Grand trip to Rambler Peak last week. Saw only one couple in 3 days from the junction with Landslide Lake - (take heart if you fear the wilderness is being over-run.) We did the so-called spiral staircase route - named because it starts from camp on the west side of the peak just north of Elk Pass, makes its way over the south shoulder to the lower east gully, then trends across the glacier and rock to the upper north east gully. Direttissimo it is not. Lack of snow made it more scrambly than many reports suggest, and turned the gullies into potential bowling allies.
Summit views are incredible in every direction. We stayed too long and ended up doing the last raps in the lower gully in the dark. When a head light failed and the moon set, we bivvied on the south shoulder before picking our way through the rocks back to the pass at first light. A full day!
Erich Schellhammer and Catrin Brown
up from Elk Pass - not a patch of snow in sight
How many IQ peaks can you see?
We were glad we were only 2 as it made it easier to control the line of fire of rockfall