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Friday, August 8, 2025
Old Snowy Mountain - via Snowgrass Flat, July 2024
The central feature of the Goat Rocks Wilderness is a rugged semi-circle crest of peaks that were once part of a much larger volcano, which went extinct some 2 million years ago. Of these, the most popular with the hiking community is Old Snowy, followed closely by the tallest peak in the range, Curtis Gilbert Peak. I climbed Curtis Gilbert back in the fall of 2004, making the most of the early season snow touring on skis/split up the Conrad and Meade glaciers en route to the summit, and enjoying a nice long descent back down! My previous attempt on Old Snowy, many moons ago and also as a ski tour, was stymied by navigational challenges which ultimately caused us to run out of time. Before the GPX era, we wandered in circles through the forest near Tieton Pass, struggling to navigate with a topo map. By the time we finally emerged from the trees into the 5000-foot creek basin north of peak PCT 7210, we simply didn't have enough daylight hours to continue and, more importantly, return through the disorienting forest in the dark. Our vehicle then got stuck in the snow on the drive home, adding insult to injury as we spent the next hour or so digging ourselves out!
I conveniently allowed myself to forget about the peak after that, until July 2024, when I decided that a hike to Old Snowy via the popular Snowgrass Flat Trail would complement my week of WA peakbagging quite nicely. Either that, or I still had "Snowgrass" on the brain after climbing a peak by that name immediately prior to Old Snowy! Whatever the case may be, I left Icicle Canyon, drove over Blewett Pass, enjoyed the Yakima Canyon views (photos 2-4), then headed west via White Pass, detouring around Rimrock Lake and stopping at Clear Creek Falls (photos 5-11) on my way to the trailhead. As I was doing this, I recalled the description written for Old Snowy in the Selected Climbs in the Cascades guidebook by Jim Nelson, which states, among other glowing remarks, that "Old Snowy symbolizes the kind of mountaineering that restores the soul and psyche...". Well, how could I ignore such a ringing endorsement!
I turned off Hwy 12 just south of Packwood and continued up to a charming little campground adjacent to Chambers Lake for the night. The following morning, I completed the short drive to the Snowgrass Trail trailhead and made my way through the forest, reaching Snowgrass Flat after about 9 kilometers of good trail. Now traveling over snow, the way forward was obvious, following others' tracks aiming for the craggy peaks directly ahead. As the final ascent follows Old Snowy's North Ridge, I made an ascending traverse leftwards over snow to eventually gain the crest of the western spur overlooking Packwood Glacier. I followed this over loose talus to the base of the North Ridge for the final easy scramble to the summit, where the outstanding view did not disappoint! It's obviously all about the volcanoes in these parts, chiefly Saint Helens, Adams, and Rainier, all of which surround the Goat Rocks Wilderness. Simply stunning!
I had read about a neat little arch feature located somewhere near the summit and so proceeded southeast along the summit ridge towards a saddle. Sure enough, there's a volcanic arch here! I've seen plenty of sandstone arches and bridges in the national parks of the southwestern US, but this must be my first lava arch! To return to the trailhead, I simply descended from the saddle down scree and snow to intersect my route from earlier, then back to the trail for a mind-numbing plod back to the van with my soul and psyche restored indeed!
Ladies Pass Quartet - Cape Horn, Ladies Peak, Snowgrass NE Peak, Snowgrass Mountain, July 2024
Couple previous trips into the Chiwaukum Range, always approached from the north and on skis/splitboard. First there was the so-called North Chiwaukum Tour with Todd B., an attempt on our primary objective, Big Chiwaukum stymied by weather up at Cup Lake before crossing over the crest at Deadhorse Pass, essentially cutting our loop short before making camp in a blizzard and hightailing it the next day. Then there was an attempt via the standard but interminably long Whitepine Creek Trail with Eric H., making a go for "Big Chiwi" from a camp somewhere along the trail several miles in. Uninspired by the surprisingly thin snow conditions, we deemed it not worth pursuing as the skiing down from the peak would have been marginal at best and instead entertained ourselves yo-yoing short pitches on the lower slopes before calling it a day. And finally, joined by a different Eric H., we enjoyed a ripper descent from Peak 6601 just northeast of North Chiwaukum Peak down an avalanche chute informally referred to as "The Swath". Having satisfied myself of all things "Chiwaukum", despite the shortcomings, I moved on to other things and forgot about these mountains...for a time.
Fast forward several years, and increasingly on the hunt for novel trail approaches to areas and peaks I've not yet visited, my search led me to the upper reaches of the Icicle Creek Valley. Here the Chatter Creek Trail is found, providing access to the Chiwaukum Mountains this time from the south. I was intrigued by the network of trails present here, following a meandering and mostly alpine route up and over numerous passes going roughly SE to NW, with no shortage of peaks to bag along way. A quick search on the internet confirmed that the area is indeed a popular destination with ski tourers in winter and backpackers and peakbaggers in the summer and fall. Nuff said, I had to go check it out for myself and made this my second objective on a week-long mini peakbagging trip in WA last July!
As I was approaching from the south this time, I narrowed my focus to peaks in the vicinity of Ladies Pass, where I would make camp the same night I hiked in from the trailhead. But first I had a sweaty ~7 kilometer grunt up to the unnamed pass at the head of Chatter Creek to contend with. Took a short break here, eyeing the mostly snowbound basin on the other side which I'd be hiking through next. An absence of tracks in the snow suggested that few if any parties had traversed out beyond the pass yet this year. Down I go, doing my best to follow the trail mostly still buried in snow to reach picturesque Lake Edna. From the lake, the route to a saddle directly north of Cape Horn was obvious, so up I go for an additional ~3 kilometers from the pass to that point. Dropped my pack here and made the short ascent up to Cape Horn, the first of four on this trip. Excellent views from up there, even if it is the lowest of the lot!
Collected my backpack back at the saddle and resumed hiking another ~0.5 kilometers to Ladies Pass proper. Pitched my tent and with daylight to spare I decided to wrap things up with an evening hike up Ladies Peak. Continued directly on the crest from the pass making my way up heather and grass onto the ESE Spur. A short scramble at the very end saw me to the summit where a glorious view awaited me. Grindstone Mountain with The Enchantments to the SE, the Snowgrass summits close at hand to the north with Glacier Peak and the Dakobed Range beyond, The Cradle with mighty Mount Rainier looming behind to the south, and even Baring Mountain and the Gunn Peak Group far to the NW - a damn fine view if I do say so myself! Back down to camp where only the finest freeze-dried fare awaited me for dinner. Settled in for a breezy night at Ladies Pass, without a soul a soul in sight for miles around.
Got going shortly after dawn the following morning, making my way back towards Ladies Peak before dropping right (north) off the ridge and traversing snow slopes northwards towards Snowgrass. Unsure which was the highest, I went for the Northeast Peak first which required a bit of careful navigating. Stepped off the snow following a ledge to the right, then back left traversing below a steep snowfield before turning back right for a short scramble up some steeper rock along the upper margin of the snowfield to reach the summit. Getting there, I immediately realized that it wasn't the true summit, but at least it afforded me a great vantage point of the serrated ridge connecting with Big Chiwaukum. Couple minutes up top and back down I go, reversing the route back to the gentle snow slopes below. Backtracked until directly below Snowgrass proper before turning up and kicking steps in steep snow the rest of the way there. Can't say enough good things about the view, like that from Ladies but obviously better being higher and such. Without the distant clouds from the day before to obscure things, I could also enjoy fine views towards the Daniel-Hinman Group to the SW, Sloan, Pugh and White Chuck to the NW, and so much more!
Spent a good while up top before starting the slog back down to camp. With several hours of daylight remaining upon arriving there, I decided to pack up and head back to the trailhead. Encountered several parties now on the trail as I was returning, mostly the trail runner type - if only my ankles would permit me to do such things! Back at the campervan around 7 or 8 pm, deciding to call it a night right there enjoying cold beer and a proper meal before turning in. Slept soundly, pleased with the outcome of the previous days and finally able to put this Chiwaukum business to rest once and for all!
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