Trip: Northern Pickets - Whatcom Pk.(North Ridge),Mt. Challenger(standard)
Date: 6/27/2009
Trip Report:
These two elusive summits stand as the northern anchors of the Picket Range in North Cascades National Park (NCNP). This area is arguably the most rugged and remote mountain wilderness in the lower 48 states. Challenger and the majority of the Pickets are not visible from any road and no trails offer particularly good views of the area. The authors of Selected Climbs in the Cascades, Vol 1 rave about the objective in the following words: Mt. Challenger is a remote and highly satisfying climb that makes for an almost spiritual experience... (emphasis added). The route represents the best of traditional Cascades mountaineering. Guarded by long, rugged approaches that inflict real hardship, Challenger inspires the imagination and offers rewards unsurpassed in the Cascades . So then why did my club trip only attract one volunteer, Dan, an expatriate American? My wife, Silke, had no choice in the matter. She was needed to get us up the 5th class summit block. Is it because most trip reports agree that Challenger lives up to its name? The long and arduous approaches require at least 4 or 5 days (round trip) by any of the three standard approaches. - My plan involved taking the Ross Lake Resort water taxi up the lake to the Little Beaver Trail, hike 17 miles to Whatcom Pass, scramble over the top of Whatcom Peak via its North Ridge to access Perfect Pass, traverse Challenger Glacier to connect with the route up from Challenger Arm, dump overnight packs, go climb the summit, and retreat via the Wiley Ridge to Beaver Pass, hike Big Beaver Trail some 14 miles back to Ross Lake and finally a water taxi out. This makes for a traverse and has only one downhill bushwhack section. An option would have been to traverse around Whatcom's summit instead. This is reputed to be dangerous due to falling and sliding ice below Whatcom Glacier. Silke prefers the aesthetics of climbing up and down ridges and bagging other summits in the process and since Fred Beckey does not elaborate much on the North Ridge, I figured it's probably not too big of a deal. The other often taken route from Hannegan Pass, along Easy Ridge with the "Perfect Impasse" blocking easy access to Perfect Pass never appealed to me because of stories I read surrounding the Impasse and because it does not make for a traverse without a long car shuttle. The stiff fare for the water taxi, $125 to Little Beaver, $50 from Big Beaver (APT) did not factor much in comparison. In the old days, Canadians accessed Whatcom Pass from Chilliwack Lake but this cross border trail no longer exists on the Canadian side. Experienced people have gone looking for it but found it disappear underwater very quickly. At Little Beaver Camp I learned from canoeists that it is still straight forward, even post 9/11, crossing the US border on the Skagit Road at Hozomeen, and get camping permits from an US Ranger for campsites in the Ross Lake National Recreation Area. They told me that it's only about a 2.5-hour canoe to Little Beaver. Had I known this, I would have probably pursued a plan for a self-supported trip from cars, hiking only parts of Little Beaver Trail in both directions. (The Big Beaver Trail drops from Beaver Pass into the Little Beaver valley about two-thirds of the way up); that's assuming that this ranger is also authorized to issue permits in NCNP. So much for red tape.
The weather forecast was stellar. No rain and almost no clouds predicted for a week. We left Vancouver Friday evening after dinner. The border took all but ten minutes. Debating a beer stop while driving Hwy 20 just west of Concrete we came upon the octagonal building of the Birdsview Washington Brewing Co. It was still going to be open for another hour. Enough time to taste a pint of IPA, Amber and Pilsner (one for each). Our waitress turned out to be the brew master's daughter and the one who wrote the history printed on the menu of how the Voigt family came to operate the business. She introduced us to her Dad and we chatted beer, signed the guest book, and vowed to come back in five days' time a lot more thirsty. The day ended with us pitching our tents well after dark in Howard Miller Steelhead Park in Rockport.
There was a lot of dew the next morning only meters from the Skagit River. We had set an early alarm to be at the ranger station in Marblemount first thing when it opens at 7am. No time to dry our tents. There were other climbers getting permits but none for the Pickets. In fact, the issuing ranger had not yet written a permit for Challenger this year. The whole procedure took all but a few minutes and off we went looking for a place to eat breakfast. We started the 1km hike down from Hwy 20 with painfully heavy packs. Our scheduled rendezvous with the boat on the shores of Ross Lake was at 10 o'clock. I used the resort phone at the bottom of the trail to call for the water taxi. After a brief stop at the resort office to swipe the credit card and prepay for the return trip, we were cruising effortlessly up the lake in a fast boat large enough for six climbers with gear.
The water around the boat float at Little Beaver Camp was teeming with little fish. We explored the camp some then headed up the trail. At first, the trail climbs a series of switchbacks seemingly going in the wrong direction before it descends into the valley bottom. This section offered some great views over the lake. We quickly settled into a comfortable all-day pace. There was evidence of fresh trail work all along and so it was no surprise when we came upon a work crew of five. They were installing a new log bridge across a deep, stagnant, old arm of Redoubt Creek. I chatted with the foreman for quite a while. He has been doing this for decades and knew about the condition of the Chilliwack Trail - no work is being done downriver from Bear Creek Campsite, while Little Beaver Trail was being upgraded to stock standard. With breaks at Perry Creek Shelter, Redoubt Creek, Stillwell, the easy but mindless hike seemed to take forever before we finally plopped down at Twin Rocks Campsite and chilled out with the bugs. There is no camping allowed at Whatcom Pass and this is as close as you may camp on this side of the pass. It was now close to 7pm, we had been hiking all afternoon. Silke started a little fire to keep the bugs at bay.
Next morning we were hiking at 9. The trail had not seen recent work from here on but was still easy to follow. The views opened up as we gained elevation. The huge waterfalls streaming from the north side of Wiley Ridge were especially impressive. Then, we suddenly came across a new trail, twice as wide and pronounced as the trail had been - stock standard - but not long and this freeway disappeared under a narrow swath of avalanche debris. The usual type trail continued on the other side. Many switchbacks later, some in quite short succession up a steep scree gully, where the trail flattened near the pass, we abruptly saw continuous snow. A short lunch break above the pass and on we ascended towards the steepening North Ridge of Whatcom Peak. An intervening high point allowed good views of our route ahead. Here we donned crampons and switched poles for an ice axe. The knife edge ridge was snow covered for a long ways up except for a couple short breaks. The snow had perfect consistency, soft to kick bucket steps, not slushy, and no postholing. Reports told of the ridge being easier than it appears from a distance and this we found also. The scrambling was a bit loose and exposed but not as bad as some reports have claimed. We found a line, which took us parallel to and as high as the highest snow patch. At that point we traversed right into the west side with open face 3rd class scrambling all the way to the summit. Whatcom is a superior vantage: Perfect Pass, Challenger and our route for tomorrow up the glacier was clearly laid out before us: Bear Mtn, Mt. Redoubt and Mt. Spickard behind us to the northeast, and Mt. Shuksan and Mt. Baker to the west, naming only the most prominent. There was one more real prominent mountain to the southwest, which we later identified as Mt. Blum. After climbing down a 3rd-class rock ridge for a short way, we made quick time glissading down snow to Perfect Pass where we camped for the night. It was quite windy and cool when our sojourn at the summit had been mild and calm. We had no difficulties finding runnels for water and a site flat enough to camp. Later that evening a mama goat with two kids appeared on a distant snowfield. It seemed as though we were where she wanted to go but now didn't quite dare. Silke said she heard them around our tents in the early morning hours probably looking for our pee spots and the prized salt.
The climb down from here to the lower Challenger Glacier, a route taken later in the year by some, was completely out of the question. A huge cornice, half broken off already, blocked that way. But why would we want to descend, when in June, a line climbs south up snow behind the cornice, crosses a band of rocks (with a couple cairns) to a snow slope beyond that isn't all that steep. Gaining more elevation we outflanked some crevasses before turning east and toward a flat area in the middle of the Challenger Glacier. We stopped for a short break near a unique nunatak, which was quite distinct from Whatcom's summit. Traversing east some more we arrived at the climbing route up from Challenger Arm and dumped most of what we had in our packs. From here the route up to the summit pyramid, although the pyramid itself is not visible from that spot, is well laid out. It was clear that a notorious bergschrund was not going to pose any problems for us so early in the year. In fact, fresh goat tracks led the way across it. An easy but exposed snow arete leads to the east-most extension of the rock tower. We negotiated a few more precarious steps on now hard snow at the base of the tower before we dropped the campons and ice axes. Silke in her usual enthusiasm immediately attacked the ridge crest proper to get over to the vertical part of the tower, only to find that a bench below provided less exposure and easier access. In all, there are four rusty old pitons protecting the few feet to and from the one solid fifth class move. Some claim the move is as easy as 5.4, the guide book says 5.7+. I found it about as hard as I want to climb with mountaineering boots even when Silke has me tight. We all got up it, though; I certainly didn't make it look easy. A short scramble along the exposed summit slabs leads to a precarious 10-ft block that feels awkward climbing up. You can almost touch the summit. If it lay on flat ground there would be no worries but up here there is 1000 feet exposure on one side and scary enough on the other. A flake at the facing edge is probably the easiest way to clamber up. Silke protected us with a sling. We thoroughly basked in our success with feet dangling over nothingness. We looked for a register but couldn't find one. On the way down, we rappelled from many slings and a rappel ring left behind by previous parties. Our 30 meter rope was plenty long enough to get us down. Off the rock and down the snow, we stopped and Dan used the satellite phone to call a friend from his previous Challenger attempt. In quick succession we returned to our cache, packed up and dropped to where our route home climbs back up to Peak 7374. There was no way down from that peak, except down a steep snow cirque next to rocks and back up a dirty scree gully to a notch at right. I had passed this turn on the way up because it didn't look appealing. Turns out, the conditions were fine and it all wasn't that bad. From the notch it was a walk to a camp with spectacular amphitheater seating at the pass above Wiley Lake. An obvious flat area was found not far from a melt puddle but it was windy again and not so easy to find shelter for a kitchen.
We hiked mostly on snow on the southeast side of the ridge to Eiley Lake. We wondered whether Eiley and Wiley come from German words, Eile and Weile, meaning 'haste' and 'while', as in: "you only made it to Eiley Lake so you better hurry the next day", while "you made it to Wiley Lake now you can take awhile to get to Challenger's summit" for parties on the approach.
Before long we arrived at Eiley Lake but what now, what next? All descriptions I had read, and the descriptions are all for on the way in, talk about dropping to Eiley Lake. I had also brought a computer print out from what I thought at the time was a GPS track I found on the internet that showed them going up and around Eiley Lake, up what appeared to be a very ugly scree gully somewhat above and behind the lake. Dan told us of his campsite from two years ago, two ridges over and far below the level of Eiley Lake. He suggested dropping low. The ridge ahead of us had a cliff facing us interrupted only somewhat at one place and the aforementioned gully and it didn't look to me that the cliff petered out anywhere above where some serious krumholz started. Before a decision could be reached, Silke was off investigating the ugly gully. She promised she'd turn around if it was any harder than the one we negotiated the day before. An almost continuous flood of crashing boulder and dust clouds from the gully and she was still climbing up. I assumed that she felt she was beyond the point of return and could only flee upward. She raced into the notch but she soon hollered down to us that she was at an impasse with no way down the other side. I didn't dare watch as she now had to make her way back down that ugly gully. Silke arrived exhausted but in one piece proclaiming that her recent experience was worse than anything we had faced on the trip so far. We only allowed her a short break because we had lost much precious time. At this point, the second option above the lake was no longer in contention, although had I not read any trip reports and had nobody's tracks, that's the way I would have gone. Shows you, too much information can be misleading. Off we went down the slope. We made good time and soon I made out what looked like a short but krumholz choked break in the cliff. I wasn't going to drop any lower and forced my way through and up over the ridge. The pain was short but at tolerance limit. An open heather slope was found and followed back up and into a large basin. It was here that Dan had camped before. He knew the way now, though I was skeptical, when he led us out of this basin again by dropping even further down to some benches. Goat paths were followed below a picturesque waterfall and a stream filled draw was climbed back into a second basin. Here we stopped for lunch. We continued up a flower filled slope that led to some thin trees and what looked like a snowfield beyond. We took this route and found relatively easy going into a grass and dirt gully. This we were obviously meant to climb which we did while looking for options to traverse further. Just then near a bunch of bleached wood trunks, pointing up into the sky in all directions, a defined trail became apparent. Thus, we took the low route described in some guide books as generally contouring at the 6000 feet level. Except for the short krumholz section this was probably a lot better and faster than the high route near the craggy crest which looked to me to be much steeper slopes and more precarious traversing, though I can understand why parties coming in are not particularly inclined to drop so low once on or near the ridge crest. Overlooking Beaver Pass we stopped for one more break, then we dropped, still on snow, to the lowest open bench at the far right (south) corner of the forested slope above the pass. GPS, compass and careful map reading of creek drainages over on the opposite slope told us where the broad pass has the shelter. We found a trail, a cairn, then we dropped into the bush avoiding a light green vegetated gully to our left. There were many cliff bands but we were not caught. Most of our descent was through mature timber with no green vegetation on the ground, only countless dead branches and twigs, but not even many downed trees. Eventually the slope eased and an understory of devils club and berry bushes became unavoidable. Three branches of Big Beaver Creek had to be crossed before we stumbled upon Big Beaver Trail near the horse camp. We made short order of the hike to Luna Camp.
We hiked the last 7 miles to Ross Lake on Canada Day. It was a pleasant hike, passing through mature old-growth, an impressive grove of giant Western Red Cedar, a beautiful setting of little lakes filled with the turquoise waters of a meandering Big Beaver Creek and finally the crowded Big Beaver Landing campsites. We arrived in good time for a dip in the lake and to laze around the floating dock. A (roaming) park ranger bummed a ride from us. He had hiked the "Beaver Loop" in three days and had heard about a climbing party catching a boat ride at 5pm; we gather from the packhorse party who'd come up Big Beaver during the day. On the way home we stopped again at the Birdsview Brew Pub, had a couple of pitchers and some excellent burgers. And thus ended a super mountaineering trip.
Photos of the trip can be found at:
Picasaweb Album - Challenger
Dans Flickr Web Album - Challenger
We also flew over our route the following weekend (could still see our foot prints in the snow in places). Photos from this flight are at:
Picasa Web Album - Challenger Flight
Gear Notes:
ice axe, crampons, harness, helmet, prussiks, slings, biners, 30m rope (a 2nd for glacier rescue) - there are pitons
Approach Notes:
Little Beaver Trail - Whatcom Pass - Whatcom Peak (North Ridge) - Perfect Pass - Challenger Glacier - Challenger Summit - Wiley Ridge - Beaver Pass - Big Beaver Trail (five days)
