Picket Range
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The most rugged terrain of the North Cascades, Washington
Table of Contents for this page
Intro
Because of its rugged terrain, the Picket Range has remained the wildest and most unexplored region in the North Cascades. Its isolated brushy valleys, jagged ridges, long and steep climbs on mixed terrain, and variable conditions present an array of mountaineering challenges and spectacular scenery. It is the challenge and ruggedness that are the essence of the Pickets, and keep me coming back time and time again.
This page describes the various summits and routes in the Pickets, details approach routes, gives tantalizing photos, and provides links to my trip reports for my many adventures in the Pickets (these trip reports can also be accessed via the sidebar to the left).
On this page, sections are color-coded by: green for Northern Pickets, blue for Southern Pickets, and grey for both ranges. The formatting is a hybrid from my discontinued Classic googlesite to the New googlesite. Someday I plan to fully re-work the page to be in the formatting of the New googlesite.
A lot of this material is the same as the summitpost.org Pickets page, which was co-authored by Michael Stanton and myself. Although I try to keep both pages consistent, this page on my website is updated more frequently than the one on summitpost.
The super-spiffy maps and profiles on this page are by Mark Thomas. Thanks Mark!
Disclaimer: Due to the rugged and committing nature of the Picket Range, they are a place for experienced and confident alpinists. The Pickets not a good place to start off your mountaineering career.
Quick links to maps/profile images on this page
(click on images to enlarge)
1. The Northern Pickets and the Southern Pickets
The Pickets can be divided into a southern half and a northern half. The panorama below—taken from the summit of Bacon Peak in the North Cascades—captures the entire range, with the Northern Pickets on the left and Southern on the right. The major summits in each range are listed in this section.
Northern Pickets
The Northern Pickets form a "C", with Mount Challenger and its large glacier in the north, sweeping down on a continuous ridge to the south and then east to Mount Fury, and then Luna Peak as the eastern terminus. While the Northern Pickets are not as jagged as their Southern counterparts, they are perhaps even more difficult to access and equally rugged to surmount.
From east to west:
1. Luna Peak (8311 ft) *
2. Mount Fury (8280 ft) *
3. Swiss Peak (7988 ft) *
4. Phantom Peak (8000 ft)
5. Ghost Peak (8000 ft)
6. Crooked Thumb (8124 ft)
7. Mount Challenger (8207 ft) **
(*= climbed by Steph)
Southern Pickets
The Southern Range is noted for slender spires of rock rising above small glaciers on the southern slopes, and is visible from the North Cascades visitor center in Newhalem. The northern walls of the Southern Range are truly awe-inspiring. The basin defined by these walls is one of the most remote places in the continental U.S.
From east to west:
8. West McMillan Spire (8000 ft) *
9. East McMillan Spire and Little Mac Spire (7992 ft)
10. Inspiration Peak (7880 ft) **
11. The Pyramid (7920 ft) *
12. Mount Degenhardt (8000 ft) *
13. The Chopping Block (aka Pinnacle Peak) (6819 ft) *
14. Mt. Terror (8151 ft) **
15. The Rake (The Blob) (7840 ft)
16. Twin Needles (7936 ft) *
17. Himmelgeister*horn (7880 ft)
18. Ottohorn (7840 ft)
19. Frenzel Spitz (7440 ft)
(*= climbed by Steph)
(*Most people know this elusive Pickets summit by Himmelhorn—German for "Horn of the sky"—but it was originally named Himmelgeisterhorn—"Horn of the Sky Spirit"; so shortening the name literally takes the spirit of the name away!)
2. The classic climbs
3. Approaches
3.1. Northern Pickets
3.2. Southern Pickets
4. Some Popular Traverse Options
Once you have done the hard work of getting into the Pickets, it is time to enjoy some high alpine traversing and climbing. Any pairing of the approach routes discussed in the previous section is possible. For all but the Easy Ridge approach, the trailheads are only miles apart and a loop trip can be done with a short car plant or hitchhike.
Primary resources for climbs and traverses in the Pickets are the Cascade Alpine Guide Volume 3 and Tabor and Crowder's Routes and Rocks in the Mt. Challenger Quadrangle. There are countless options for an adventure in the Pickets, involving any permutation of approach route, summits en route, ridge traverses, exploration days, exit routes, etc. Almost any trip you can think of is doable, but whether it is enjoyable and safe depends on your personal enjoyment of masochism and your experience. Take a look at the maps in this section to get some ideas of ways you can link different route lines. Below I will mention some of the more popular and/or aesthetic cross-country traverse options in the Pickets. While most can be done in either direction, I have described them in the direction that in my opinion offers the best views and climbs and up-down terrain along the way.
The section after this details a couple of the main traverse cruxes in the Pickets.
4.1. Traverses in the Northern Pickets
4.2. Traverses in the Southern Pickets
4.3. Traverses linking the Northern and Southern Pickets
5. Traverse "Cruxes" and Common Questions
6. Camping
7. Weather
8. Steph's Adventures in the Pickets
9. "Picketed"
...two climbers were bushwhacking out of the Pickets and got separated in the green hell of the descent. The first climber stumbled out onto the Big Beaver trail and waited half of a day for his buddy. At long last he was spotted, stumbling packless out of the brush. "Hey, where the F^&% is your pack?" "F&^* that stuff (tent, rope, ice ax, crampons...)," he replied. "I ditched it!"
Based on a true story. I was there.
10. Aerial Photos (and Video)
I've had the amazing opportunity to fly over the Pickets on several occasions, with pilot and aerial photographer John Scurlock. To see some of these aerial photographs of the Pickets (as well as other summits in the North Cascades) go to my aerial photography page.
Below is a 4-min video clip of flying over the magical wintery Picket Range in February 2013. (Soundtrack: Our Shangri-La, Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris, All The Road Running, live version.)