Distance: 25.5 mi.
Elevation Gain: 8000 ft.
For a few years, I had been eyeing Jack Mountain, as it was one of the highest peaks of the north cascades that I had not yet been to the top of. On top of that, 3 or 4 years ago I realized, thanks to peakbagger.com, that it was one of the last peaks in Jeff Smoot’s Climbing Washington’s Mountains that I had not yet ascended. This previous summer I had told myself I would do the standard south face scramble route, but due to dense smoke or other events, it just didn’t happen. Over recent years it seems that more and more people had been ascending Jack via the steep snow-covered Nohokomeen Headwall route, I think partly due to increased internet exposure and partly to avoid steep loose scrambling.
For these same reasons, I had been eyeing a spring ascent of this route and I finally had a decent weather weekend line up with what might be good conditions, so I contacted Jon, whom I met while climbing Bonanza, who had previously expressed interest in climbing Jack with me. Unfortunately I could not get Friday off so we were in for a punishing two day trip on this route, but we decided to head out to the trailhead Friday night so we could get an early start on Saturday and take our time to camp.
We woke up in the parking lot and leisurely did our final packing and had breakfast before heading out on the trail around 7 am. We simply had to travel 8 miles up the trail to where we would bushwhack up the hill. We had very heavy packs due to the snow gear we had brought along to protect the headwall but we still made very good time to May Creek, arriving around 10 am. We took a good break here, knowing the next 3 miles to camp would be much more punishing.
We went uphill directly from the May Creek campsite and roughly followed several GPS tracks we had downloaded. We occasionally got into denser brush and made our way left or right to avoid it. The slope started slowly steepening until at around 3200’ we finally arrived at some of the first cliff bands. From here we followed any booth/game trails we could find through the cliffs, generally making our way leftward. Anytime things looked difficult we were generally able to find some easy class 2-3 routes through the cliffs. We were however getting nice and sweaty and exerting a lot of energy going up the steep hill with large packs.
After making it through the cliffs, the slopes started to lay back a little but right around here we started to run into snow. This involved a lot of postholing, but we both stubbornly tried to continue on without using our snowshoes. Going in up to our knees or waist every 15 to 20 steps was definitely taxing and we should have just put on our snowshoes earlier. Once we got to the top of the ridge we finally put on the snowshoes and prepared for some awkward downward side hilling as we tried to get into the upper May Creek basin where we would make our camp.
After making the sidehill descent into the basin, the travel was easier, but things were getting quite mushy at this time. We started back uphill to a nice flat area below the Nohokomeen Glacier at just over 5200’. We arrived here at about 2:30 in the afternoon and were excited to relax and lets our bodies recover some before the big day. That being said, the 3 miles from the trail to camp was some of the slowest movement I have done in the cascades.
We slowly set up camp, found water in the nearby May Creek, made dinner, and enjoyed the beautiful alpine views. We had a hard time staying awake for very long which wasn’t a bad thing considering we planned to get up at 3:30 to beat the sun to the headwall.
We awoke, had a brief breakfast, and were heading toward the summit just before 4 am. Travel up onto the Nohokomeen Glacier was quite pleasant, as the surface had refrozen overnight, and we were able to make quick work up to the base of the headwall, just after 6 am.
We took our time here, snacking, getting out all of our snow gear, and putting on harnesses. I coiled the rope over my shoulder, in case we decided things were getting dicey and we should start protecting things. I started up the face kicking steps and things were generally feeling good. I led about a third of the way up before asking Jon to take over kicking for a bit. He made quick work up the face, kicking into the two ice crusts that were near the surface. The two ice crusts were about 2 and 4 inches into the snow, but also very weak. Below these crusts was what seemed like endless dense powder. I didn’t trust this upper crust for our downclimb so I spent a lot of time and effort kicking through, doing a bit of wallowing, and trying to get some good steps into the loose snow beneath. With effort the dense powder did eventually make really good steps, but progress was slow.
Jon probably made it to the ridge top around 8 am and I took my time making it up about another 45 minutes later. He took a while to build up the courage to go up and over a few narrow parts of the ridge that were somewhat corniced, but I eventually heard his “woohoo” from the summit. I met him partway up the ridge when he was on his way down and told him he could just start heading down, as I didn’t want to spend much time up top to be sure we got off the face before the sun arrived.
After the initial somewhat scary traverse across the narrow ridge, things were a bit easier and I quickly made my way to the summit, completing my 99/100 of the Smoot peaks. The sun felt good up here, so I took a few pictures and had a quick snack before heading back down. Retracing the ridge was not a problem and we made steady progress down the face. I was grateful for the deep steps I kicked on the way up and the snow definitely felt better than I expected for the descent. We were both off the face by 10:30, before the sun really touched any of it. We were excited to be able to relax a bit despite the long trudge out ahead of us.
We made our way back to camp just before noon, retracing our steps from the morning, and were able to do so without needing the snowshoes with only occasional postholing. We tried to refuel here with whatever food and beverages we had left. I managed to consume some coffee, beer, and Gatorade to try to relieve my cramping legs.
We packed up camp and headed down around 1 pm, grateful to have the floatation of snowshoes. We mostly retraced out steps but ascended to the top of the ridge a bit earlier to avoid more annoying snowshoe side hilling. Once on the ridge, travel was quite easy down to where the snow began just above the cliffs. We found our way through easy enough, taking a slightly different route than the way up. It was starting to get quite hot through this stretch and we bashed our way down through the brush slowly until we could enjoy the beer and Gatorade we had stashed in May Creek at about 4 pm.
After a good break we slowly made our way back for the 8 miles along the East Bank Trail. We made another brief stop at Hidden Hand Pass where Jon had stashed another Gatorade. We finally strolled back into the parking lot around 7:15, happy to be able to sit. It was a great trip and one of the most exhausting two day trips I have undertaken. Now I have to get to Columbia Peak to finish my Smoot list!
(Download the free Gaia GPS app on your phone to view tracks and then get a Gaia GPS membership if you want offline access. Discount below!)
Recommended brew: Mazama Tilikum Pale Ale
Gear Used:
- Four-season tent
- Gaiters
- Glacier glasses
- GPS
- Harness
- Helmet
- Ice screw (not used)
- Mountaineering boots
- Pickets (not used)
- Prusiks
- Rope
- Sleeping pad
- Snowshoes
- Steel crampons
- Ice Tools
- Summer sleeping bag
- Stove
- Trekking poles
- Water drops/filter
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