Chelan Mountain Ramble II

Frost covered the ground and our tent.  I awoke in the middle of the night shivering.  Rummaged for my belay jacket, put it on and pulled the sleeping bag over my head.  July temperatures dipped surprisingly low.  The lightweight sleeping bag, which weighs less than two pounds, was normally warm enough for this time of year.  The sun slowly rose over the valley and warmed the tents around eleven o’clock.  Not an early start, but a comfortable one. Retracing our steps from the previous day, turning northwest a half mile before Saska Pass we walked up the alp below the arm on Emerald Peak. 

Emerald Peak from near Saska Pass

Classic alpine scenery with flowers struggling to survive in the sparse soil tucked between rocks and boulders.  The basin stretched down from the arm greeting us with a few small stands of Larch trees and varying sizes of talus and boulders.  Steadily moving upward, we gained the main gulley that leads to the arm and the summit.  The rock on Emerald Peak is noticeably firmer granite than the loose rubble of Saska Peak. 

Storm gathers over the Entiat toward Emerald Peak

The sky grew darker and darker as storm clouds approached from the southwest.  A huge anvil shaped cumulonimbus cloud formed to the north and west of Saska peak fueled by additional moisture moving upward from Lake Chelan and the northeast.  Quickening our pace, we scrambled up the central gulley in hopes of beating the arrival of the impending storm. 

At approximately 8200 feet a secondary ridge splits the gulley forcing the decision to climb either right or left.  The left side of the ridge leads to small shoulder and into another gulley that appears to lead to the summit.  A large section of the snow patch that was precariously perched in the gulley moved as we attempted to cross the first section.  Retreating, we looked toward the south at the menacing clouds.  The dropping temperature brought hail that pelted us as we carefully retreated down the gulley toward the basin.  Large drops of rain mixed with hail quickly soaked the basin, creating small rivulets of water, mud and slick footing. We headed for the protection of the largest stand of larch trees tucked between house sized boulders to wait out the storm.  

Waiting for the storm to pass on Emerald Peak

 Our late start closed the window on our summit bid, so we decided to eat lunch and wait until the storm died down before retreating back to camp. The rain lasted into the evening.   Temperatures continued to drop chilling us as we speculated whether or not it would start snowing.  The cold motivated us to find dry wood and a place under the trees for a small fire to warm us as we ate dinner. 

Dinner after a long day of scrambling.

The rain soaked our meadow camp and turned the streams into swollen torrents, erasing our chances of getting the four summits we had planned on climbing.  Reflecting on our day, as we sat around the campfire, we agreed that an earlier start would have allowed us enough time to summit.  We decided to get an earlier start the next morning. 

Climbing Emerald Peak moving toward the final gulley.

Leaving our camp at 9 AM is not an early start, but it is early for this crew.  We easily retraced our steps from the previous day, choosing to stay right of the secondary ridge that split the gulley.  We moved quickly up the arm and gained the summit. 

Fun climbing up the gulley toward Emerald Peak's Summit

Emerald Peak’s summit is a classic perch with vistas across all of the northern Cascades.  We stayed on the summit for over an hour, carefully completing the paperwork.  Lunch tastes great on a summit.  We reluctantly down climbed the route, knowing that we would be walking back to the trailhead in the morning.

Carefully completing the paperwork on Emerald Peak

Scramble buddies on Emerald Peak summit.

 These photos were taken by Woody who really enjoyed this trip….