nicozone - Jul 30, 2012 4:05 am Date Climbed: Jul 29, 2012
Awesome Little Mountain
Compared to it's immediate neighbor to the north (Mt. Rainier), Unicorn Peak isn't tall or heavily glaciated. But it does feature two exciting snow chutes and a perfect rock summit block. We climbed the 5.4 route just to the right of the 5.6 route with a roof climb on a boulder at the top of the route. I lead and it took a #4 and #12 nut, plus a draw into the shaky old bolt in the middle of the route. I clipped the bolt because it was there, but I wouldn't advice falling on it.
gato - Aug 7, 2010 11:04 pm Date Climbed: Aug 7, 2010
Rainy day diversion
Fun day with great friends.
Dundeel - May 30, 2010 11:57 am Date Climbed: May 29, 2010
Snow Lake route
Climbed with Mountaineers. Deep snow from the TH. Summit block icy. Used fixed rope up the scramble route. Strong wind and no visibility but a great group.
Doehle - Aug 3, 2009 6:56 pm Date Climbed: Aug 1, 2009
Ah yes, my first glaciated peak! A fantastic trip with great views of Adams, St. Helens, Hood in the distance, and of course Ranier up close and personal. Best part of the day was the climb to the actual summit. Snow was well packed through most layers with the top 1-3 inches fairly soft in mid day sun and mostly solid in the shade. Snow bridges near Snow Lake are getting thin so we had to use extra caution. The chute from the upper bowl to the saddle was a bit dicey on the decent with the snow slope slanting into scree.
Probably 10 years ago we had a great climb on a week day in summer. We both felt great, the scenery was incredible, the weather perfect.
Dan Winter - May 1, 2008 1:10 am Date Climbed: Jun 18, 2005
Snow Lake
The weather looked "iffy" but stayed dry. My parter and I got a good laugh at the length of the rock route compared to the size of his FULL rack. The glissade down made me smile:)
spotly - Jul 20, 2007 4:20 pm Date Climbed: Jun 25, 2006
Snow Lake
Climbed with Tazz and AB. A fun little alpine route. Saw someone slide off the main ridge into the bowl above the first pass...tumbled out of control. Surprisingly not seriously hurt.
Krylon - Nov 27, 2006 11:24 pm Date Climbed: Jun 2, 2006
Unicorn
Started the approach in the rain, but things cleared up. Glad we pressed on.
osatrik - Aug 26, 2006 4:03 pm Date Climbed: Aug 22, 1999
Fun in the Sun
My daughter Hillary and I did this climb. We wished we'd brought our crampons, but took our time in the shadowed intial gully up from the lake, and even cut a few steps with our ice axes. The larger snowfield to the saddle was also firm, but climbable. We took the far right route on the rock climb, nice and exposed to the right! Some route descriptions say to go around to the south side of the mountain from the saddle, but the "headwall" right there at the saddle is not all that tough, and saves time.
Saw about a dozen goats on the snowfield to the east as we reached the east ridge just prior to the summit.
Karl Helser - Jul 24, 2006 7:17 pm Date Climbed: Jul 23, 2006
Climbing in Hell...
88 deg at the summit at 10:30am. We left the TH at 6:30am so the snow stayed firm enough to stay on for the ascent up the gullies. We stayed in the mote most of the way down. The views were awesome most of the morning but afternoon they became very hazy. Saw the allusive marmot and an adult Mt goat with its kid.
thundercloud - Jun 24, 2006 5:59 pm Date Climbed: Jun 11, 2006
Snow Lake / The Roof
Nice clear morning, climbed with my pal casually as I was feeling quite miserable from possible slight food poisoning. Alone on the mountain until the descent when we passed a few folks. Slightly awkward move getting out of the chimney on the Roof route. Fun short mixed route. Possible thunderheads rolling in for the afternoon but we were back at the car at 1 PM and made a quick dash to nearest WC for relief.
thetathrees - Jun 12, 2006 11:20 pm Date Climbed: Jun 10, 2006
Great day, for the most part!
A steady rain at Sunshine campground led to the wonderful surprise of clear blue skies when we reached the trailhead. A bunch of avalanche lilies were blooming right at the trailhead and they were the last flowers we saw as the trail was all under several feet of snow. Once we reached Snow Lake and began the ascent, there were excellent steps kicked into the snow so we never needed our crampons. A lenticular cloud formed over Rainier as we approached Snow Lake, and was the first sign of the weather to come. As we approached the summit, clouds rolled in, obscuring our views of other peaks and Rainier. We were able to cross the moat at the top of the snowfield pretty easily, but it might be more difficult in a few weeks when some snow melts down as the walkup to it was pretty narrow (only about a foot and a half across). Once we all gathered at the top of the summit rock, hail and a "wintry mix" began to pelt us, so we rappelled down as quickly as possible and began our descent. Once we got off the summit and enjoyed loooong glissades down, it cleared up somewhat and we enjoyed more sun and warm temps. Excellent climb, not too difficult with a good mix of scenery and skills!
esullender - Sep 16, 2005 1:47 am Date Climbed: Jun 25, 2005
Route Climbed: Snow Lake Date Climbed: June 25, 2005
No snow made for a wobbly traverse and valley climb after Snow Lake. Snow steps up the bowl and a dusty rock traverse and easy climb led to the summit. Lost of slipping and sliding back down to the lake.
Route Climbed: Snow Lake Date Climbed: June 4, 2005
This was a fun climb, even though the views of Rainier were limited by lots of clouds and fog. We carried our skis up and enjoyed a fun descent which was over much too quickly! The snow is melting fast - soon this will be a scree slog.
Route Climbed: Snow Lake Date Climbed: June 4, 2005
It was nice to get out and do some climbing and breathing fresh mountain air after spending two weeks in the warm eastern Mediterranean. Fun little enjoyable climb with some snow and short rock pitch on top. Topped it with some more rock climbing in Tieton the next day.
Route Climbed: Snow Lake, South Side Date Climbed: June 3, 2005
Beautiful climb with a bit too many clouds. It was suprising just how little snow there was getting to Snow Lake - which made for a less than enjoyable ascent out of the Snow Lake basin over scree and boulders.
nicozone - Jul 30, 2012 4:05 am Date Climbed: Jul 29, 2012
Awesome Little MountainCompared to it's immediate neighbor to the north (Mt. Rainier), Unicorn Peak isn't tall or heavily glaciated. But it does feature two exciting snow chutes and a perfect rock summit block. We climbed the 5.4 route just to the right of the 5.6 route with a roof climb on a boulder at the top of the route. I lead and it took a #4 and #12 nut, plus a draw into the shaky old bolt in the middle of the route. I clipped the bolt because it was there, but I wouldn't advice falling on it.
gato - Aug 7, 2010 11:04 pm Date Climbed: Aug 7, 2010
Rainy day diversionFun day with great friends.
Dundeel - May 30, 2010 11:57 am Date Climbed: May 29, 2010
Snow Lake routeClimbed with Mountaineers. Deep snow from the TH. Summit block icy. Used fixed rope up the scramble route. Strong wind and no visibility but a great group.
Doehle - Aug 3, 2009 6:56 pm Date Climbed: Aug 1, 2009
Snow lake trailWith The Castle, out via Pinncle/Plumber saddle
YEM - Sep 8, 2008 5:54 pm Date Climbed: Sep 7, 2008
Snow LakeThanks Justafafish and Dan for a great day in the mountains. Was that granite down low?
mrbynum - Jul 14, 2008 4:45 pm Date Climbed: Jul 12, 2008
Snow Lake RouteAh yes, my first glaciated peak! A fantastic trip with great views of Adams, St. Helens, Hood in the distance, and of course Ranier up close and personal. Best part of the day was the climb to the actual summit. Snow was well packed through most layers with the top 1-3 inches fairly soft in mid day sun and mostly solid in the shade. Snow bridges near Snow Lake are getting thin so we had to use extra caution. The chute from the upper bowl to the saddle was a bit dicey on the decent with the snow slope slanting into scree.
tleaf - May 13, 2008 6:53 pm
Climbed with my Father-in-lawProbably 10 years ago we had a great climb on a week day in summer. We both felt great, the scenery was incredible, the weather perfect.
Dan Winter - May 1, 2008 1:10 am Date Climbed: Jun 18, 2005
Snow LakeThe weather looked "iffy" but stayed dry. My parter and I got a good laugh at the length of the rock route compared to the size of his FULL rack. The glissade down made me smile:)
spotly - Jul 20, 2007 4:20 pm Date Climbed: Jun 25, 2006
Snow LakeClimbed with Tazz and AB. A fun little alpine route. Saw someone slide off the main ridge into the bowl above the first pass...tumbled out of control. Surprisingly not seriously hurt.
Krylon - Nov 27, 2006 11:24 pm Date Climbed: Jun 2, 2006
UnicornStarted the approach in the rain, but things cleared up. Glad we pressed on.
osatrik - Aug 26, 2006 4:03 pm Date Climbed: Aug 22, 1999
Fun in the SunMy daughter Hillary and I did this climb. We wished we'd brought our crampons, but took our time in the shadowed intial gully up from the lake, and even cut a few steps with our ice axes. The larger snowfield to the saddle was also firm, but climbable. We took the far right route on the rock climb, nice and exposed to the right! Some route descriptions say to go around to the south side of the mountain from the saddle, but the "headwall" right there at the saddle is not all that tough, and saves time.
Saw about a dozen goats on the snowfield to the east as we reached the east ridge just prior to the summit.
Karl Helser - Jul 24, 2006 7:17 pm Date Climbed: Jul 23, 2006
Climbing in Hell...88 deg at the summit at 10:30am. We left the TH at 6:30am so the snow stayed firm enough to stay on for the ascent up the gullies. We stayed in the mote most of the way down. The views were awesome most of the morning but afternoon they became very hazy. Saw the allusive marmot and an adult Mt goat with its kid.
thundercloud - Jun 24, 2006 5:59 pm Date Climbed: Jun 11, 2006
Snow Lake / The RoofNice clear morning, climbed with my pal casually as I was feeling quite miserable from possible slight food poisoning. Alone on the mountain until the descent when we passed a few folks. Slightly awkward move getting out of the chimney on the Roof route. Fun short mixed route. Possible thunderheads rolling in for the afternoon but we were back at the car at 1 PM and made a quick dash to nearest WC for relief.
thetathrees - Jun 12, 2006 11:20 pm Date Climbed: Jun 10, 2006
Great day, for the most part!A steady rain at Sunshine campground led to the wonderful surprise of clear blue skies when we reached the trailhead. A bunch of avalanche lilies were blooming right at the trailhead and they were the last flowers we saw as the trail was all under several feet of snow. Once we reached Snow Lake and began the ascent, there were excellent steps kicked into the snow so we never needed our crampons. A lenticular cloud formed over Rainier as we approached Snow Lake, and was the first sign of the weather to come. As we approached the summit, clouds rolled in, obscuring our views of other peaks and Rainier. We were able to cross the moat at the top of the snowfield pretty easily, but it might be more difficult in a few weeks when some snow melts down as the walkup to it was pretty narrow (only about a foot and a half across). Once we all gathered at the top of the summit rock, hail and a "wintry mix" began to pelt us, so we rappelled down as quickly as possible and began our descent. Once we got off the summit and enjoyed loooong glissades down, it cleared up somewhat and we enjoyed more sun and warm temps. Excellent climb, not too difficult with a good mix of scenery and skills!
esullender - Sep 16, 2005 1:47 am Date Climbed: Jun 25, 2005
Route Climbed: Snow Lake Date Climbed: June 25, 2005No snow made for a wobbly traverse and valley climb after Snow Lake. Snow steps up the bowl and a dusty rock traverse and easy climb led to the summit. Lost of slipping and sliding back down to the lake.
cusmx5 - Jul 19, 2005 7:38 pm
Route Climbed: Snow Lake and south side of summit block Date Climbed: May 1, 2005Great climb for Boealps Indigo team. Fun glissade on the way down.
jtschanz - Jun 6, 2005 8:01 pm
Route Climbed: Snow Lake Date Climbed: June 4, 2005This was a fun climb, even though the views of Rainier were limited by lots of clouds and fog. We carried our skis up and enjoyed a fun descent which was over much too quickly! The snow is melting fast - soon this will be a scree slog.
hkutuk - Jun 6, 2005 1:27 pm
Route Climbed: Snow Lake Date Climbed: June 4, 2005It was nice to get out and do some climbing and breathing fresh mountain air after spending two weeks in the warm eastern Mediterranean. Fun little enjoyable climb with some snow and short rock pitch on top. Topped it with some more rock climbing in Tieton the next day.
linxweiler - Jun 5, 2005 3:42 pm
Route Climbed: Snow Lake, South Side Date Climbed: June 3, 2005Beautiful climb with a bit too many clouds. It was suprising just how little snow there was getting to Snow Lake - which made for a less than enjoyable ascent out of the Snow Lake basin over scree and boulders.
Can't wait to do this one on a clear day!
skook - Aug 22, 2004 3:31 pm
Route Climbed: Snow Lake and Classic Date Climbed: August 13th 2004Took a little longer to get in than expected, the scree made the trip interesting but very enjoyable.