Northeast Arete

From Elbow Lake hike up the creek on the east end of the lake to another small lake and meadows on the east side of the main Cowen massif (Eenie, Minnie, Miney and Moe). Continue up the meadows and grassy ledges to a pass which is descended on or next to a snowfield. A hidden gully starts a just below the snowfield, leading to a notch on the northeast ridge of Cowen. From this notch, cross another gully and start climbing up the arete. The arete is super fun 4th and low 5th class climbing, with a several 5.6 steps thrown in depending upon route finding. The route ends at the summit block which is gained by a 5.4 chimmney. We climbed the route in one long pitch followed by three simul pitches.

A light alpine rack is sufficient, lots of long slings.