I used the Copper glance trail to access the two Craggies for the day. The trail up past the mine and over the hill crest was in good shape. In the morning the snow started about a mile in, but, much of that had melted by the time I came back down in the evening. I would say it is now that time of year to keep the microspikes handy if you are just going to the lake or mine for the day.

Big craggy was easy to climb covered in a light amount of snow. Until reaching around 7000 ft it was only about ankle deep, but, was just enough to take the scree out of the difficulty for the day. Over 7000 was a different story. There were spots where it was waist deep and others where it had melted out and all was just rock. The final ridgeline is well covered in snow at the moment and made for a fantastic finish to the climb. 

From the top of big craggy, the traverse route over to West Craggy looked heavily covered in snow. I debated for a few minutes whether I should go for it or not. Ultimately I decided that I couldn't pass on the chance to summit both in one day. 

The ridgeline between the two peaks was covered in heavy snow. More than once I found myself waist-deep and digging myself out. In fact, due to the snow cover, it made the traverse the worst part of the entire day. It was tedious and exhausting working through all the powder.

The final gulley to the summit was fairly easy. I would say that with snow it appeared to be far better than it would be mid-summer. The small amount of rock I had to walk on in the area was terrible and slid out from under my feet over and over again. 

The best part of the entire day was the final small gulley that I (and the other party on the mountain) used to climb up. It was narrow steep snow and provided a good first snow climb for the day. If you work-around to the left of it there is a far easier way to the summit for those not interested in the steep snow.

I took the Gulley back down to a basin and out to the trail again. The navigation was easy, but the depth of the snow with boulders underneath made for an annoying hour or so. 

Altogether a great climb though I will probably never go again. The scrambling was lackluster and the challenge felt a bit underwhelming for being two peaks over 8000 feet.

Chose to end my trip to the east side of the crest with an attempt on the Craggies.   Had originally planned to push a big day attempting Cathedral and Amphitheatre but the forecast called for overcast skies by early afternoon so I decided for the shorter day with this duo of peaks.

Left the motel at Winthrop about five AM and was at the TH by 5:45.  The road is mostly paved with the last five miles being gravel but in great shape.  One other car at the TH.  Shouldered my pack and was on the trail.  First two miles are fairly steep but no major obstacles. One creek crossing but plenty of trunks to use to keep your feet dry.  Because of the recent burn, the terrain is open and I lost count of how many pairs of eyes were reflected in my headlamp beam. Always a little unnerving! 

At the two mile mark, you round a ridge into open terrain. Here I left the trail and beelined for the summit of Big Craggy.  There is little in your way as you follow the ridgeline and the views were tremendous as the sun broke over the eastern horizon.  After nearly a mile, you break out of what few trees there are and find yourself on a massive pile of talus.  It's tedious work getting to the summit ridge but once you crest the ridge, the views are tremendous.  I then followed the ridge to the summit.

From there, you follow a very obvious climbers path down talus and scree towards the saddle between Big Craggy and West Craggy.  There wasn't much guesswork on the route as the climbers path is obvious the entire way to the summit of West Craggy.  Most of this is class 2 with maybe a few class 3 moves that are not exposed.  Again, the views are amazing from West Craggy.  

As expected, the clouds were rolling in at this time and after a brief summit visit, I followed the climbers path back down to a saddle and then plunge stepped down scree and talus.  There were some cliffs to navigate but again, with the right route, it never exceeded class 3.  Another long stretch of talus broken up by groups of larches (past their peak) and finally some mild bushwhacking back to the Copper Glance Trail which I then used to return to the car. 

Fall colors are still there but past their prime.  I used most of the trail in my climb and it is in great condition.   Sorry for the lack of pictures, only had time to clean up one!  Hopefully, I can catch up on about ten reports over the next few days.  :)

Judging by the summit register on West Craggy, most people who do these seem to be Bulger chasers, as who else does long drives to climb  loose piles of talus? But there are other reasons to do this hike, such as beauty, wildflowers, tremendous views, solitude, and route finding fun.

We slept in the Honeymoon Campground near the trail head in order to get an early start. The first couple miles are on an old mining road, that actually leads to an old mine, the copper glance. The mine seems to be breeding a tremendous number of mosquitos, so we did not linger to investigate. At about 5800' in a lush flower meadow we left the trail to follow a ridge to the summit of Big Craggy. Most of this scramble is very pleasant once we left the bugs behind but the last  vertical 700 feet are loose and steep, so I would only recommend this scramble to a small party that wears helmets and stays together. We traversed the summit ridge tagging all the high points but did not find any register. The descent to the saddle with West Craggy proved fairly easy. Climbing West Craggy from the saddle involved some fun route finding around and through various cliffy bands and gendarmes, but we found a route with no exposed or tricky climbing.  At the West Craggy summit we did find a register that had been placed by Mike Torok. We read through the register which showed that these obscure peaks are only climbed about a dozen times a year, and most people listed their Bulger stats.

We had noted an easy looking route down from the low point of the saddle so retraced our steps to the saddle and scree plunged down to some larch groves, boulder fields,  and  a quarter mile of mosquito plagued bush whacking to get back to the trail at about 6800'. The trail beyond the point where we had left it had lots of blowdowns. The first people we saw all day were sitting in the meadow where we originally left the trail, who seemed to be miraculously immune to mosquitos.

5400' vertical gain and loss (up 4600', down 800', up 800', down 4600') and 13 miles. 12 leisurely hours.

Quick one night hike from Copper Glance trailhead to the top of Big Craggy and West Craggy Peaks.  Smoke from the Diamond Creek Fire was an issue, depending on the winds.  Remember, the Billygoat Trailhead was closed those days, but Copper Glance was still open.

Thursday, July 27, 2017 I drove to the Copper Glance Trailhead and began hiking.  The air was clear, but a big pyrocumulus cloud had formed over the fire.  The trail is well-used and in good shape.  It is short, but pretty steep for a maintained trail.  After the second creek crossing, I hiked a few hundred meters more, and turned right and headed to the upper basin below the Craggy Peaks right after a small pond that the Copper Glance trail skirts.  This hiking was fairly simple, especially because I followed the guide book's advice to stay as far left as possible, up against the scree slopes, to avoid some major bushwhacking.  I made camp in the upper basin south of the creek, which was fine, but discovered the next day that another 5 minutes of hiking would have brought me to a small, lovely tarn, and an excellent campsite with an established fire ring.  Next time.

In the early evening the winds shifted, and smoke started blowing into the valley.  It had cleared out again by morning, but as I started the walk up Big Craggy, smoke started building again.  I didn't stay long at the summit because I wanted to climb West Craggy as well (another simple scramble up a gully beginning at the head of the upper basin).  By the time I topped out on West Craggy, the smoke was quite notable.  This was a bit of a bummer, because the views from West Craggy were incredible, and on a clear day would have been that much more so.

The hike out was rapid, and smoke levels shifted again, starting to clear out a bit as I descended.