Route Climbed: South side Date Climbed: May 16, 2005
2nd time's a charm!
During a failed attempt on the last weekend of winter ('05), thwarted by high avy danger, horrible snow, low visibility and high winds, we turned around at the Pinnacle/Castle saddle.
This time, in a light snowfall, on nice, reasonably consolidated snow, and in poor visibility, we managed to get to the summit via the Pinnacle Peak Trail...after trying to find our way up a nasty, loose class 3-4 gully full of exposed wet, slick rocks. Downclimbing back out of the treacherous gully, a sketchy traverse landed us in the correct gully, which we joyfully followed to the top. No views, of course.
Route Climbed: South Gully Date Climbed: June 10, 2004
Started from the Reflection Lakes parking lot at 4900' in rain. Snow from the trailhead. Rain turned to snow at about 5600'. Most of the summit scramble was snow free and combination of loose and solid rock. Could not see much of anything from the summit.
Route Climbed: South Side Date Climbed: September 14, 2003
Nice and short from the parking area. Lots of loose rock though. If there is anyone above you, you really need a helmet. You can't help but dislodge rocks on this one. Kinda exposed at the top but not too bad. Great views of Rainier and the Tatoosh.
Route Climbed: Tatoosh Traverse Date Climbed: 9/6/03
Left Logmire trailhead at 4:37AM, bagged Eagle, Chuta, Wahpenayo (short break and filter water), Lane, Denman, Plummer (short break, food), Pinnacle, Castle, (short break & water filter) Foss, Boundary and Unicorn. Blew off Stevens... too far away, too late in the day. Made it back to the Snow Lake trailhead around 11:00PM (18:30 hours) for a short rest, more food & Red Bull. Retrieved our mountain bikes out of the bushes & rode back to Longmire. Total time roughly 20 hours. 11 peaks & >11,000' in cumulative elevation gain. Tiring but fun. Hopefully will post a TR with more details.
Route Climbed: South face, mixed traverse from Castle Date Climbed: 9-6-03
We are not super man climbers, but this peak had some route options that made it a worthy challenge for us. Great Day on a mountain we have wanted to climb for years. I highly recommend this peak.
I climbed this peak with my RMI expedition seminar team. It was our practice climb the day before our summit. "daynegains" here at summitpost, myself, two others and two guides made the climb. It was a fun scramble that afforded some great views of Rainier once the clouds lifted!
cp0915 - May 17, 2005 1:25 pm
Route Climbed: South side Date Climbed: May 16, 20052nd time's a charm!
During a failed attempt on the last weekend of winter ('05), thwarted by high avy danger, horrible snow, low visibility and high winds, we turned around at the Pinnacle/Castle saddle.
This time, in a light snowfall, on nice, reasonably consolidated snow, and in poor visibility, we managed to get to the summit via the Pinnacle Peak Trail...after trying to find our way up a nasty, loose class 3-4 gully full of exposed wet, slick rocks. Downclimbing back out of the treacherous gully, a sketchy traverse landed us in the correct gully, which we joyfully followed to the top. No views, of course.
Tagged Plummer Peak afterward.
Dundeel - Sep 23, 2004 12:29 am
Route Climbed: South side Date Climbed: 1981Foggy at the top. My brother never showed at the summit. He told me a large cat had faced off with him at the bottom of the scramble and he retreated!
esugi - Jun 11, 2004 12:18 am
Route Climbed: South Gully Date Climbed: June 10, 2004Started from the Reflection Lakes parking lot at 4900' in rain. Snow from the trailhead. Rain turned to snow at about 5600'. Most of the summit scramble was snow free and combination of loose and solid rock. Could not see much of anything from the summit.
dmuja - Mar 24, 2004 10:45 pm
Route Climbed: South Side Date Climbed: October 24th 2003This mountain is sweet like candy, I'll be it "crumbly candy".
pksander - Jan 10, 2004 7:35 pm
Route Climbed: South Ridge Date Climbed: October Somethingth, 2003Great day, great views as far south as Hood
wildstar - Jan 4, 2004 6:16 pm
Route Climbed: South Ridge Date Climbed: Semptember 1995Nice outing.
jasonconnell - Sep 24, 2003 9:32 pm
Route Climbed: South Side Date Climbed: September 21, 2003Great little climb.
Did Pinnacle after spending the afternoon at the Rainier Mountain Fest.
Easy climb with a bit of exposure near the top, incredible views of Rainier.
Brian Jenkins - Sep 15, 2003 10:59 am
Route Climbed: South Side Date Climbed: September 14, 2003Nice and short from the parking area. Lots of loose rock though. If there is anyone above you, you really need a helmet. You can't help but dislodge rocks on this one. Kinda exposed at the top but not too bad. Great views of Rainier and the Tatoosh.
cluck - Sep 10, 2003 9:20 pm
Route Climbed: Tatoosh Traverse Date Climbed: 9/6/03Left Logmire trailhead at 4:37AM, bagged Eagle, Chuta, Wahpenayo (short break and filter water), Lane, Denman, Plummer (short break, food), Pinnacle, Castle, (short break & water filter) Foss, Boundary and Unicorn. Blew off Stevens... too far away, too late in the day. Made it back to the Snow Lake trailhead around 11:00PM (18:30 hours) for a short rest, more food & Red Bull. Retrieved our mountain bikes out of the bushes & rode back to Longmire. Total time roughly 20 hours. 11 peaks & >11,000' in cumulative elevation gain. Tiring but fun. Hopefully will post a TR with more details.
Norman - Sep 9, 2003 12:55 am
Route Climbed: South face, mixed traverse from Castle Date Climbed: 9-6-03We are not super man climbers, but this peak had some route options that made it a worthy challenge for us. Great Day on a mountain we have wanted to climb for years. I highly recommend this peak.
jhalz - Aug 25, 2003 9:10 am
Route Climbed: South Route Date Climbed: August 23, 2003Outstanding weather. Did this as part of the Tatoosh Traverse. Beautiful area. Looking forward to doing this one in the winter.
TexasClimber - Jun 8, 2003 8:27 pm
Date Climbed: June 28, 2001I climbed this peak with my RMI expedition seminar team. It was our practice climb the day before our summit. "daynegains" here at summitpost, myself, two others and two guides made the climb. It was a fun scramble that afforded some great views of Rainier once the clouds lifted!
daynegains - May 23, 2003 3:07 pm
Date Climbed: June 28th, 2001Cloudy rainy day made the scrambling slick. Good little quick climb.
mountaindog - Jul 30, 2002 5:04 am
Route Climbed: 4th class, create your own route option Date Climbed: June 1998A great day of scrambling but watch for loose rock. Also, during the approach, watch the stonefall on the small glacier below.
darinchadwick - Jun 17, 2002 6:51 am
Route Climbed: standard Date Climbed: summer 1994A great day climb, excellent view of Rainier.