Trip Report
Alpine Scramble - Guye Peak/North Route
Pleasant trip with plenty of learning opportunities for 9 students on their first scramble.
Fritz Klein
- Sun, May 4, 2025
- Alpine Scramble - Guye Peak/North Route
- Guye Peak, Snoqualmie Mountain & Cave Ridge (Alpental)
- Scrambling
- Successful
- Road suitable for all vehicles
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There is less snow than usual for early May. Generally, conditions were quite good. Kicking steps was fairly easy, but there wasn't too much postholing, and the snow was firm enough to hold a self-belay.
Near the summit, we could step from the snow to the rock; there was no moat. That point is only 5 or 6 feet lower than the summit, which is less than 10 yards away. However, the rock was slick enough that there was no point in risking the short scramble to the actual top.
The forecast indicated that it might be a chilly day with strong wind gusts. It was actually fairly pleasant, with a few minor wind gusts and occasional light snow showers. It was cloudy, but we had good views of the nearby peaks such as Chair Peak and Red Mountain.
The hike up to the junction where the Snoqualmie and Guye routes diverge was uneventful. We slightly overshot the turnoff towards Guye, as there were no visible tracks in the snow in that direction, but quickly got back on track. We wound up taking a more eastern route that required a somewhat exposed traverse a little above 4800', but with good self-belays, all the students handled it very well. The summit area is small; we visited it just a few at a time.
On the descent we took time to do a bit of self-arrest practice, and were able to do a few short glissades.