Elevation Gain: 1,347m
Distance: 15.81km
Total Time: 5 hours 37 minutes
Date: October 6th, 2024
Another weekend of moody weather over BC forced, Steven, Andrea, Alex and myself to look further South for better options. We had been planning to do something, but the question was what. As per usual, Washington seemed to offer a haven for those wishing to dodge the bulk of the snow. Steven was originally thinking of Robinson, as it should be fine with some snow, but the long drive and big day wasn’t a big motivator for the group. Steven then threw out Church Mountain, just a short drive from the border. In summer conditions it’s a 3rd class scramble up a rugged and somewhat loose summit block. In more wintry conditions it could offer some interesting challenges. I liked the idea of the challenge and so did everyone else it seems, so we planned for a not too early Sunday start. Given the uncertainty around recent snow fall, we came over prepared with a rope, light rack, cramp ons and ice axes. I think at most we were expecting a small snowy pitch near the top where a bit of added protection might guarantee success.
Naturally, the day we left it was a clear sky and by the time we hit the parking lot it was looking like a beautiful sunny fall day. We all had a feeling we were about to be taking training weight up to the top. The trail started on old logging roads in the forest and then up a well maintained path into the sub alpine.
Above the trees we meandered along striking red and yellow meadows which perfectly framed Mount Baker across the range. Our trail ended at the upper ridge line with a good view of the summit block. As anticipated, there was zero snow to be found. Adding to that, it didn’t look all that great to climb as some 4 party mixed route either. The rock was loose and looked hard to protected and a fair a bit of compact slabs with scree on top. Below the ridge heading west was an obvious foot path, so we descended a short ways down the other side of the ridge to reach it.
We then lead a traversing line back up towards a gendarme on the ridge and cut climbers left out on to the south slopes. Cairns guided us a long ways across the face until we reached a big headwall. Here we hiked up loose scree slopes and regained the ridge without much scrambling. Now on the north side we followed a worn foot bed through some snowy and often slippery heather, occasionally making some scrambling moves on rock. The last section to the summit was a short traverse on a rocky slabs and then onto the ridge again. This rock reminded me of the Cheam range and covered with a bit of slick snow on the north side made it not all that easy to ascend.
The sun offered a nice chance to hang out on the summit and gave us a great vantage over the surrounding peaks. It looked like everywhere east had received significantly more snow fall. With the day still fairly young, we opted to head down early and get an afternoon to rest.
We followed the same route up and made careful steps around the snowy heather sections until we were back on the south face. From there it was a trivial return to the trail and then an easy walk out.