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Steve and I climbed the Keyhole Ridge yesterday, which was a nice outing. Nice, that is, until the descent. We met a mid-mannered fellow on the summit who offered to join ropes with us to simplify the rappel down the north face. On the way down he mentioned he was going to descend via "The Camel" off Mt. Lady Washington because he hated Granite Pass so much. We, too, hated Granite Pass so we decided to try out this Camel thing.
I asked if the Camel might save time or mileage, but never got a straight answer out of him. I assumed he hadn't heard my questions over the wind. He took off while we chilled at Chasm View.
As we soon learned, the Camel is about a million vertical feet of large, loose boulders interspersed with scree and the occasional patch of grass. As far as we can tell, there is no major saving of time and certainly not of energy. It was definitely the slowest and most dangerous part of our day.
The Camel from Chasm View:
I think the Camel is mainly for Diamond climbers going back to Chasm Lake to get stashed gear. I see no other use for it, personally.
Just a note for folks out there considering it as an alternative to the trail. Granite Pass may be tedious, but the Camel sucks.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
The Camel is the loosest, nastiest couloir I‘ve ever had the bad sense to descend. If there were a tight spring snow cover in it and Chasm Lake was frozen it would in deed be a very nice shortcut option to Granite Pass. In dry conditions I do not recommend it.
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