[TR] Prospect Peak & Kromona Mine- West Side then North Ridge 1/30/2005

[klenke]

Climb: Prospect Peak & Kromona Mine-West Side then North Ridge

 

Date of Climb: 1/30/2005

 

Trip Report:

Come on! Where are all the North Cascades trip reports? Do I have to do them ALL?...

 

Mike Collins conveniently omitted some of the more interesting aspects of our outing in his trip report so I thought I'd offer my own version.

 

On Sunday Mike Collins and I planned to climb Frostbite Peak (5,240+ ft) in the Sultan River Drainage. (This peak also goes by the name Frostbite-Webber.) Because this peak requires technical climbing we opted for a car-camp at the Boulder Lake trailhead to get an early start. Well it rained in the night and the next morning felt iffy. I just knew the summit would have fresh snow on it, so we bagged it. (A view of the peak later confirmed my fresh snow fears--it wasn't much but would have been enough to thwart us.) We needed a back-up plan. Peakbaggers always have back-up plans. In this case, I had prepared and brought a back-up map of Prospect Peak (and Pk 5110). No one Mike and I know has climbed Prospect Peak. It's one of those forgotten named summits in the Cascades. Prospect is visible in the foreground of the right panel in this panorama.

 

We drove the road back to Spada Lake and parked at the bridge over the Sultan River (1,450 ft). A 700-vertical foot shwhack southward on the west side of the South Fork Sultan got us to the road we wanted at 2,100 ft. This is FR-6110 that junctions off at Olney Pass but is gated at the pass. Our short-cut cut off about 2 miles of road walking (it's a good road to bike if you have one).

 

After crossing over the deep chasm of the South Fork Sultan we came to a junction and our first screw up of the day. The road came to what I thought was a landslide area. Without much thought, I simply trudged over the bumps thinking they were rubble piles. Mike followed behind also unaware of our error. Soon we were walking uphill quite steeply. Hmmm, my map doesn't show the road going this steeply. Furthermore, it was becoming overgrown and decommissioned. Huh? This road is supposed to be in good shape. I know because I've seen it. Soon the road ended without warning in a boscage of new-growth firs but not before I managed shots of Static Peak and Static Point, the North Fork Sultan River Valley, and Prospect Peak:

At least the spur road had views, which is more than can be said for the real road to the Kromona Mine.

 

With the spur now ended and a formidably wet shwack facing us, we put on our jackets and squirmed our way through the boscage. An older forest could be seen in the distance so we traversed to it, finally irrupting into it with glee since we had survived a near drowning by way of moisture-laden pine needles. Man!

 

The big forest was fairly easy but somewhat steep to sidehill (at about 2,500 ft). It was open except for patches of exasperating new windfall/avy-fall and rock outcrops. As we traversed we wondered when the road was going to start back up. At this point we didn't know we had taken a spur road by accident. If there was a junction, where was it? I never saw a junction. Did you, Mike? "Uh, yeah, now that you ask: I did. But I can't remember where."

 

Eventually we spotted the real road a couple hundred feet below us so descended to it. Mike narrowly avoided imbedding devil's club splinters in his eyeball as he plopped onto the road. His cheeks received that blow instead. Devil's clubs are a scourge like those triffids. They're out to get ya.

 

Now with a nice road we took it all the way to its crossing of the Middle Fork Sultan River. There were only a few blowdowns to step over. With a bike, all of the road we walked would be ridable.

 

To our initial chagrin, the bridge over the river was in ruins:

However, the water wasn't raging and therefore was quite easy to cross at water-level. There were several viable spots to cross. In higher run-off conditions, a crossing could be dubious. Hard to say. Some safety measures (metal grip strips on the log and a guy wire above) were installed for doing the steep log crossing but we weren't going to dare it--especially since it was damp. The drop to the river is about 30 feet at the highpoint.

 

On the other side the road deteriorates (not suprising) and soon splits. The left fork goes to the old mill site. We went right and soon came upon bright-pink flagging. In true Mounty fashion: overflagging. Although, it was probably mine spelunkers who performed this flagging ritual (actually, it was this guy). At about 300 yards from the bridge the flagging went left into the woods. We knew it probably led to the Kromona Mine high up on Prospect's west slope. "We should follow it, I think." "Agreed."

 

The flagging led us through phalanxes of devil's club thence into the relative luxury of open forest. Here the old mine trail became quite easy to see. Onward and upward we followed switchbacking endlessly. The trail passed an odd-looking short prospect about halfway up. It must have proved unworthy to the mining company, causing them to search higher. We came upon the tailings and broken down ore chutes/tram wheelhouse. The Kromona Mine once mined molybdenum, apparently. Now all it mines is time:

From the picture I had brought looking at Prospect from the west, I could see the route we should take to the ridge: simply straight up to the 4,400-ft saddle above the mine then south along the crest to the summit. We prepared for heavy brush but were pleasantly surprised to only encounter winterized (deadened and matted) fern, ankle-brush, and mossy boulder slopes. At about 11:30AM we made the ridge crest.

 

We followed the crest southward and dispatched gendarmes as necessary. Some we climbed over, some we avoided on the left, and some we avoided on the right. With much fanfare we found snow (and a view of the summit and one brief glimpse of a capricious sun):

We made the summit of Prospect Peak (4,640+ ft, 240P) in about 5 hours from the car. The summit was a mess of blocks requiring some Class 3+ scrambling to get in amongst them. Probably the crux of the climb was maneuvering around the hole below the east side of the highest block. In January this hole is ordinarily filled with snow. This is probably the only January in the last 500 where there hasn't been snow in that hole. Mike and I shared risibilities while discussing this crux hole.

Here's me at the summit with my right hand on the summit block (whose top you can touch and get your head above; good enough for us):

We left a register and departed. We decided hanging around wasn't worth it. It was drizzling and there were no views. A trip out to Pk 5110 1.5 miles to the east would have to wait for another, better day. Heck, we couldn't see it anyway. Couldn't see nuthin'.

 

Our up route was our down route. It went rather quickly. After successfully negotiating all that steep terrain to get back to the valley bottom, Mike promptly falls on his ass on the old logging road. For a moment he looked like a turtle flailing on its back. We performed our own flag removal ritual but left a couple at the critical point where you need to leave the road. There is absolutely no evidence of the old mine trail there.

 

One last task awaited us on the walk back: where was that junction we missed. I was curious to say the least. How could we have missed it? As it turns out, the junction was right at the place I thought was a landslide area. And it wasn't a landslide at all. Those rubble piles were actually berms. They were so slanted that I didn't think they were manmade. Doh!

 

9 hours round-trip.

 

Here is our route up Prospect (the snow coverage in this March 1996 photo is about what we encountered yesterday):

 

Gear Notes:

I had an ice axe but didn't use it. Mike used his for a short bit of steep, slick heather.

 

Approach Notes:

Ordinarily, a climb of Prospect would begin with a bike ride up the gated road from Olney Pass. It is about 4.5 miles to the end at the old bridge across the Middle Fork Sultan River. From there allow for ~2 hours to make the summit. In summer the brush will have leaves on it (ugh!) and the fern won't be dead and matted. Advice: climb Prospect in the winter. In a typical winter, the road might be snowfree but the slopes will be snowcovered. They were mostly bare for us.

[klenke]

Here is a TR for explorations of Kromona Mine: from nwue.org.

[lancegranite]

Here is a picture of the area, taken 1997

Another picture taken from the eastern side:the Knot route

Edited February 1, 2005 by lancegranite

[klenke]

Looks like you're standing on the same glorified knoll as my annotated 1996 photo. Even the trees look the same.

 

We saw that fantastic rock wall you are pointing to (on west end of Pt. 5098). That must be where your not-so-secret rock climbing project is.

[lancegranite]

No, that's the west face of Prospect Peak.

Not my wall, but my hat is off to the the motivated folks who did some good climbs out there.

Also, good bigfoot country.

Edited February 1, 2005 by lancegranite

[klenke]

Your secret climbing area is on the West Face of Prospect Peak? There is no face on Prospect's west side except for maybe 60 ft of rock wall on the northerly subsummit (a few hundred yards north of the main summit).

 

Or did you mean to think that the West Face of Prospect is your rock wall picture in your above photo? If so, that is not actually "Prospect Peak" as labeled on the map. Your rock wall is the northwest face of the west end of Pt. 5098 (right below Pt. 4920+). See the above topozone link I provided. I do concede, however, that a cartographic error of yore may have misplaced the Prospect label. It happens (or has happened) all the time.

[klenke]

This picture will help explain things:

the view east from that knoll.

[lancegranite]

You are right, on closer inspection, the face is not on the peak proper.

We just always called the area Prospect Peak because the old copy of the greeen Beckey guide we had listed Prospect, but the new volumes have left it out.

 

Again, I only repeated an existing line on a wall I knew absolutely nothing about except the b/w photo I posted.

The whole area is special, and worth the effort.