Arrived at the TH at 6:50 and there were no cars. The road is in pretty good shape and you could make it there in most cars. Don’t let previous reports scare you away, the river crossings are not that bad. The first two are little more than an inconvenience. For the third crossing, I opted to walk across on the small two logs stacked on top of each other. Take your time and if the logs seem too sketchy, walk up the river a bit and you’ll pretty quickly find something more suitable. At around 3500 feet, things will start to open up and you’ll begin seeing snow. Instead of following the trail up to climbers right, just keep going straight into the snow. You might need to bushwhack a tiny bit but it’s worth it. Get your crampons, axe, and helmet out, and just walk straight until you see the couloir that takes you up on the right. There are tons of tracks so even if you’re not confident in your route finding, you’re 100% okay. Before the pass, things can get moderately steep but there’s no real danger here. At the pass, there’s a bit of dirt but I decided to just keep my gear on. There’s a small section that alternates between rock and snow so I just went down to the left, stayed in the snow, and skipped the rock entirely. The snow here is solid and I wouldn’t want to cross the rock with crampons so I think going low is a better choice. At 4900 feet, next to the lake, it’s just a straight shot along the ridge up to the peak. The views here are spectacular, some of the best I’ve ever seen. It was a beautiful day and I could see everything. I finished the day in a total of 6 hours and 6 miles with 4k elevation. Despite the short mileage, it took much much longer than I anticipated due to snow and me just being tired. I saw nobody the entire day which was a pleasant surprise. If you’re confident in the snow, there’s nothing to worry about and if you’re not, this is a great place to gain some experience.

it was a warm day. Started around 6am and it was already mid 40s. 3rd creek crossing (the biggest one) was a bit challenging. I couldn’t find a way across without getting my feet wet. I picked a section that was more shallow than others and less flowing. I figured my feet would be wet from the melting snow anyways. I brought extra pair of socks and changed em at the summit.

I didn’t hit snow consistently until about halfway into the valley that leads up to Headlee Pass. The pass was soft but doable with boots and ice axe. I didn’t put on crampons but should have  just for the extra purchase into the compact snow. 

Followed the route and boot pack up to the summit  All snow except for some melted out rock sections just after the pass. Beautiful day. Amazing views. Definitely worth it. Temps at summit was 58F at 10am. Would have stayed longer but wanted to get back down the pass sooner than later. Snow was sooo soft on my way down. 

Hi we are the Mountain Goats and today I climbed Vesper Peak. This was my first real climb post tearing my ACL and meniscus and what a climb it was. 

We started hiking fairly around 9:30 with the sun already beating down on us. The first 2 stream crossings were easy but the 3rd one posed some problems. The Stillaguamish River was running high and with no bridge you're gonna have to get wet to cross. We opted for jumping from a log to the shore on the way up, but honestly wading the river would've been easier (we did that on the way back). From there the trail up to Wirtz Basin was snow free and pretty painless. Snow starts almost immediately in the Wirtz Basin at around 3000' feet. We put on Snow Shoes and began heading towards Headlee Pass. The trail is almost nonexistent and the massive amount of avalanche debris. It got a bit steep for snowshoes and the slushy snow didn't help, nonetheless we kept trudging along. At the bottom of Headlee Pass we switched our Snow Shoes for Crampons and got out our Ice-Axes and Helmets. The pass was actually pretty basic. The soft snow made it almost impossible for us to slip and with crampons we weren't going anywhere.   

From the top of the pass we kept our crampons on and traversed over to Lake Elan. The post-holing was a slight problem along the traverse. On a hump above the lake (5200' feet) we switched back into our snowshoes and trudged on up to the summit. The final stretch is a slog but the panoramic views kept us going. We summited at around 2:20 around 4 hours and 30 minutes after leaving the trailhead. The view was stunning and all of the North Cascades, Olympics, Mount Rainer, Stuart ect were visible. 

We switched to Crampons on the way down and plunged stepped/glissaded down to the pass. Going down Headlee was fairly easy, the soft snow was great for plunge stepping. From there we just glissaded down the basin finally getting off the snow. We ended up wading the river on the way back, and got back to the trailhead around 6:00. Overall this is a great early season climb, but pack accordingly. I would strongly recommend bringing crampons and a helmet. People have gotten injured and even killed falling down Headlee Pass so be careful and pack the correct gear. Happy hiking!!

Final Stats: 6 Miles- 4000' Elev Gain- 8:30 Car to Car

Snuck this one in after seeing other trip reports, and knowing the incoming storms might close the road for the season here this week. Nothing new to add from the previous reports, but just a thank you to those hikers for motivating me to get out there today! It was absolutely stunning - probably the clearest day I’ve ever had up there. If anyone is heading up tomorrow for the last sunny day, enjoy it! I brought my ice axe but didn’t need it, and was fine with boots, microspikes and hiking poles.

Fantastic blue bird day up to Vesper Peak, with spring like conditions. This is still a viable mountaineering hike while the Mtn Loop road is open and the weather holds. Once the next precip event happens, I expect it will be done. Thanks to the men and women before us who broke trail in the snow! This is a super hard endeavor given the low mileage, so buyer beware. 

Road to TH is in good shape, 3 spots with deeper potholes, but any vehicle can make it - a Tesla Model 3 was up there when we arrived, along with a pickup. We were the only ones all day and only 2 groups of 2 went to the summit.  Unlike the previous TR indicated, the toilet was open. Biggest driving risk of the day was ice on the Mtn Loop highway in spots where the frost took hold. Be careful around those corners!

The biggest risk on the trail right now is the ice, hard snow and frozen ground. It's all very slippery, especially on those rocks and roots in the first 1.5 miles of trail. We managed OK for the most part with my partner slipping a few times but no serious damage. I on the other hand, slipped on a stump crossing the 2nd creek from the TH on the way back down and face planted into the water. Luckily, doesn't seem like any serious injuries (edit: morning after, could be a fractured wrist). Despite that, creek crossings are easily doable. Snow starts in earnest up in the valley, but luckily there's enough coverage in the boulders that it's not too hard to avoid major postholes. We put microspikes on part way up and that made travel easier for a bit, but I had a ton of snow clumping and I ended up ditching them for the day once up at Headlee Pass. The couloir up to Headlee is in decent shape. In some places lower down, the only track is straight up so that's what we did. I tried to use as many of the switchbacks as possible on the way back down. Once up past the lake, the steps thin out but still useful. Lots of places where you're going in up to your knees. On this blue sky day, the track was clear all the way to the summit. Gorgeous views all around today. We spent 30 mins on summit having lunch and drinks and taking in the views. As we were heading down, the other party was just about at the summit - I have some pics if you are reading this, just comment. 

Stats: 7.2 miles, 4280' gain, 6:40 total time, 1:15 stopped time. Mileage is slightly shorter than summer since lots of the track goes' straight up, no switchbacks. 

Gear: Mountaineering boots for warmth and kicking steps, gaiters, microspikes, poles, used ice axes up the couloir probably not 100% required, brought crampons never used. Sunglasses and sunscreen with all the snow up high. 

GPX: https://www.peakbagger.com/climber/ascent.aspx?aid=2387715