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Route |
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Lat/Lon:
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47.43960°N / 121.4429°W |
Route Type:
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Hike/scramble late summer, snow the rest of the yr |
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Time Required:
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Half a day |
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Difficulty:
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Walk-up with some class 2 and one final 40' class 4. |
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Approach
From I-90 eastbound, take the West Summit exit 53 and turn left, passing under the freeway. Go northwest toward the Alpental ski area on Erste Strasse, aka Alpental access road, aka FR 9040. There is a large parking area 1.4 miles from the end of the freeway ramp.
From I-90 westbound, take the Snoqualmie Pass exit, crossing over the freeway, passing through the Snoqualmie resort area on road 906 eventually crossing under the freeway then follow details as per above.
From the parking area, follow the road across the creek to the base of the ski area.
The total elevation gain is approx. 2,500 vertical feet in exactly two miles.
Route Description
Once at the base of the Armstrong's Express chair lift, take the path of least resistance up the right side of the lift line. About half way up, cross under the chairlift and try to find the cables that carry power/communication to the upper lift terminal. There is a faint trail where the conduit is layed and following this is much better than wading through a mile of chest-high brush. Once at the base of the upper chair, (Edelweiss) start out on the rocks to the left and eventually move to the right of the canyon and find a faint path. This eventually becomes a tough and steep boulder scramble as you make your way up the slope. Another variation would be to start out at the Sessel lift line and find another conduit path at the Sessel upper terminal that will also guide you to Armstrong's Express's upper lift terminal. Here's that handy ski area route map again: Alpental Map
Once at the top of the canyon, the summit spire is a class 3 or 4 rock climb of about 40 feet. The route is up the cleft in the rock by the base of the tree pictured and described in the photo on the "Getting There" section:
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Essential Gear
When snow-covered, an ice axe and crampons will be useful on the upper portions of the route. The brush is chest high up the runs and in places head high and there is only a faint trail for most of the route so a minimum of long pants and good boots would be helpful, if not - have thick skin and bulletproof ankles.
Miscellaneous Info
If you have information about this route that doesn't pertain to any of the other sections, please add it here.