[TR] Mt. Bretherton- Milk Lake 8/24/2005

[PVD]

Climb: Mt. Bretherton-Milk Lake

 

Date of Climb: 8/24/2005

 

Trip Report:

Mt. Bretherton never has appeared all that impressive from the summits of other southeastern Olympic peaks. So I didn’t feel compelled to climb it -- until my trip to LaCrosse Pass in May. Rising prominently with Mt. Lena above the Duckabush River valley, draped with snow, the peak inspired me.

I decided to camp at Upper Lena Lake, which I’d never found time to visit on a couple of trips to The Brothers, and climb Bretherton the following day. I backpacked the seven miles and 4,000 vertical feet to Upper Lena Lake late Tuesday afternoon. This is a great approach -- the lush forest, the streams, the enormous mossy boulders, the root and rock scrambling up near the lake. I appreciated the amazing botanic diversity and lushness of the Olympics even more than usual, as my most recent trip was a water-deficient, 55-mile Pacific Crest Trail hike through the dusty, burned-up, north/central Oregon Cascades.

A little under three hours of hiking brought me to the beautiful lake, and I had it all to myself. Nice.

In the morning, I followed a path through meadow to turquoise Milk Lake, situated just below a boulder field and low-angle snowfield. The snowfield was rock-hard at 8 a.m., with sections of water ice, and impossible to traverse without crampons -- which were in the trunk of my car. I had assumed my ice axe would be enough. The snowfield was riddled with embedded chunks of rock. Sections of ice were covered with muddy gravel that provided good traction until it slid. I discovered this on my descent. Ouch.

There’s evidence of huge rockfall in this basin, so I put on my helmet. Even stable-looking larger rocks moved underfoot. I kicked down some pretty big ones, so I was glad no one else was around.

I traversed the loose, sloping rock along the right edge of the snowfield, then continued steeply to an obvious notch, which ended in an impasse. My initial confusion stemmed from mistaking the true summit for the false summit visible from Upper Lena Lake. At Milk Lake, you’re past the false summit.

I down-climbed a bit, traversed to the right through more loose rock, climbed toward another notch, then veered right (northwest) before reaching the notch. The route here is fairly obvious. I continued through class 2/3 terrain that is a bit exposed, but never nerve-rattling. The crux of the climb for me was about 20 feet of down-sloping class 2 covered with loose dirt and rock that required clutching at small trees. Above this sketchy section I found good Class 3 climbing on solid rock that leads to a cool, short ridge traverse to the true summit.

It was a perfect day for Olympic scrambling. No clouds, fog or mosquitos. 70 degrees. Great views all around. I especially enjoyed the new perspective on Mt. Stone and the view of its permanent snowfields. I spent 45 minutes on top -- eating, soaking in the scenery and perusing the Mountaineers register placed in 1991. Assuming everyone signs the thing, I was the fifth party to summit this summer. One interesting entry came from an Olympic backcountry ranger, who encouraged readers to “live wild” and rambled about the intrusiveness of summit registers. He nearly tossed this one down into Milk Lake, apparently.

The round-trip from Upper Lena Lake took me about 4.5 hours, including my summit break.

I took a chilly dip in the lake before heading out.

On the way down, I passed a father and his two very young daughters who had the lower lake to themselves the night before. Very cool.

 

 

Gear Notes:

Helmet, ice axe helpful in the loose rock

 

Should have brought crampons

[olyclimber]

wow, having the lower lake to yourself is pretty rare during the summer.

 

thanks for the TR.

[zoroastr]

Awesome laid-back trip. Some of the Olympic T.R.'s have inspired me to start mapping some trips there...thx!

Not sure I understand where the Ranger is coming from regarding summit registers being intrusive. The relative environmental impact of the presence of that single canister is nothing to the harm caused by the tailpipe exhaust emited by the same guy's car on his way to the forest--I'm assuming he didn't walk to the approach trail from his home. And this is just one of the damaging effects of our culture of consumption. Sorry to use your T.R. as a platform for a mini-rant, but these sorts of glaringly misplaced priorities have always struck me as a bit bizarre...you know, like SUV owners beefing about people leaving a rap sling on a horn that only climbers see anyway...weird.

[Fairweather]

Nice TR. I've always wanted to climb this peak. Was it difficult finding access to Milk Lake from Upper Lena? It looks like a real hidden gem. When I did the Stone Ponds traverse a few years ago I was awed by Bretherton's impressive bulk.

[brother]

Bretherton is a fun climb in a beautiful area. It's a great workout car to car. I climbed it in May when Upper Lena was frozen. I do recommend it at that time of year, much more enjoyable over snow. Thanks for the good TR.

[DownWithOlyP]

I was at Upper Lena 2 weeks ago, and I met that backcountry ranger. He had just climbed Mt. Bretherton the day before and gave me some info on the route to take. He seemed even more relaxed about exploring and bushwhacking than I'm comfortable with myself. Definately not a self-righteous environmentalist.

 

I can see where he was coming from concerning the summit register. I like to feel unique when I reach the top of a mountain. The last thing I want to see is anything man made to remind me who else has been where I am standing. It's like tagging your new girlfriend for the first time, then looking at the names of all her ex's tattooed on her ass.

[olyclimber]

But you didn't have problem taking route info? Wouldn't you rather not take info from some one who hasn't "tagged" the mountain?

 

For me it has to do more with my own effort to get to the there, than if someone else has been there or not. I mean,what isn't all climbed out these days.

[Double_E]

nice TR.

 

Bretherton was one of my only, and definitely my trickiest, solo climbs.. about 5 years ago.

 

Milk Lake was beautiful.... found myself wishing I'd camped there. (camped at Upper Lena).

[PVD]

Fairweather -- Milk Lake is really easy to find from Upper Lena. There's a faint path that leads you to it from the last NPS campsite.

What is the Stone Ponds Traverse? Is it one of the alpine traverses discussed in the climber's guide?

 

And, I respect that ranger's sentiments, but I agree with zoroastr. I don't really care whether there's a register at a summit. But I do feel a bit guilty for driving 350 miles round-trip from Portland for an overnight climb.

[olyclimber]

Stone Ponds Traverse= Lower Lena>Upper Lena>Mt. Stone>Lake of the Angels>Putvin trail or reverse of that... my little bro and I did it a couple of years ago, entering via the Putvin trail and exiting via Lower Lena. Its pretty fun. There are faint trails along parts you can follow, but it is easy to lose them...which we did. We did it in one long day, climbing Mt. Stone. We found someone willing to gives a ride back up to our car at the Putvin trailhead.

[AlpenDave]

Great trip report. Reminds me a little of when I climbed it last Labor Day Weekend. I went up the scree field on the right just past the lake, then Went to the obvious impassible notch above the snowfield, then finally found my way over the loose ledges on the real route.

 

That is a beautiful area. I wonder how much snow it would take to turn that snowfield into an active glacier.

 

If you don't mind me soliciting, if you have any photos of your climb, I'd love it if you would post them on the Mt. Bretherton Page on Summitpost.org. My own photographic contributions for that peak are a little on the meager side.

Dave

[PVD]

Dave,

 

Thanks.

Sorry I didn't respond earlier -- been out of town a lot. Nice job on the summitpost web page. Your route description is good -- more helpful than the climber's guide's vague reference to an "upper basin traverse."

I do have some nice photos -- though they're not digital. But I'll throw a couple Bretherton shots in next time I put some pictures on disk and see if I can post them on your page.