Downey Creek — Saturday, Jul. 13, 2002

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

These peaks were climbed over a four day period, July 11-15, via the Downey Creek/Bachelor Creek approach. It was organized by Stefan F. who is largely responsible for the successful outing. The Downey Creek trail has some deadfall but it is manageable. The Forest Service is negligent with the log crossing over Bachelor Creek at 6 1/2 miles. This is a marked Green Trail and one has to cross on a narrow, cracking in the middle aging log. It is a widowmaker and the hiker should be aware. Bachelor Creek has a large volume flow that feeds into a whirlpool 15 feet away. The Bachelor Creek trail starts immediately on the right after crossing the bridge. It has more deadfall which becomes unnegotiable at about 4,000' when it meets a large slide alder avalanche zone. At this point one should follow the mantra of the Forest Service, ""Forget the Trails"", and head into the old growth on the north side of Bachelor Creek. One can travel crosscountry ENE easily with minimal brush to reach the ridge overlooking Mule Lake at ~5,150'. The map shows an outflow for this lake but I didn't see one. Continue onto the 6,000' pass overlooking Cub Lake. This area is under 4 feet of snow at present and Cub Lake is still frozen except for water at the edges. From Cub Lake we climbed up to Itswoot Ridge for our first campsite. This is a lovely ridge which looks across onto Dome Glacier and Dome Peak with the back door facing Mount Buckindy and Pilot Peak. The next day we travelled with ice axe, rope, and crampons only due north to ascend Spire Point via the Northeast Route. Crossing Spire Col was easy and the two rock pitches were on low Class 5 rock in the first trough (there are two possible) encountered on the left. Two single rope rappels brought us back to the top of Dana Glacier. Once back in camp we took our gear to the bivy site located at a high col located at 8,560' just north of the summit. This lies in the lee of two large granite boulders and has room for two tents. After making camp and resting for a few hours we made the easy 20 minute light ascent of 400' to the summit. We brought rope but it was not needed as traversing in the moat on the eastern edge of the summit ridge was the safest means of accessing the top. This peak should be saved for good weather days as the views are incredible. The next day we roped up for the descent through the col into Chelan County and the heavily crevassed Chickamin Glacier. Chickamin is the Chinook word for iron and one can see the red oxidized rock on the northern edge of the glacier. We traversed over to the saddle between Sinister and Dome going to the south then to look for a gully to gain the West Ridge. The gully looked too forbiding from our angle but it is deceptive. One has to continue walking further to see that a narrow finger of loose dirt appears from behind a rock wall. We took this route down from the top but on ascent jumped onto the West Ridge for an unprotected roped ascent on Class 3-4 rock for several hundred feet. After that the summit is reached easily. The gully used for descent has considerable rockfall potential and was done by only one person at a time. Then it was back across the Chickamin Glacier toward Gunsight Peak. Stefan lead the single pitch from the Glacier to reach the Class 3 rock which leads to the notch. This notch is caused by a distinctive volcanic dike of soft rock which is eroding much faster than the adjacent granite rock. Twelve feet beneath the top Stefan lead two rope pitches over 45 minutes to the cramped summit. A double roped rappel from the numerous slings 50 feet beneath the summit brought us back to Chickamin Glacier. Returning to camp we packed up for the final night at Itswoot Ridge. The weather threatened and looked menacing for the last night but only a few drops came down. A fantastic long weekend in a breathtaking area of Washington.