[TR] Long Mountain - West Route via Marten Creek 01/18/2025

[JasonG]

Trip: Long Mountain - West Route via Marten Creek

Trip Date: 01/18/2025

Trip Report:

The January 2025 Drought continues!  In times like these, the desperate turn to Kloke's Winter Climbs guide, self published by Dallas in the mid 90s.  I recently picked up a copy of my own and began perusing for a reasonable winter day scramble for the mature mountaineer.  And I stumbled upon Long Mountain, which I had never heard of until about a week ago.  But no matter, @cfire long gave up on trying to judge the merits of my ideas and so it was an easy sell to convince him to give it a go this past Saturday.  And... dare I say, it was better than expected?  But maybe that was just the beers afterwards at the Mountain Loop General Store (back open!).  Or maybe the summit whiskey that clouded my perception.

Still, what's not to like about the sublime position, an exposed finish, and solitude on a windless winter's day? 

1912 Doug Fir test plot along the Marten Creek Trail:

This is what @cfire came for:

Or maybe this was it? (Jumbo, Big Bear and Three Fingers):

A lovely finish:

Yeehaw!

Three Fingers East Face....Paging @lunger and @danhelmstadter:

Pilchuck and the Olympics:

East to GlacierL

Mind the exposure on the way down:

Not fun:

Fun:

 

 

Gear Notes:
ice axe, crampons, helmet.

Approach Notes:
Marten Creek trail for a couple miles and then choose your own adventure to get into the west basin. Follow your nose up to the exposed finish for the last bit.

[Bronco]

11 hours ago, JasonG said:

Not fun:

At least you're not in snowshoes!  Nice report!

[JasonG]

@cfire loves snowshoes more than most, but we couldn't find a reason to bring them along.  Maybe next time!

[OlympicMtnBoy]

12 hours ago, Bronco said:

At least you're not in snowshoes!  Nice report!

Haha, did that in spring a couple years ago and going up the snowshoes were a pain in the bushes and coming down a pain sinking in the extra slushy snow.  Fun scramble though!