[Justus S.]

July 9, 2005 Destination: Mount Roosevelt (5835 feet) I made my first trip up to Snow and Gem Lakes this weekend for a climb of Mt Roosevelt. The area was very beautiful and rugged. The bear grass is blooming and so are many other flowers. From Gem Lake, I headed over to Mt Roosevelt and after a route finding error made the scramble to the top. It was a little cloudy still, so I didn’t have as great a view as I would have liked. However, the views were still spectacular. The summit views must be awesome on a clear day. The summit is very nice. I was a little surprised to see how many people climb it. I guess that goes with being so close to this popular area. This was a good little trip with great scenery. Notes: The mosquitoes are becoming annoying, time bring along the bug juice. Trip time 7hrs and 20min. The Route: One can approach Mount Roosevelt from either Gem Lake or Melakwa pass. The goal is the get to the basin between the summit and Chair Peak Lake. From the basin an obvious gully runs up the southeast slope of the mountain. Continue up the gully a short ways to an obvious smaller gully on the left. Take this gully till it reaches the south ridge. From here it is a class 2-3 scramble up the south ridge to the summit. Be careful while climbing this summit, a fall would not be pretty. There are also a lot of small, loose rocks in the gully.

from snow lake trail