Gothic Basin is a popular place for a reason. It is a high bowl dotted with lakes – the crown jewel of which is Foggy Lake – and surrounded by the rugged peaks of the Mountain Loop. Our goal was to get up there before the crowds of mid-summer to do some camping and peakbagging.
Fern and I got a relaxed start in the early afternoon and before long were hoofing it up the steep hillside toward the basin. The creek crossings, which can have some sketchy snow bridges in the early season were melted out, so we made good progress. Before long we were entering the basin, which was all filled in with snow still. The previous times I had been there were later in the summer, so it was interesting seeing it from a different perspective.
We trudged up the snow to a flat area above Foggy Lake and below Gothic Peak. Here we got camp all set up, putting the tent directly on the snow, by about 5:00 pm. It was a crystal-clear day and we were the only ones around, so excitement was high as we packed up to catch sunset on top of Gothic Peak.
The climb of Gothic Peak was straight forward, we just ascended the snow slope above camp before reaching the summit rocks. From there, a few class 3 moves (one that was kind of awkward getting around a small tree) brought us up to the summit!
The summit was the perfect place to relax for a bit. We had brought our dinners and fuel up, so we took the time to cook and eat as we waited for the sun to set. This was the first time we had every done this, but I had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last.
Sunset that night was spectacular. The light was hitting Del Campo and the other peaks around us just perfectly. There were also these beautiful, misty clouds swirling in front of Vesper, Three Fingers, etc that were lit up in golden light. Sunsets like this in the alpine just never get old for me!
We decided to get down off the class 3 bit before it got tooo dark, so after savoring every last bit of the sunset we downclimbed and were soon boot-skiing back to our tent after a great day.
I had planned to get up relatively early the next morning and was woken up naturally at around 5:45 am. I stepped outside to pee and felt the warm sunshine starting to flood the basin. I stayed up enjoying the peaceful scenery but before long was starting to feel a little sleepy again. I couldn’t resist the temptation to crawl back into my sleeping bag, that was now being warmed by the sun. I got back into the tent and BOOM next thing I knew it was 10:45 am. What an epic nap, and needless to say, Fern and I were both quite well rested at that point. It was downright hot in our tent!
We got up, only slightly ashamed of ourselves and our extremely un-alpine start and got moving towards Del Campo around noon. In order to climb Del Campo, we would need to descend all the way back down to Foggy Lake before starting up around the east side of the lake. It wouldn’t make sense for us to climb all the way back up to our camp after, so we packed up and brought all of our gear down to the lake. We found a good patch of trees to stash our stuff under and then took only day packs up to the peak.
It was both a blessing and a curse to have such plentiful snow cover on the slope up to the scramble. Later in the summer, this can be a bit of an annoying boulder field, so it was nice to have it all covered. Because of our ultra late start and the fact that we were ascending in the heat of the day, however, the snow was softening rapidly and becoming sloppy as the slope steepened. Because of this, we ascended the last few hundred yards in the moat between the snow and rock. I’m not sure if this was any better than just sticking with the snow, because there were some tricky parts in the moat, but for some reason it felt more secure than the sloppy, melty snow.
After the excitement of the moat, we began the scramble up. I would say it is appropriately rated as class 3. It would be pretty easy to stray off into more difficult terrain, but as long as you keep your focus on your route-finding it is not bad. I found the scrambling to be quite fun and secure, with a bit of exposure to add to the excitement. Before long we were topping out...it was quite the view back down into the basin far below.
We took our time at the top and even tried to summit nap, despite our plentiful sleep the night before. It was around 2 pm now, and we didn't want to be home too late, so we reversed course down the scramble part. Once we reached the snow, we just opted to boot ski it, which was fun and easy and made for a quick way down. Turns out we probably should have just stuck to snow on the way up, but oh well. Once back down at the lake, we took a frigid plunge into one of the only un-frozen spots. It was bone-chillingly cold, but honestly felt great on such a hot day.
After that it was back to our stuff and time to hike out. It felt weird to hit dirt trail after so much time on snow, and soon we were cruising back into the trailhead.
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