Pinnacle and Castle, September 16, 2000
I had a free Saturday afternoon, so I thought I'd try to make it up to Camp Muir for an early season ski. When I got to Paradise (just barely above the cloud deck) at 2pm (which involved 10 minutes of trying to find a parking spot) I got a good look at the Muir Snowfield though, and the snow was looking pretty brown. In between the sections of brown snow were darker sections - ice, presumably. Ok, no skiing today. All the fresh snow had melted off, except for higher on the peak.No pictures, so here's an artists rendition of my route.
So I left the madness of Paradise and drove over to the Reflection Lakes, and by 2:30 I was heading up the trail to Pinnacle saddle. It was quick hike in the fog, until nearing the saddle, when I again broke above the clouds. Lots of people around. Most people's final destination was the saddle, but I continued around the backside, looking for a path heading up to the summit of Pinnacle. I wandered around on class 2 terrain, until I finally saw some people higher on the peak, and made my way over in that direction. The climb to the summit has about 50ft of somewhat exposed class 3, but is otherwise pretty straightforward. It would make a nice winter climb.
There were a few hiker-types coming down (cotton, running shoes, etc...), and I felt a bit over-dressed with a helmet on, but people were kicking down rocks. At the steep narrow section, I waited for a group of three people to descend. One of them also had a helmet. When the last one got down, she said to me "sorry for taking so long, I'm a wimp! I not used to being on that stuff without a rope."
I asked the group if they knew what the climb to Castle Mountain was like, and they said nope, but they were also heading over there.
I left them, and soon reached the top - had it to myself. Great views over the sea of clouds. The Nisqually glacier on Rainier looked wayyyyy nasty.
I dropped down, and headed down crappy scree to a path that was visible in the meadows on the south side - presumably this led to Castle. Once on it, I followed it to the ridge crest between the two peaks, where I ran into that group of three again, doing some route-finding on the way to the Castle. There was a sloping ledge that cut through the cliffs. Was it the way? They let me go by, and I continued up the ledge. Pretty exposed and loose in spots, but easy. This brought me up to the south ridge of Castle, where I frightened a very plump marmot.
I was presented with two peaks - hard to tell which one was higher. But one definitely looked easier, so I went over to it first. What looked like class 4 terrain from afar was actually just easy scrambling, and soon I was on top. Soon, I saw the group of three, not yet on the ridge crest, trying to decide which way to go. They were looking at a map (???). I yelled over to them, and told them to just head up to the ridge crest and its obvious. I heard them express suprise that I was already on top - I bet I impressed that girl with my speed :-)
From my vantage, the other, more pointy, summit was clearly higher. Darn. This is the one I recalled from Matt and I's ski adventures last December, as looking pretty non-trivial. I walked over on easy terrain until 50ft below the summit pinnacles (if anything, this peak should be called Pinnacle!). Hmm - nope. Looked pretty exposed and tricky. It got easier as I headed further east, but still at least class 4, and very exposed. And the further east you go, the longer you'd have to traverse on the very jagged ridge crest to the summit. Looked like it wasn't going to happen. (Jim Nelson says "some" parties use a rope on the ascent, and "many" parties use a rope to descend - so maybe I just didn't see the way up?? More likely, I am not the Cascades Hardman he is)
As I was about to leave, I saw the other party emerge on the ridge crest. I overheard them talking about bailing. What? They were only 2 minutes of class 2 scrambling from the west summit! I yelled over some words of encouragement, then headed down to Castle saddle, hoping to do a loop.
I glissaded down some old snow to some meadowy stuff. I figured there would be a path from Castle saddle back to Reflection Lakes, since it is such a popular ski destination, but I couldn't really find a continuous one. Then the cloud deck rose, and I was engulfed in a whiteout with 100ft visibility. I wasn't too worried, since I could just head straight down to the road, but this might involve tangling with the steep gullies - it would be better to follow the ridge you ski up... but where's the ridge??
I headed left, and still encountered steepening gullies. So I resigned myself to bushwhacking, and headed through some trees, further left. Then, after only 50 feet, I emerged onto a gentle talus slope. I heard voices. I was only 100ft from the Pinnacle trail I came up! Wow, that was easy... by 5:30 I was driving back out of the park in light misty rain.
The Tatoosh Range - you can't beat it for quick, non-committing scrambling, climbing, skiing.