1. Home
  2. 2013 Trip Reports
  3. All Mixed Up (4)

All Mixed Up (4)

Statistics

  • Date - 11/23/2013
  • Elevation - 11,700'
  • Route - All Mixed Up
  • Miles - 5.3
  • Elevation Gain - 2,500'
  • ACME Mapper - Link
  • CalTopo - Link
  • Partners - Brian Kooienga

Description

After recently climbing West Gully since Kevin hadn't been up the route before, I declared I had no reason to ever go back up Glacier Gorge again.  Fast forward two weeks and I found myself leaving the Glacier Gorge Trailhead with Brian to attempt the classic route All Mixed Up on Thatchtop Mountain.  We made quick work of the approach to Mills Lake, but the recent snow in the area slowed us down from here as we had to break trail and route find to the base of the the climb.  The extra work and starting early was well worth it as six climbers showed up behind us after completing the first pitch.  The early bird gets the worm and doesn't get cold waiting for climbers ahead of him.

Brian had never led pitch 1, so he started us off and anchored in at the base of a short curtain.  I pulled the short curtain to a section of easier climbing, and then made my way up another steeper section of wet ice with hero sticks to easier climbing again at the top of pitch 2.  Brian led the next snow pitch to get us near the base of the last section of ice climbing.  I finished the route and brought Brian up.  I was fortunate to spot a rappel anchor to climbers right that we had never used before.  Neither one of us was excited about using the walk-off, so we scrambled to the previously unknown anchor and rapped to the top of pitch 2.  Any anchors or V-threads were buried under snow, so I put two screws in and built a new V-thread for our next rappel.  The V-thread got us down to the fixed gear anchor at the top of pitch 1.  We were able to avoid the other parties still going up the route on pitch 1 and were quickly down at our packs at the base of All Mixed Up.  The area was socked in throughout the morning so we didn't have a lot of good views, but the climbing was good and we had a solid day in the mountains.  It took us 7 hours and 50 minutes to complete the climb car-to-car.

Photo

Brian at Mills Lake.Poor VisibilityMills LakeBreaking TrailJamesBrian leading pitch 1.Brian leading pitch 1.Brian following pitch 2.Three Ice Screw AnchorBrian following pitch 2.Brush ProtectionPitch 3James leading pitch 3.James leading pitch 3.James leading pitch 3.James leading pitch 3.Brian on rappel.Backed-Up V-ThreadJames