Solo trip up the southeast ridgeline from Peggys Pond.
I did not pull in to Tucquala Meadows until after midnight the night prior, so my 4 a.m. start was bumped back a few hours. By 7:30 I was walking and made it to above Peggys Pond by 10:15. Between Peggys Pond and the ridgeline the landscape is webbed with different paths, so I did my best to stick to the "truest" path following the cairns.
At 7100' I reached the snow. Though it was certainly soft enough to kick in steps, I opted to don crampons and ice axe as the steep snow slopes below cliffed out. Once at the foot of the east summit the low cloud cover that was forecasted began to roll in. I headed first for the west summit(s). I left crampons on for efficiency as I did not know what snow lie ahead; it turns out this was unnecessary. Once I removed them below the west summit, I did not put them back on until descending the slope back to the ridgeline.
Traversing from the east summit, the low clouds overtook me, reducing visibility to a couple hundred yards. Once I scrambled to the west summit, I could only identify the shadows of the spires around me. I found the summit register in PVC pipe but did not sign it.
I saw my first person of the day who had taken the same approach as I but with an earlier start; he had hit the east and west summits, down-climbing the western ridge of the east summit to do so. He acknowledged in hindsight this was unwise.
Crossing the snow-filled saddle beneath the west summit does require walking for 50 yards or so above crevassed terrain, so be aware.
En route back to the east summit, I encountered a Mountaineers group atop Daniel Glacier (an approach I did not know prior to this trip) -- always good to see folks from the club I love so much. They opted not to hit either summit (likely because it appears they had a slower team member or two). After talking a bit, I headed for the east summit while they descended the ridgeline, where I would encounter them again later.
Hopefully my hitting the west summit on the county line as well as the east summit qualifies. There are several other "bumps" that come close to the highest point, but not quite. This is identified by the contours, though I was able to do so visually atop the east summit as most of the clouds had cleared off by then. For what it is worth, the west summit has the register and the east summit has the benchmark.
I stopped at Peggys Pond to filter water and take off the boots for a bit, but the mosquitoes did their best to try to render it unpleasant. They were scarcely present on my ascent thanks to a fairly constant breeze, but the little ruthless effers showed up as advertised from Peggys Pond on down on my descent.
Back at the car at 7:30; I continue to be a slow dog.
texas->PNW - Oct 18, 2018 6:53 pm Date Climbed: Oct 11, 2018
Early morning
Blue bird day, really incredible. It feels like you are right in the middle of the Cascades here. Saw some fighter jets (maybe F-15??) flying very low through the valleys surrounding the peak. If you're not careful on the descent you can end up at the top of some cliffs that prevent you from getting down to Peggy's Pond. Generally, if you follow trails heading skier's left you will be OK.
kronshage3 - Jul 30, 2018 7:31 am Date Climbed: Jul 29, 2018
Via SE Ridge
Did this one as a day trip. It was a loooooooong day. Started from the Cathedral Rock Trailhead. Route itself was not bad and fairly straightforward. Cut the sketchy part of the ridge short and traversed the snow to get below the east summit. Watch out for rockfall when crossing below east summit over to the true summit. Helmet might be useful in the event of a careless climber. Oh and did I forget to mention BUGS? These guys follow you ALL THE WAY TO THE SUMMIT, but you lose them only at the summit. Mosquitoes were some of the worst I have ever seen. You either get sun burned from not wearing sunscreen or bitten by not wearing bug spray. Pick your poison. I found juggling sun screen and bug spray to not be effective. Otherwise, enjoy the incredible views (that were partially obstructed by the haze from all the wildfires)
ZakG - May 16, 2018 9:02 pm Date Climbed: Jul 11, 2000
Good Times
This was a fun one. I should go back there someday, maybe traverse over from Hinman...
Amazing! I took the advice of many and did this one as an over nighter. I hiked up past Peggy's Pond passing several open campsites, up over a small ridge and down into a valley where I crossed Hyas creek and camped up on a ridge near three small tarns at the bottom of the Hyas creek glacier valley. Summited the first day with perfect conditions and great visibility and had an amazing camp that night. No people within sight and NO BUGS! I think the freeze the week before killed them, but I didn't even see a mosquito. Trip report HERE!
kevinsa - Aug 28, 2015 11:34 am Date Climbed: Aug 27, 2015
SE Ridge
Wanted to try to get home before west side traffic, so I blasted up to 7000' in trail runners. Took the 'low option' off the ridge crest at 7130' (N47 33.414 W121 09.979). To me, this looks like a much better option than staying on the ridge crest (at least in late season). Was almost all class 1 + 2 for the route, with just a couple moves of low-exposure class 3. Never had to touch the ice axe. Awesome views, most of the forest fire smoke is cleared out. 3hr 15min up, 2hr 25min down.
Camped at Pea Soup Lake with great views of the Lynch Glacier. It was too late in the season to access the glacier so we opted to climb the Daniel Glacier. No need to rope up as the glacier was in great shape and low angle. Most beautiful wilderness I've seen.
I have tried to get this one 3 times. Each time failing in poor weather conditions and lack of desire to snag this peak without nice views. Finally I got the opportunity.
I would absolutely suggest camping the 14 miles round trip are pretty tough and although it could probably be done in a day. The 2 day trek is much nicer and Peggy's pond is a great place to camp.
TheBootfitter - Aug 18, 2014 3:51 am Date Climbed: Aug 16, 2014
Deviated from plan...
Planned to make it to the west peak by crossing the ridge to the east of the East peak and gaining the Daniel glacier, but we gained the ridge a bit too high for easy access. Dropped below the south side of East Peak and followed climber's trail up. Socked in by fog and didn't realize there was a non-glaciated route from there to West Peak. Still a fun day. Very buggy at Peggy's Pond.
NSchweiger - Aug 11, 2014 2:56 pm Date Climbed: Jul 27, 2013
SE Ridge
Just stayed along the South Spine. It was pretty simple. I didn't hit the glacier cause I didn't have crampons. Did it in one day. If I did it again, I'd hike to Peggy's pond, camp and do the mountain the next day.
MattDurkee - Jun 8, 2014 3:05 pm Date Climbed: Aug 15, 2003
West, Middle and East
Sat. in August 2003. Up the SE ridge and down Hyas Glacier. Raced some guy to the car.
ThorsChosen - Apr 9, 2014 12:22 am Date Climbed: Jun 7, 2001
Summit
Pretty area, took three days camping around and learning the basics of snow climbing and crevasse rescue on a mountaineering course.
Hotfeet - Sep 23, 2013 12:34 am Date Climbed: Sep 22, 2013
Hyas Glacier
Great climb! We were soaked with rain then it turned to snow! Very slow with fresh snow and poor visibility. We turned back due to the storm settling in. Just below the East Summit.
We only had one day and the forecast left room to hope. We had great views all the way to Peggy's Pond. By the time we were on the SE ridge visibility was 50 yards or less. We found our way all the way to the main summit hoping the weather would break. It didn't. On the way down we had some route finding issues. This one ended up a long and thankless day hike.
ernestsson - Jun 11, 2013 1:22 am Date Climbed: Jun 2, 2013
A Little Too Warm
Barely made it to the trailhead, bucked a fallen tree on the road with a small handsaw and axe. Snow at the trailhead, then consistent partway up to Squaw Lake. Kept getting off the trail and back on, camped the night at Peggy's Pond.
Got going by 3:20am but was on-and-off whiteout and kept sprinkling on us, so turned back at the ridge below East Summit (~7200') because of miserable conditions for the ascent and fear of worsening snow conditions for safely descending (evidence of small avalanches recently) and miserable exit.
Matt Lemke - Sep 29, 2021 9:32 am Date Climbed: Sep 5, 2021
Hinman and DanielDid a long 40 mile loop connecting the Alpine Lakes High Route and part of the crest route to string together Iron Cap, Hinman, and Daniel.
mattsim - Jun 18, 2020 1:21 am Date Climbed: Oct 4, 2009
north and west summitsClimbed with Vlad, Daniel, Rusty, and Eric.
cascadescrambler - Aug 12, 2019 7:38 pm Date Climbed: Jul 16, 1995
Top of the WildernessBeautiful day, beautiful hike
huskertriguy - Jul 18, 2019 7:49 pm Date Climbed: Jul 16, 2019
Peggys Pond + Southeast RidgeSolo trip up the southeast ridgeline from Peggys Pond.
I did not pull in to Tucquala Meadows until after midnight the night prior, so my 4 a.m. start was bumped back a few hours. By 7:30 I was walking and made it to above Peggys Pond by 10:15. Between Peggys Pond and the ridgeline the landscape is webbed with different paths, so I did my best to stick to the "truest" path following the cairns.
At 7100' I reached the snow. Though it was certainly soft enough to kick in steps, I opted to don crampons and ice axe as the steep snow slopes below cliffed out. Once at the foot of the east summit the low cloud cover that was forecasted began to roll in. I headed first for the west summit(s). I left crampons on for efficiency as I did not know what snow lie ahead; it turns out this was unnecessary. Once I removed them below the west summit, I did not put them back on until descending the slope back to the ridgeline.
Traversing from the east summit, the low clouds overtook me, reducing visibility to a couple hundred yards. Once I scrambled to the west summit, I could only identify the shadows of the spires around me. I found the summit register in PVC pipe but did not sign it.
I saw my first person of the day who had taken the same approach as I but with an earlier start; he had hit the east and west summits, down-climbing the western ridge of the east summit to do so. He acknowledged in hindsight this was unwise.
Crossing the snow-filled saddle beneath the west summit does require walking for 50 yards or so above crevassed terrain, so be aware.
En route back to the east summit, I encountered a Mountaineers group atop Daniel Glacier (an approach I did not know prior to this trip) -- always good to see folks from the club I love so much. They opted not to hit either summit (likely because it appears they had a slower team member or two). After talking a bit, I headed for the east summit while they descended the ridgeline, where I would encounter them again later.
Hopefully my hitting the west summit on the county line as well as the east summit qualifies. There are several other "bumps" that come close to the highest point, but not quite. This is identified by the contours, though I was able to do so visually atop the east summit as most of the clouds had cleared off by then. For what it is worth, the west summit has the register and the east summit has the benchmark.
I stopped at Peggys Pond to filter water and take off the boots for a bit, but the mosquitoes did their best to try to render it unpleasant. They were scarcely present on my ascent thanks to a fairly constant breeze, but the little ruthless effers showed up as advertised from Peggys Pond on down on my descent.
Back at the car at 7:30; I continue to be a slow dog.
texas->PNW - Oct 18, 2018 6:53 pm Date Climbed: Oct 11, 2018
Early morningBlue bird day, really incredible. It feels like you are right in the middle of the Cascades here. Saw some fighter jets (maybe F-15??) flying very low through the valleys surrounding the peak. If you're not careful on the descent you can end up at the top of some cliffs that prevent you from getting down to Peggy's Pond. Generally, if you follow trails heading skier's left you will be OK.
kronshage3 - Jul 30, 2018 7:31 am Date Climbed: Jul 29, 2018
Via SE RidgeDid this one as a day trip. It was a loooooooong day. Started from the Cathedral Rock Trailhead. Route itself was not bad and fairly straightforward. Cut the sketchy part of the ridge short and traversed the snow to get below the east summit. Watch out for rockfall when crossing below east summit over to the true summit. Helmet might be useful in the event of a careless climber. Oh and did I forget to mention BUGS? These guys follow you ALL THE WAY TO THE SUMMIT, but you lose them only at the summit. Mosquitoes were some of the worst I have ever seen. You either get sun burned from not wearing sunscreen or bitten by not wearing bug spray. Pick your poison. I found juggling sun screen and bug spray to not be effective. Otherwise, enjoy the incredible views (that were partially obstructed by the haze from all the wildfires)
ZakG - May 16, 2018 9:02 pm Date Climbed: Jul 11, 2000
Good TimesThis was a fun one. I should go back there someday, maybe traverse over from Hinman...
Snowman of Annapurna - Jan 31, 2017 6:52 pm Date Climbed: Aug 6, 2015
Beautiful ClimbProbably the most gorgeous mountain I have been on.
Karl Helser - Aug 8, 2016 5:14 pm Date Climbed: Aug 7, 2016
SE RidgeFun alpine scramble.... Straight forward route finding. We had perfect weather. Camped at Peggy's Pond. 5.5 hours camp to camp.
awilsondc - Sep 14, 2015 11:37 pm Date Climbed: Sep 12, 2015
SE ridgeAmazing! I took the advice of many and did this one as an over nighter. I hiked up past Peggy's Pond passing several open campsites, up over a small ridge and down into a valley where I crossed Hyas creek and camped up on a ridge near three small tarns at the bottom of the Hyas creek glacier valley. Summited the first day with perfect conditions and great visibility and had an amazing camp that night. No people within sight and NO BUGS! I think the freeze the week before killed them, but I didn't even see a mosquito. Trip report HERE!
kevinsa - Aug 28, 2015 11:34 am Date Climbed: Aug 27, 2015
SE RidgeWanted to try to get home before west side traffic, so I blasted up to 7000' in trail runners. Took the 'low option' off the ridge crest at 7130' (N47 33.414 W121 09.979). To me, this looks like a much better option than staying on the ridge crest (at least in late season). Was almost all class 1 + 2 for the route, with just a couple moves of low-exposure class 3. Never had to touch the ice axe. Awesome views, most of the forest fire smoke is cleared out. 3hr 15min up, 2hr 25min down.
Fairley8 - Jul 20, 2015 9:29 pm Date Climbed: Jul 11, 2015
Daniel GlacierCamped at Pea Soup Lake with great views of the Lynch Glacier. It was too late in the season to access the glacier so we opted to climb the Daniel Glacier. No need to rope up as the glacier was in great shape and low angle. Most beautiful wilderness I've seen.
Arkitekt - Sep 15, 2014 6:30 pm Date Climbed: Sep 14, 2014
Finally got it!I have tried to get this one 3 times. Each time failing in poor weather conditions and lack of desire to snag this peak without nice views. Finally I got the opportunity.
I would absolutely suggest camping the 14 miles round trip are pretty tough and although it could probably be done in a day. The 2 day trek is much nicer and Peggy's pond is a great place to camp.
TheBootfitter - Aug 18, 2014 3:51 am Date Climbed: Aug 16, 2014
Deviated from plan...Planned to make it to the west peak by crossing the ridge to the east of the East peak and gaining the Daniel glacier, but we gained the ridge a bit too high for easy access. Dropped below the south side of East Peak and followed climber's trail up. Socked in by fog and didn't realize there was a non-glaciated route from there to West Peak. Still a fun day. Very buggy at Peggy's Pond.
NSchweiger - Aug 11, 2014 2:56 pm Date Climbed: Jul 27, 2013
SE RidgeJust stayed along the South Spine. It was pretty simple. I didn't hit the glacier cause I didn't have crampons. Did it in one day. If I did it again, I'd hike to Peggy's pond, camp and do the mountain the next day.
MattDurkee - Jun 8, 2014 3:05 pm Date Climbed: Aug 15, 2003
West, Middle and EastSat. in August 2003. Up the SE ridge and down Hyas Glacier. Raced some guy to the car.
ThorsChosen - Apr 9, 2014 12:22 am Date Climbed: Jun 7, 2001
SummitPretty area, took three days camping around and learning the basics of snow climbing and crevasse rescue on a mountaineering course.
Hotfeet - Sep 23, 2013 12:34 am Date Climbed: Sep 22, 2013
Hyas GlacierGreat climb! We were soaked with rain then it turned to snow! Very slow with fresh snow and poor visibility. We turned back due to the storm settling in. Just below the East Summit.
BKW - Sep 8, 2013 11:58 pm Date Climbed: Sep 7, 2013
SE Ridge WhiteoutWe only had one day and the forecast left room to hope. We had great views all the way to Peggy's Pond. By the time we were on the SE ridge visibility was 50 yards or less. We found our way all the way to the main summit hoping the weather would break. It didn't. On the way down we had some route finding issues. This one ended up a long and thankless day hike.
ernestsson - Jun 11, 2013 1:22 am Date Climbed: Jun 2, 2013
A Little Too WarmBarely made it to the trailhead, bucked a fallen tree on the road with a small handsaw and axe. Snow at the trailhead, then consistent partway up to Squaw Lake. Kept getting off the trail and back on, camped the night at Peggy's Pond.
Got going by 3:20am but was on-and-off whiteout and kept sprinkling on us, so turned back at the ridge below East Summit (~7200') because of miserable conditions for the ascent and fear of worsening snow conditions for safely descending (evidence of small avalanches recently) and miserable exit.