Hi PNW climbers,
Unfortunately my climbing season will be cut short this year due to an extended trip and I'll be returning back home in December.
I'm starting to think about what peaks from the buglers list are doable in the winter?
Besides training this winter I'd love to be able to bag some peaks in the list with out taking an inordinate amount of risk.
Does anyone have any recommendations?
N

Define "risk" For yourself.

Are you a confidant climber and scrambler in summer? Have you used ropes? Have you done any technical terrain? glaciers? Do you have an insanely high tolerance for snow slogging? Can you ski? Avalanche knowledge?

If You answered no to all these questions every single bulgar will fall outside of your risk comfort level.

Tell us a little more about yourself and your climbing history

Sorry about that, you have a good point.
My strongest background is rock climbing (trad and sport) and this past winter I took a mountaineering class to fill in the gaps of what I knew about glacier travel and snow.
Suffering tolerance is medium to high (the silver lining of getting migraines is that I think it's given me a very high pain tolerance).
My biggest skill gap is skiing of which I have little experience outside of general skiing in resorts.
Just to give a picture of some recent climbs I've done: a number of days cragging, Little T in 2 days, Adams in a day and the tatoosh traverse in a day.

Ah ok perfect.

Skiing definitely isn't required to climb winter bulgars (I dont ski at all), but the hardest part for most winter bulgars is just getting to them. Think days of snowshoe slogging!

Good ones to look into for winter attempts that would have decent access, would be some of the ones around Holden (since the village is open all winter) however Bonanza, martin and copper would all be serious possibly cutting edge climbs in winter.

St. Helens and Baker would be reasonable.

Everything in the stuart range would have reasonable approaches for winter standards as well.

Snowfield Peak is another good one since it's trailhead is before the highway 20 winter gate.

You might also be able to approach the Chelan sawtooth bulgars from the lady of the lake ferry if they agree to drop you off at one of the flag stops in winter. Or walk the fs roads from highway 153 from the east side.

Bottom line is that bulgars are fucking hard in winter, and there will be TONS of snow. It will be fogged in most of the time, and you'll need very solid avalanche knowledge.

One more I'd add is Silver Star: its trailhead is below the east-side gate on SR 20, and it has a short approach. I haven't done it in winter/spring, but it seems like a good candidate if you wait for good avy conditions and don't mind a long drive around from Puget Sound.

I would also look beyond the Bulgers. There are a number of lower peaks around Darrington that are still plenty challenging, but much closer to home.

Matt is pretty spot on. Many of the Bulgers are not easily accessible in winter do to road closures, also many can be hard mixed climbs in the winter, although many still have easy routes. Think about peaks that have plowed roads, like ones next to ski resorts. If you AT ski, you have more options, if you have a snow machine, even better. I can't stress enough to pay attention to weather and avalanche forecasts, and take an avy class.

Also, some of these follow long roads off of the highway. Get stuck, or break down and you have a long walk to flag down help. Frequently, the road would be washed out and that was it, time to go home. Other times a tree had blocked the road. I took to carrying tire chains, a shovel, a come along, a chain saw, and 300 pounds of sand bags in the back of my pick up. I took winter climbing seriously, perhaps not as seriously as Jim Nelson and Kit Lewis who hired a helicopter to access some of their harder winter climbs.

Mt Shuksan. Easy access to the north side routes (North Face, White Salmon Glacier, NW Couloir) from the lower lodge. Be careful, I have a friend who was killed by an avalanche on the North Face in spring. That whole valley is very avalanche prone.

Mt Baker. I have several friends who have climbed the Coleman Headwall during a low snow fall winter early season, however, the trailheads to the standard routes are not accessible most winters. The Easton Glacier is very popular with snow machine riders. You could bring skis, a bit of rope, and a six pack of beer and bribe one to tow you into the Easton side. I'm being serious, it can work. The ski in from the ski resort would be relatively long and the Park Glacier side is not easy, although it would be a fantastic trip.

Mt Rainier. Plowed to Paradise, making DC, Gib Ledges, Fuhrer Finger/Thumb, Kautz Glacier, and Nisqually Glacier no longer than in summer. Also, Tahoma Glacier would not be that much farther in winter. I would recommend doing a route that starts from Camp Muir for your first winter climb of Rainier. Its all kinds of dangerous in winter.

Stuart Range: Stuart, Sherpa, Argonaut, Colchuck, Dragontail, Prusik Peak, Little Annapurna, Cashmere Mt. Most have standard routes, some have no easy way up and are even harder in winter.

The Cascade River Road is often open to the 20 mile point until January putting Eldordo, Dorado Needle, Torment, Forbidden, Sahale, Boston, Buckner, Mixup, The Triplets, Snowfield, Austera, Klawatti, and Johannesberg in range. Many of these would be very good ski touring peaks, others would be serious mixed climbs.

seano wrote:I would also look beyond the Bulgers. There are a number of lower peaks around Darrington that are still plenty challenging, but much closer to home.

I think that is a great idea, plenty of lower peaks that become bigger and better objectives in winter.

Around Darrington you have Whitehorse, Whitehorse Glacier. Big Four, North Face. Sperry Peak, North Face/Ridge.

Snoqualmie Pass: The Tooth: NE Slab, South Face, Tooth-Denny Traverse. Chair Peak: East Face, NE Buttress, North Face. Bryant Peak: North Face. Mt Snoqualmie: NY Gulley, Pineapple Express, Blue Moon.

Tattoosh Range: Pinnacle Peak, North Ridge. The Castle. Lane Peak, The Fly, The Zipper.