Pacific and Atlantic Peaks

November 7, 2020

Pacific Peak 13,957'
Atlantic Peak 13,835'

Laura and I left home at 2 am to pick up our friends Isaac and Nicole. We are hoping to get them out on some more adventurous climbs to help them progress to bigger and more technical routes in the mountains. Laura had suggested we go for the Mayflower Gulch Grand Traverse at 5.7. We knew there would be some snow to deal with but what we did not plan on is fierce wind gusts. We arrived at the upper Mayflower Gulch trailhead at 5 am and were walking in windy conditions almost immediately. While Laura and I didn't give the conditions a second thought, I think our friends were a bit nervous. 

We walked in the dark, checking the topo map occasionally to be sure we were headed in the correct direction to access Pacific's west ridge. The climb is class 3 and would be a nice warm up for the remaining traverse. As we ascended the ridge, the wind would blow us around and create doubt of weather or not we would have a chance to get to the fun part of the traverse at all. Conditions were great for early November with little snow and the talus frozen down. 

We quickly made our way to the summit of Pacific Peak around 7 am. Taking a 15 minute break, we hid from the wind and ate a snack before continuing on to Atlantic Peak just a short distance away. 

The down scramble was uneventful and the ascent to Atlantic was a simple walk up on large talus blocks. 

From the summit of Atlantic, the next objective is a loose and exposed class 5 traverse over 5 gendarmes to reach Fletcher Peak. Isaac was not feeling well and was having leg problems. He was shaky and that did not inspire confidence for me. I was not sure we should continue on. He scrambled down a short section of ridge and as I caught up to him, we had a discussion about how he was feeling and the conditions of the traverse. I have climbed quite a bit with Isaac, so I felt like I had a pretty good assessment of what he was feeling. 

Today, the risk was not worth the reward and we made the smart decision to turn back and descend off of Atlantic back to the car. It was the right decision as the clouds came in and the wind picked up even more. Isaac struggled on the descent because of his leg pain and I'm happy to have made the correct decision on this day. We will be back soon and will enjoy the entire traverse as a group!