2019 Trip Reports

The beginning of the hike was pretty standard as you go up the trail towards Snoqualmie Mountain. Things get challenging when you reach the boulder field and take the side trail towards Guye Peak. The trail fork is not very well-marked and there are no helpful cairns so definitely make sure you are comfortable with your navigation skills or you will get lost. This is the second time I've been on this trail and I have seen a couple lost hikers along the way. Having Gaia can help tremendously.

As you head towards Guye, the trail sometimes becomes clear. You will reach a pothole lake and go around it where you start seeing some large rocks. This is where the intense scrambling begins. You will pass some false peaks to get to the true peak of Guye. There is no real clear trail to the summit of Guye and there is a lot of exposure around the top. I did some class 3 and 4 scrambling to get to the summit and took my time as there was a lot of exposure. I'm not sure if I even went the correct way but it was definitely a fun challenge for sure.

I really enjoyed this scramble hike. It was short and filled with challenging terrain which made for a lovely quick workout. My advice is to have strong navigation skills, confidence with high exposure, experience with class 3-4 scrambling, and confidence to down climb some rock.

This was an incredible hike! I hiked with a friend and we started from the Sunrise Mine trailhead after 9AM. The trail was fairly easy to follow in the beginning as it meandered through the forrest. There were four small water crossings that were passable but should not be taken lightly.

The trail opens up a little before a mile where you are greeted with views of large rocky slabs and epic peaks. You go through another small forested patch before entering the large basin. This is where route finding skills become important. There are many rock fields to cross with some helpful cairns along the way.

A little before 2 miles, you head Northwest towards a gully. There are several switchbacks up the gully but beware of loose rock! At the top of the gully, you see Vesper Peak for the first time. It stands out with its rocky summit. The trail is easy to follow with some rock field crossings along the way.

At around two and a half miles, you see Lake Elan. This area is so gorgeous and offers awesome spots for backpacking. At around three miles we entered the fields of granite. This is where route finding becomes important again. There were many sharp drops and potentially challenging scramble portions so it's crucial to be careful when approaching the summit.

We were greeted with gorgeous views at the summit. We saw Copper Lake, the glacier, and other cool peaks. On our way down, we got rained on but that didn't sour our spirits. I would definitely recommend to hikers to reconsider going on this trip if it is raining. The rock can be slippery and if you're not comfortable with that, you'll have a hard time.

I definitely enjoyed this trip and would definitely love to climb it again!

This was a scramble traverse trip with the Mountaineers. It was a long day with over 13 miles of travel, 5,976 feet of elevation gain, and 6,834 feet of elevation loss. Overall an incredible day!

We started our journey at 4AM at the Issaquah Transit Center. We drove in three cars to the Denny Creek trailhead and consolidated the group into two cars leaving one car behind. The two cars went to Alpental and we began our journey a little after 5:30AM.

The weather was clear and we enjoyed fantastic views throughout the trip. Everyone had an ice axe, helmet, and wore mountaineering boots for most of the trip. Many of us brought water filters and a liter water bottle to refill our water supply throughout the day.

Wright Mountain required no gear to reach the summit. We left our packs at Gem Lake and reached the summit with ease. After summiting Wright Mountain, we filtered water at Gem Lake. We switched into our mountaineering boots and wore helmets when we travelled to Mt. Roosevelt. This required route-finding skills as the trail wasn't very distinct.

Mt. Roosevelt was the most challenging of the three peaks we climbed that day. It was very steep and the rock was super loose, so it was essential to move methodically to prevent any potential harm. We used our ice axes to help us get up the heather to the summit. I carried a rope on my back just in case we needed a line down. We ended up not using it.

We continued to travel carefully to Chair Lake as we scrambled down a chossy gully. We dealt with plenty of loose rock here and made constant warning calls. Chair Lake was really nice and we were able to refill our water supply with ease.

Traveling from Chair Lake to Kaleetan Peak required snow travel around the lake and up another steep gully. We could hear a stream below the snow at the bottom of the gully but we experienced no post holing as we moved conservatively. We traversed through another choosy rock field past the gully towards the White Ledges of Kaleetan.

The White Ledges were super solid for scrambling. There was very little loose rock here and we only had helmets and our mountaineering boots for specific gear. The route up to the summit of Kaleetan was fairly straightforward and solid. There was exposure but I never felt unsafe. The summit views were gorgeous from Kaleetan. We down climbed with no issues and took the long way to Melakwa Lake which required more route-finding.

We reached the Denny Creek trailhead 16 hours later. I had a super amazing time doing it!

I did this trip with the Mountaineers and we included a traverse to Icy Peak which required route finding, glacier travel, crossing small crevasses, and an exposed class 4 scramble to the summit of Icy Peak.

We started our day by getting our permits from the ranger station around 8AM and leaving the trailhead around 9:30AM. Almost everyone in the group wore mountaineering boots to save on weight as we were traveling with heavy packs. The first four miles of the trail were smooth and in the shade which made for an excellent start to our day. We took a break at the pass which had a toilet. We had to go down around 200 feet below the pass to refill our water supply.

Beyond the pass is a muddy gully filled with loose rock and exposed, wet roots. It wasn't too bad to climb up but take your time! It's a steep gully that could be very hard to climb if there was recent rainfall.

The trail opens up to a smooth ridge with clear views of the North Cascades. There was no snow until we reached the base of Ruth Mountain. We decided to rope up with harnesses, crevasse rescue gear, ice axes and helmets, even though crevasses were minimal. Our group was 9 people and we divided ourselves into three rope teams. The snow was nice and stable and we reached the summit of Ruth with ease. We de-roped here and didn't use our ropes until the next day.

We descended past Ruth into a semi-loose rock field and passed a small snow field to our campsite. The views were spectacular from our campsite and we had an excellent view of our next objective; Ice Peak. We melted snow at our campsite to refill our water supply and went to bed early. The night was filled with wind but overall it was a clear night.

We woke up the next day around 3:30AM and started our trip to Icy around 4:30AM. We wore our helmets with headlamps. The first portion involved down-climbing a very steep gully with loose class 4 rock. We took our time here to make sure everyone got down safely. We then scrambled on the ridge of Icy peak past rocks and small snowfields.

Everyone roped up with harnesses, crevasse rescue gear, and ice axes when we reached the glacier. We ascended up to the saddle of Icy Peak and then reached the base of the summit block. One of the leaders lead the class 4 climb to the summit and placed a line. We traveled two at a time prusiking ourselves to the line when following up the summit. The views were spectacular and we had an amazing time.

The leaders took two 60m ropes and tied them together for a long rappel from the summit. We then went back to camp, packed up, and traveled back to our cars. The day was super long and there was plenty of ascending and descending throughout our journey but overall it was an amazing trip.

The views were spectacular as we saw so many peaks in the Cascades. We got super lucky with weather and had warm temperatures throughout our time out in the backcountry. This is an excellent trip for any new alpine climbers looking to get experience with glacier travel, route finding, and traversing.