Trip Report
Alpine Scramble - Mount Bigelow, Switchback Peak & Martin Peak
Three day larch scramble outing in the beautiful Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness area (9/29-10/1). Summits: Switchback, Martin, Cheops.
Rodica Manole
- Sat, Sep 29, 2018 — Mon, Oct 1, 2018
- Alpine Scramble - Mount Bigelow, Switchback Peak & Martin Peak
- Mount Bigelow, Switchback Peak & Martin Peak
- Scrambling
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Party of six hiked in via Foggy Dew Creek Trail on Saturday afternoon and setup camp at the beautiful Cooney Lake where we spent two nights. We had to share the trail with a few mountain and motor bikers, all of them being respectful and not impacting our hike in / out.
We climbed Switchback on Saturday (after we setup camp) and Martin+Cheops on Sunday. Navigation from camp to Sawtooth ridge was straight forward (both days) but total whiteout conditions encountered on Sunday did make the navigation more challenging than expected and forced us to revise our peak begging plan and postpone Bigelow attempt for a future trip. Slippery (and very loose in places) rock and heather (due to fresh snow dusting) kept us on our toes while scrambling between the peaks. Larches were at their peak and even though we didn't have the visibility to enjoy the grand views from the Sawtooth ridge, the colors were spectacular. It did snow on us on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon while we were getting back to the camp but not enough to get us wet or to make us feel miserable. Great larch outing in a beautiful area I would highly recommend if one wants to avoid the Enchantments busier / permit controlled area.