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I had been eagerly anticipating this highpoint for quite some time, as the only "red" county in the state ever since bad weather turned Ryan and I back at Herman Lake in November. Erin and Ryan joined for the grudge match. We started early, about 5:30 a.m. on the dry trail in chilly conditions. Wind was a concern due to forecasts, and indeed manifested later in the day as we abandonded the trees. The day began a plethora of minor debacles, including a forgotten shell (Ryan), a forgotten camera (me - thus the photography credit goes to Ryan), spilled water inside the pack (Ryan), and a slip in a creek (Erin). Upon resolving the latter difficulties, our progress went much more smoothly. We took in the early morning views of alpenglow on Sniktau and Edwards before eventually getting our first view of Pettingell (photo on right). The day was slowly starting to warm up as we passed impressive runouts and maneuvered around their coniferous victims.
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Near treeline, post-holing was inevitable even at this early hour, and I was surprised to see recent snowshoe tracks. We passed over long snowfields above the trees and were astonished by the East Face of 13,294' (photo on left) which was not visible our previous attempt. We studied the East ridge of Pettingell several times on our approach and contemplated our descent options. We made our way to the lake and traversed to the base of the ramp that ascends to the saddle of Pettingell and 13,418'. We decided to practice on crampons up to the scree about 800' above the lake on the concave slope. We made quick work of this slope and took a break to remove the crampons and breathe. Shortly thereafter the wind became a factor contributing to moderate dissatisfaction with the temperature. The rest of the ascent was uneventful until we were faced with a decision to acquire the low point of the saddle or ascend nearly direct to the summit via a snow-covered slope. Ryan kicked steps in the hard snow, while I was more comfortable with crampons.
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On the right is a shot of the author ascending the gentle ridge above the slope toward the summit. We made the summit rather early in the day and Ryan could not reign in his list-ticking ambition. The wind seemed to have dissipated, and the East Ridge was opposite the wind. The ridge began somewhat narrow in places and the hard snow required attention. We passed what would normally be cruxes in the summer without any difficulty - perhaps class 2+. We arrived at the crux of the day a distance below the headwall - an obstacle in the form of a "snow knife edge". This corniced section of ridge was pioneered by Ryan who kicked steps on the right side and then scooted. Erin adopted the scooting method as well. I chose to descend after some hesitation entirely below the cornice on crampons. Shortly we were faced with another routefinding challenge, and once again I chose crampons and regained the ridge on a slushy slope while Ryan and Erin took a creative line over talus, scree, snow, and small ribs.
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With the mandatory difficulties behind us, we enjoyed the last section of class 3/4 voluntarily by staying on the ridgecrest. There were good opportunities to practice facing-in downclimbing. This had been a time-consuming ridge (photo on left, and we took a while to relax on the large ridge just above the saddle of Pettingell and Hassel. Below is the view of "Hassel Peak" from this perspective. We made our way over and back without incident other than a little unpleasant wind at the higher reaches, though it was difficult to keep up with Ryan and Erin on the ascending slopes. Time at the summit was around 1:00. We traversed the East side of the ridge and descended scree back to the trail near treeline. The post-holing on the return was not as bad as we were expecting, though a little crowded. The day ended up being a great workout.
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