Picket Fence Traverse (attempt)

On July 8th at 1:20am, Felipe Guarderas and I began walking up the Goodell Creek drainage with the intention of traversing across the Picket Fence skyline. We ended up climbing just a few peaks shy of the “proper” traverse but had a wonderful time moving through a ton of incredible terrain and we are very content with our execution and style of the traverse. By the time we began to walk out, we had already begun to scheme when our next trip into the range will be. 

Above treeline in Goodell Creek.

We had about 56 hours of high pressure and we knew that the traverse would be an uphill battle to complete before the rain arrived. We opted to climb in a stripped down, lightweight style carrying a small bivy kit and tarp to maximize our ability to move in the terrain. We carried two dinners and two breakfasts just in case we would need to bivy a second night and we both carried about 3000 calories/person per day. 

We had a rack and a half of cams, aluminum semi auto crampons, 70m 8.5mm rope and shared a single Petzl gully. We both had 40L packs and carried a small puffy, vest, wind jacket and hardshell rain jacket. We hoped that we wouldn’t have to deal with any rain but wanted to be prepared if the weather arrived a bit early. 

The approach went smooth with lots of snow above 6000’ and we arrived at the base of Little Mac at 7:30am. We enjoyed a long break on the warm rock and attempted to dry out our approach shoes and socks from the long snowy walk above the treeline. 

We scrambled the exposed heather ledges to the base of the 5th class climbing on Little Mac and then launched up into the 5.7 terrain above. After a bit of terrain confusion, my pace started to increase and I began to find the flow through the exposed face climbing on the upper panel of Little Mac. We continued climbing up to the summit and continued up and over the three Macmillan spires. 

Soloing to the base of Little Mac's 5th class climbing.

I had attempted the traverse last August with Dan May, and we had made it to the backside of Terror before pulling the plug and retracing our steps back over the East Face and down into Crescent Creek Basin. This go around I felt more familiar with the terrain and moved a bit quicker through some of the confusing 5th class that Dan and I struggled to read last year.

Climbing East Mac.

On top of East Mac.

We continued simuling and soloing across the skyline until we reached the base of East Tower #5, where we broke the rope out and Felipe fired the stiff 5.8 pitch to the summit. We rapped into the familiar gully of Inspiration Peak and soon after found ourselves at the base of the East Face of Inspiration. 

P1 East Face, Inspiration Peak.

Felipe led up the impeccable pitches on the East Face of Inspiration before we rappelled down to the Inspiration-Pyramid Col and continued racing towards our hopeful bivy at the base of Mount Terror. 

Inspirations impeccable P2.

Pyramid and Degenhardt went quickly and we reached the base of Terror at around 7pm. Tired but very psyched on all the terrain we had travelled. There were minimal bivy options and the wind had increased throughout the day out of the south. 

Pyramid Peaks 5.8 chimney

Instead of enduring a lumpy dirt bivouac in the wind, we opted to utilize a large snow moat beside a large boulder that marks the start of the East Face of Mount Terror. We spent an hour kicking in a suitable flat spot large enough for the both of us and settled into a heavy night of sleep before an early wake up the next day. 

Our snow moat bivy below the East Face of Terror.

We awoke at 3:30am and were well into our first simul block when the sun began to paint the east face at around 5am. We continued up and over Terror, onto the Rake’s extensive ridgeline and over the Blob and the Blip. 

On top of Terror on Day 2

Rappelling off of the Rake.

East Twin Needle.

One of the highlight pitches of the traverse was the knife edge ridge climbing of the East Twin Needle. It was a superb pitch of climbing in a very wild position. We hit the summit of East Twin Needle right around noon and the increase in winds made it obvious that a low pressure system was on its way. 

Himmelhorns 5.10 pitch.

P2 of Himmelhorn.

Himmelhorn.

We reached the base of the Himmelhorn at 1:45pm and Felipe hiked the crux pitch of the traverse in good time. One more pitch brought us to the top of the Himmelhorn and we high fived and kept moving over to the rappels. Six total rappels brought us to the Himmel-Otto Col and by then it was about 3:30pm and fairly windy. With the Ottohorn and Frenzelspitz still ahead of us, we discussd the pros and cons of traversing the ominous choss gully over to Frenzelspitz, climbing the last peak and then retracing our steps. It seemed as though the loose terrain would eat up a ton of time and with inclement weather on the horizon it seemed like a death march out of Stump Hollow would be inevitable if we choose to complete the traverse by the book. 

On top of West Twin Needle.

On top of the Ottohorn.

Instead, we left our gear at the Himmel-Otto Col, soloed the Ottohorn and then descended back to the col. We felt okay with our decision to leave out Frenzelspitz and began our long descent back down to the car. 

Himmel-Otto Col.

One overhanging rappel brought us to snow in the gully and we moved quickly down to the heather benches of the Crescent Creek Drainage. We hit the Barrier Col at 7pm and were able to quickly find the trail down into Stump Hollow. 

Goats at the Barrier Col.

I stupidly got us lost as we began our last descent to Terror Creek and we spent the next few hours making slow progress bushwacking down to Terror Creek, across the river and back up to the Goodell Creek Trail we had approached on. 

By the time we both reached the cars it was 1am on July 9th. Just under 48 hours since we began walking uphill. 

Although we didn’t complete the full traverse, we are content with our style and timing. At around 7am, it began to rain down in Newhalem and we were psyched to be sleeping in our cars rather than high up in the mountains. We also figure this likely won’t be the last time we’ll be in the Pickets and it’s nice to have a few peaks to come back to…

A huge thanks is in order for Wayne Wallace, Mark Bunker and Colin Haley for their initial vision for the traverse and to Jeff and Priti Wright who’s beta was invaluable throughout the trip. Additionally, Jens Holsten, Sol Werkin, Chad Kellogg and Dan Hilden’s vision for a full enchainment of the Picket Range inspired us immensely and we are pretty mind blown at what those guys were able to do over 8 days!

Gear Notes:

• 70m 8.5mm rope

• Singles .2-3, Doubles .4-2, Small Rack of Stoppers

• 6x Single Length Slings, 4x Double Length Slings, 2x UL Quickdraws

• Aluminum Crampons & Shared Petzl Gully

• Windburner Stove + 2x 4oz fuel cans (only used one)

• Rab SilTarp 2

• Small Repair Kit: Repair Tape, Ductape, 30’ 3mm cord, 3x AAA batteries, bundle of bailing wire

• 2x 2L Soft Flasks

• Feathered Friends Tanager 20

• Thermarest NeoAir

• Small Portable Battery, Inreach, Headlamp and chargers

Approach Notes:

• Up Goodell Creek, down Stump Hollow (don’t get lost like us!)