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Trip Report    

Fricaba , Hal Foss, North Petunia, Points 6763 and 6626

Three Day Traverse in seldom explored area in the North East Olympics out of the Upper Dungeness Trail Head

Dave Schultz Dave Schultz
November 25, 2021
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • Trail into Upper Royal Basin in great shape. Some typical loose rock conditions found in most of the Olympics. Icy conditions at bottom of a snowfield at the end a very long day, sure glad we had crampons, and I put them on before heading over the steep end of the snowfield. 

Found 3 folks to join me on this journey that has been in my mind for a while.  Here was the pretrip plan:

Day 1 10.2 mi  1.5 off trail +5400 /-2100ft Upper Dungeness TH to Deception basin via Royal Basin

Day 2  5.5mi +3550/-3300 all off trail.  6 am start Climbing Fricaba and Hall Foss (4-5hrs up per OMCG) Continue North on or west of ridge staying above 5800 ft to Tarn N of S Petunia (pt 6953) we have 14 hrs of daylight. This will be a hard day, it may not have been done so who knows what we may find. Looks like flat spots along the way if it turns into more than we can do in a day, worse case we bail to the Royal basin trail, or reevaluate and find an alternate plan.

Day 3  Easy Day  5mi +1500/-5500 Tag N petunia if interested. Out NE along Ridge hitting points 6998 ( S Petunia) 6763, 6626, down the ridge thru the trees to our starting point at the Upper Dungeness TH  

 Here's how things turned out:

The Fricaba  Petunia traverse was a success. We followed very close to the route I had hand drawn in. I would rate it as a T5/S5 scramble. We had a strong group of 4, and took a little over 12 hrs from High in deception basin to the tarn above Goat Lake. . The area coming off the NW ridge of Fricaba was one spot with a bit of exposure, we went out to the end of the ridge, there were several other options to get off the ridge, there were a series of benches to bring us down to the basin NW of Fricaba.  

We summitted point 6686, then crossed over to the W side of the ridge line. There were several options of different routes, staying within the less steep  contour lines. Mostly on rock of one sort or another all day. Loose scree, big and small rock  boulder fields some solid and stable some not. Followed some scree up between cliff  bands up using them as hand holds. A few patches of snow, used crampons on a steep icy section towards the base of S petunia.No one had the energy or motivation to climb that.  

This could potentially connect to the Gray Wolf traverse  making the entire trip off trail with the exception  a mile or so around the Upper Dungeness TH. Something I am considering next July as a 7 day or so trip. See Dave Morgan's trip reports for excellent details on the Gray Wolf Traverse and his other adventures in this area.