[TR] Snow King Mountain - West Ridge 4/12/2015

[katetheweight]

Trip: Snow King Mountain - West Ridge

 

Date: 4/12/2015

 

Trip Report:

**first TR, still getting the hang of pictures and such. I have some great ones, but can't get them to show up here**

 

Magic on Snow King Mountain

The weekend before last (April 4th and 5th), Ken and I attempted a summit of Snow King Mountain. I don’t know how we decided on Snow King Mountain. At lunch on Thursday, we inspected a map of Glacier Peak Wilderness, I swear we just randomly pointed at a peak on the map, and it was Snow King. Or perhaps we were drawn to the cluster of lakes that surrounded the Peak (see map below), or we just liked how majestic the name was. Our minds were set on sleeping under the stars though, and we prepared to wake up early on Saturday for an early departure.

 

I did plenty of research about Snow King, and was surprised that many of the trip reports were from the early 2000’s, and absolutely none from 2012 onward. Is this an overlooked peak? Are the people climbing it keeping His Majesty a big secret? I don’t normally do trip reports, but I thought I would for this one, namely for those with wanderlust for some hidden alpine gems could have some more recent information. Or those who really really love long cross-country slogs through unknown and steep terrain.

 

We attempted the West Ridge route up Snow King, as described in the Beckey Guide book, and TR’s out on the interwebs. The climb is best described in four sections: The Logging Road walk. gaining the ridge, hiking the ridge, and the glaciated climb. On the map shown in this post, the different parts are delineated in different colors.

 

 

The Logging Road

 

The West Route of Snow King begins with a 3 mile hike along the no longer maintained FS 1570 (Kindy Creek Road). There is no way to get out of walking this road, huge boulders block the road. We parked just after crossing the Cascade River and started hiking the road, following the obvious tread. The road ends rather abruptly at 2300 feet, and this is where the steep trail that gains the Found Ridge begins. It took us about an hour to get here from where are car was parked.

Gaining the Ridge

If you look at the above map, this part of the approach steeply climbs the ridge, aiming for the saddle between Peak 5116 and Peak 5791. The key is to keep the creek on the map to your right (read: West) and climb steadily south. At about 4600 feet, the trail flattens out, and you veer around Peak 5116 to the saddle, in a southwest direction. In the beginning, the trail tread is pretty obvious, but as you gain elevation it becomes less obvious. When we went, there were orange flagging that offered some guidance. The flagging was pretty intermittent, but always seemed to appear when we wondered if we were on trail or not.

 

The beginning of the hike is almost unbearable steep, up a ragged trail through old growth. It’s an obstacle course, using roots to climb up nearly vertical sections, under and over fallen logs, and picking your way through lots of debris from very large trees coming down. The hike is rewarding though, lots of big cedars and douglas fir, and awesome swaths of convoluted messes where one tree came down and took dozens with it. The classic Cascade steep vertical suffer fest had a very magical and majestic feel to the trail, a fitting description due to the name of the mountain.

 

There was light snow on the trail, and at about 4600 feet we hit the seasonal snowpack, as well as a few inches of the fresh stuff on top. at 4800 feet, the trail mellows out, as we hit a flatter area. We strapped on our snowshoes. This is also where we lost the trail completely (and also that bright orange flagging). We pulled out our map and compass and navigated the terrain ourselves. Perhaps spending too much time trying to find the trail, rather than just gain ground to the saddle between Peak 5116 and Peak 5791.

 

Hiking the Ridge

 

This section is from the saddle, and along the West Ridge, ascending and descending various humps along the ridge. All along the ridge, there are suitable base camp spots. I suggest staying on the ridge, rather than hiking down to one of the lakes. Along the ridge, the hiking is easier, as there is no longer steep elevation to gain, and you are out of the dense forest.

 

Ken and I made it to the top of Peak 5791, before deciding to set up camp. It was close to 6 PM, and we found the most perfect spot to pitch our tent. We noticed that the top of this knoll was very very bouldery, with lots of boulder-wells and chasms to slip into. I’m interested to how this looks in the summer.

 

Glaciated Climb

 

Please see TR from WillhiteWeb ( Willhiteweb here), an excellent reference for the hike. Once you’re on the West Ridge, the climb is pretty straight forward.

 

Overall…

 

Get at it! Climb Snow King! Commit to the long approach for the most rewarding views!

 

I can’t wait to come back, I’m anxious to see the trail with no snow, and I want to summit Snow King. Feasibly, this climb can be done in a day, and I did read an impressive TR of someone who made the round trip in nine hours. I think that it would be more enjoyable in two days. Or even three or four, using the West Ridge as a starting point to make other summits in the area, or enjoy fishing at the cluster of lakes that surround Snow King Mountain.

 

We had a lucky window break, treated to clear skies and sunshine. The views are outstanding, and the isolation and solitude were unbeatable. We even got to watch the very full and very red moon rise over the Sonny Boy Ridge (my phone camera could not capture it, unfortunately).

 

When I set out to write this TR, I promised myself to keep it brief. I got mouthy though, and my words got the best of me. If you want more details, feel free to PM me.

 

Images and map are created by me, refrain from re-using them or re-distributing them in any way without explicit permission.

 

Gear Notes:

Snow Shoes

[JasonG]

Though you say "West", I think you mean the standard Northeast Route. Or maybe this was done on purpose to throw off the map stealing hordes?

 

That IS a nice map BTW, what did you use to create it?

[katetheweight]

Jason, West was not done on purpose, just a standard KVK oversight... I'll update when I've got the time!

 

And thanks (!), I used QGIS to create the map and did the labelling in GIMP. I used data from USGS, and data I personally created. The colorramps and style are all original, it's frustrating when the map is recirculated without credit/permission.

[Elliott Steward]

Though not often, this mountain does see visitors on a yearly basis...

 

http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=28309.0