North Ingalls - E. Ridge

August 2008

Description by Brian Polagye

Kris, Evan, Craig and I climbed the East Ridge of Ingalls on Sunday in downright unseasonable conditions. Of all the problems I thought we might have on Sunday, being chilled to the bone in a puffy jacket on Ingalls in mid-August was not one of them. I suppose the Cascades never fail to disappoint.

Drove out to Ingalls Way TH (left Seattle around 6:00, TH at 8:30, underway a bit before 9:00). Despite a large numbers of cars in the parking lot, we seem to have had the route to ourselves and were on the rock by 12:30ish. Got to see some very cute baby goats on the way through headlight basin.

We found the Nelson route description rather confusing. Kris and I simuled the first pitch to the notch jammed with massive boulders. Evan and Craig broke this into two pitches, though Evan had some trouble finding a suitable anchor mid-pitch. A few moves of low 5th at the start and then no worse than 4th class to the notch. From the notch, we worked our way back on to the ridge crest, where Kris belayed me up from a rap station (?) on the west side of the gendarme. Despite Nelson's comments about going right of two gendarmes to a notch as rope drag allows, we really didn't see two gendarmes and were somewhat baffled by the description. From here, it would probably be a good idea to simul most of the way to the summit headwall, but we broke it into four pitches which meandered around the ridge crest. Easy climbing, including a fun knife edge, but serious rope drag issues even on short pitches. Kris and Evan led the summit pitch, which, while not hard, was disturbingly loose with sparse pro. It's not terribly reassuring to find most of the large stuff at the crux either sounds hollow or moves when you pull on it. Once past the crux, smooth sailing to the summit proper.

Descending South Face via two single rope rappels. Would recommend using a 60m rope on the first and a 70m rope on the second to reach the ground (the opposite way results in a 10' downclimb to the bottom of the slab). Easy downclimbing to the base of the South Face route and then hoofed it out, reaching the cars a bit after 8. Unfortunately, this was about 30-40 minutes too late to reach Village Pizza.

In spite of this, great day out with fantastic partners. Only this that would have improved things was somewhat sunnier, less windy conditions. I have no idea how Craig did the entire climb in shorts, much less for his first alpine/trad experience.

Post Climb beer