Copper Creek, Lightning Peak — Wednesday, Jun. 2, 2021

Ron and I picked a warm day to hike the Copper Creek trail and scramble up the snow-filled north gully to the summit of Lightning Peak. Even on cool days, hiking the Copper Creek trail generates heat with its 2500’ gain to the ridge, and though we got an early start, we were feeling the heat quicker than usual.

A boot path begins at the point where the left loop trail gains the saddle. It follows a ridge that ends at the bottom of the north gully. At this point, the snow abruptly began. We put crampons on and deployed our ice axes and helmets. As we climbed, we scanned the snow for signs of other foot traffic but saw none. The muffled sound of flowing water could be heard off to our left. The top 8 inches of the snow’s surface was very soft. Although we rarely post-holed, we had to kick steps or else we slid. Judging by appearances at tree wells and rock formations, the snow depth looked to be at least 3-4 feet.

Once we reached the top of the gully at about 4560 feet, remnants of cornices lined the Lightning Peak ridge, their late-stage melting a few weeks away from completion. As we hiked higher towards aspects facing the south, the snow abruptly disappeared. The long ridge and broad meadows on the south-facing slope were entirely snow-free and a welcomed sight. Here we removed our crampons and hiked on dirt and rock up to the east summit at about 4600 feet. The Olympic peaks all the way to Mount Olympus were stunning to behold. Towards the south, a light haze partially obscured the three volcanoes. The continuation of the scramble to the west summit looked entirely doable, but we chose to skip it.

We descended the way we came on snow that had continued to soften. I opted to forego crampons and was able to plunge-step down and glissade on three separate occasions. All totaled, we were gone 8.5 hours which included a good hour of dawdling at the summit. Our round-trip distance was about 6.5 miles, and the elevation gain was about 3700 feet. We also consumed about three liters of water. Did I mention it was hot?