Karl Helser - Jul 15, 2010 11:08 am Date Climbed: Jul 11, 2010
North Peak
Wow! What a great climb. It pretty much had everything. Very hot approach to Goat Flats where we camped for the night. Lots of running water and dry tent spots. Without much beta other than the Becky guide, we (party of 5) set out to conquer the North Peak. Mostly snow from Goat Flats to Tin Can Gap. Steep snow off the gap down about 400' of elevation on to Queest Alb Glacier, then back up 1000' to the col between Middle & North Peak...although not before spending a couple of hours looking for the west face route. Becky's routes call out for class 4 scrambling to the summit...we decided to take a different route. We finally made it to the base of what appeared to be the route. I led this pitch starting out at a high 4th class to low 5th class for about 40m then had to make a decision...right or left (not knowing what I'd find either way. I chose right...after a couple of moves I found myself in the middle of the crux of the pitch. I'd say there were about 3 to 4 5.7+ moves before coming to an old piton that made me smile. There's nothing like finding a sign of past human presence to make one breath easier. After this pitch Terry lead the knife edge ridge (tons of east west exposure) to the base of the next 20 to 30 foot low fifth class pitch. After that it was an easy walk up a grassy ramp, over a few blocks to the summit. 10-hours from Goat Flats to the summit. That included a few hours of off route issues. 6-hours back to camp.
lukic - Oct 20, 2009 8:47 pm Date Climbed: Oct 20, 2009
Good hike
Good workout. Just under 8 hours roundtrip. Carried ice ax and crampons, used neither, but could see why some would opt to use them.
project360 - Oct 18, 2009 1:22 pm Date Climbed: Jun 1, 1997
Night in the Hut
Left late and in the day and made it to the top approaching dusk. No gear so spent the long night in the hut all alone with the lights of Everett in the distant.
sourstraw - Sep 1, 2009 12:45 pm Date Climbed: Aug 30, 2009
Great!
Great! Spent the night in the lookout and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.
Mark Straub - Mar 1, 2009 11:38 pm Date Climbed: Sep 27, 2008
Standard Route
Awesome trip! Great weather. I did this with the Everett Mountaineers for the lookout maintenance project. We saw a bear going up, and spent the night on the summit.
Curtissimo - Dec 20, 2008 4:38 pm Date Climbed: Sep 11, 1999
QUEEST-ALB
with Magellan and a troop of boy scouts. I prefer native name now relegated to the glacier... this too shall pass!
Great day, and only missed seeing the mountain's owner by one day. :-) We stayed below the normal snow traverse shown by Dean's picture, and made a short snow traverse and rock scramble below the longer snow traverse. I did it as an official Mountaineers' scramble with two fast leaders, and it took 8.5 hrs car-to-car, with one hour at the lookout. I'll definitely be back to climb this one again. Here's our route.
Josh Lewis and I left Friday night and made our bivy at horseshoe lake. We started again early in the morning and were on the summit by 1pm. The snow traverse was a little too icy so we stayed in the moat which is less exposed. Flawless weather.
The summit definitely lived up to the hype. Beautiful views all around and very fun ladders (not very hard). High snow year (usual traverse was very steep and sketchy and moat was not accessible) forced us (and other parties that day) to descend about 3-400 ft into the Queest Alb glacier bowl from Tin Can Gap and ascend back onto the main route via a snow tongue higher up. There was a short 40 degree couloir with moats on both sides which was a bit unnerving without crampons (which we stupidly didn't bring; did have an ice axe though).
nigelmcc - Sep 24, 2007 12:35 am Date Climbed: Sep 15, 2007
My friend Nigel and I slept overnight in my car and started hiking at 5:40 AM in thick fog. The 2.5 miles to saddle lake really sucked, but it got better beyond there. Broke out of the fog ~5000 feet and we were above the clouds the rest of the way. We summited around 11:45, and were back to the car at 3:40PM, making for about 8.5 hours of hiking aside from break time. Coming back from Saddle Lake to the trailhead drove me absolutely bonkers, and I was a very happy man when I saw that good ol' trailhead sign!
Dean - Aug 25, 2007 11:19 pm Date Climbed: Aug 24, 2007
Standard route
Did this one with Bob, Eric and Duane on a beautiful day. I'd been wanting to do this one ever since I read the book about this peak many years ago so it was terrific to be able to do it. I did make the mistake of doing this one in brand new boots and I paid the price on the way out. This one is a must do if you love the Washington Cascades.
Bob Bolton - Aug 25, 2007 5:03 pm Date Climbed: Aug 24, 2007
Standard route
Great hike with Dean, Eric and Duane on a beautiful day. The only problems were the puffy good-weather clouds that blocked the views of the North Cascades. Fun peak!
ericnoel - Aug 25, 2007 3:29 pm Date Climbed: Aug 24, 2007
Usual Route
A great hike. This is one I might even do again and maybe even stay in the LO to catch the sunset and sunrise with all these great peaks in the surrounding vicinity.
Norman - Jun 1, 2007 2:06 am Date Climbed: Aug 1, 1970
North Peak
I'm not sure of the day, my slides say August 1970. This was one of my first "rock climbs" with the Seattle Mountaineers as an Intermediate student. It was a memorable day...as most are climbing, right?
I've climbed to the south finger five times, most recently (summer of '06) with my wife. We started out at 9am, and didn't make it back to the car until 11pm.
My favorite climb was July 5th of '04, my fourth time up. I arrived at the summit of the south finger pretty early on in the day, and stayed the night. I didn't see another person for the whole day, and I had the lookout all to myself all evening and night. Even in July, I was pretty cold through the night. (I underestimated how cold it was going to be.) Incidentally, it was on this trip that I realized that my girlfriend at the time was "the one". It was then and there, in the middle of the night and in the solitude and cold of the lookout, that I decided I'd be an idiot if I didn't propose. I may have froze my ass off that night, but the clarity of the scene enabled me to make the best decision of my life.
gimpilator - Oct 23, 2006 2:08 am Date Climbed: Oct 21, 2006
Great Weather, Great Trip.
Very nice summit lookout and the ladders were awesome. If you're mostly a hiker like me, this one will test your limits. Bivied at the trailhead the first night and spent the second night on the summit with Tom from NWHikers.net. Impeccable weather conditions. The views were outstanding all around. I felt like I could see every mountain in the North Cascades. This one will not be forgotten.
jefflach - Aug 28, 2006 11:24 pm Date Climbed: Aug 27, 2006
Goat Flats
Beautiful hike. 11hrs round trip. Carried some lumber up to the lookout tower for the mountaineers.
Karl Helser - Jul 15, 2010 11:08 am Date Climbed: Jul 11, 2010
North PeakWow! What a great climb. It pretty much had everything. Very hot approach to Goat Flats where we camped for the night. Lots of running water and dry tent spots. Without much beta other than the Becky guide, we (party of 5) set out to conquer the North Peak. Mostly snow from Goat Flats to Tin Can Gap. Steep snow off the gap down about 400' of elevation on to Queest Alb Glacier, then back up 1000' to the col between Middle & North Peak...although not before spending a couple of hours looking for the west face route. Becky's routes call out for class 4 scrambling to the summit...we decided to take a different route. We finally made it to the base of what appeared to be the route. I led this pitch starting out at a high 4th class to low 5th class for about 40m then had to make a decision...right or left (not knowing what I'd find either way. I chose right...after a couple of moves I found myself in the middle of the crux of the pitch. I'd say there were about 3 to 4 5.7+ moves before coming to an old piton that made me smile. There's nothing like finding a sign of past human presence to make one breath easier. After this pitch Terry lead the knife edge ridge (tons of east west exposure) to the base of the next 20 to 30 foot low fifth class pitch. After that it was an easy walk up a grassy ramp, over a few blocks to the summit. 10-hours from Goat Flats to the summit. That included a few hours of off route issues. 6-hours back to camp.
lukic - Oct 20, 2009 8:47 pm Date Climbed: Oct 20, 2009
Good hikeGood workout. Just under 8 hours roundtrip. Carried ice ax and crampons, used neither, but could see why some would opt to use them.
project360 - Oct 18, 2009 1:22 pm Date Climbed: Jun 1, 1997
Night in the HutLeft late and in the day and made it to the top approaching dusk. No gear so spent the long night in the hut all alone with the lights of Everett in the distant.
sourstraw - Sep 1, 2009 12:45 pm Date Climbed: Aug 30, 2009
Great!Great! Spent the night in the lookout and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.
Mark Straub - Mar 1, 2009 11:38 pm Date Climbed: Sep 27, 2008
Standard RouteAwesome trip! Great weather. I did this with the Everett Mountaineers for the lookout maintenance project. We saw a bear going up, and spent the night on the summit.
Curtissimo - Dec 20, 2008 4:38 pm Date Climbed: Sep 11, 1999
QUEEST-ALBwith Magellan and a troop of boy scouts. I prefer native name now relegated to the glacier... this too shall pass!
larryN - Sep 19, 2008 6:13 pm Date Climbed: Sep 14, 2008
Exceeded expectationsGreat day, and only missed seeing the mountain's owner by one day. :-) We stayed below the normal snow traverse shown by Dean's picture, and made a short snow traverse and rock scramble below the longer snow traverse. I did it as an official Mountaineers' scramble with two fast leaders, and it took 8.5 hrs car-to-car, with one hour at the lookout. I'll definitely be back to climb this one again. Here's our route.
gimpilator - Sep 14, 2008 1:44 pm Date Climbed: Sep 13, 2008
Still My FavoriteJosh Lewis and I left Friday night and made our bivy at horseshoe lake. We started again early in the morning and were on the summit by 1pm. The snow traverse was a little too icy so we stayed in the moat which is less exposed. Flawless weather.
RomaK - Sep 11, 2008 7:05 pm
Finally!The summit definitely lived up to the hype. Beautiful views all around and very fun ladders (not very hard). High snow year (usual traverse was very steep and sketchy and moat was not accessible) forced us (and other parties that day) to descend about 3-400 ft into the Queest Alb glacier bowl from Tin Can Gap and ascend back onto the main route via a snow tongue higher up. There was a short 40 degree couloir with moats on both sides which was a bit unnerving without crampons (which we stupidly didn't bring; did have an ice axe though).
nigelmcc - Sep 24, 2007 12:35 am Date Climbed: Sep 15, 2007
Goat Flats/Tin GapBeautiful day, plenty of goats as well.
Kyle Bissell - Sep 16, 2007 6:52 pm Date Climbed: Sep 15, 2007
Long dayMy friend Nigel and I slept overnight in my car and started hiking at 5:40 AM in thick fog. The 2.5 miles to saddle lake really sucked, but it got better beyond there. Broke out of the fog ~5000 feet and we were above the clouds the rest of the way. We summited around 11:45, and were back to the car at 3:40PM, making for about 8.5 hours of hiking aside from break time. Coming back from Saddle Lake to the trailhead drove me absolutely bonkers, and I was a very happy man when I saw that good ol' trailhead sign!
nigelmcc - Sep 24, 2007 1:13 am
Re: Long dayI thought we left at 11:45?
Dean - Aug 25, 2007 11:19 pm Date Climbed: Aug 24, 2007
Standard routeDid this one with Bob, Eric and Duane on a beautiful day. I'd been wanting to do this one ever since I read the book about this peak many years ago so it was terrific to be able to do it. I did make the mistake of doing this one in brand new boots and I paid the price on the way out. This one is a must do if you love the Washington Cascades.
Bob Bolton - Aug 25, 2007 5:03 pm Date Climbed: Aug 24, 2007
Standard routeGreat hike with Dean, Eric and Duane on a beautiful day. The only problems were the puffy good-weather clouds that blocked the views of the North Cascades. Fun peak!
ericnoel - Aug 25, 2007 3:29 pm Date Climbed: Aug 24, 2007
Usual RouteA great hike. This is one I might even do again and maybe even stay in the LO to catch the sunset and sunrise with all these great peaks in the surrounding vicinity.
Pantilat - Jun 20, 2007 2:28 am
Standard routeFun times
Norman - Jun 1, 2007 2:06 am Date Climbed: Aug 1, 1970
North PeakI'm not sure of the day, my slides say August 1970. This was one of my first "rock climbs" with the Seattle Mountaineers as an Intermediate student. It was a memorable day...as most are climbing, right?
Cascade Scrambler - Apr 15, 2007 12:50 am Date Climbed: Jul 5, 2004
Standard RouteI've climbed to the south finger five times, most recently (summer of '06) with my wife. We started out at 9am, and didn't make it back to the car until 11pm.
My favorite climb was July 5th of '04, my fourth time up. I arrived at the summit of the south finger pretty early on in the day, and stayed the night. I didn't see another person for the whole day, and I had the lookout all to myself all evening and night. Even in July, I was pretty cold through the night. (I underestimated how cold it was going to be.) Incidentally, it was on this trip that I realized that my girlfriend at the time was "the one". It was then and there, in the middle of the night and in the solitude and cold of the lookout, that I decided I'd be an idiot if I didn't propose. I may have froze my ass off that night, but the clarity of the scene enabled me to make the best decision of my life.
gimpilator - Oct 23, 2006 2:08 am Date Climbed: Oct 21, 2006
Great Weather, Great Trip.Very nice summit lookout and the ladders were awesome. If you're mostly a hiker like me, this one will test your limits. Bivied at the trailhead the first night and spent the second night on the summit with Tom from NWHikers.net. Impeccable weather conditions. The views were outstanding all around. I felt like I could see every mountain in the North Cascades. This one will not be forgotten.
jefflach - Aug 28, 2006 11:24 pm Date Climbed: Aug 27, 2006
Goat FlatsBeautiful hike. 11hrs round trip. Carried some lumber up to the lookout tower for the mountaineers.