Did a two-day trip to Royal Lake and successfully summitted Mount Deception. There were tons of people on the trail itself, mostly coming back since it was Sunday. Seems like this is a very popular trail or it's just the end-of-summer crowd. The trail up to Royal Lake was fairly straightforward and easy, a welcome change from the challenging Lake Constance trail I had hiked a few weeks ago. The best campsites were overlooking the water, but they were mostly taken so I got one on the far side of the lake, which was just off the path but still very nice. Bugs were kind of irritating but not too bad like some reports say, just bring some bug spray. Went for a swim in Royal Lake when I got there since it was hot outside, very refreshing.
Started the climb the next morning around 5:50 AM, and was at the upper part of Royal Basin in an hour. I would recommend bringing an ice axe and crampons for this climb, if not for the snow fields for the glacier crossing. Lots of scree in the first part of the climb, which transitioned to scrambling and scree, which was more difficult. The glacier crossing was probably the most nerve-racking part for me since there were many large crevasses and I was by myself. It really wasn't too bad as long as you stayed to the top left of the snow and stepped lightly. The cracks were also pretty visible, so it was pretty easy to just step over them. Interestingly enough, there is a recent-looking large rockfall on the glacier, and after checking other people's images of their climbs, it seems like this happened in the past 10 days. After the steep snowfield just off the glacier, the trail becomes pretty straightforward with a simple ridge walk to the summit. Luckily a very clear day today which allowed some great views at the top. The way down was worse than the way up, as the scree that didn't seem too bad on the way up was difficult on the way down. Even with the confusing terrain on the way down, I made it safely back to the campsite in a few hours. Since this isn't a very often-climbed mountain, I was the only person on it that day. Overall, this was probably a class 3 or 3+ climb, not too technical but difficult in places. I'd also recommend downloading a GPS path to help with navigation. I'm pretty happy to have this successful solo summit as my last climb for the summer!
Check out the YouTube video link at the bottom if you'd like to see some of my trip.
Comments
Congrats on the trip! Can you see the glacier from the upper basin, or only from the summit? Thanks
Posted by:
Dream Delay on Aug 28, 2025 07:30 AM
Thanks! You can only see the glacier from the saddle, which is around 500 vertical feet short of the summit.
Posted by:
Overclocked on Aug 28, 2025 11:39 AM
Ah, makes sense. I was wondering as I just spent time there and observed all the snowfields, at least the ones viewable from the basin. Thanks!
Posted by:
Dream Delay on Aug 28, 2025 11:49 AM
I did this climb a few years ago in late August. Getting up to the ridge from the upper basin wasn't much fun with all that scree. But at the ridge I did not feel comfortable with no spikes or ice axe to cross the glacier so I just very carefully inched my way along the ridge top on the east side until I reached the notch that climbers use earlier in the summer when there is snow to just beeline it right up to the ridge from the basin. Then it was an easy walk on a nice wide ridge to the summit.
Posted by:
Young Geezer on Aug 28, 2025 01:45 PM
Yeah the scree is pretty nasty. I can imagine this being much easier to do in early summer/late spring.
Posted by:
Overclocked on Aug 28, 2025 03:36 PM