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Trip Report    

Pyramid Peak

Iron-Copper-Pyramid Traverse
Trip was on 8/15, a few days after the glacial outburst from snout of the South Tahoma Glacier (see photo link below). I much prefer ascending the S slope of Iron to the normal route from near the gap between Iron and Copper (less brush, lower angle heather, much better views). Ascent of Iron via S slope (using Wonderland Trail from Longmire to near Squaw Lakes) works well as a combo trip of Iron-Copper-Pyramid (ascend Iron S slope to ~5700' then traverse W to ridge crest before traversing up and NE to summit plateau, descend to near Iron-Copper gap, ascend Copper, descend from NW corner of Copper at W end of cliff bands to reach normal Pyramid route). To reduce total mileage and make things interesting I usually finish by going out via the Tahoma Creek suspension bridge to the West Side Road, but this exit was closed due to the glacial outburst, so we returned to Longmire via the Wonderland Trail. Total trip was ~17 miles and ~6000' gain/loss.

Photos of trip (including shots of South Tahoma Glacier Terminus):
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0852plgjGnU57G

Itinerary was as follows (total of ~13 hours):
6:00am Meet at Longmire Museum
6:40am Depart Longmire
11:00am Iron Summit
12:40pm Copper Summit
2:30pm Pyramid Summit
3:00pm Depart Pyramid
5:00pm Depart Indian Henry's Hunting Ground
7:40pm Arrive Longmire

Trip reports of past trips also under:
https://www.mountaineers.org/explore/routes-places/copper-iron-mountains-mount-rainier