Vesper Peak, Headlee Pass and Vesper Lake — Saturday, Aug. 6, 2016

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

Dirt road to TH is "closed" due to washouts but with caution any car can make it to TH (Sunrise Mine). Started hiking at 7am- saw no one until outlet to lake above Headlee Pass and below Sperry Peak. Came across a bunch of tents and another pair of climbers also headed to north side of Vesper to climb. Headed up trail across outlet and after going through dirt and rocky shrub zone, followed cairns for standard trail on the slabs until red slabs then left standard trail to traverse right towards western-most col between Vesper and Wolf peaks. Stop reading here if looking for beta on standard class 2 Vesper hike. It was not hard to get to col in running shoes; one small snowfield was easy to traverse and soft enough that our carrying of ice axes and micro spikes amounted to weight training only. Once at col, put on climbing gear and left extra gear and pack tucked behind a rock. No snow to cross on traverse around north side of Vesper to start of Ragged Edge/True Grit. The traverse is fairly straightforward, although we missed the drop down to get to the start of the variation of Ragged Edge, and there were so many parties on the Rock and waiting to start on the ground, so we started (after waiting 30 mins) at original of RE which is the same as start of TG. Available beta and gear suggestions are pretty spot-on. P1 and P2 fairly easy. P3 run out until you get to bolt. P4 seemed easier than P3 or P5 so it's probably 5.6 and not 5.7 but a nice pitch. P5 start to bolt is hairy with exposed slabby feet move but can put in 2 solid nuts in crack between anchor and bolt. P6 has 2 pitons and nice pro in places, run out in the middle, but very easy, straightforward climbing with nice aesthetic on exposed arête to summit. We descended and in the clouds it was disorienting; ended up needing to traverse more skiers left than expected to get back to stashed gear at col but it is easy class 2 so not an issue. Hike out uneventful other than coming across a guy with his dog (yellow lab) after descending from Headlee Pass. The dog's paws were all bleeding; the owner didn't realize until it was too late and did what he could to put rags/socks/tape on her paws. It looked pretty rough... Definitely put dog booties on your 4-legged friend if you bring them up here. The mosquitoes were getting worse by this point- 6pm? (lot of time spent between waiting to get on climb, waiting behind other climbing parties, retrieving gear after, chatting with other people we ran into that we knew)- but not noticed while walking, so bug spray would be overkill unless you plan to sit around. The berries! Endless huckleberries and blueberries between the TH and Headlee Pass. I don't know if I've ever seen so many, on both sides of the trail. And a number of salmonberries. Some are getting overripe so this next week may be the last time to get them.