[KascadeFlat]

Not much to say here that hasn't already been said, but I wanted to write a report anyway. The Brothers have been on the list for a long time and given the three day weekend and favorable weather we decided to head to the peninsula for an attempt. Early Saturday morning found us pulling into the trail head at Lena lake. We were on trail at 8:30 am and made it to the lake by 10:30am. The sun was out and the lake was beautiful! Lena is one of my favorites because you can clearly see where the boulders fell off the mountain eons ago and dammed up the valley to create the lake.

Predictably, Lena was busy. As soon as we were over the water crossing at the inlet the crowds evaporated. This was my first time in the Valley of the Silent men and I must say WOOOOW!!! that place is no joke. The approach to upper camp is a worthy hike in its own right and one I will be happy to do again... The blow down section gave us a bit of trouble on the way in but on the return trip we found a path that stays completely out of the river bar and in the woods. You can find this path on the way by carefully watching for cairns on the right hand side before you lose the nice trail in the blow down.

When we arrived at the climber's camp we found two other parties camped in the main area. We pushed on for ~100 ft and found an awesome camp next to the river. We chatted with the parties coming down to get an idea of conditions and made our plan for Sunday. Sunday morning we were up and on the trail at 6:30 am. We had scouted the burn by foot the night before so we made pretty short work of the route finding. At 3520' there is a flat area with mashed down grass and devil's club to climber's left. If you enter the burn here and push straight up and left towards the snow finger you will find a boot path that parallels a draw and runs all the way to the top of the burn. Here we sat down below a huge boulder and put on our crampons for the transition to snow.

With crampons on we motored up the lower gully. The snow was warming but held together nicely. We had overcast weather, so no sun! Soon we could see Washington and others peeking over the ridge.

At 5200' you need to transition to rock to traverse around and re-enter the gully. At 5700' we stopped again below the entrance to the upper gully to let another party climb ahead of us. As we watched that party navigate upwards we lost our nerve to continue on. Ahead of us was a solid three hours of climbing and an equally grueling descent. We called the climb here and enjoyed a languid lunch before another party of five showed up and chased us off the rocks.

The way home was straightforward. We enjoyed plunge stepping in the lower gully, an easy path back through the burn, and a delicious dinner of chicken and rice pilaf at camp. Monday we got up early and packed out back to the trail head, enjoying the Valley of the Silent Men equally as much. In general, the snow was very forgiving on this climb. We had an absolute blast and my hiking partner loved her first experience using crampons. We will be back for round two! PS - if anyone has done this route in later summer with less snow please chime in! We are considering returning late season to attempt as a scramble instead.

[NBL]

Thanks for the TR! I had planned to do this early Saturday morning over the holiday weekend but bailed due to the fresh snow and warming temperatures (and the accident the previous weekend was freaking me out a little TBH). I'm still hoping to tick Brothers and Constance off my list this year.

[RichP]

Later in summer that gully turns to bullet-hard snow. I don't know if it ever melts out completely but I distinctly recall crossing it as we had decided to scramble the rock up the left side as high as we could and it was sketchy with a bad runout.

[KascadeFlat]

NBL - We talked to a couple of folks Saturday who made it and a couple who turned around. We were also a little worried about the accident since I wasn't able to find many details before we headed out, however, we ran into a gentleman on the trail who had been there the week prior and talked directly with SAR. He gave us a few details that helped us feel more comfortable making an attempt. Rich - Thanks for the input! Every TR I have seen, regardless of time of year, has snow so I figured that it must linger in the upper gully. Just didn't know if there was a scramble route around this.

[Slugman]

Excellent report, thanks. I love the Valley of Silent Men, and it is always nice to see others feel the same. It’s been a long time, need to go back!

[zephyr]

[mtn.climber]

We did it in mid summer. If you try, a helmet is a must. We nearly got taken out by a football sized boulder that was knocked loose by a climbing party a few hundred feet above us. Move quickly and safely thru the narrow parts. The upper part was still snow, and required crampons and an axe.

[Bootpathguy]

[meck]

Nice photos, that is a fun one. I've been up there twice in (mid-Aug, maybe early Sept?). It was melted out (though still had to avoid a small snow patch near the top one time). It was a rough rocky/scree experience (I'd still pack crampons and ice axe), so I second the recommendation to bring a helmet; lots of loose, large, junk that can easily be knocked down inadvertently. A pair of mechanics/leather gloves might be nice too (I brought them on my second visit and was glad to have them).

[Olympic Hiker]

Last time I climbed The Brothers was in late July. There was little snow and plenty of loose rock and scree. My dad and thought we had the whole mountain to ourselves until we caught up with a guy doing it as a day hike. When we caught up with him he was going to head out and not go all the way to the summit because of all the loose rock and scree was making him nervous. When he met us he asked if he could tag along with us since he felt more comfortable climbing the rest of the way with some people. The Valley of Silent Men is one of my favorite places in the Olympics.

[KascadeFlat]

Since the fern waterfall photo is getting so much love I feel obligated to call out that my partner took that one. She is always off taking great pictures while I have my head buried in the GPS. Thank you mtn.climber, meck, and OH for sharing your experiences re the "summer" route. Doesn't sound like this ol' boy is going to go easy regardless of season! Keep 'em coming, I love hearing about other folks experiences.

[puzzlr]

It looks like you had fun even without a summit. Those can be some of the best days in the mountains.

[Bosterson]

When I did the Brothers (in 2013), it was mid June and there was easy compacted snow in the lower gully (no traction needed) and then just scree above. Never even broke out the axe. The choss is easy but helmets were prudent. We did it as a long day trip from Portland, with a well earned stop at Quality Burrito in Olympia at 10pm on the drive home. With a shorter drive, I would definitely do it in one day to minimize the amount of gear to bring. Some mountaineers say the Valley of the Silent Men is the most beautiful in all of the Olympics.

[KascadeFlat]

Whoa puzzlr - that lidar photo is so cool! Can't wait to see what else is in that album, thank you for sharing.

[gymcarrey]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/6Ff9iG4kHk3E4qVG9 We dayhiked it August of 2020 and it was dry the whole way. In the gps, the blue line on the left is what we came down and it would have been less exposed than the hourglass which is what we went up. It just isn't easy to see on the way up. I only thought to record it when we were getting onto the hard to find area.