Forum Index > Trip Reports > Bessemer mountain camp (failed summit attempt) 12/2/20
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TheWanderingIndian
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TheWanderingIndian
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PostSat Dec 05, 2020 8:40 pm 
Stats: 6.5 miles 4050 ft gain (to south Bessemer summit) So I miss judged the snow depth for 5030ft. I was expecting it to be around 6-10 inches deep, so we decided that snowshoes wouldn’t be needed, but by the time we made it to 4000ft we were post holeing In 3ft deep snow. The plan was to camp on the south Bessemer mountain summit(5030ft) then traverse to the north summit (which is one 16 feet higher and 1 mile away). The road walk up is straight forward and really good walking. 2 quarry trucks were the only other people we saw the whole trip. Being that it was a Wednesday that definitely helped in avoiding other people. The snow started around 3000ft 3.2 miles in. The snow very quickly got a lot deeper and at around 4000ft we were post holeing though 3ft deep snow. We found a nice ledge with good views of the middle fork valley and it’s peaks. We decided that this would be camp for the night. So we dropped our packs and decided to push on for the summit. The whole hike up we had been following a previous party’s path, but at 4300 feet we reached a fork in the road where we needed to go right and the previous party’s path went left (assuming to go to moolocks summit) we only made it another 100 feet gain before turning around. The snow was waist deep at this point and was no fun. We turned around and headed back to camp for a nice hot dinner! The sunset was beautiful. For dinner we had a nice chicken & potato soup.....At sunrise we awoke to fire in the sky! The clouds were the flames of the burning rising sun, the alpenglow was great, and the view was inspiring. After that we packed up camp and headed home, good for us the snow was still hard and frozen for our trek back so we barley sunk at all. Wish we had these conditions on the way up, oh well! We’ll be back soon with our snowshoes ready for a proper summit camp! This peak is a great little low key gem in the middle fork valley!
Russian butte from the parking lot, looks wicked! Be warned, this parking lot is surrounded by a lot of dead trees, we definitely heard one tree fall right before we headed out. Not the best feeling when leaving your car at a parking lot.
This little waterfall is what’s left from a previous washout. You can see how the hillside was washed right off the hard rock underneath.
Snow at 3200ft
Only views of the snoqualmie alps
Camp:
Sunset:
Night shots:
Sunrise:
The way back:
The only view we got of the snoqualmie alps. Pictured from left to right is little chief, summit chief, lemah, chikamin, huckleberry, and Thompson.

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chandlerhaberlack
chandler haberlack



Joined: 29 May 2018
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Location: Monroe
chandlerhaberlack
chandler haberlack
PostSat Dec 05, 2020 9:03 pm 
nice effort. what an awesome weather window we had this week. hope you guys get it on the second go.

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Type E
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Joined: 19 Aug 2006
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PostSat Dec 05, 2020 10:01 pm 
South Bessemer is a slog in winter . I believe the traverse and summit is fairly technical for Bessemer proper

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Michael Lewis
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Joined: 27 Apr 2009
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Location: Lynnwood, WA (for now)
Michael Lewis
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PostSat Dec 12, 2020 4:22 pm 
Man I love your photography. Thanks for sharing it!

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TheWanderingIndian
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TheWanderingIndian
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PostTue Dec 15, 2020 7:52 pm 
Yeah we were thinking north Bessemer would be a good challenge in winter! Or a double summit trip of south Bessemer and moolock would be fun to! Also thanks for the good vibes! I’ll be sure to post more soon!

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Nancyann
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Joined: 28 Jul 2013
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Location: Sultan Basin
Nancyann
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PostWed Dec 16, 2020 10:27 pm 
You guys are tough! Great pictures and looking forward to more. up.gif

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Forum Index > Trip Reports > Bessemer mountain camp (failed summit attempt) 12/2/20
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