[TR] West McMillan Spire - 7/24/2011

[Val Zephyr]

Trip: West McMillan Spire -

 

Date: 7/24/2011

 

Trip Report:

Doug, Frank, Nathan and I climbed West McMillan Spire last weekend. This was the first summit in the pickets for all of us and the first time into the Picket range for all of us except Frank who has scouted the approach to Mt. Triumph before. I’ve heard that the Picket range is a wild area with no real trails, demanding approaches and big rewards. Though West McMillan is said to be the easiest summit in the Pickets, the route lived up to what I have heard about the range. We covered 20 miles and 9000’ of gain to bag this “easy” peak.

 

We hit the trail shortly after 9am on Saturday. Trails are hard to come by in the Picket Range, but this climb had a surprisingly good climber’s trail. The first 4 miles are on what appeared to be an old road that followed Goodell Creek for 4 miles. The trail was pretty easy going here except for two creek crossings. Being a high snow year and this being one of the hottest weekends that we’ve had all summer, the creeks were running pretty high on the way in on Saturday morning required some searching and some careful rock hoping, the way back Sunday evening would be a different story, but we weren’t going to worry about that now.

 

Easy going for the first 4 miles:

 

The easy creek crossing before the major melting of the weekend took place:

 

Things are about to get steep:

 

And then things were steep:

 

But we finally had some good views, so it was OK:

 

 

 

At 4 miles a branch of the trail turns sharply uphill (marked by a rock cairn and arrow). This gains 3500’ in 1.5 miles. The climber’s trail here is still very good, easy to follow, and direct! We were gaining 10 meters/min at times! After the grueling uphill, we broke out into a long snowy traverse northward, gaining a notch and dropping into Terror Basin with a good view of the McMillan Spires and much of the Southern Pickets. The basin is mostly full of snow now except for a small patch with a couple of tent sites and some running water. We made camp and rested up for the long day ahead.

 

McMillan Spires from camp:

 

At 7 am (we slept in..) we started out toward West McMillan Spire. Some snow slogging brought us to the final, exposed class 3 scramble and the summit at 10:30. We enjoyed the views for about 20 minutes (which were pretty good!!) and descended back to camp.

 

Starting out towards west McMillan from camp (route is the left skyline of the middle peak):

 

The final scramble to the summit:

 

This is why we hiked all the way up here!

 

 

 

Descending the summit:

 

 

 

The rest of the descent went mostly smoothly, finding the beginning of the trail after the snow traverse took a little bit of searching (if you missed it, you’d rapidly be cliffed out). As expected, the creek had swollen a lot since Saturday morning. The first, easier, creek crossing required either: longer legs for jumping (Frank), a better tolerance for wet feet (Nathan) or some shenanigans on some rotten, mossy logs (Doug and Myself). The second, more difficult creek crossing just required everyone to get wet. After some searching we all just gave in, removed our shoes (except Nathan who was already soaked from the creek before) rolled up our pants and carefully make our way across. We arrived back at 9pm, too late for a stop at the Birdsview Brewery, but still not bad for a long weekend out.

 

It is impressive just how remote this range is. I have a good feeling that I’ll be back one day for some of the technical climbs that the Pickets have to offer.

 

 

Approach Notes:

Snow free until the beginning of the traverse, then solid snow.

[Whatcomboy]

Nice. That is a great little climb in a beautiful place.

[wayne]

finding the beginning of the trail after the snow traverse took a little bit of searching (if you missed it, you’d rapidly be cliffed out). As expected, the creek had swollen a lot since Saturday morning.

 

I remember those being huge issues on my trip in there last year. Nice report. the routes just get more exciting from there.

[Le Piston]

Thanks for posting...appreciate the beta. Looks like fun! Have much problem with bugs?

[Jimhamster]

So you didn't need a rope or cramps?

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

Well-done. That looks glorious right now!

[Val Zephyr]

Thanks for posting...appreciate the beta. Looks like fun! Have much problem with bugs?

 

There are mosquitoes, but they weren't bad; mildly annoying, but I've seen much worse.

 

So you didn't need a rope or cramps?

 

We brought crampons, but didn't need them (the snow was really soft). I'd still carry them just in case. No rope is needed for this climb, just some exposed class 3 scrambling.

 

Well-done. That looks glorious right now!

 

Thanks! Things are finally in shape for a very late start to this climbing season. Get out there. We have a ton of missed weekends to make up for.

[Phil K]

Looks like there's still a lot of snow in the basin. Did you find a dry spot to camp?

Edited July 28, 2011 by Philonius

[Val Zephyr]

Yeah, there is a surprising amount of snow there still. We did find a small island that had melted out with two tentsites and running water. Great spot!