Kicking of Day 1 of the first annual PEAK WEEK with a Cascade classic...

Dave and I made it to the TH at Barlow Pass by 7am. A fog layer completely burned off by the time we emerged into Gothic Basin. Made it to Foggy Lake by 9:30 and then pushed up the standard South Gully Route. Only had to cross 1 patch of moderate angle snow that'd softened so crampons never made it out of pack. Exciting airy scramble up to one of the best summit views I've ever experienced. On the summit at 11:15. A marine layer shrouded all signs of civilization to the west... and so it was a pure 360 of dramatic rocky-and-snow-capped peaks. After a few Snickers back at Foggy Lake we felt recharged and decided to go for another one... Gothic Peak.

The ascent up Gothic was straightforward until we ended up too high up on the ridge and had to do a bit of sketchy traversing above a big snow moat. Back on route, we enjoyed the stairs-like final scramble to another great summit. Going down we got a bit turned around in Gothic Basin (par for the course it seems) and after the long, rugged descent we hobbled back to the car by 5:20pm. A fortuitous drive-by find of Spar Tree in Granite Falls fueled us back up with pitchers of Coke (!) and burgers. A classic day. 13.3 mi, 5,354 ft vert, 10hr20min. So good to be back in the WA mtns.