Big Craggy Peak, West Craggy Peak — Monday, Nov. 25, 2002

North Cascades > Pasayten

It was an unusual occurance for late November. I stood on top of two of the tallest 100 peaks in Washington and was surrounded by rocks. Even in the gullies there was barely enough snow to kick steps. The day was wonderful with the air just cool enough to keep us comfortable and we were swallowed by the views north into the Pasayten Wilderness. These peaks are far away from Seattle and involve a 4 hr drive to get to trailhead. Drive east on SR 20 (North Cascades Highway) to the town of Winthrop. Then go north on the West Chewuch River Road (becomes FS road 51) for 9.5 miles and turn left onto Eightmile Road (FS 5130). Drive on this road for 12.3 miles until reaching the trailhead for Copper Glance Trail 519 on your left. All of these roads are fine for a family car. The trail starts as an old mining road and then winds its way through sparse forest. We reached thin continuous snow at 4900'. Continue on the trail until you reach Copper Glance Creek at about 6000'. We then hiked up the right side of the creek to the headwaters in a talus bowl at 7100'. West Craggy will be on your left here with Big Craggy on the right. There is a distinctive notch to be found on the ridgeline. The key gully to the summit of West Craggy is approached just west (left) of that notch. You reach the notch by hiking north and connecting with the saddle between Big Craggy and West Craggy. Then only traverse to the west at 7600' avoiding elevation gain. Once at the notch mentioned above you can go up the gully to the west of the notch. The route then is on scree/talus to the NW until reaching the ridge at about 8150. Once crossing the ridge West Craggy is an easy walkup from the south on talus. I then retraced my steps back to the saddle at 7600' and traversed over to the top of Big Craggy on horrible scree with intermittent talus. My partner had already climbed Big Craggy so I soloed the peak and met him back at the car. My descent route was to drop down the SE Ridge until it connected with Trail 519 at about 5850'. This route is not recommended for the upclimb as the slope has loose dirt and small scree. It is easier to semi-glissade this stuff on the downclimb then to struggle with missteps going up. Of course if it is covered with snow then it doesn't make a difference. I spooked a hare on the way out. His fur had changed completely to white for the winter season which hopefully will be here soon. From car-to-car took exactly 8 hrs.