[cartman]

After seeing a trip report from Fay P. to these peaks, I was very intrigued by the approach she and her friends made to the area--both for the peaks and for an alternate approach to Kimtah. Wanting to see for myself, I proposed this as an overnight a few weeks ago to Matt, and he organized the trip to this most scenic area in the heart of the North Cascades with dicey, Barb E and GeoTom. The name of Trumpet for 6865 was Matt's idea. Peak 6865 is the terminus of the very long ridge running east from Gabriel. The angel Gabriel is sometimes depicted as the sounder of a trumpet--though apparently never specifically mentioned as such in the Bible--signalling the resurrection of the dead before the last judgment. As 6865 is the terminus of the ridge, i.e. arm of Gabriel, the name works geographically as well as symbolically. The name also works in a celebratory sense as this peak is one of the finest viewpoints in the area, and probably the best peak for closeup views of Ragged Ridge--even better than those from Ragged View. Fay, Jim B. and co. had left the Easy Pass Trail less than a mile and only 400' above the TH and contoured over at ~4000' to get around a long NE-trending buttress running off the east end of Ragged Ridge, then continuing up the valley of Kitling Creek to its source at the little lake, 5800', then to Ragged View 6730'. So that's what we did. The forest travel once leaving the snowy trail was mostly snow-free for the first mile, with minor brush and log-hopping. The route became continuous snow once we rounded the buttress and headed up the creek. We put on snowshoes, me for the first time this year in fifteen trips--all in snow. We found a good place to cross the creek at ~4200' and continued up good forest until entering the more open terrain mid-valley, passing under Kitling and past the lake to the very broad Kitling Pass at 6000'. We were unanimous in continuing up the extra 700' to camp just below the summit of Ragged View. We heard some whooping and saw fresh ski tracks below Cub's north face as we were going up; their route showed no hint of snow instability, no sloughing. On Ragged View we could see how this marvelous viewpoint got its name:

Kitling, Cub, Mesahchie, Katsuk

Cub

Mesahchie, Katsuk, Kimtah

Katsuk, Kimtah, Cosho

Cub to Kimtah from Ragged View

As the last three pictures show, the route Jim B. took to do Kimtah goes, but with a fair elevation hit and then some involved terrain up to and over the Kimtah Glacier to the col to the west of Kimtah. That trip was in early June in a normal snow year; the Kitling Creek valley holds slide alder that would make this route unpleasant after the snow melts out. It would also be problematic to be able to do Kimtah and Cosho in a day RT from camp near the lake; camp would have to be higher, up on the glacier.

Graybeard, Kitling, Cub from Ragged View

Graybeard

Kitling

Golden Horn, Tower, Hardy

Azurite

The summit camp was pleasant in the sun despite being a bit windy, but quickly became quite cold once the sun dropped down below the horizon. Several of us commented in the morning that we spent the night bordering on cold even with winter bags and clothing. Morning dawned clear and bright,

Morning on Mesahchie and Katsuk

with perfect snow to crampon down on the ridge leading toward Trumpet.

Trumpet

We stashed the snowshoes in the basin--just before the snow turned to postholing wet sugar on the more S-facing aspect headed towards the gully.

Gully entrance

Snow conditions up the gully and across the face were more of the same, very tedious postholing, kicking more snow into the step, pack it down, repeat. We finally reached the southeast ridge, and from there it was back to good crampon snow the last few hundred feet to the summit.

Mesahchie, Katsuk from Trumpet

Kimtah, Thieves' Peak, Cosho

Red Mountain

Gabriel, Elija, Ezekiel

Ragged View and peaks beyond

After about 45 minutes on the summit, it was time to head on down.

Leaving Trumpet

Descending

This was quite the interesting route as an alternate way of approaching the area. Definitely go. You won't find better views of the north side of Ragged Ridge anywhere. Thanks to all for the fine trip and to Tom and Barb E for the driving. What a great area. Eric J. Johnson

[Jetlag]

What a great route! And great couple days for exploring it. Terrific photos, especially of Graybeard, and enough detail to unlock the puzzle of getting to this spectacular viewpoint. (Glad that your winter didn't pass by snowshoe-less.)

[Matt]

Dicey described it well: "Feeling incredibly lucky to be able to spend the weekend getting up close and personal with these beautiful mountains. Love the North Cascades!"

Ragged Ridge at Sunset from Ragged View Peak

Ragged Ridge at Sunrise from Ragged View Peak

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Ragged Ridge at Mid-Day from Trumpet Peak

The last two photos above are 270-degree panoramas stretching from east around clockwise to north, worth viewing at full size.

Ragged View GPS Track. Yellow line is our route to camp. Red line is our route to Trumpet Peak. Ignore the other lines for now.

The shoulder of Ragged View Peak was wide enough that we ended up spread out over a wide campsite. Dicey and I had our tent in the center. Barb's tent was in the penthouse up above. Eric's tent was on the back porch. Tom bivied in the front yard with the main view to Ragged Ridge. And our kitchen was dug into the slope that led to the summit just above.

Ragged View Camp

Moonrise above Ragged View Camp

Sunset carving into Gabriel Peak

Sunrise at Ragged View Camp

Early morning view from Camp

Breakfast on the kitchen bench

Tom hanging out at his bivy site in the front yard

(More photos of the rest of the trip coming later.)

[RichP]

Spectacular photos and trip, folks.

[Goats Know]

You guys come up with some neat ideas for trips. This one looks awesome.

[BarbE]

Great timing for weather and snow conditions. Glad we pushed on to our spectacular campsite. A few more pics.

creek crossing

above Kitling creek

heading toward Kitling Pass

The views are not good enough at Kitling Pass, let's go higher!

Cartman died and gone to heaven

goofy shadow people

eastern views

Moon rising over Henry Shire's tarp tent

east

Still light at 10 PM with an almost full moon

sunset

breakfast

looking back at our camp from Pk 6400 Trumpet on the left

Matt, Carla, Tom and Eric leaving Trumpet Pk and heading for the exit gully on the right

Kitling, Cub, Mesahchie, Katsuk

Tom in his happy home

leaving camp

Matt getting ready for a mandatory swim in Kitling Lake

hike out along Kitling Creek

[Jetlag]

Superb bluebird photos BarbE, Matt and Eric!

[GeoTom]

It was a nice trip. A few photos from me (full flickr set here: Ragged View; May 2-3, 2015)

Matt and Carla head up the creek valley

Matt

Carla and Ragged View Peak

Matt on the lower summit of Ragged View

Barb on Ragged View

It was about to get misty

Frogged View

Too many cooks in the kitchen

Shadows

Carla and Barb look at the MOON!

Peaks, tent and moon

Sunset behind Gabriel Peak

Pointing to our destination

Heading up the tree filled gully

Matt and Carla lead the way

Solid snow on the final ridge

Ragged Ridge

Barb watches from above

Carla takes in the views

Creek crossing

[mattfirth]

Nice trip report (great photos) and a great skiing and rambling area. Several years ago a friend and I traversed that ridge from Gabriel Pk to Panther Pass and at the high point of 6865' there was an older summit register with (I think) one entry. In 1999 John Roper and a friend or two had named that point Panthers Tail. If the summit register is still there it was likely buried under snow.

[Matt]

Here's the route info for Ragged View Peak 6730. We took the Easy Pass trail across Granite Creek and up the opposite side to somewhere between 3800 and 4100 feet. (Below 3800 there is some snow cover in the bottom of the creek valley. Above that it's dry ground.) Leave the trail and traverse north and west over to the next creek valley, called Kitling Creek on some maps. On the way in, we departed the trail circa 4150 feet and traversed between 4100 and 4200. On the way back, we angled lower, but descended too soon, so had to come back up toward 3800 to avoid the snow and logs in the flat creek bottom. Somewhere in between is probably best. It's mostly open forest, but with lots of downed logs to maneuver around. Just pick whatever path seems best as you travel somewhere between 3800 and 4200 feet. The Kitling Creek basin was snow-covered, which made for easier travel on snowshoes, with most brush or logs covered by snow. We crossed the creek circa 4200. From there on, we just followed the righthand side of the creek uphill to the lake at 5800 and then the very broad pass at 6000, sometimes called Kitling Pass. Admire the impressive cliffs of Kitling on the opposite side of the creek, and be glad that the snow has mostly melted or stabilized and didn't seem to present any danger of the slides that had previously fractured trees in the valley. From Kitling Pass, ascend moderate sloped northward to the col at 6330 feet. Views of Ragged Ridge get better and better. Then just follow the ridge crest eastward to Ragged View 6730. We angled right of the crest for the last couple hundred feet to avoid a steeper area, and ended up on the broad flat campside just east of the summit.

[contour5]

Beautiful. Ragged View looks like a spectacular camp spot...

[Opus]

Followed this same route over the weekend, minus the side trip to Trumpet. Snow was just too soft. Conditions haven't changed too much but the snow near Kitling Creek is melting fast. I punched through into buried slide alder and streams several times even with snowshoes. I ascended the left side of the creek simply because I ended up on that side down lower and punched through into the creek trying to cross to the right. It worked fine. Steep in places but not bad. Had the summit to myself until near sunset when Radka and her husband showed up on skis. Very calm night and plenty warm. I left camp at 7am the next day and used crampons to descend the few hundred feet back to the saddle on the ridge. The snow was already too soft and I switched back to snowshoes on the descent.

Typical cross country

Thin snow minefield

Kitling

Kimtah

View from the col

On the ridge

Summit view

Camp

Graybeard

End of the ridge

Back to camp

Crater

Sundog

Crevasses

Sunset

Glowing

Graybeard

Sun is up

Big bear tracks

Snowshoe log crossing

Summit panorama:

[MtnMike]

Nice to hear Matt finally got these peaks. When I climbed in April 2000, Pk6882 was called "Grabinet" and Pk6865 was called "Panther Tail" (JohnR names).