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Alpine Scramble - Revolution Peak

Spring scramble of Thompson Point and Revolution Peak

Philippe Nguyen Philippe Nguyen
May 04, 2025
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • Recent snowfall added in thin layer of fresh snow on top of consolidated spring snowpack. We had morning cloud cover maintaining snow solidity in the morning, so snowshoes were not needed.

    The rock scramble section on the ridgeline was probably snow-free up until the night before. We cleaned fresh snow off of the footholds and handholds on the crux move to make them usable. Still, the rock was a bit wet and required care. Heavier snowfall or icier conditions would have been a problematic.

7 am - We met up at the trailhead under mild rain and decided to not bring snowshoes for this trip.

7:20 am - Started hiking up snow-free Granite Creek Trail, no longer raining.

9:10 am - Turned onto Thompson Lake Trail.

9:30 am - Encountered consolidated snow cover at 3500', and it started snowing.

10 am - Started up the old logging road at about 4000', occasional bushwhacking and muddy travel on and off of patchy snow cover

11:20 am - Lunch at the abandoned/deconstructed cabin just below Thomson Point. Stashed our poles and got out our ice axes and helmets.

11:45 am - We passed over Thompson Point and began the ridge traverse. The ridge is tree covered and snow was still solid, even icy in parts, but not enough for microspikes. Many rock sections were bare and dry. All class two moves until...

12:30 pm - We arrived at the crux, an 8-foot downclimb consisting of about two to four moves depending on height. It has large but slanted footholds and handholds, and it's hard to see what to do. The leader climbed down first and cleared snow off the holds with an axe, and advised others on where to place their feet as they descended. A fixed "handline" rope exists but we did not trust it (it was a 6 mm cord with butterfly loops to hold onto, ending just about halfway down, and partially frozen in parts).

1:25 pm - Summit! After some quality snow slopes on the final ridge ascent, fantastic for kicking steps. Cloud cover persisted so we had no views, but the firmness of the snow was appreciated.  We started descending after a long break, with amazing plunge-stepping on the way down. The crux was no problem coming back up.

2:40 pm - Reached the cabin spot where we stashed our poles. We put away helmets and ice axes.

3:40 pm - Back on Thompson Lake Trail.

5:40 pm - Back at the cars.