02.07.2017
Spent the night around the hut and started hiking around 6:15am myself and 3 others tried to keep the high ground from the lower lake to the upper lake in an effort to keep our feet dry after the posthole fest the day before getting to the lake but it made no difference our feet were meant to be wet. After making it to the second lake we spotted a route up a heather ramp that lead to some bushes and a mini boulder field with a perfectly placed water source. We made our way up trending to climbers left when possible until we found a gully that was melted enough to avoid the snow. We topped out at the south eastern ridge and followed the ridge on the west side until we met up with the proper route up. At the summit I tried twice to touch the top of the Gandalf summit flake but the exposure on the east side was just to much to overcome and I chickened out both times, so I scouted the ridge to Aragorn and it was in perfect condition. I asked my friends if anyone wanted to join but they decided to stay behind and wait so off I went with the goal of being back in an hour. Once getting to the summit of Aragorn I was met with 5 people 3 of them who had followed us up our experimental route and were not too keen on taking it down, I dont blame them I wasn't either. Two others arrived as well but they started in the upper bowl between Shadowfax and Aragorn and went east around the lake and the glacier which is a route I wanted always wanted to take but I had friends waiting on Gandalf. After some hijinx trying the get on Aragorns summit boulder I retreated back to Gandalf where my friends had to wait an hour and five minutes for me, it was now 11:15 and we started our way down. Our team split up here where myself and one friend took the proper trail down the west ridge while the other two took a variation of our route up and we met at the upper lake around the same time, meaning you can take the short cut but it really doesn't save that much time with the added difficulties. We made our way back to camp and had some late lunch I noticed the group of three had made there way back to camp I assume they followed the route of the other groups ascent so the eastern ridge around Aragorn looks like a real good reason to return and explore this awesome area some more.
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