| After screwing around on the traverse I made it into the gulley
below the pass. Of course I had reached the dreaded rubble pile of scree
and thankfully it was not as slow going as I would have thought (making
my traverse the slower choice).
The rubble pile to acquire the pass above Eagle
Lake
Towards the top there was a hundred or more feet of iced over snow
filling most of the gulley. With no ice axe or crampons one would easily
become a human bobsled, so I picked my way around it on the rocks.
Iced over pass anyone?
At least the ice filled pass gave me something more to think about
than the endless scree. At the top my thoughts returned to my water
supply, so I chopped away the first few ugly layers of the snowy ice and
filled a zip lock bag full of the stuff as an ad hoc supply of water if
I were to run out later. After that small feat of needless anxiety, I
stood up and took in the beautiful but smoky views above Eagle Lake.
Eagle Lake from atop the pass
As I turned around to see what was south of the pass, the first thing
I noticed were the old weather beaten Juniper trees (at least I think
they are Junipers?). I also anticipated being able to see White Chief
Peak but instead I found a relatively flat terrain.
A weather beaten Juniper graces the top of the pass
Looking south-west to the valley that Horse Creek flows down, I could
faintly see Homers Nose thru the smoke. I continued to asses my
surroundings to make sure what I observed lined up correctly with my
map.
Viewing the valley to the south-west and apparently
Homers Nose (upper right)
From the map it was evident that there was an unnamed peak just
south-east of Eagle Lake. So I made the walk around that obvious peak to
look for White Chief. While doing so I noticed a couple of unnamed lakes. At this point these
lakes looked really inviting and I was tempted to forego White Chief for
a cool bath instead.
Unnamed Lakes below White Chief Peak
Somehow I couldn't muster the energy to walk down to the lakes
knowing I'd have to come all the way back up, so I decided the back
country alfresco dip would have to wait. Instead I found a cool spot to
re-examine the map - where is that elusive White Chief hiding? Well,
navigation 101 tells me to find a land mark I am certain of - so I
meandered up the the ridge and looked over to find White Chief Lake.
There was no mistaking it as a landmark.
White Chief Lake and the valley below
That's when it occurred to me that I was nearly on top of White Chief
Peak. After all, it is named White Chief "Peak". From the south it
should be named White Chief "Pile of Rocks". It is unremarkable to say
the least. It is so unremarkable it is hard to discern which pile of
rocks is "the" peak.
Looking at White Chief from the ridge to the west
I spent a solid thirty minutes wandering back and forth among the
three high points on the ridge looking for any evidence to validate
which is "the" White Chief Peak. I never did find anything - no summit
register, no USGS maker, nothing. So instead I used my altimeter to
determine which is the highest point ASL and concluded that was White
Chief.
A photo looking straight down from atop "the" White
Chief Peak
|
