Page Type:
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Route |
|---|---|
Lat/Lon:
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40.24010°N / 105.6592°W |
Route Type:
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Mountaineering |
Season:
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Summer |
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Time Required:
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One to two days |
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Rock Difficulty:
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Class 3 |
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The Cleaver & Tanima Peak
From the Thunder Lake patrol cabin, locate Tanima Peak’s north slopes and plan your route to the east ridge. Hike south around the south shore of Thunder Lake and make your way to the base of the north slopes. Ascend about 1000-ft up this dirty slope and finally attain the crest of the east ridge. While staying on the crest, follow the east ridge to the summit of Tanima Peak, the climbing here is class 2+ on great rock.
Descend Tanima Peak’s short west slope and hike south across tundra to the start-point of The Cleaver’s north ridge. In early to mid June this ridge holds plenty of snow, however avoiding it, is possible. From here, a few enormous gendarmes appear to be blocking simple passage to The Cleaver. Well, that’s exactly what they do, they block simple passage, so be prepared for some tricky route finding and plenty of class 3 scrambling.
Descend to the first gendarme and bypass it to the west. Continue west around more jagged rock pinnacles to the next tower of rock. Ascend it on its ridge crest via steep slabs to its high point and descend it to the low point or saddle between it and The Cleaver. The crux of this climb begins here. Climb a narrow, slanting chimney (class 3+) chimney to the base of The Cleaver. Ascend steep, class 3 slabs to the summit of The Cleaver.