Aasgard Pass
| Aasgard Pass | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Aasgard Pass, view from the northwest over Colchuck Lake |
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| Pass height | 2390 m | ||
| Chelan County , Washington | |||
| expansion | United States Forest Service Trail (non-maintained) | ||
| Mountains | Stuart Range ( Cascade Range ) | ||
| Map (Washington) | |||
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| Coordinates | 47 ° 28 '49 " N , 120 ° 49' 14" W | ||
The Aasgard Pass , officially known as Colchuck Pass , is a 7,841 ft (2,390 m) high mountain pass on the east side of the Cascade Range in Washington state , southwest of Leavenworth in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness . It's the shorter and steeper of two entrances to The Enchantments , one of Washington's most popular hiking areas. It separates Colchuck Lake (5,570 ft (1,698 m) high) in the northwest from the Upper Enchantment Basin (7,500 ft (about 2,300 m) high) in the southeast. The Aasgard Pass is located on the saddle between Dragontail Peak and the Enchantment Peaks .
Attempts to change the official name were rejected by the United States Board on Geographic Names in both 1967 and 1988 ; therefore the pass is still listed as the "Colchuck Pass" on the United States Geological Survey (USGS) maps . Mountaineers have long referred to it as the Aasgard Pass, a name also preferred by well-known climber and author Fred Beckey . The name was likely coined by Bill and Peggy Stark, who explored the Enchantments extensively in the mid-20th century, and many of those who were by AH Sylvester, a leading topographer on the U.S. Geological Survey of the Wenatchee National Forest and explorer of the area in the early 1900s, Replace assigned names with those from Nordic mythology. The US Board's naming rules from the 1960s came from a mix of both name sets that were officially recognized. The current policy of not allowing new names for geographical objects in wilderness areas will probably forever exclude the remaining names given by the Starks from official status.
Accidents and deaths
On 6 August 2010 walked and slid ( English glissading , a kind of controlled skidding) a 52-year-old with his son when he slipped and about 15 ft (5 m) in a waterfall on Aasgard Pass crashed. Stephen Grate led hikes in the Renton and Issaquah areas to teach the history of coal mining.
On July 3, 2011, a 21-year-old Pacific Lutheran University student named Julia A. Rutherford was sliding down Aasgard Pass with a group when she slipped and fell into running water in a crevasse. Officials believe that she fell into the water at 12:30 a.m. and likely didn't survive more than 20 minutes in the freezing temperatures.
On June 5, 2016, a 24-year-old named Qi He fell into a waterfall hole and died. Due to the snow cover, rescue workers were only able to recover his body a month after the accident. His family asked the authorities to put up warning notices at the entry points of the trails at Colchuck Lake and in the enchantments to prevent future accidents.
One such accident was repeated on June 5, 2017, in which 19-year-old Benjamin Gore from Mercer Island fell into the same waterfall hole, probably at 5 p.m. His body was only recovered on June 25th due to the blanket of snow and the fast flowing water.
In May 1998, Steve Smith, a mountaineering instructor, slipped into a waterfall under the blanket of snow; he started climbing and digging his way out and documented his experience online on The Mountaineers ' blog so others could learn from it.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Colchuck Pass ( English ) In: Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . Retrieved October 6, 2009.
- ↑ Green Trails, Inc. The Enchantments, WA - No 209S [map], 1997, 1: 44500, Special Series. Archived from the original on (September 24, 2010). Retrieved October 6, 2009.
- ^ Dean Radford: Keeper of Coal Mine History Dies Hiking near Leavenworth . In: Renton Reporter , August 10, 2010.
- ↑ A terrible events unfolded on Aasgard Pass ... . In: NW Hikers . August 7, 2010.
- ↑ In Memory of Stephen Michael Grate . In: Michael Grate . August 6, 2010.
- ↑ Loss of Control on Glissade . In: Alpina Americana . 2012.
- ↑ Rich Landers: Details on hiker's deadly slide into Alpine Lakes Wilderness . Retrieved March 4, 2018.
- ↑ Michelle Esteban: Family remembers son, lost at 24, in the snow of the Cascades . Retrieved March 4, 2018.
- ^ Mike Irwin: With snow melt, body found on Aasgard Pass . Retrieved March 4, 2018.
- ↑ Ellie Miao: Dead hiker's mom wants to help prevent future tragedies . Retrieved March 4, 2018.
- ↑ Associated Press: Body of Mercer Island teen who disappeared on pass recovered . Retrieved March 4, 2018.
- ↑ Evan Bush: Mercer Island man believed dead after fall through snow at Aasgard Pass . Retrieved March 4, 2018.
- ↑ Steven Smith: Lessons Learned - Glissading into a 30-foot Hole - Aasgard Pass . Retrieved February 7, 2019.
- ↑ Michelle Esteban: Hidden hazard: Backcountry hikers on snowfields . July 19, 2017. Retrieved February 7, 2019.