back at the shore of one of the Enchantment's stunning lakes. We filled our water bottles and began the grueling hike back to the Snow lake trail head.
Overall an awesome day! Honestly it is quite a long walk for such a short but nonetheless totally classic route, if you're looking for the perfect girlfriend climb ;) this is it! Camp down at one of the lakes a couple nights!
Notes:
-Bring a light rack with a lot of slings
-5.7 slab move is very short (really only one move) Don't psych yourself out about it and you will be fine!
-Bring a Hawaiian Shirt
