Trip Report

Rough Timeline

8:00 Snow lake TH

11:20 Base of the climb

14:30 Summit

15:30 Starting to rappel

16:30 Base of East Lundin Peak

17:00 Red Pass

19:30 PCT TH

Detailed Account

We met at Eastgate P&R at 6:30, drove to the TH at Alpental, drove a car to the PCT TH, and hit the trail at 8. We followed a GPS track from Peakbagger. The trail starts rather steep in the woods, gaining 1200 ft in the first mile. It was easy to follow until it levels out and the trees give away to a beautiful lush alpine meadow. From there, the climber’s trail splits from the Snoqualmie Mt trail at 4600’. The trail is rather faint in places and we relied on the GPS track to find our way. The vegetation here is mostly heather, so no bush whacking is required.

Previous TRs have mentioned plane crash wreckage. We did encounter a few rather big pieces. Some suggested keeping the wreckage to climber's right. But that advice was hard to follow since there were more than one piece so we just followed the path of least resistance. Our objective was still in the clouds so the navigation wasn’t super obvious. We relied on the GPS tracks and some 10 year old memory (Dennis has climbed it once in 2015). Fortunately they served us well and we didn’t have to backtrack at all. Eventually we ended up on the base of the west ridge at 5800’. I believe we were a little left to the top of the red arrow in the following topo.

From here, what’s in front of us is an exposed knife edge traverse before the route begins to steepen. Given the exposure and the consequence of a fall, we opted to set up a quick handline. We stretched a 60 meter rope to its full length. Once everyone had arrived safely at the end of the handline, we started pitching out. From this point, the climbing route is mostly on the north side, indicated by the dashed lines in the above photo.

We did the route in three pitches, which is consistent with the topo photo above. The first pitch stays on the ridge line, becoming progressively steeper, and the last bit ends on the north side of the ridge. The second pitch starts with a few steps down to the left towards a few small bushes, followed by a rising traverse to climber’s left. The third pitch continues to climber’s left then does straight up on the north face towards the ridge crest. There are a few very exposed low class 5 moves here (hardest moves of the whole climb). The rock takes mid sized pros very well.

Once on the summit ridge, it’s still quite a ways to the true summit. The traverse is either on the ridge crest or slightly to the south side. It’s mostly class 2 or 3. Due to the exposure, we set up two handlines for everyone.

At the summit, we had two options. Either reverse the route or rappel down the east ridge to catch a climber’s trail towards Red Pass. We took a vote and the consensus was to go east. So east we went. The rappel station is a bit below the summit on the east side. Again, we used a handline for safety. 

We evaluated the existing rappel station setup, which was rigged with two chockstones. The stones were not as big as we’d liked but they were very solid. Out of caution, we found another chockstone back from the existing anchor and slung a webbing to back up the main anchor. The rappel starts at a low angle on the east ridge, then drops off the ridge to the south side and goes straight down. You’ll pass an odd bolt hanger on the face on your way down, which has been mentioned in other TRs. The bolt looks questionable at the best. Don’t use it other than a landmark. One rappel got us down to some gravel terrain at the saddle between Lundin and East Lundin.

From here, we followed a faint climber’s trail to the base of East Lundin,going up, almost to the summit of East Lundin, then traversed around the back (north) of it, then on the ridge towards Red Pass, with Red Mountain in the backdrop. The trail is rather loose and exposed, although not technically difficult. Out of caution, we used handlines for a couple of exposed sections. So we traded speed for safety. 

The trail is now very well defined from Red Pass. The rest of the trip isn’t anything worth writing home about, except the ferocious mosquitos.

Gear Notes

• We didn’t expect to encounter any snow, so we opted to hike and climb in approach shoes. 
• 60 meter ropes worked well.
• Each leader brought a single rack (.5, .75, 1, 2 + big nuts) and it was sufficient.
• Long slings are useful for slinging trees, rock constrictions, or extending pros.
• 2-3 cordelletes for a group of 6 are helpful.

Safety Notes

• When in doubt, assume every hold is loose!
• The route is technically easy. But the consequence of a fall is HIGH!

GPS Tracks and Photos

https://www.gaiagps.com/public/SRPuznFmUkWCF47ruIEvWPU8/

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QvgGbzAaTSFK3GDD9

Map