Enchantment Lakes, Colchuck Lake, Snow Lakes

To accomplish an Enchantment Lakes through-hike, Duane and I left Seattle at 3:30 a.m., dropped off a car at the Snow Lakes trailhead, and were on the trail at Mountaineer Creek by 6:30.

With sunrise at 7:12 and sunset at 6:27, we would have less than 12 hours of daylight. The NOAA forecasts made it clear that temperatures would be below freezing for most of our day. The NOAA forecast (given for 8236 feet) was a high of 28 degrees and a low of 14. Our plan included a summit of Little Annapurna at 8440'.

We used our headlamps for only 20 minutes or so. The day dawned with thin white clouds lifting and blue sky visible in the distance.

When we arrived at Colchuck Lake at 7:45, the clouds were still not totally lifted, but some blue sky was visible. There was small amount of snow around the lake, especially at the south end, making the shoreline particularly beautiful. Many of the larches still had a greenish cast to them, but some were already golden.

The ascent to Aasgard Pass was mostly snow-free at the bottom. The creek was partially frozen, and there were numerous puddles of solid ice. Some rocks had ice on them also, so it required a bit of caution. Patchy snow cover began while we were still below the rock buttress. About halfway up, the sun appeared over Aasgard Pass and illuminated the beautiful surroundings. But it lasted only a brief few seconds, and despite the forecast of "Sunny", we would not see it again.

The last 150 feet of vertical featured some picturesque frozen waterfalls above the trail and treacherous ice on the trail. The only way to negotiate the ice was to locate and step on rocks that did not have black ice on them. Even so, there was one narrow chute that offered no footing. I straddled the chute and used both hands to grip dry boulders above. Even a light dusting of snow over this section will hide the un-iced rocks that offer safe footing, making this an extremely dangerous area.

The ascent took us a full 2 hours. Atop Aasgard Pass, a frigid wind was blowing, as expected. But the cloud layer had settled in over the peaks, hiding the top of Dragontail for the rest of the day. As we walked through the upper basin, we debated whether to summit Little Annapurna. Clouds drifted in and out, sometimes obscuring its summit and even that of Prusik Peak. We decided to start up the peak while monitoring the weather. Because it was already 11:30, we knew that a summit attempt meant finishing our hike by headlamp. We continued up. At the top, we enjoyed excellent views of the Flagpole Needles. But views to the north and east, Brisingamen Lakelets and Snow Lakes, were muted by wispy clouds.

A hiker we encountered heading down from Aasgard Pass had warned us that there was only one other tricky section to negotiate: the chute descending to Inspiration Lake. By careful choice of rocks to step on, we were able to avoid slipping on the ice in that chute. Snow and ice would not be a problem from here on out.

At this point, we tried to pick up the pace, anxious to get down to at least Snow Lake before daylight waned. But the colorful larches were numerous around Perfection Lake. We kept stopping to take more pictures, and drink in the beauty. Together, we would take 375 photos before the day was over.

Upper Snow Lake was quite a spectacle. Because the dam at the outlet had been repaired in September, the lake had been drained to an unprecedented level. I was expecting to see a new dam, but it was the same old dam with fresh patches of concrete, and a new trash rack to hopefully prevent clogging.

We left the dam at 6:22, five minutes before official sunset. There was enough ambient light that we made it through the talus to Nada Lake and beyond before getting out our headlamps again.

The rest of the journey was just a slog. Even though the forecast was for a low of 22 degrees at 2000 feet of elevation, we were comfortable walking a fast pace. For the last two miles, we could see cars driving along Icicle Creek road. We couldn't tell for sure in the darkness, but it appeared that some of them were entering the Snow Lakes trailhead parking lot late at night.

At almost 9:00 p.m., with just a few hundred yards to go, we met a pair of guys hiking up the trail by headlamp. I noticed that their packs were small, but it didn't make sense until a couple minutes later when we met two more hikers, wheeling a rescue gurney. They had gotten a report of an injured climber at Snow Creek Wall, 2 miles in. Snow Creek is between the Wall and the trail, so if the injured climber saw us and shouted out, the sound of the creek must have drowned him out. We never heard or saw anything to alert us.

Update: The Wenatchee World reported on Saturday that the fallen climber was in stable condition after a "technical rescue that required ropes".