Tabegauche

Height: 14,155
Range: Sawatch
Date:

Click here to see the pics from
the first attempt of Tabegauche
on June 6, 2004

This was my second attempt at Tabegauche, and it was Ski's fourth attempt. He had been turned back by weather, women, and false directions (see the GPS story on the first attempt page). It was the first fourteener of the year and we were squeezing it in among training for Mt Ranier. We were supposed to go to St Mary's Glacier and practice our glacier travel and rescue techniques, but without hearing from our third party (crash), We decided to get up early and get some time at altitude. Above is a pic of Ski at the first good rest stop near a few ponds where the trail changes from aspen groves to a burned out evergreen covered scree hill. Above right is a shot of me above the scree hill at the 13,000 ft plateau. To the right is a shot of Ski, actually on the way down, just below the summit negotiating the sharp ridge. Below are shots of both of us taking a break in the talus near the point where we turned around last time and summited the wrong peak. We felt pretty good for the first time out this year, but the loose talus was really wearing on my ankles.

Here is a good shot of Ski climbing up a steep slope just below the summit. The trail actually goes around this and avoids the climb, but there was still several feet of snow covering the trail at this point, so we opted to go over the top. Below is a shot of Ski hiking up the last little ridge before the summit, and a summit shot of both of us. It was a pretty uneventful trip, but it was good to get out and climb some vertical and be at altitude for a while before we head for Seattle and try for Ranier.