The “Enchantment Enchainment” is a route proposed and completed in under 24 hours by Tyler Smallwood in 2019, based on influence from Peter Croft’s excellent traverse of this range. It is the only known way to climb 9 peaks of the Washington Bulgers 100 tallest list in a single day. Previously, such peakbagging endeavors were multi-day expeditions into the heart of the Enchantments, requiring a hard to acquire overnight permit. Note: As fastestknowntime.com seeks to support local permit systems, abiding the rules means in attempting this FKT you will not sleep inside of the permit zone at any point during your FKT attempt, regardless of your success or failure, without acquiring the permit through the lottery system. This link-up is the foremost exquisite display of some of the best climbing, terrain, ridge traversing, and views the Enchantments have to offer. Consider it fair warning that Tyler researched and rehearsed every element of this peak link-up before managing to put it all together in under 24 hours, car-to-car.
TL;DR Warning: This is not a casual trail run. It involves several pitches of 5.3-5.6 rock climbing, steep snow travel some parts of the year, and a great deal of loose 3rd and 4th class.
This route includes Mount Stuart which was described by Fred Beckey as "Without a rival as the crown peak in the central Cascades of Washington, Mount Stuart has been pronounced the single greatest mass of exposed granite in the United States...its northern and eastern faces are the alpine climax of the Wenatchee Mountains. They make a powerful impact on first sight...The mountaineering problems are magnified by the mountain's massive dimensions and its complexity." Excerpted from "Cascade Alpine Guide - Climbing and High Routes - Columbia River to Stevens Pass, Second Edition"
This may be the premier ultra-peakbagging experience in Washington State, at least that doesn’t have climbing harder than 5.7.
As a peakbagging link-up, rather than a trail loop, the spirit of this route is to start and finish at Stuart Lake Trailhead, making a loop tagging the 9 tallest summits of the area (each peak links to route descriptions):
- Stuart,
- Sherpa,
- Argonaut,
- Colchuck,
- Dragontail,
- Little Annapurna,
- McClellan,
- Enchantment, and
- Cannon.
(Peak order and route is up to the attempter, conscientiousness regarding any delicate alpine flora is encouraged, and researching and rehearsing 5th class terrain highly encouraged. The West Ridge of Stuart alone has benighted many onsight attempts.)
Looking at photos of the terrain one realizes this traverse linking 9 of the tallest peaks of the Enchantments is not for the faint of heart. (more here). This area is full of slow moving, high consequence terrain.
Read Tyler Smallwood’s own write up here where he completed this effort in 23hrs 35min. See his CalTopo here
~submitted by Jason Hardrath (STRAVA, IG or FB) -with a huge nod to Tyler for showing us what is possible out here-
