Blue Lake, South Early Winters Spire — Friday, Jul. 9, 1999

Right now in the Rainy Pass/Washington Pass area of the North Cascades trails are snow-covered almost from the start. However, many people are just bushwacking straight up to inviting ridges and saddles right from the highway. That turned out to be what I did. I started at Blue Lake trailhead, but the boot path doesn't make any attempt to find the lake. Instead it goes vertical, aiming for a bare ridge between the two south-easternmost of the the Early Winters Spires. I believe it took me about 2-3 hours to ascend to the top. To make the ridge swing around to the right (west) to where it rises gradually from the snow. You'll find goat tracks in the snow, fur and droppings on the ridge top. Views are dramatic. From up here you'll be in prime position to view the Vasiliki Ridge and Snagtooth Ridge of Silver Star Mountain to the E and NE. Whistler Mountain and Cutthroat Peak command attention just across the valley to the NW. SE to SW are Stiletto and Copper Peaks. Countless other summits stretch out to all horizons. You can go even higher, to a snowy saddle atop a melting cornice at about 7750' with excellent views down into Copper Creek valley. Two spires adjacent to the saddle can be climbed but the highest, to the west, is about another 60' up at a nearly vertical pitch on loose rock. The bootpath continues downward to the lower western spires, but the slope here faces south so the snow is very soft. I turned back after nearly falling a few thousand feet to the valley floor! There's plenty of other wandering to do on the ridge and you'll have plenty of time - the glissade/hike back to the parking lot takes less than an hour.