Trip Report
Intermediate Alpine Climb - Lane Peak/Lovers Lane (winter)
Great conditions on the route.
George Reynya
- Sun, May 7, 2017
- Intermediate Alpine Climb - Lane Peak/Lovers Lane
- Climbing
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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The route is currently in easy shape. Lovers Lane is completely filled with snow with no ice or rock steps exposed. We found evidence of someone skiing the gully. The summit block still has a snow finger but the snow is very soft and melting fast exposing lots of moats. The stream can be crossed on the snow bridge a bit downstream directly under Lane Peak. The slide alder on the approach to Lovers Lane entry is completely buried under the snow.
Snow conditions on the approach were firm in the morning so we didn't use snowshoes on the way in. We found a great stream crossing over a snow bridge a bit downstream from the usual log crossing spot. There was so much snow there that the slide alder and all steps in the gully were completely buried. We roped up and simul-climbed the route placing a few pickets, an ice screw and rock gear for running belays. At the top of Lovers Lane the standard option is to rappel into Zipper. However, an often faster alternative is to traverse the ledge with trees into Zipper without losing any elevation, which was what we did. Once out of Zipper we continued to the summit ridge through very soft, deep, sun baked snow, getting across a few moats. Getting off the summit was a straightforward downclimb directly below the summit block.