Cathedral Rock, Peggy's Pond & Mount Daniel — Sunday, Jun. 29, 2014

Snoqualmie Region > Salmon La Sac/Teanaway

Hiked to Peggy's Pond, ascended Mt. Daniel by the Daniel Glacier route (technical climb), and descended by the Southeast Ridge (scramble). JW and I set out from Seattle at 7 am and reached the Cathedral Rock TH around 9:30. The forest service road in was in pretty good shape, but we were glad to have a high-clearance vehicle for the ford. From there we took about 6½ hours to get to Peggy’s Pond. Mostly clear trail to Squaw Lake then intermittent snow then almost all snow approaching Cathedral Pass. From there the trail to Peggy’s pond was mostly snow-free except for some potentially problematic gully crossings. Peggy’s pond was surrounded by snow. We found maybe the only two good bare-ground spots for tents on the tree-covered knoll just north of the Pond. Next morning we started climbing at 4:45. Headed up the Hyas Creek Glacier, and climbed the steep snow field on the right to the ridge overlooking the Daniel Glacier, just to the right of the prominent spire to the right of the East Peak. This early in the morning the snow was firm and good for cramponing. Roped up and descended to traverse the top of the Daniel Glacier between some crevasses to the saddle to the right (northwest) of the East Peak. This traverse is on very steep snow. Climbed over the mound directly ahead then to the West Peak (true summit), keeping to the left of the Middle Peak. Summitted around 9:15 am (4½ hours camp to summit). Started down around 10 am via the Southeast Ridge route. After going back to the saddle northwest of East Peak, we traversed fairly steep snow and talus to the right (southwest) of the East Peak to the saddle above the Hyas Creek Glacier, then traversed the top of the Hyas Creek Glacier to get on the Southeast Ridge. Descending the Southeast Ridge involved some rock scrambling, some plunge stepping down moderately steep snow, and a little glissading. Got back to camp by 12:30 (2½ hours for the descent), packed up, and hiked out, 4 hours back to car. Burgers at the Brick in Rosalind were delicious.