Distance: 6.3 mi.
Elevation Gain: 4000 ft.
Plans for bigger objectives were foiled by late May snowfall, so we dialed the plans back to this low elevation peak. It was something I had been eyeing for winter perhaps but with the large snowpack of the year it seemed the route would be perfect at this time.
We took our time getting out there and started up the route at 9 am. The trail is beautiful in the lower Copper Creek valley and gains elevation steadily. Josh, Melinda, and Bob decided to take a detour up the side trail to the old Apex Mine, another lovely valley, but were then back on track heading up to the ridge top. Once at the ridge we had to leave the trail to the south toward the peak. There was a faint climbers trail but we managed to miss it initially and do some bushwhacking. Once on the climbers trail, things were pretty easy. We had to do a small up and down scramble along the ridge before reaching the snowfield gully.
We transitioned to snow just as we reached the gully but there was plenty of snow for the ascent. I would say we nailed it with timing in that respect. Snow travel was easy up to the small notch on the tiny north ridge of the peak. From here we were able to carefully traverse snow and a moat to reach the east ridge of the peak where the more south facing slopes were pretty much snow free.
We had a few views on the way up but the clouds rolled back in and it was hard to see what was in store for us ahead. We made the easy scramble up to the eastern summit of Lightning but then had to do some very careful scrambling back down to the notch between peaks. Melinda and Bob stayed behind for this as Josh and I forged ahead to try to discover the true summit. We ended up doing a little bit of moat ratting, a little bush scrambling, and some careful loose dirt scrambling.
We made it to the peak and didn’t linger, quickly back tracking to the other two. No views for us on this day. I’m not so sure I would ever bother again with the scramble to the west peak but it might be better when things are a little less damp. We pretty much backtracked the whole way back to the car with a handful of breaks to look at wildlife. It was almost 4:45 before we were back down but this was a very rewarding trip and a lovely corner of the Olympics.
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Recommended brew: Crux Fermentation Project The Velvet Underpants
Gear Used:
- Aluminum crampons
- Aluminum ice axe
- Day pack
- Gaiters
- Glacier glasses
- GPS
- Helmet
- Mountaineering Boots
- Trekking poles
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