[TR] Fisher Peak- West Ridge 9/18/2005

[Alex]

Climb: Fisher Peak-West Ridge

 

Date of Climb: 9/18/2005

 

Trip Report:

Ever since I saw http://www.summitpost.org/mountains/phot...1&route_id= on SummitPost this past Summer, I thought about going into Fisher Basin in the fall. After my trip to Black Peak last week and with a half decent forcast for Sat and Sun, the idea solidified into the plan for the next available weekend.

 

Fisher Basin, from the picture, epitomized what I thought true alpine wilderness might be: treeline tundras reminiscent of the Brooks Range, fall colors, territory that a Grizzly or moose could find appealing. Indeed, the last known Grizzly in the Cascades was shot in Fisher Basin in 1968, a year before the NOCA park came into being. Coupled with the glowing write up of Silent Lakes, it seemed like the place to go!

 

We left Seattle at a civilized 6am and drove up to Easy Pass TH. The clouds socked in everything, but it was not raining, nor would it. This was my first time to this area, and the trail up to Easy Pass is nice, and with the swirling clouds made things very mysterious! Going over Easy Pass and descending into Fisher Basin out of the clouds was like entering into a private world, with the cloud deck obscuring everything above 6000'.

 

We worked our way up the basin, trying to find the steep "snow couloir" that lead to Silent Lakes. I had forgotten the map but it didnt matter, in the end there is really only one breach in the large rock ramparts that could lead to the higher plateu on the Grizzly-Fisher divide, but it had already long been snow free. So much for the crampons. This is a loose rock couloir (hug cliff climbers left) that is thankfully fairly short. Finally, we topped out and encountered the upper Silent Lake, 5 hours from the car. Silent Lakes is clearly not visited often, there were no signs of previous parties except for 1 bootprint and some dogprints. The lake is crystal clear. Things were still socked in, though Black was visible through the wisps of cloud, and a cold wind blew, so we set up the tent and just crashed out for a few hours, before officially going to sleep at 7pm.

 

Silent Lakes lived up to its name, and the night was eerie. No wind, the sky cleared and full moon shone, it was the type of night and the type of place that you could still imagine a Grizzly roaming the North Cascades, looking for the last huckleberry feast before a long winter's sleep. It was very cold, below freezing here at 7000. Despite 3 layers, I eventually got cold enough around 5am to stay awake the last few hours before dawn.

 

 

The camp site was shaded by Fisher Peak all morning, which made it hard to warm up, and while our plan had just been to have a leisurly camping trip, the adventurous side kicked in and by 7am we were scrambling up the alpine heather benches that form the lower West ridge of Fisher Peak, wearing everything we had, to see if we could scramble this summit. I had also left the route descriptions for Arriva and Fisher at home, so it was more like Beckey in 1940 than anything else.

 

The West Ridge is doubtless now the defacto standard ascent route of Fisher, though one could scarcly tell by the lack of human signs. In general there is no climbers path, there are no cairns, nothing. Every once in a while there were telltale signs of some previous passage, and there is 1 cairn about 3/4 of the way up in a loose rock couloir, but this is a fine, lonely North Cascades scramble. We summitted in an hour, with some minimal 4th class rock difficulties, but didnt stay long.

 

Back at the tent we packed up and descended into Fisher Basin again, the morning cloudbank had finally dissapated and a cold wind was blowing. It was the first time we truely saw the basin, as the previous day it had been mostly in cloud. Moving down the valley, grazing blueberries, made this one of the finest Fall outings I've had in the Cascades, it lived up to the promise of that picture. Nearing treeline again, my wife and I worried a little about how to pick up the trail again, then I saw it.."Its the rock! The rock in the picture!" I recognized the large rock in the picture I had seen, and took my own version.

 

 

 

The trip back to Easy Pass went quickly, and we enjoyed another perfect Fall day, eating blueberries and enjoying the many shades of reds, oranges, and yellowish greens in the alpine meadows.

 

The West Ridge of Fisher is not a technical climb, but is an exposed scrambling route to a seldom-visited summit. If you are looking for a two-day trip filled with solitude above treeline, this is a great one into the heart of the North Cascades.

 

Gear Notes:

crampons might be useful in earlier season or in heavier snow years

[dkemp]

Good stuff man. Congrats on finding that rock!

[klenke]

Nice. It's hard to top Bob's photo mastery. Folks have been trying for years. I'll let him know of your report.

[Stefan]

Wow. I was in Fisher basin the day before you. We did Little Johannesburg via the scramble route. That basin is beautiful.

[Blake]

Anyone else puzzled over there being two Fischer Creeks that drain opposites of the same high ridge area?

[Alex]

Yes, I saw the two Fisher Creeks. The one drains directly into Grizzly and only runs a mile or two, but comes from Fisher Pass perhaps explaining its naming. The other drains Fisher Basin above Fisher peak...anyway, a whole lot of Fishers there..!