An alternate approach to N...

An alternate approach to N Early Winters Spire's S. face route is to rappel from the South Spire. Two 50-meter ropes will get you into the notch if you downclimb a bit first. On this Skagit Alpine Club mountaineering class outing in May of about 1980, I started from an anchor too high on the S Spire and found myself stranded on a small rock perch above the notch until those above could rig a second anchor and rappel. It could have been enjoyable in sunny weather, but we were in freezing fog and the rock was completely glazed with clear ice. Being stuck there ruined my day. I was still grumpy, eating lunch in Winthrop later. We're looking up from the notch here, as Derek Franzen rappels to join us.