[TR] Mt. Pershing (South Peak) - Jefferson Creek (Rte 7) 4/23/2013

[dpforestry]

Trip: Mt. Pershing (South Peak) - Jefferson Creek (Rte 7)

 

Date: 4/23/2013

 

Trip Report:

Gross elevation gain: ~5000ft

One way distance: ~4 miles

5 hrs up, 2.5 hrs down

Warm sunny clear day

 

Bill85 and I crashed in our vehicle Tuesday night on the 2401 road by the Jefferson Lake trailhead. The road is clear of snow up to that point but a big ole Douglas-fir tree had fallen across it, preventing us from driving further. We woke up Wed morning and headed off on foot down the road by around 6 or 7am. We reached the Jefferson Creek intersection in about 2-3 miles, so it didn't add much to the total distance.

 

From the bridge, we went west up the valley, staying north of the creek and working our way up the mountain as we traversed. We soon came across the orange and pink ribbon that previous climbers have so kindly left. Route finding is fairly straight forward but following (finding) ribbon proved to be somewhat entertaining. This first section of the trip, bushwhacking through the forest, was pretty time consuming, but fortunately we didn't have to deal with salmonberry, devils club or other understory vegetation...mainly just big timber and downed trees...crawling under, climbing over, etc. The ribbon leads a fairly straight forward and intuitive path west, above the creek at about 3200ft (total guess). Then it B-lines straight up the mountain (north) until around 4400ft (again, guessing) when it heads west again toward the base of the "vegetated slabs" described in the purple book "Olympic Mountains, a Climbing Guide."

 

From the base of the slabs, it became a scramble, alternating between snow and rock. Snow conditions were decent, but deteriorating with the blazing sun (becoming slushier). We finally reached the basin below the summit block around noon (5 hours after leaving the car). From the upper basin around 5600ft we went almost due west to attain the south ridge just below the summit. This was hard work, post holing about thigh deep on the steep parts and nearly into a few moats.

 

At about 5900 ft we couldn't make any more headway up through the near slush. So we traversed a bit south around the basin to try and get up another way, but encountered the same super soft snow. While we didn't see any wet loose avalanches that day, it was becoming apparent that we might trigger one. So we decided to turn around, nearly within an arms reach of the summit. No worries though, the trip was physically satisfying and the great weather afforded us gorgeous views all around. Maybe another day we'll try a different approach.

 

DP

 

Approach through the forest

 

 

 

 

Vegetated slabs

 

 

Scrambling up the vegetated slabs

 

 

Views from the basin below the summit block

 

 

 

 

Summit block

 

Summit push above the basin. The snow in/above the moat above this climber was really slushy and proved too sketchy to continue.

 

 

Gear Notes:

Snow shoes (which we didn't have but would have been nice), mountaineering axe, rope and a couple pickets (rope and pickets not critical but was nice to have)

 

Approach Notes:

Terrain: Forest service road 2401 from highway 101, off trail forest with massive boulders and large diameter cedar, fir, and hemlock. Soft snow and rock.

Equipment: snow shoes (which we didn't have but would have been nice), ice axe, rope and a couple pickets (rope and pickets not critical but was nice to have)

 

Road Conditions: 2401 road is blocked just beyond Jefferson Lake trailhead.

Edited May 1, 2013 by dpforestry

[Mountain Sowle]

Excellent Pictures.

 

I'm thinking about doing this one Sunday and then Ellinor/Washington Traverse on Monday. I'm guessing there is a lot less snow at this point!

 

Thank you for posting.