Trip Report
Alpine Scramble - Jumbo Mountain
Beautiful summit - the challenge is in the approach.
Frank Miles
- Sun, May 27, 2018
- Alpine Scramble - Jumbo Mountain
- Jumbo Mountain
- Scrambling
- Successful
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- Road rough but passable
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The faint trail leading from Squire Creek trail disappears very soon. This may be from the many trees that have fallen. Perhaps 1000' (altitude) above that we found an old flagged route switchbacking up the steep hillside, only to find that it appeared to be heading toward point 4612 - inconsistent with route instructions we had found. There's a complex series of gullies between fairly sharp ridges that make for significant navigational challenges in traversing toward our goal. As it was we didn't get onto continuous snow until well above 4000' above sea level. Once on snow the route is comparatively easy. We hoped to spy a better route down on our descent - but failed except that we managed to re-acquire the flagged route and followed it closer to the Squire Creek trail.
In this fairly typical snow-level year, it would have been better to have attempted this trip perhaps 2 weeks earlier. As it was we did a *lot* of bushwhacking, with an appreciable amount on pretty steep slopes. I have to give a lot of credit to the participants who did not complain; and when given the choice of turning around agreed that there was still time in the day and we should persevere. Shortly after that we finally got onto snow, and progress became rapid and comparatively easy. Overall, with the traverses over ridges and gullies it took 14 hours (with the better part of an hour on top); 10 miles of travel; and about 6500' of altitude gain (counting about 1000' of "wasted" gain on ascent and descent). Map, compass, GPS, and most importantly - all sets of eyes constantly seeking the best routes- were all important. The views from on top were spectacular on this beautiful day. The summit register is full. I'm giving the route a low score due to the serious difficulties in the approach.