West Tiger Mountain No. 3 Cable Line

Our group of three experienced hikers/climbers did an after-work training hike up the Cable Line and down the West Tiger 3 trail. All but the first 15 minutes of the trip were by headlamp. There had been some rain earlier in the day but conditions were good in the evening, with only a few brief, very light periods of precipitation during the ascent which noticeable only when the occasional droplet flashed as it fell through our headlight beams. There was a high sparse cloud layer but below it conditions were clear, and we could see the lights of Bellevue and distant Seattle clearly through breaks in the trees. There were a few muddy spots on the trail close to the trailhead but otherwise the trail was in good condition all the way to the summit. During the descent we encountered one blowdown across the trail at knee height that was easily stepped over. There was no snow anywhere, though we did see one tree near the top of the Tiger 3 trail that was cheerily decorated with Christmas ornaments. We passed two solo hikers during the ascent and saw nobody during the descent.

We made the summit in 80 minutes (40 minutes per 1000 vertical feet) which exceeded the trip goal of 90 minutes. Total trip time car-to-car was 2:50:

Start: 4:40 (late start because we waited for one no-show)
Arrive Summit: 6:00
Start Descent: 6:10
Arrive at cars: 7:30

5 miles round trip, 2050’ vertical feet (approx)