Trip Report
Winter Scramble - Cowlitz Gap & Rocks (winter)
great day. did not make the summit due to turnaround time and worried on the gate.
Jason Griffith
- Sun, Feb 4, 2024
- Winter Scramble - Cowlitz Gap & Rocks (winter)
- Cowlitz Gap & Rocks (winter)
- Snowshoeing & Scrambling
- Successful
- Road suitable for all vehicles
-
didn't need snowshoes until above tree line due to melt cycle the past several weeks. snow was good and started at parking lot.
the west face summit block was snow/ice all the way up, but the NW ridge was a lot of rock and looked doable too- note we did neither- see trip report.
turned up the trail right before paradise river (that's a mistake) but did cross on the foot bridge across the river instead of going back to the road.- this required ice axe self belay to not fall into the river- and one person at a time on the bridge which slowed our party of 10 down for 30-40 minutes. If this didn't happen, we would have had time to summit the rocks. Instead we made it to cowlitz gap and had a wonderful day of it. Although no summit, on the way back just at the right timing we say a large adult wolverine going up an adjacent slope! - this more than made up for the lack of the true summit.
great crew and conditions today.