Vesper Peak, Headlee Pass and Vesper Lake — Sunday, May. 12, 2024

Hi we are the Mountain Goats and today I climbed Vesper Peak. This was my first real climb post tearing my ACL and meniscus and what a climb it was. 

We started hiking fairly around 9:30 with the sun already beating down on us. The first 2 stream crossings were easy but the 3rd one posed some problems. The Stillaguamish River was running high and with no bridge you're gonna have to get wet to cross. We opted for jumping from a log to the shore on the way up, but honestly wading the river would've been easier (we did that on the way back). From there the trail up to Wirtz Basin was snow free and pretty painless. Snow starts almost immediately in the Wirtz Basin at around 3000' feet. We put on Snow Shoes and began heading towards Headlee Pass. The trail is almost nonexistent and the massive amount of avalanche debris. It got a bit steep for snowshoes and the slushy snow didn't help, nonetheless we kept trudging along. At the bottom of Headlee Pass we switched our Snow Shoes for Crampons and got out our Ice-Axes and Helmets. The pass was actually pretty basic. The soft snow made it almost impossible for us to slip and with crampons we weren't going anywhere.   

From the top of the pass we kept our crampons on and traversed over to Lake Elan. The post-holing was a slight problem along the traverse. On a hump above the lake (5200' feet) we switched back into our snowshoes and trudged on up to the summit. The final stretch is a slog but the panoramic views kept us going. We summited at around 2:20 around 4 hours and 30 minutes after leaving the trailhead. The view was stunning and all of the North Cascades, Olympics, Mount Rainer, Stuart ect were visible. 

We switched to Crampons on the way down and plunged stepped/glissaded down to the pass. Going down Headlee was fairly easy, the soft snow was great for plunge stepping. From there we just glissaded down the basin finally getting off the snow. We ended up wading the river on the way back, and got back to the trailhead around 6:00. Overall this is a great early season climb, but pack accordingly. I would strongly recommend bringing crampons and a helmet. People have gotten injured and even killed falling down Headlee Pass so be careful and pack the correct gear. Happy hiking!!

Final Stats: 6 Miles- 4000' Elev Gain- 8:30 Car to Car