Climb: Whitehorse Mtn-Northwest Shoulder
Date of Climb: 9/17/2006
Trip Report: We headed up in the minivan Sat night and eventually found the right road just west of Darrington where a supposed French Creek Campground was located. After driving up the road a couple miles, we passed several pull outs (which were full) and a bathroom. Going further on up the hill, the pull outs ended leaving us to surmise that those pull outs ARE French Creek campground.
The lack of signage struck us as odd, but even stranger was passing two young men walking toward us down the road. We took them in quickly in the headlights. The first carried a gun, a black rifle of some sort and the second carried a lit sterno or something resembling a torch in a ladle with his left hand while his right hoisted a very full-looking silver tarp over his shoulder. Filled with what?...
Anyhow, we turned around and passed the dudes who had now planted it near the bathrooms, and wanting to put a bit of distance between them and us, we drove a mile or so back toward 530 to another pullout we had passed (a roundabout actually). We camped there, unfortunately right under the powerline and that strange unnerving, brain-zapping electrical whitenoise bristling in the wires above.
Another car came up the road after we had bedded down in the tent and actually drove around the roundabout coming within 3 feet of the tent. Weird.
No matter. 4 hours of sleep is just that. We drove to the Niederbaum Trailhead, woke up a party in a tent there while we mowed breakfast and slugged all of the coffee and tea we had and were off up the steep trail at 5:30am.
Surprising that as close to Seattle and as accessible as this mountain is, how faint the trail is at times. While we had no trouble following Beckey's route description, the trail getting up to High Pass is totally covered with the long slippery grass which covers the whole hillside.
High Pass is right next to the glacier and from there, once we decided that the best way was on the glacier, the going was easy until the summit block. At this point, the summit was shrouded in fog and cloud, and seeing the rather precipitous summit block, we debated about tackling it. But as we did every other step of the way, we said "let's go closer and see from there."
Sweet, the summit is this little lump behind us!
No, actually this is the real summit.
And Beckey's route description held again as he suggests in the absence of a snow finger to the summit to "traverse east ledges and then up." What he doesn't clue you in on is how perilously exposed these moves are. The climbing is class 3-4, but don't fall here! Anyhow it really got the blood pumping. We took it SLOW on the way down and were psyched as always to have attained the summit.
We made it!!
So this is a cool hike with an alpine finish and a great view of D-town and the valley below. And, any way you slice it, this mother is 6000'+ elevation gain and loss. Bruised-feeling quads have ruled the last few days!
Gear Notes: light crampons
light ice ax
no water on route right now
trekking pole would've been good
Approach Notes: Trail gets fainter as you gain elevation. Snow free until the glacier.
I really like the first picture. The person on the left looks like a demented superhero.
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