Graybeard Peak (7965') — Friday, Sep. 24, 2004

Graybeard is a peak which has been seen by anyone driving east on SR 20. It is prominent on the south side of the road after the sign for the East Trail. It is the eastern edge of Ragged Ridge and looks like a gray pyramid shaped peak from the road. Most of the way in is on the trail to Easy Pass but the summit register placed in 1990 revealed only on average one ascent per year. So it offers wonderful views of the North Cascades, particularly the peaks near Washington Pass, with only a day-hike commitment. We left our car at the trailhead for the Easy Pass trail at 0845. The trail is in wonderful shape and we arrived at Easy Pass about 1 1/2 hrs later. On the way in on the trail Graybeard takes up the entire left side of one's visual field. The mountain is divided into two separate summits with the taller being on the east. Once at the pass one only needs to traverse without gaining elevation as the basin at the end of the key talus slope is also at 6,500'. We gained elevation too quickly by following what we thought was a climbers path but had to loose 300' vertical to get back to the basin where a stream empties into a small pond. The basin is at the end of a 1000' foot wide talus slope which is shaped like a triangle with the apex being within 200' vertical of the summit. We just kept climbing on talus which merged with scree that became dirt. Close to the top the now narrow gully split into two gullies. We took the larger of the two which was on the right. That continued but became choked with unstable chockstones within 100' vertical of the summit. Then we traversed left on a section of Class 4 rock for twenty feet until we met up with a three foot wide chimney which we ascended for 80 feet vertical toward the summit. We were then about 80 feet to the east of the summit and walked on easy rock to the cairned top. We brought rope and runners but didn't use them. There were few rock horns to be found which could have been used anyway. The descent was along the same line but we used caution to have only one person descend the chimney and the narrow section of gully at one time. The recent death on Illabot Peak from party inflicted rockfall should underscore the importance of this practice. Four hours from car to summit. Seven hours car-to-car.