The first part of the Sunrise mine trail has a lot of exposed tree roots which are slippery when wet and the last log crossing has recently been replaced by a log that tapers down to about 8 inches - also slippery when wet. Everything else about the trail is pretty good. You run into snow in the basin below Hedlee pass and then it's mostly snow from there. Good step kicking snow up to the pass - a little firm, so don't forget your ice axe. Some thin spots in the snow as you're traversing the scree basin and then more great step kicking from the lake outlet to the summit of Vesper.

Trail starts out at the Sunshine Mine Trailhead #707. Follow through heavily wooded areas thick with tree roots that are slippery and hard to navigate. Many waterfalls to pass, with a few down trees and a couple of bridges that are out. Easy to navigate though since the runoff this year is so low. After entering and exiting many clearings we finally got to the basin leading to Headlee Pass. Del Campo sits high above to your left, with Lewis Peak to your right. Quite an astonishing view, especially when thinking you are going to be ascending the high ridge! After navigating the boulder fields on the right side of the basin opposed to the trail in the middle of the basin, we hit some smaller snowfields until we reached the main snowfield leading up to the main portion of the basin. Waterfalls and large rock slabs surround you. It was a beautiful day, and we were blessed with nice warm weather with a cool breeze. We then found some steps created by Dick W just minutes earlier, and followed those up and around to the right of the basin which lead us to the snow chute that gets you to the top of Headlee Pass. Post-holing was a common incident, and there were some really large holes along the way which could lead to some serious injury, so we took extra precautions. As we started up the snow chute, the angle got steeper and steeper. I lacked the intelligence to take out my ice axe (which I regreted earlier as we were on 35-40 degree snow) and had no room to take off my pack. So we trudged along up the chute until we made up top where Chris had spent some time relaxing and enjoying himself before we got there. It was so cool up at the pass. Everything was very ""alpine like"" as Chris said. The views towards Del Campo were incredible, and looking down our route, I was able to get excited about the glissade down. I was excited at this point, thinking that we were almost there, but as soon as we crept our way out of the trees on the other side of the pass, Chris pointed out Vesper Peak to us, some 57 miles and 9500 vertical feet above us!(So it seemed) I was so burnt and tired at this point, I felt like I was running at 60%, and Joseph felt the same way luckily, or else I might have found myself alone at the back of the group on this particular day. We then continued to traverse a slope that was mainly scree beneath the snowfield, so we kept punching through time and time again. At this point Chris took off to check out the trail ahead and try and scope out Dick W. Joseph and I kept a slow steady pace as we started to ascend the ridge after ridge after ridge after ridge after ridge. By the time we reached Camp 256 (joke), we were ready to stop and rest. So as we made our way towards the gradual ascent to Vesper, we had incredible views of Sperry Peak, and Lake Elan which was frozen with snow on top, so it was hardly noticeable. Sperry Peak has some impressive walls that one would have to ascend if they hit the side by Lake Elan. The slog up towards the summit reminded me of Mt Saint Helens since you hit ridge after ridge and it just keeps on going with no end. The climb towards the summit does get steep in some spots ranging from 20-30 degrees, which made me map out our glissade path down as we went up. I think that was the only thing that kept a smile on my face. After what seemed to be forever we were greeted by Dick W as he was on his way back down from the summit. I payed him for the nice steps he made and we made our separate ways from there. After a few minutes we were at the top by the small pile of rocks they like to call the summit. There are some nice spots to curl up and relax that blocks the wind, and that is where you will find the Summit Register in a small tube that looks like a plumbing item. If you look over the rocks towards the NE you can see the Vesper Glacier and Cooper Lake. Just along side of the Vesper Glacier is a large rock slab which is what some adrenaline junkies call the direct route instead of the slog route that we took. The Vesper Glacier appears to be a mile or so long and runs about 30-40 degrees the whole way down. Pretty scary to me. As we packed up, I got excited about the glissade down, but after a few short jaunts I realized that the snow was really wet, but we made the best of it. Once down at Headlee Pass we took extreme caution and did not glissade until we were within full site of the runout. There have been many accidents here, and all of us hit the ice layer underneath the soft snow. I had to self arrest at one point as it was some fast and slick I did not want to gain too much speed. Quite a rush! Be careful out there! When in doubt - just don't do it. Tons of images on the site www.nwog.org

a beautiful time of year for this hike. ripe blueberries, fall colors, not too hot and not too cold, great views. there was even a dusting of fresh snow on some of the cliffs. it's a very steep hike but the trail is in quite good shape and very easy to follow. the ascent through the narrow chute leading up to the pass is awesome with very interesting rock formations on both sides. a little ways beyond the pass is vesper lake, amazingly still surrounded by snow and mostly frozen. just before reaching the lake the trail crosses the stream and heads up the ridge to vesper peak, a steep climb but with fantastic views that are not seen from the pass or lake. all the usuals are visible (rainier, baker, glacier, stuart, sloan...) along with probably the best closeup of the red south wall of big four. a little easy scrambling is required and there was one short section (maybe 20 yards) of snow to ascend that would be tricky if not softened by the sun. from the trailhead to the top of vesper peak is 4100 feet elevation gain.

A super quick jaunt up to Vesper peak... we didn't even hit the trailhead until 130pm. But the trail is in good shape (for this trail anyway) and we reached the summit in just over 2.5 hours. There is only a little snow near the summit of Vesper. However the lake down lower is nearly covered with ice and snow still. Ain't gonna melt out this year. Foggy views all around.

Rob aka ""ass-master"" from the West Seattle YMCA and I picked a gorgeous day for the Monte Cristo area. Bit of a tricky stream crossing. Best bet is to use the 4-inch log at the upper end of the crossing and some balancing aid to make it across. High water and deterioration of traditional lower crossing area makes the current log/rock combo somewhat intimidating. Some snow still in basin leading up to pass. Hard when in shade. Lake between Vesper and Sperry still frozen over. Continuous snow from top of brushy area to summit of Vesper. Great views all around. Puget Sound basin was still socked in at 14:00. PLEASE NOTE: We encountered several folks who lammented not bringing an ice axe, or at least poles, for the upper part of Vesper. You decide your comfort level.