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Link to Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/txNPAsAmu7CUeUdi7

Route Description

This climb was scheduled for 5/16/2025, but there was concern about access to the trailhead because of snow on the road.  It was rescheduled for a few weekends later. 

Our original planned departure was 6am, but we received information from friends/Chemeketans who climbed the day and week before us, so it changed to 4am!  Ugh. We started at 3:58am on Saturday morning.  A perk was that we had cool temperatures to begin our hike.  This didn’t completely make up for the two hours of lost sleep, but it was a good decision.  A self-issued wilderness permit is usually required but none were available at the trailhead.  The first three miles on the PCT heading south have minimum incline, so we were able to complete them faster than the rest of the way up. There were downed trees that we had to step over and go around. Thankfully only one to go under. 

We hit a couple of patches of snow before we turned off the PCT.  At the junction for the climbers’ trail, we took a break and changed into boots, then started to hike southeasterly to the base of the NW face.  From the turn off, we had more consistent snow.  Once we started gaining more elevation, we put on crampons and put our ice axes in hand.  The conditions were soft enough to be able to kick in decent steps, even on the 78 degree slope!  Okay, not 78 degrees but that’s what an iPhone calculated.  We guessed it may have been as much as 45 degrees for a short section. Once the snow ran out, crampons came off and confident footing to the notch was hard to find on the crumbly rock and scree.  We stepped carefully to avoid kicking down rocks.

At the notch (base of the summit block), we put on harnesses to begin our rock climbing.  The usual climb includes three pitches to the summit and three rappels back to the notch.  We took on the usual first pitch.  Shonee let me lead.  He belayed me.  After placing a sling around a boulder and a couple of cams along the way, a boulder with webbing was used for the fixed line’s anchor.  We scrambled the middle section. Where some go left, we went right and ended up at a wall that was a bit steeper than what we were comfortable scrambling.  I again was allowed to lead.  John belayed me on this section.  A cam and a couple of slings later, I was at the summit, and the rest of the team followed on Prussiks on the fixed line. 

Our team reached the summit around 10:50am, and we had the summit to ourselves.  We stayed there a good bit to rest, take in the splendid vistas, and grab a summit selfie.  We had clear skies, warm weather, and views of the surrounding mountains.  We did three rappels to get back to the notch, where we left our large packs. We removed some old webbing that was worn and put some new webbing around boulders for extra security before rappelling. 

From the notch, for a short distance, we had to deal with the loose footing again.  Once we hit snow, John and Ping were ready to glissade and glissade they did!  776’ dropped in seconds.  Shonee wasn’t far behind them when he ran down the mountain.  At that point, it had heated up.  We were all eager to get back to the PCT junction to grab shoes that some left behind and get back to that easier trail.  When we got there, we didn’t stay long, because the mosquitos began to feast.  We made it back to the trailhead about 13 hours after we set off. 

Woohoo to Patrick, Kim, and Ping. It was their first time summiting this mountain.

Congrats, team, and thanks for a great climb! 

And thanks to Shonee for letting me fill out summit certificates. Highlight of the day

(after getting up for a 4am start!  J).

Gear Used

60m ropes x2

Alpine draws, slings, cams

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