Background
This spring / summer I’ve been frequently visiting friends out east in Leavenworth, enjoying the vibes and change of scenery. I texted Steven and Jenny mid-week, seeing what they were up to without too much of a plan in mind. As the week evolved, Steven proposed scrambling the Northwest Ridge of Colchuck Peak, a route he’d done years prior that he recommended. His memory served the route at mostly 3rd/4th class, with some isolated 5th class movement at times. I’ve been feeling more comfortable and solid in this type of terrain and was psyched to head into the hills with him and Jenny, two absolute mountain goats!
Trip Report
We had a casual start, leaving Leavenworth at 1030A and driving up to the absolutely insane Stuart Lake trailhead. We were luckily able to park within a mile of the road and jogged up. We shared the first miles with Nate, a Leavenworth local and mutual friend of Steven, who was on a thru-run of the Enchantments and had ridden up with us.
We split off from Nate at Colchuck Lake and began our route up towards the northwest ridge. We followed an east facing drainage to gain the ridgeline and then ducked west over the ridge towards some benches / ledges that ascended on the west side of the ridge. Up we went, through steepening terrain that always had reasonable passage! It was stunning looking over at the proud north face of Mount Stuart and the imposing NW Face of Colchuck, a ski line I’d love to try someday!
We stayed on the west side of the ridge proper most of the way up, finding good scrambling and fun movement that had some low 5th but mostly 3rd and easy 4th. Nothing felt all that exposed. We gained the ridge proper maybe 400′ below the summit and then found passage through some pretty sweet sections of scrambling! Staying closer to the ridge allowed for less rockfall hazard and some wild positions high above the NE Face of Colchuck. At one point I stared down the North Buttress Couloir (NBC), another ski line I hope to ski someday.
We topped out the summit with some darker storm clouds to the west, but surprisingly there was no wind on the summit. Wild! We talked about route choice, not sure if the descent down the Colchuck Glacier would go smoothly this late in the year with exposed glacial ice. Steven had to be back in town to pick up his child, we could extend over Dragontail via Pandora’s Box but it’d be pushing it on the responsibility scale.
We meandered down to the saddle between Colchuck and Dragontail and eyed the descent down the Colchuck Glacier. It looked like there’d be a reasonable way down the steeper bits of snow and convex roll that was now exposed glacial ice. We figured we’d give it a try, worst case we burn some time and climb back to the pass and over Dragontail. There were some steep bits of snow but it all went fine sans crampons / ice axe. Steven is an absolutely ripping boot skier and punched it down the initial pitch; I’m much more hesistant on steep snow in shoes and took my time, using the bottom section of my poles as an ice axe.
Before long we were back down on the trail and jogging out, enjoying a lovely loop in the Stuart Range that afforded wild positions and a reprieve from the heavy weekend crowds. You don’t have to stray far off the beaten path to have a wild adventure!