Mt Triumph
Lew Miller - July 8 -10th, 2008
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| In what was planned to be a climb of Forbidden
peak's West ridge, a closure of the Cascade River road called
for a quick back up plan. Another 3 day objective with awesome
views, exposed ridge climbing and a glacial approach, immediately
brought to mind the Northeast ridge of Mt Triumph. |
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| The approach to Triumph, while largely
on trail, is long and involves considerable elevation
gain. What we didn't expect was so much of the approach
to be snow covered. After climbing several thousand feet
on trail, we topped out at a pass before dropping down
to the first of the 3 Thornton lakes. Visible in this
photo is the first lake (at the bottom and largely snow
covered), the coulior leading to our high camp at the
col (just above the lake) and the top of Triumph itself
(poking out from behind the col). |
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| After skirting the first lake, we crossed
the second lake at its outlet and traversed above it on
our way to the long coulior leading to the pass. |
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| Once at the pass, we are greeted by our
first full view of the route. The next morning we would
drop down, cross the glacier and head for the notch at
the base of the right hand skyline, which is the Northeast
ridge. |
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| The day was perfect and the sunrise
found us crossing the glacier in awe of the area's remote
and rugged beauty. |
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| Mt Triumph has arguably one of the best
views of the Picketts of any North Cascade vantage point.
Here low on the climb, Lew works his way up the ridge
with the Pickett range for a backdrop. |
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| Lew, all smiles halfway up the route. |
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| The majority of the climbing on the ridge
is moderate, though frightfully exposed. Here Lew looks
up from his concentration just long enough for me to snap
this photo. |
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| Many hours and many rappels later, find
us making dinner back in our tent at the pass. This self
portrait captures the tent life of two happy and tired
climbers. |
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| The hike out takes almost as long as
the way in, though thankfully is mostly downhill. Here
Lew crosses the last stream before the car. |
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