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Intermediate Alpine Climb - Cosho Peak

Successful climb of Cosho Peak via Kilting Creek / Messachie Pass approach.

Rodica Manole Rodica Manole
May 16, 2023
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • We started from Easy Pass TH and after the bridge crossing, in about 5 minutes we turned right (heading west)  and started our 100% off trail travel through open forest for the rest of the trip. We didn't encounter continuous snow pack until we got to Kilting creek where we had to put snowshoes on to avoid postholing. We crossed the creek leveraging a snow bridge at about 4200 ft. Snowshowing to Messachie Pass was straight forward given the relatively good snow coverage without any major postholing. Without snow coverage this approach will not be enjoyable due to abundant slide alder and devils club.

    For the climb itself we found good  conditions at the Kimtah col where we didn't have any major challenges transitioning to Kimtah glacier. Also transition from snow to rock for the summit push was straight forward. Moats are opening up fast though and I would expect conditions to change significantly given the high temps and the route to be out or very challenging to navigate in about two weeks.

    We encountered slushy ankle deep snow and occasionally potholing knee deep.

Easy Pass TH parking lot is melted out. 

On Fri It took us about 4h to get to Messachie Pass where we took a 45 minutes lunch break while taking in the views. We decided to keep going down on the other side of the pass in the basin where Panther Creek headwaters start, to setup camp and get us closer to the start of the climb instead of camping on Ragged View. It was a very wise idea. From Messachie Pass we downclimbed about 600 ft and found a great spot for out camp avoiding slides and rock fall hazards and being close to running water. Made it to camp around 2 pm, setup camp and enjoyed a relaxing rest of the day while enjoying the gorgeous views.

On Sat we started our climb around 4:15 am. We started with snowshoes but shorthly we switched to crampons. We made it to the Kimtah col and on Kimtah glacier right before 7 AM, roped up, did a high traverse under Kimtah and Thieves, dropped on the glacier for a short section and then gained the slopes below Cosho summit block which was partially dry with some snow patches up high. The rock scramble was straight forward.  We made it on the summit right before 10 am. 

After 15-20 min on the summit we started to retrace our tracks back while dealing even with more postholing and staying alert for any hazards from above us / from the Ragged Ridge proper. 

We were a bit concerned about steep soft snow condition on the other side of the Kimtah col which would have us drop back in the basin where our camp was set but we were surprised to find better than expected conditions with reasonable plunging steps opportunities.  After we crossed the trickiest slopes, we stopped on a rock island about 500 ft above our camp for a long lunch break. We made it back at the camp around 3 pm but given the heat we were dealing with we were not motivated to move camp to Ragged View point (which was our initial plan)  and decided to spend a second night at the same camp.

On Sun we started our hike out by 8:15 am and made it back to the TH in about 4 hours.