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Trip Report    

Day scramble - Cornice Peaks

Cornice Pk is about 1/2 mile south of the Liberty Bell/South Early Winter Spire group of peaks. The scramble isn't overly difficult with a great 360-degree view of the North Cascades.

Randy Fritch Randy Fritch
August 17, 2025
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • The Blue Lake trail is in very good shape. Ascending the climber's trail is steeper and in places some loose rock will be encountered. If traversing the ridge between South Early Winter Spire and Cornice Peak expect to go around some obstacles and move between the east and west side of the ridge. An alternate approach is to stay approximately 100 feet below the west side of the ridge to get to the base of Cornice Peak. Depending on the time of the year you may encounter snow or rock. In late season the slope to the ridgeline between Cornice and Blue Lake Peaks will be scree and talus. Above the ridgeline the rock is solid on the south side of Cornice Peak. Early season with a snowpack ascending the slope to the ridgeline between Cornice and Blue Lake Peaks shouldn't present a problem until just below the ridgeline a section of steep snow may make it difficult to gain the ridgeline.

With good driving conditions the Blue Lake trailhead can be reached in about three hours form Seattle. For this trip we left the night before and car camped near the trailhead. We got an early start to beat the heat and left the trailhead at 7 AM. We took a very casual approach with a lot of breaks making the summit in 3.5 hours. We spent a good 1.5 hours on the summit enjoying the 360-degree view of the North Cascades. On the Blue Lake trail expect a lot of people especially on the return trip.  There will also be a large number of climbers on the climber's trail to Liberty Bell/South Early Winter Spire. Once you leave the climber's trail you probably won't run into anyone else. There are a lot of mountain goats in the area, and they aren't afraid of people but keep your distance. I used my ice ax on the scree/talus slope below Cornice Peak for balance. One can expect a lot of rock movement ascending the scree/talus slope. Once the ridgeline is reached getting to summit of Cornice Peak the rock is good.