Ready2climb Member
Joined: 13 Jun 2014 Posts: 5 | TRs | Pics Location: Bellevue, Washington |
Fred V. and I climbed Hoodoo Peak and Raven Ridge on June 14th. We camped at the trailhead (no NW Forest Pass required). That evening a man came off the trail that had been picking Morel mushrooms and had quite the harvest. We hit the trail at 4:25 AM and didn't require headlamps. After about mile there was bad trail due to a burned area with with lots of blowdown and ashy soil for a mile or so.
We stashed some gear at the cabin at 5 miles and headed up Hoodoo. We were on the summit four hours after leaving the trailhead.
After a few minutes for photos and food we headed back down to retrieve our crampons and head up Raven Ridge. There had been one car at the trailhead that had Raven as their destination, and we did enjoy the steps they created up the snow gully, but we never saw them or anyone else the entire day. Libby Lake at 7,618' still had a significant amount of ice.
We followed the steps up the second gully above Libby Lake, and crampons were certainly required - I would not have done it with only micro-spikes.
From this gully it was about 0.3 miles to the true summit with class 2/3 scrambling, but it felt like a mile.
We used the small tunnel just below the summit before scrambling to the top.
We were on the summit just after 1 PM. By the time we returned to the snow gully the snow had softened up enough to make for comfortable plunge stepping.
I recommend doing Raven Ridge after Hoodoo for a double day. We were back to the car in 11:45, 14 mile day, approximately 5,200 vertical fee. Bulgers #28 & #29 for me!
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