[ozzy]

Well friday came too quick and I didnt have a lot of options in mind so I decided on a little obscure peak over in the Monte Cristo range, Foggy! I was able to convince Hans to join again and picked him up in Everett around 3am. We were looking forward to a more relaxed trip but that wouldn't be the case. We made it to Barlow pass around 430am just in time to take a 30min nap lol, I love my sleep. The parking area was pretty busy (about 25 cars) and thankfully no busted out windows at least that day. We set off and made the road walk to town in 1.25 hrs. From Monte Cristo we followed the glacier basin trail for 1.5 miles. At the 4200ft mark we left the trail and found the best way to cross glacier creek. Before we left the trail we had a good view of Foggy pk and the gully we would be taking up. There was hardly any snow up there so we found a good spot to stash our crampons and axes. After leaving the trail we easily crossed the creek and made a mostly level traverse towards a timbered ridge. The ridge was a little brushy at first but it thinned out after 50ft of gain. We climbed up this forested slope for about 300-400ft. The goin was steep with that pine needle carpeted floor sh##, so it was a little slick at times lol! We were able to stick to some game trails in this part which made it a little better. Staying to the right avoids a lot of the brush but eventually you want to trend towards climber's left the higher you get, the cliff bands pretty much force you this way. Around 4700ft we were out of the forest and ascended grassy slopes mixed with some talus. There is some rather dense krumholz climber's left so we climbed to the 5200ft mark and traversed over it all pretty easy. We stayed at 5200ft to traverse west towards Foggy. We had to negotiate a cliff buttress by dropping a little then we popped out just under the talus field that grants access to Foggy's south gully. We entered the gully proper at 6000ft!

first view of Foggy, upper left

the timbered ridge in foreground, Foggy lit up

lingering snow patch, en route to the timbered ridge

back towards glacier basin from bottom of ridge

steep pine needle covered slope

towards Silvertip after emerging from the woods

looking at Foggy from the start of our traverse at 5200ft. The center ridge is the one that you have to drop a little in order to bypass

looking back at wilmans peaks

on the traverse, avoiding all the brush by staying high

talus field leading to south gully, the gully is above the patch of green

closer

Hans contemplating his life's decisions

the maw

From the entrance we had a good view of the nasty route that lay ahead! We were able to get by the lingering snow patches and scurry up an awkward class 4 step to gain the upper reaches of said gully. Sometimes people have moat issues here. Neither of us had helmets so we traveled close or out of each other's fall lines. The route ascends a gully/ledge system for approx 700ft in a NW direction. There was a lot of zigzagging through here and it helped that I recorded the track for the descent. The worst part about this gully is how all the terrain was downsloping and covered in loose sh## everywhere. I felt that a majority of it was a no fall zone. There were a lot of good holds it's just hard to trust anything up there lol! Its pretty steep mostly class 3 but a few class 4 spots. Soon we topped out in the gully and finally the summit was right there! Goddamn, about time! From here you aim for a sharp little notch immediately west of the gnarly lookin summit block. Ascend the reddish little gully 75ft or so then the NW face of Foggy presents itself!! Hell yea, I remember thinking that we might actually make it up this lil beast!! At the notch we climbed some cracks and a gully to gain the summit! The last move at the top was the most committing, exposed class 4 IMHO. Holy hell! What a crazy peak, by that I mean I'm glad to have done it but have no desire to go back lol! The views were stellar as well! Man, Sloan looks pretty awesome from up there too! We had a clear sunny day so we loitered up there for an hour and a half! We ended up topping out at 1215pm.

class 4 step

skeptical handline

searching

probably a third of the way up looking back down

true summit is above Hans, its visible most of the route

maybe buddy

true summit with notch just west

it got a little sandy up top

sloan and gp from notch

Hans en route to notch

last push to summit

west towards gemini pks

glacier basin area

west flank of cadet

del campo and others

sloan out to shuksan

Woweee

on the edge

800ft down to the start of the gully

rainier

goat lake

The thing that sucks the most about climbing peaks like this is that you cant fully enjoy yourself until you're back through the jaws of death and safely on trail again lol! We were definitely on edge about the downclimb. On the summit you can see 800ft down to the gully entrance and all the hell you have to travel through again! So I took a swig of whiskey, hoping it wouldn't be my last, and we started the downclimb. The class 4 move at the top was a little more committing to climb down but we made it happen. The last 700ft to gully bottom actually went by pretty quick. We zigzagged down the gully consulting the mighty GPS as necessary. We definitely knocked down a lot more rocks going down, they don't stop until reaching the gully bottom. Glad this is not a popular peak because it could get rather hazardous in there. Finally we got down to the snow patch and had to downclimb another little class 4 section. Then we were out of there thank god lol! We reversed our traverse route and upon gettin back to the initial timbered ridge we ran damn near into a fatty black bear, probably 250lbs+! As we crested a little ridge he had his ass plopped in the water facing towards the valley far below, taking in all the views! Lol it was like he was out here enjoying nature too! I froze up because he was only like 25ft away, I thought he might charge at first! He didn't and casually turned his head, it took him a second to realize what I was. I was already yelling at this point and he sprinted off into the undergrowth! We both scared the sh## out of each other. Sadly it all happened too fast for me to get a photo. Yewww, what a rush that was, the whole day was lol! The steep forested slope was a pain goin down but there are plenty of veggie belays. Finally we made it back to the trail, our turn off point, at 600pm. Whew, safe at last. We started the slog back out and made the car at 830pm. I'd say the trip stats were about 14miles with 4700ft gained. What a day to be alive! Glad to have this notch in the old belt lol! Definitely gotta go back to get some climber's peaks when I get more experience. Cheers all fellow wanderers!!

lace em up bud

coming down the summit block

kinda slick up there

using caution

route finding

almost off of this heap

some class 4 to exit the gully

that's a wrap

last look

last light on trail

[Fletcher]

You’ve been getting after it dude! There isn’t going to be any Jim Beam left when you’re done.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Cool. I would guess this is one of the lesser visited of the Monte Cristo area peaks.

[Hans]

Thanks for the report and photos. I climbed Foggy about 15 years ago. I remember a short hand line leading down from the summit. Is that no longer there ?

[ozzy]

[raising3hikers]

You've been doing a nice set of pks this year. Keep going at it

[Jake Robinson]

I had no idea this one was so tough. I like how you're not getting sucked into any lists and just going after cool, obscure peaks! Always enjoy reading your TRs, keep on getting after it

[ozzy]

Thanks bois, all of yall, appreciate the comments and the motivation yall give me through your trips/reports!! I do have a sweet spot for the obscure ones lol! Keep climbin and don't fall, cheers!

[Matt Lemke]

Nice one ozzy! It's been awesome following youre progression into a great climber

[Hans]

Actually I don’t recall the the gully being all that loose but then again memory fades. I do remember the finale climb from the notch being a bit difficult so I was glad the hand line was there for the decent