Forum Index > Trip Reports > Silvertip, B.C. 8517 ft, 9/30/2012
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Martin S
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Joined: 06 May 2007
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Location: Out in the perimeter, where there are no stars
Martin S
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PostWed Oct 03, 2012 11:15 pm 
What non-volcanic peak in the Cascades has the greatest topographic prominence? The answer, I was surprised to learn, is Silvertip Mountain; not the one near Monte Cristo, but the 8517 ft one in BC, halfway between Hope and Ross Lake. Another surprising thing about Silvertip is that it has relatively good access both from the north, via the Sumallo River Road off of highway 3, and from the south, using the Silver-Skagit Road. The north side route allows you to drive to 3500 ft elevation and only 2 horizontal miles from the summit but involves some slide-alder bushwhacking and several thousand feet of steep scrambling on very unstable rock; the south side route is a straightforward ridge ascent but starts at only 2000 ft elevation and thus is a hefty 6500 ft of gain. So pick your poison.
Rideout and Silvertip from the SE, May 2, 2011
Rideout and Silvertip from the SE, May 2, 2011
In early June 2011 Greg and Edward and I picked the north side approach and we made it to within 300 ft of the summit before being turned around by high avalanche danger and managed to escape the north face rockfall barrage without serious injury.
Camp by the Sumallo River, June 2011
Camp by the Sumallo River, June 2011
Traversing the false summit
Traversing the false summit
June 12, 2011. Silvertip summit
June 12, 2011. Silvertip summit
June 12, 2011 north face of Silvertip
June 12, 2011 north face of Silvertip
June 12, 2011 north face of Silvertip
June 12, 2011 north face of Silvertip
I returned this past weekend with Redwic for a try at the south side route. We drove up Saturday evening (3.5 hrs from Seattle) and car-camped at the end of a spur road at the base of the SW ridge. To get there, drive 22.2 miles from the point where you turn off the Flood-Hope road onto the Silver-Skagit road; the spur you want is the second left turn after the Maselpanic Creek Road branches off to the right. Knowing we had a full day ahead of us we started out well before sunrise and began picking our way up the brushy clear cut a the start of the ridge by headlamp. (This brush patch is infested with ticks in the springtime. I found this out the hard way during an earlier reconnaissance.) As the brush patch narrowed into a stream bed we worked our way left and followed bits of trail and flagging up and left onto the ridge; from there we just ground out the elevation up the ridge until we popped out of the forest at 6000 ft and the ridge steepened abruptly. From there we traversed right on some goat tracks and meadows to the stream in the center of the basin SW of Silvertip, the only water source on this route. Then up to the broad ridge west of the peak and pleasant walking up to the false summit. Probably the trickiest bit of the climb was getting around this false summit at 7900 ft – look for a ledge system about 40 ft below the top, along the south side. It’s no more than easy class 3 but a bit exposed. From there the summit is an easy scramble, mainly on loose scree. The actual crest of the west ridge offers more solid rock but when the climbing gets difficult there’s always an easier way on the scree out on the south slope. We spent a half our lounging on the summit, basking in the sunshine and views and enjoying the fact that all the smoke from the eastern Washington fires was well to the south of us. We returned the way we came, but it’s always more difficult navigating down an indistinct ridge than up it so we found the GPS to be a valuable tool.
Forced off the S ridge at 6500 ft
Forced off the S ridge at 6500 ft
Hozomeen and clouds in the Skagit River valley
Hozomeen and clouds in the Skagit River valley
N side of Silvertip
N side of Silvertip
Bypassing the false summit
Bypassing the false summit
Silvertip summit from the false summit
Silvertip summit from the false summit
Craig displaying Everet Silvertips team gear
Craig displaying Everet Silvertips team gear
Rideout
Rideout
Rideout
Rideout
Maselpanic Creek, Custer, Rahm, Redoubt
Maselpanic Creek, Custer, Rahm, Redoubt
E face glacier and Ross Lake
E face glacier and Ross Lake
Descending near the summit
Descending near the summit
Redwic traversing the false summit
Redwic traversing the false summit
Silvertip summit
Silvertip summit
Rideout
Rideout
Looking down the north side
Looking down the north side
Route from S ridge into the SW basin
Route from S ridge into the SW basin
Rideout
Rideout
South route on Silvertip
South route on Silvertip
Stats: 6700 ft of gain, 7 miles, 10.3 hours car-to-car. Gear: GPS, strong quads. Craig put together a great summitpost page for Silvertip with lots more info.

"nothing's for certain" took the elevator down while "anything can happen" climbed the stairs - Ryszard Krynicki
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Matt
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Joined: 30 Jan 2007
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Matt
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PostWed Oct 03, 2012 11:32 pm 
So what is Silvertip's prominence?

“As beacons mountains burned at evening.” J.R.R. Tolkien
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Redwic
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Joined: 23 Feb 2009
Posts: 3292 | TRs | Pics
Location: Going to the Prom(inence)
Redwic
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PostWed Oct 03, 2012 11:52 pm 
Matt wrote:
So what is Silvertip's prominence?
Silvertip Mountain has 6089' of clean prominence. Most people would probably guess that Mount Stuart is the most prominent non-volcanic peak in the Cascade Mountain range, but Mount Stuart only has 5354' of clean prominence. Other Facts: -> Silvertip Mountain is the 35th-most prominent peak in British Columbia. -> Located only approximately 10 miles north of Washington, Silvertip Mountain is the closest Canadian ultra-prominence peak to the contiguous USA border. -> To put things in perspective a little more, if the Washington border extended northward only 10-12 miles to include Silvertip Mountain, then the peak would be the sixth-most prominent peak in Washington and 25th-most prominent peak in the contiguous USA. Yowsers, there are a lot of very prominent peaks in BC! ------------ Thanks, Martin! I had a great time! This peak was a long time coming, for both of us. I had been in correspondence about Silvertip Mountain with multiple people, both in Washington and British Columbia, for the past few years. Martin and I both helped to coordinate for last year's trip but I had other commitments when Martin, Greg, and Edward made their first attempt. Edward returned with another friend (Duane) two months later and was successful via the same (northwest) route he previously attempted. I'm glad that Martin and I did this peak together, tried a different approach (southwest ridge, which proved to be the safest route option), and that we could remove this peak from Martin's list of failed attempts. This was my favorite summit trip of the year, for a variety of reasons. In addition, we had found limited useful information available to the masses for this peak (probably due to the fact it is only attempted a few times per year at most), so I am very glad we can possibly help future summiters with our gathered photos and descriptions.
SW Ridge, Silvertip Behind
SW Ridge, Silvertip Behind
Looking Down At Parking Area
Looking Down At Parking Area
"Steep Dirt Step"
"Steep Dirt Step"
Martin Descends "Steep Dirt Step"
Martin Descends "Steep Dirt Step"
Martin In Steep Forest
Martin In Steep Forest
Martin On Upper SW Ridge
Martin On Upper SW Ridge
Prior To Bluff (6000':)
Prior To Bluff (6000')
Bluff Bypass (6100':)
Bluff Bypass (6100')
Looking Back Towards Bluff
Looking Back Towards Bluff
Looking Up At West Ridge
Looking Up At West Ridge
West Ridge
West Ridge
North Faces
North Faces
False & True Summits
False & True Summits
Silvertip Mtn
Silvertip Mtn
Approaching True Summit
Approaching True Summit
Martin On Summit
Martin On Summit
Silvertips, For The Win!!!
Silvertips, For The Win!!!
Glacier On East Slopes
Glacier On East Slopes
North View From Summit
North View From Summit
Mount Outram
Mount Outram
South View From Summit
South View From Summit

60 pounds lighter but not 60 points brighter.
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Stefan
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Stefan
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PostThu Oct 04, 2012 1:09 pm 
thanks for all the beta!

Art is an adventure.
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