Intermediate Alpine Climb - Lexington Tower/North Face

Trip Report

Awesome day alpine cragging! AJ, Gabe, Alissa, and I climbed N Face of Lexington & S Face of Concord. Connor & Adam joined us on the N Face of Lexington and then left while we climbed Concord.

We had originally planned to climb Concord first because it gets morning sun. However, there was a cornice/snow covering the approach to the start of P1 so we decided to climb Lexington first and then figure out if/how to get over to climb Concord. It was freezing climbing in the shade of Lexington so next time I'd definitely reverse the order.

6:45 AM Left cars @ Blue Lake Trailhead

Straightforward hike in with a nice boot path. The gully had some wet/slippery snow that was melting off and made for a spicy ascent.

8:45 AM Made it to base of climb

P1 - A little wet in spots but it went. Awkward crux first move and then eases off. Fun stem section after the crux.

P2 - Fun pitch & the 5.7 move actually felt much easier. There was a sketchy wet slab section that was pretty harrowing. Use doubles the whole way, it meanders and the rope drag is awful.

P3 - Belay station has some snow so it was an awkward belay spot that only a couple people could fit at a time. Short easy pitch to the summit. Gabe placed pro on the way up and left it in for the other 2 groups to clip. We left it in to downclimb from the summit and the final group removed it.

Noon - 1 PM All 3 groups on the summit during this time frame.

Two single raps down with 60s.

2:30 PM Back to base of climb

We were definitely hanging out a lot on this climb & not trying to move fast. Otherwise, this climb is pretty short & easy & could be done much quicker.

There was so much avy activity going on across the way around blue lake. We probably heard 4-5 avys & one massive cornice fall. Luckily nothing happening on our side but still pretty spooky!

Didn't record a track, the route finding is very straightforward.

We climbed Concord S Face next. See trip report here: https://www.mountaineers.org/activities/trip-reports/intermediate-alpine-climb-concord-tower-south-face/view

Photos:

Hiking up the gully

Start of P1

AJ climbing up the crux section of P1

Stemmy section on P1 (fun but a little wet)

Adam on the 2nd Pitch

Looking up P3 to the summit

Found the summit register

Adam coming down the down climb from the summit back to top of P2

Map