Arrived at the Copper Creek trailhead about 8:00 this morning and was surprised to see two cars there already. I always find the stretch of this trail along the river brings a smile to my face with the endless moss, ferns and the sound of the creek. Anyway, I quickly headed up the trail to the saddle, a few trees on the trail, but all easy to step over.
From the saddle I headed south on the fairly well established boot path along the ridge. After about a 1/4 mile I began to climb to towards the obvious gully headed towards the summit ridge. At about 3400' the snow coverage becomes continuous and quite steep (I used crampons) at times while climbing through the trees.
At approximately 4000' I headed south east towards the "Lightning/Timber" ridge as I knew this route was easier and safer then trying to climb the primary gully directly to the summit. After some brief open snow slopes and climbing through some more trees I reached the ridge which I then crossed over to skirt a large rocky feature on the ridge. There was s small section of steep and exposed snow here. After traversing quickly beneath a gnarly cornice, really undercut like a wave, pretty cool actually, I reached the final ridge and scrambled across some rocks to reach the summit. I found the register but unfortunately it had leaked and the registry was water logged.
Spent about 20 minutes up top and left the ridge through a spot where the cornice had collapsed and this avoided the need to traverse down slope of it. Snow was great for quickly plunge stepping my way back to the trail and cruise back to the car. A great rewarding hike/scramble and don't let some clouds ruin a good day!
And I ran into three other climbing Lightning today, pretty cool!
Comments
rkjenner on Copper Creek, Lightning Peak
Well done, Wallaby Don, both on the achievement and trip report! Although too far away, you might have spotted me over on Dry Mountain at the same time, using your beta to navigate. How was the snow depth in the main chute?
Posted by:
rkjenner on May 16, 2020 03:09 PM
Wallaby Don on Copper Creek, Lightning Peak
Thanks rkjenner, once you hit continuous snow it was still several feet deep, but it made for quick travel though. How was Dry Mountain? Honestly, I think climbing the meadows there took more effort then kicking steps up Lightning...
Posted by:
Wallaby Don on May 16, 2020 09:03 PM
rkjenner on Copper Creek, Lightning Peak
Regarding the upper meadows of Dry Mountain, I found them to be fairly easy on the ascent. There was the constant zigzag nature of route finding through the sparse trees and rock outcroppings, but footing was generally good. On the descent, my feet did slip a few times but no injuries. I submitted a TR.
When comparing two hikes, I guess it'll always be subjective, and changing seasonal conditions make for another variable that makes comparison difficult. To me, Lightning is harder, particularly when having to climb a long scree slope. Your close-up of the cornice in the third photo, is that the same one at the top of your second photo? If so, could you have traversed the slope lower down to avoid being directly below it? It sounds like you hugged the cliff on the right.
Posted by:
rkjenner on May 17, 2020 06:23 AM
Wallaby Don on Copper Creek, Lightning Peak
Subjective indeed... haha, there was no scree on Lightning yet, just snow. But about the cornice, it is the same one in both pics and I actually did traverse about 50' below it initially, after hugging the cliff that is, and on decent I passed through a point where the cornice had collapsed/melted, you can almost make it on the far right of the corinice in the photo that captures the it from a distance. The closer photo was taken at the point I passed through the gap.
Posted by:
Wallaby Don on May 17, 2020 11:04 AM