Basic Alpine Climb - Ingalls Peak/South Ridge

With the wish to beat the crowd, the heat, the bugs and the smoke, and get home early to enjoy the exponential growth of happiness in life, we started at 4am. The trail was very pleasant to hike on. However by the time we reach the lake, the weather was not so good, it was drizzling and the rock was wet, the peak was in the clouds. So we just chilled at the lake, chat and wait. It was so cozy that soon about 2 hours passed, and we ate almost all the snacks, and then the weather started to get better. However it was already 9, and seems everyone already thinking about going back. We thought it kinda defeat our purpose to start so early if we continue to climb and get home late, after all, we have 3 rope teams, it might take a while to finish. So we decided to just checkout the approach gully for next time. Then it turned out to be “let’s just climb the south route since we are already here”. 

So, we just chilled and climbed the south route. It was easy and short. Dandan lead the whole route, and it is her first multi pitch lead in the alpine. She should get a credit as a rope lead. One the way down, we used 1 single and 2 double rope rappels. Rope stuck twice. The first time was even on the rope that has no knot.. But anyway, any day spent outside is a nice day! Except the smoke made the view less enjoyable, but not that bad. You can still see Stuart there.

The hike out, well, as usual, felt longer than when hike in..

Gotta come back again for the east ridge, probably during the larch season.