Party: Nate, Josh, Axel, Yev

Weather: Sunny and warm with partial clouds and some fire smoke

Saturday morning of Labor day weekend, Nate, Axel, Josh, Yev (Josh’s climbing friend), & I started from the Thornton lakes TH around 11:15 am. Hiked through pleasant shaded trail starting from 2500 ft to 5000 ft then back down 500 ft to the first Thornton lake. Day was hot but we wanted to make it to high camp to find bivy sites and get some sunset views so we pressed on. Trail became more shwacky as we climbed to the second of the three lakes. From there we scrambled up a steep gully for 1000ft to gain the bivy col at 5800ft. The steep climb was made a lot more pleasant with the abundance of tasty blueberries - usually too low to pick, these were always at eye level!

Another climbing party had reached the site first so we all found random patches of flattish ground to cowboy/bivy on. There was a slight chance of rain sat night/sun morn so we were prepared with tarps . Enjoyed nice dinner with views of Primus, Tricouni, Eldorado, Klawatti peaks to the southeast and the Picket range from the north side of the col. Triumph itself with its pronounced NE ridge was prominent beyond glaciated slabs. The glacier below it would not be an issue as it is greatly diminished. Enjoyed a clear starry night with perfect late August temps.

We got started at our agreed on time of 6am, leaving shortly after the other party of 5. A short steep section of snow was easy to descend using the loose rocks to the side - no ice axe or crampons needed on this trip. We started across the glaciated slabs as the sun rose over the Picket range - amazing views to start the day! Josh navigated us across and down the slabs to avoid a steep canyon formed by the melting glacier water - a nice shortcut not on the GPX track which stayed high and skirted the glacier. We made a last fill of containers with pristine water and headed north to the ridge col.

We formed 2 rope teams - Nate, Axel & Josh, Yev, Marc. The 3 person team had the middle climber lead. We all simul-climbed the ridge. The rock was good and the moves felt sound (low 5th class) as we quickly passed the other climbing party. I was impressed that Josh was able to use almost all of his single rack & a few nuts to get us all the way to the knife-edge portion of the ridge. Yev took the lead across the knife-edge and reached the crux off-width crack pitch (5.7). Massive exposure and not a lot of great placement options, but he persevered with the help of a fixed cam at a critical section. A #4 cam would have been nice here. I followed and had some difficulty with the move but eventually got through it and had a nice break waiting for Josh on a wide flat belay station.

I led the last simul pitch though unfortunately the rock quality deteriorated sharply once off the ridge to a mix of loose, chossy rock and dirt/heather ledges with poor placement options. The last 100 feet was mostly class 3-4 scrambling to the summit (7221 ft) , which I believe we reached at almost exactly noon. (The summit canister is missing a notebook - always good to have one in your summit pack!)

Nate lead the 5.7 crux but the last pitch started on some very non-obvious and crappy terrain (MP describes it as closer to canyoneering!). After some discussion Nate & Axel decided to begin the long descent rather than spend another couple hours getting to the summit & back to the ridge and deal with possible descent by headlamp.

The descent was a mix of single rope (70m) raps, short rope (or solo) across the knife-edge, down climbing, and yet more raps. It was recommended to avoid double-rope raps due to the likelihood of stuck ropes. We saved a lot of time by having Josh & Yev simul-rappel with their GGs. We protected the simul situation with a figure 8 on a bight in the middle with a biner through the loop and the other rope strand through it, which I would untie before my rap. Rappelling down a narrow ridge felt a little scary to me b/c I was worried about a possible pendulum situation but just had to think it through and make careful foot placements. With Nate & Axel only a few pitches behind, we reached the starting col and began the return trip across the slab. We made it back to camp by 6pm with some daylight left for a satisfying dinner and looked forward to sleeping in a bit. Another starry night and a quick descent back to the lakes in the morning for some water & a refreshing swim. We were stopped for our permit by a ranger back on the trail down & learned that the hazy skies and smokey valleys were caused by a recent fire near Ross Lake (Beaver or Perry Fire) :(.

We all felt good about accomplishing a big alpine objective safely and efficiently and all enjoyed a big lunch at Mondo’s on the way home. While the rock climbing itself was only OK, the views, ridge exposure, and general alpine experience were top notch.

Fun facts

• Thornton lake very pleasant to swim in

• Fire smoke obscurred some views