Prussik Peak – West Ridge (attempt) and Enchantments Through-Hike

Christian and I are now making the dude-trip an annual thing.
Two years ago we went up Liberty Bell. The following year we tackled Castleton Tower.
This year’s objective: Prussik Peak, in the Enchantments.

We got a great September weather window, so on Friday we packed up Christian’s Mini with car-camping and climbing gear and drove east towards Leavenworth. The goal was to climb a route on Prussik (either Stanely-Burgner or West Ridge), car-to-car, in a day.

After a cool/crappy-sleep night, we got up early and hit the Snow Lakes trail by 5 on Saturday morning, just as the horizon started to eek out some light. Before we knew it the headlamps were off and we were cruising past hordes of tents at Snow Lakes, moving up towards the core Enchantments zone.

This was my first time to the Enchantments, and though I’d heard of how beautiful they were, I had no expectations hiking up to Lake Viviane at the core entrance at about 6800′.

It blew my mind.

Entering the core Enchantments for the first time feels like being transported to another planet. You rise above the conifer forrest into a world of granite, larches, mountain goats, and pristine lakes. Prussik Peak’s epic south face stared back at us. I was dumbstruck with how beautiful it was. Then I noticed how intimidating the South Face looked.

Heading up towards Prussik Pass.

The View from Prussik Pass – Granite Planet!

At this point we’d been moving for about 3-4 hours. As we took our first fuel break of the day, it occurred to us that the Stanely-Burgner route was biting off more than we could chew:

• We had hoped to be at the base of the route by ~8-9am, and were 1.5 hours behind.

• Due to lack of fuel, lack of sleep, or both, I wasn’t feeling 100%. Or maybe I was just mentally wussing out from the steep last pitch.

We opted to start moving towards Prussik Pass to reassess. Hopping over the pristine granite slabs was a blast, and as we crested to the pass, we made our call: we’d try the West Ridge.

Christian standing before our “plan B” route.

We racked up and started climbing. I led the first pitch: awesome, secure-feeling rock with excellent protection. After I set up anchor on a nice ledge, Christian climbed up, grabbed the rack, and started up the second pitch.

The second pitch nears the crest of the ridge as it climbs, and is supposed to lead back to the bottom of the third slab pitch of the route. That third pitch is also the crux, but as was a common theme in the day, the crux really turned out to be time.

The view from the first belay, at the top of Pitch 1.

High on Prussik’s west ridge; on Pitch 2.

We lost some time getting off route near the ridge proper and as we finally found the correct belay ledge, we realized it was nearing 3pm  — I guess time flies when you’re having fun. Or when you’re route finding. Or when you’re tired. Or all three!

We had four hours to summit, rappel down, and then make our way back down either of the steep approaches to the main trails before it would get dark.

We weighed our options and decided to bail. The mountain wasn’t going anywhere, and we wanted to navigate out of the Enchantments while we still had some daylight. So down we went, rappelling down the West Ridge on well-used rap stations, back to Prussik Pass.

With what seemed like ample daylight remaining, we decided to complete the Enchantments loop rather than backtrack back to the cars at the Snow Lakes trailhead. We figured we’d find someone at the Stuart Lake trailhead that could give us a ride back to our cars and, if not, we’d bivy and then catch a ride or walk the ~10ish miles the next day.

Now safely off the wall, we began to worry less about time and got a fresh dose of stoke at just how beautiful the Enchantments are. It’s no wonder this is one of the most popular backpacking destinations in the state with a super-competitive lottery to get camping permits.

We took a ton of photos and finally reached the top  of 7,841′ Aasgard Pass right as the sun settled into golden hour. The upper-Enchantments are even more extraplanetary than the lower section. We were now above treeline, and the impressive Southeast Ridge of Dragontail Peak towered above us. We couldn’t stay and appreciate the sights for too long though, as our daylight was running out. With light fading, I snapped my last photo at about 7pm, just as we started down and raced the sunset.

Prussik Peak reflected in the Brisingamen Lakelets

Isolation Lake and the SE Ridge of Dragontail, with Witch’s Tower rising at center.

Colchuck Lake, viewed from Asgard Pass. Light fading.

By this point we were nearly out of food and had been moving for fourteen hours. The energy and revitalization we had gained from the beauty of the area was fading as it got darker and as we continued down. The going was tough — Aasgard Pass is known to be steep and pretty brutal, and my knees were creaking under my weight over loose, rocky trail.

We lost trail and valuable minutes at the bottom of the pass, but finally found the route-marking cairns and started heading around the south side of Colchuck Lake: boulder hopping and tracking down the next cairns by headlamp. After what seemed like knee-crunching-forever, we finally got off the talus and into the woods, descending the next four miles and 2,200′ in the dark.

The first two miles were what we can call “quiet discomfort.”

We were both pretty sore, with knees knackered, blisters forming, hungry, tired, and frustrated. As we headed down, we silently acknowledged that we hadn’t seen anyone else on the trail since the top of Aasgard, and that there was a good chance we wouldn’t find a ride back to the car. We were thinking about eating our emergency Clif Bars, and I was wondering if it was going to get as cold as it did the previous night.

Hiking in the dark also, despite whatever pain or discomfort we were feeling, made us considerably pick up our pace, to the point that we were nearly running. Before we knew it, we had stumbled upon a group of 8 hikers that were heading back to the trailhead as well. We asked if there was a chance that we could get a ride back to Snow Lakes parking lot, and luckily, a couple in the group graciously offered us a ride.

We trekked the last 1.5 miles out with the group, our spirits raised considerably knowing we’d be back at the car soon. Before we knew it we were giving our ride/night-saver a sixpack of IPA.

A short drive to camp, a warm meal, great discussion, and we were passed out — exhausted from some 18-hours of being on the move. It was a mini-epic, with some lessons learned on time-management.

Ultimately, we were both unscathed, and now we have some unfinished business in the Enchantments.

That’s not a bad thing — it’s always nice to have a reason to go back to this part of that state.

Prussik Peak – Unfinished Business, reflected from the north end of Perfection Lake.