[Mike Collins]

A buddy and I failed to summit on this Sunday outing to the sister peak of Big Four. We have the route dialed in for a return visit though. If you want to visit the peak follow Beckey's guide. At 2400' there is a gully which is lowangled and directs itself SE toward Hall. The historic Silver Gulch mining trail is tricky to find at the beginning and nearly impossible to see where it branches off up Silver Gulch. We found the trail on the downclimb and it greatly eases travel in the forest. To reach the trail turn in at the bridge going over the South Fork of Stillaguamish at the town of Silverton. Just past the bridge there are numerous private property signs. We parked near a gated metal bridge on the right. Continue hiking up the gravel road about 0.2 miles until the road makes a sharp turn to the left. Immediately on the right (west) will be the start of the Silver Gulch trail. When on the road you will have to walk past one galvanized gate (closed when we were there) to get to the trailhead. Follow the well worn rocky trail to where it deadends at an abandoned mine just over the line into another drainage. When you get there you have gone about 100' too far. Retrace your steps and scrutinize to the left. Where you see an 18" diameter cut log is where you need to turn in to continue on the Silver Gulch trail. It is perhaps 80' vertical elevation above the creek. There is some deadfall across the trail but it is in fairly good shape seeing it hasn't had maintenance for 100 years.

[Randy B]

Mike - what ended up keeping you from the summit? Poor conditions? Lack of time?

[Mike Collins]

Fuzzy beta for one. Another climber who has summited this told me to head into the flat area of the basin and ascend the treed area to the right of the headwall. He was not specific with elevation and I undoubtedly missunderstood him. We had to rope up and mess around with tree anchors on a steep route with vegetation belays on slick mud and slab. We got to 4000' at 1300 but determined we couldn't make the final 1600 feet before our turnaround time of 1500. We were on the same slope that poor Stefan had to descend once and it was so bad he lost his wedding ring on it. My face is scratched up. Plus twice branches whacked my right eye and the vision is blurred today from corneal edema. The snow was heavily loaded with fresh slide action happening around us so maybe higher up we wouldn't have wanted to risk a summit bid anyway.

[El Puma]

Good to see people sticking to their plans and principals - great recon, thanks for the info. Friends of mine from Austria had planned a Mt.Fairweather climb for over a year; they turned around 300 vertical feet from the summit for time and weather. Tragically, both got killed on Aconcagua in a rock slide.