[TR] Mt. Prophet - SE Shoulder 8/6/2014

[max]

Trip: Mt. Prophet - SE Shoulder

 

Date: 8/6/2014

 

Trip Report:

Wednesday and Thursday I enjoyed climbing a relative nobody of the Cascade peaks, Mt. Prophet. The route I used is a hiking route approaching via the Ross Lake West Bank and Big Beaver trails and continuing by climbing the SSE shoulder of the mountain.

 

GE screen capture looking up Big Beaver:

 

The peak has a lot going for it: it's right next to the Pickets, amazing prominence and peak gazing opportunities, it's an "easy" objective, and from what I discovered, nobody goes there!

 

Day 1: Approached from the Ross Lake trail head, left Big Beaver trail just past 39 Mile Cr. at ~1800'; climbed the steep shoulder to ~5000'; continued northwest to a great bivy site at approx ~6700'. I found a small trickle of water in the afternoon, but there was also snow a-plenty for melting.

 

Bivy site with summit:

 

Day 2: climbed the last 1000 feet over several small humps, snapped some photos from the summit, and backtracked to the car.

 

Looking out towards Hozameen et al:

 

Sunrise summit shadow and the Pickets from the East:

 

Amazingly, I saw no one the entire trip. The views and position were great. The mileage and vertical may put some off initially, but they're flat miles and the vertical can be hammered out in 4-5 hours. Overall the route presents few technical or navigational issues.

 

As a matter of reference, you can check out these guys who used an interesting ridge traverse from the east, or these guys who climbed the nice looking west ridge.

 

Gear Notes:

Brought ax and crampons. Used neither.

 

Approach Notes:

Skip the boat. Ross Lake trail only added 2-3 hours and saved me having to deal with anyone.

Edited August 8, 2014 by max