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Trip Report    

Kangaroo Temple/North Face

6/5/2016 trip of Kangaroo Temple in hot early season conditions. Long but fun day in the awesome Washington Pass area. Image of the team descending the pass on the hike out.

Craig Taylor Craig Taylor
June 29, 2016
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • Still plenty of snow, the approach to the base of the pass included postholing in places, snow the whole way to the top of the pass. The traverse has snow in places and from the end of the traverse to the notch had a 30+ degree snowfield that may make some students uncomfortable descending.  Route itself is snow free. Small patch of snow on the summit is easily avoidable.

6/5/2016 trip of Kangaroo Temple in hot early season conditions. It would have been nice for the walk up to the base of the pass to have snowshoes, but otherwise the snow was firm enough for good travel. In colder conditions crampons are advisable, which we brought but did not use. Halfway on the traverse to the notch we ascended too high and had to lose some elevation to get on the correct path. Sticking more closely around 6600 - 6700 is where you want to be for the traverse. The notch had 30+ degree snow to get to the base of the route. The snow was soft enough in the morning to allow for kicking good steps.
P1 we climbed all the way to the ledge system, about a full rope length, which created significant rope drag. Recommend stopping P1 at the first rappel station, about half a rope length and making P2 a little longer. For P2, we had a very short traverse which got us to the shoulder high crack system used as a gear anchor for P3. P3 included the step around and ledge walk. After finishing, we scrambled to the summit with some fantastic views and clear skies. Recommend setting up a handline for students to get to the rappel station as this lost us some time.  Have heard since there is supposed to be an easier way to get to the rappel station, but we did not find it ourselves.
Descent was long and required careful travel descending the base of the route to the traverse, as well as through the open areas below the pass. The warm day softened the snow a lot causing some slips and postholing.