Fay Peak & First Mother Mountain

9/6/14 Hot day in the lowlands, perfect weather in the mountains. Mowich Lake parking lot was full before 8:30 a.m. Later in the day, cars were parked more than a mile down the road.

From parking lot, followed the lakeshore east to unmaintained Knapsack Pass trail. Around 5400', turned south on spur bootpath and ascended moderate slopes and meadows to attain west ridge of Fay Peak. Followed ridge with class 2-3 scrambling to the slightly buggy summit of Fay.

Beyond Fay, dropping to the north/west slope of the ridge would require a descending traverse on hard snow and scree. We stayed atop the ridge following a bootpath through the trees. A quarter mile past the summit of Fay we passed a faint turnoff descending toward Mt. Pleasant. We stayed high (Left) as long as possible to keep the ridge as it curved north. After another 1/3rd mile, we met up with a gully on the west slope of the ridge leading down to the visible trail just west of Knapsack Pass.

From the pass, there was a good bootpath north, turning into a class 2-3 scramble up the west side of First Mother. Returning to the pass, we descended east via the unmaintained but clear trail back to Mowich Lake.

Careful route selection near the summits makes this trip a class 2-3 scramble. Variations may include class 4 exposure.