Index Climbing and Lake Serene

Published on 2004-4-18 by Michael Stanton

Index/Lake Serene, April 18, 2004

I hadn't been out in a while. I went to the Lower Town Wall and quickly soloed the first two pitches of "Great Northern Slab." It started to rain, so I rappelled down instead of climbing the last pitch. Next I went to the Lake Serene trailhead, and made the hike up to the Lake. There were still good local views, but the rain increased steadily. I took the old trail, amazed at how icy-slick the roots and logs become in the rain. Walking through a bit of snow at the top, I reached the lake then accidentally poured Gatorade all over my pack. I thought I put the cap back on. The Norwegian Buttresses looked pretty amazing, what a great and horrible climb they would make! On the way down I wished for a rain jacket, or maybe crampons for the icy logs. It took me 35 minutes on the climb, then 2.5 hours for the hike up and back. A great afternoon was had!