Alpine Scramble - Bryant Peak

After other weekend plans fell through, I posted Bryant last minute in hopes of completing a close-to-home rock scramble. Happily, I was able to find 4 other Mountaineers who wanted to join on short notice! Including one student who needed a rock scramble to graduate. 

We met at the trailhead at 7:30am in hopes of avoiding the crowds and possible rain in the afternoon. The forecast predicated rain starting for sure by 5pm, but some models predicted as early as 2pm. Thus, we set a turnaround time for 1pm, thinking that we could descend in the rain as long as we had passed the summit block by then. 

We quickly ascended the rocky trail, enjoying the many waterfalls, streams, and wildflowers along the way. We brought water shoes but did not need them since all of the major creek crossings have bridges now. We started seeing snow patches around 3600 ft, but not consistently until around 4400 ft, when we lost the trail under snow. From Hemlock Pass, we attempted to stay on the ridge to avoid rocks and inconsistent snow patches until we reached the area where it flattened out. When we reached the base of Bryant, we looked for the "dry streambed" referenced in Mary Lou Biggs' August 2024 trip report, but everything was very much wet in May! So we did some bushwhacking, using many veggie belays, until we reached more consistent snow that looked promising. Generally, it held well, but we had to look out for postholing near streams and snow-to-rock transitions. 

We reached the summit around 12:30pm. Our group easily completed the final rock scramble section, and found it easier/less exposed than advertised by the T4 rating and website description. Mary Lou’s beta to head towards climber’s left gave us a relatively easy path. We debated continuing on to Hemlock, but saw clouds gathering and the wind picking up. So we quickly descended to take our break below the rock scramble section. This turned out to be a wise decision as it began raining immediately after reached the base of that section, around 12:45pm – a full 75 minutes before the earliest predicted rain in the forecast models. This was a good reminder to (1) leave extra time in the schedule before an incoming bad weather front and (2) maintain situational awareness – although we were not expecting rain so early, we noticed signs that it was coming sooner than expected and reacted accordingly.

We donned raincoats and made our way down the snow without too much trouble, although we probed carefully around transitions from snow-to-rock for holes. We stayed on snow for the most part on the way down the peak to avoid the bushwhacking section from before, although we did have to re-route skier’s right around the cliff band near the base. 

Once we reached the melted out trail again, it was smooth (albeit wet) sailing back to the trailhead. Congratulations to our student participant for completing her rock scramble!

If you are planning to summit Bryant in the near future, the summit register is full and could use a replacement. 

Gear brought and used: ice axes, rain coats

Gear brought but not used: water shoes, crampons

Car-to-car time: 8.5 hours