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  • Dominic, Dwight & Kevin backpack across frozen Willow Lake toward a suitable campimg spot. width:640;;height:360
  • After setting up camp we make our way to the bench above Willow Lake in late morning. width:640;;height:360
  • Trekking across the lake is much easier than postholing in the willow mess along its shore. width:640;;height:360
  • Columbia Point, Kit Carson Mountain and Challenger Point as seen from the top of Willow Falls. The sun is out in full force and it feels more like spring than winter. width:640;;height:304
  • Dominic picks a safe line toward Challenger Point's northwest ridge (right). The standard route (left of center) looks very uninviting due to steep, avalanche prone snow slopes. Plenty of old avalanche debris indicates that this is no face to be taking unnecessary chances on so we decide to explore the northwest ridge even though we don't know for sure if it'll go. width:640;;height:382
  • Dominic sticks to the rocks as there is a loaded gully just above and to his left. width:640;;height:360
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  • A bit of awkward scrambling is a welcome exchange for not having to mess with suspect snow slopes. width:640;;height:360
  • "Obstruction Peak" looks on from the head of the basin. width:270;;height:480
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  • Kit Carson Mountain as seen from the north face of Challenger Point. width:640;;height:360
  • Mount Adams and UN 13,580 width:640;;height:360
  • Kevin takes a snack break as we watch a helicopter explore the basin below. width:640;;height:360
  • Dominic and Dwight gain the northwest ridge. width:640;;height:360
  • Scrambling on the northwest ridge. width:640;;height:360
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  • The ridge soon turns into a little knife edge tower so we back off, drop several hundred feet, cross below a suspect snowfield on some comforting rocks, and make our way back up to the ridge. We could have dealt with the knife edge by enlisting our rope but its already late in the afternoon and time is of the essence. No time for rope work. width:640;;height:360
  • Our route back up to the ridge crest; easy but a bit loose. width:640;;height:360
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  • Looking back while climbing up to the ridge. We used the rocky line behind Dwight to cross the large snowfield. It was still a little intimidating. width:640;;height:360
  • The ridge steepens again so Kevin traverses its south side along a well cairned route. The runout is fairly unpleasant here. width:640;;height:360
  • Dwight follows the south side traverse. width:640;;height:360
  • Kevin and Dwight explore to one more notch before we all finally concede that pushing on is stupid and decide to retreat. We're only 0.4 miles from and 200 feet below the summit but the sun will be setting soon and techincal climbing in winter in the dark isn't exactly our cup of tea. There is still tomorrow... we cross our fingers that the weather will hold. width:640;;height:360
  • Crossing the snowfield detour along the northwest ridge. There are rocks poking out here but the slopes immediately above are scary. width:640;;height:360
  • Mount Adams lights up at sunset as we descend Challenger Point's north face. width:640;;height:360
  • Sunset on UN 13,546 and Mount Adams. width:640;;height:360
  • Kit Carson & Challenger Point at the start of attempt number two. width:640;;height:360
  • Challenger Point's north face gets some early morning sun. width:640;;height:360
  • We had a feeling our ridge route would pan out with some strongarming but because of its unknown difficulty we decided to try an alternate route (shown in red). Ken says this is the 3rd class "old standard route". The route we explored on our first attempt is shown in blue. The current standard route goes up the wide gully system right of the red line. width:640;;height:360
  • Starting up the rib. The standard route is to our right. To get to this rib we had to cross one suspect snowfield with a bad runout. This exposed section was only 10 - 15 feet wide though. width:640;;height:360
  • The rib steepens considerably. width:270;;height:480
  • We break out the rope and Dominic leads up a snowy, slabby 4th class stretch. I suspect there is easier terrain buried under snow immediately to our left. width:270;;height:480
  • The terrain is pretty easy so Kevin and I climb simultaneously tied in about 10 feet apart. width:640;;height:360
  • Dominic belays Kevin and I from easier terrain above. width:640;;height:360
  • The angle relents some and we continue up the rib unroped. width:640;;height:360
  • Kevin topping out on the summit ridge. My GPS indicates we're only 0.13 miles from our previous turnaround point. width:640;;height:350
  • Kevin hiking along Challenger Point's summit ridge. width:640;;height:360
  • Kevin and Dominic nearing the summit of Challenger Point. width:640;;height:360
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  • Challenger's southwest ridge. John Prater and Bill Wright are down there! You can see one person on the ridge a bit left of center. width:640;;height:360
  • Kit Carson Mountain and Crestone Peak from the summit of Challenger Point. width:640;;height:360
  • Summit plaque and view toward the Sierra Blanca. width:640;;height:360
  • We decide to further investigate the northwest ridge as a possible descent route. Near where the standard route meets the ridge we bypass a notch on the south side. width:640;;height:387
  • Dominic scopes out a notch along the narrowing ridge while on belay. width:640;;height:360
  • We rig a rappel anchor, do a very small rap into a small, exposed notch, climb a little tower while self belaying on rappel, drape the rope over a shallow groove, and do a second short stage of rappelling before climbing back up (self belayed) to the ridge on the other side. Sounds complicated but it was pretty straightforward. Here Dominic is pictured on the intermediate little tower. width:640;;height:360
  • Dominic regains the ridge crest past the notch. width:640;;height:360
  • Kevin on the first stage of the rappel. width:640;;height:360
  • Dominic gives Kevin a fireman's belay as he prepares to scale the little tower. width:640;;height:360
  • Looking up at Dominic and the problematic notch from yesterday's turnaround point. width:640;;height:360
  • Kevin descends from the ridge. Back on the chilly north face. width:640;;height:360
  • A peculiar cloud lingers above Challenger Point on the descent back to camp. width:640;;height:360
  • Nighttime festivities. width:640;;height:382
  • Dominic on Willow Lake Sunday morning. The weather has taken quite a turn and the peaks are all socked in. width:640;;height:360
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