Alpine Scramble - Peak 6,050 (aka Not Bryant)

Trip Report

I had attempted this scramble in early June when there was still snow on the ground, but we turned around at 4,650 due a really hot day, melting snow/postholing, with deteriorating conditions.  There is not a ton of beta on this scramble, but I saw that David Butler wrote a trip report in 2017 on a rock scramble of this route.  In his trip description, he concluded that it would be a better snow/mixed snow early season rather than a later season rock scramble.  I would probably have to agree with him.  With that said, this is not an impossible rock scramble by any means, just expect a lot of talus and scree.  The warm weather also made the scramble harder.

We met at 7:30am at Snow Lake.  There was a chance of a thunderstorm after 2pm and there was weather off to our west.  Though we never had any bad weather during the trip, it was warm and muggy with filtered sunshine throughout the day.

After our introductions and pre scramble meeting, we set out on the Snow Lake Trail to the Source Lake intersection.  We continued on to the Source Lake trail in a clockwise direction up 4,320 feet which is the turn off for the snow route.  We saw nothing but brush so we continued on a 1,000 feet further to 4,380 feet to an obvious rock field.  We found a boot path on the east side of the rock field, so headed up to 4,600 feet.  We crossed back over the talus in a westerly direction and then traversed over to the second rock field at 4,900 feet seeing the Thumbtack directly in front of us.  Beyond The Thumbtack we saw the unnamed triangular 5,920 peak and our gully just below the peak that curves off in a southeasterly direction.  

We headed across the talus field below the Thumbtack and then made our way to the scree filled gully.  We found that if we stayed to the far right side of the gully, we could avoid most of the scree.  After ascending the gully, we took a break at 5,500 feet. 

We then headed in a southwest direction around the 5,920 peak and then across another scree field.  Once across the scree, we were back on talus which was more solid and then we ascended up to 5,800 feet.  A couple of people at the front of our group headed in a northerly direction to catch the 6,010 summit but there is a lot of loose rock that could easily be dislodged.  The correct route is to stay more on a northwesterly direction to catch a small saddle between Peak 6050 and the 6020 peak.

From that saddle, turn south.  The summit block itself has solid rock but there is a fair bit of exposure on the east side of Not Bryant.  Some may want to set a line here, though I did not.

After a nice break enjoying the views of Chair Peak, Kaleetan, Snoqualmie, Bryant, Snow Lake, and all the other features of the area, we headed back the way we came.

Once back at the Thumbtack, we were going to go down the snow route to find my keys I lost around 4,600 feet in June.  The rest of the group started to go down but decided to go out the way we came.  I went down the winter route always staying within earshot of the rest of the group, but it was a brush bath and I never found my keys.  The rest of the group made the right choice by coming down near the trail near the first rock field and we all met up at 4,320 feet.

We refilled water at the stream and then headed out. Our day ended up being about 10 hours going up and down with our summit break in between.  It may have been a little less strenuous had it not been so warm, but I think I took away from the trip are:

1) It probably is easier to this trip as a snow scramble in late May.

2) Doing later season is doable, but it takes a lot of energy to ascend and descend talus fields and avoiding the scree.

3) Avoid the brush and do not go on any route that requires bushwhacking.  From Source Lake trailhead, start at the boot path to the right of the first rock field at 4,380 feet.

With that said, our group of 8 had a good time.  Our group got a chance to practice their navigation skills and rock skills across a number of features.  Though the trip was more strenuous and technical that we had expected, it was still a good day.

Map