Ingalls Peak/East Ridge

Our group of 2 set off from the Esmerelda trailhead parking lot at 0515, and reached Ingalls Pass at 0645 where we met up with the four other party members who were already camped in the basin. From there, we followed the Ingalls Lake trail, traversing around the basin at roughly 6400’ until we reached a stream and branched off the trail heading northwest, heading towards the gully leading to the cannon hole in the notch between the East Ridge route and the South Peak. We cached some gear before heading up the snow free gully to the notch, reaching the base of the climb at 0815. There was a party of two on the route in front of us. We reached the summit at 1315 and discovered it was swarming with flying ants, so generally stayed below it.

We rappelled the standard route with one single and two double rope rappels, and we were all down by 1415. We returned to break camp and hike out, reaching the trailhead just under 12 hours after leaving it. The weather was a bit warm with some high cloud cover, so not too hot and a nice breeze.