[Jeff R]

Scott peak- 5288' Hubbart peak-5963' Route-SouthWest Ridge - Stevens pass CAG page 59 Round trip time-13 1/2 hours - Elevation gain- 7500' Party- Jeff R, Stefan F Driving the Index/Galena road past the Silver Creek turn off and over the bridge brought us to a parking area next to the swollen Skykomish river. There is piles of gravel at the parking area and a barricade in the road saying the road was closed. We walked an old road that quickly turned to a boot path that brought us to a creek and washout. On the East side of the creek we proceeded up the steep brushy forest gaining elevation quickly. The woods were still holding the heat from the day before and it was very warm and it was only 6:30 in the morning. This was a sure sign of how hot is was going to be all day long. Around 3200 feet we gained the SW ridge and this was sharply defined and very pleasant to boot up with openings in the forest allowing for some views of Mineral butte and Spire Mtn. There are some different colored tags nailed to some trees for some reason. At 4400' the snow pack became consistent and we dropped off the ridge to avoid some rock outcroppings and took a snowy bench to our left. This brought us to the final part of the West ridge which we scrambled up going over cornices, rocks, and scrub trees. In most areas it was pretty exposed and it felt good knowing we had a rope for the way down. Making the top of Scott peak by 9:30 we took in the views and found the register which there was only a couple entries on two tattered pieces of paper and the register is badly in need of a replacement.

View from Scott

Scott, Hubbart 017

Leaving the summit, we made two rappels, one from the summit area and the other one lower down dropping off the West ridge to the North by this old snag tree.

Route to Hubbart

Then we did a fun sitting glissade down to our plotted traverse route. Here is where we thought a easy West slope traverse over to Hubbart was going to be straight forward. It wasn't. Having to lose some more elevation to traverse under some rock slabs with water cascading down them brought us to some red rocks that needed to be scrambled up. This returned us to the snow. After we crossed below the rock slabs a very large chunk of snow broke off from above and smashed down where we just were, making quite a commotion. That was a close call since if we had been at that spot a few minutes later it would have had us running for cover. Now we were faced with a large gully to cross, more like a canyon that had a snow filled bottom. Searching around for a safe and easy way to pass that we could not find. Instead, Stefan opted to lead us up the gully,

Gully to Hubbart

then under and around a huge teetering snow block perched on a rock slab where we finished on some sketchy wet rock slabs while miniature water falls showered us from above. Well.. it worked, but we sure weren't going down that way. After that spicey section the last part of the climb was across the West snow slope and up a easy South snow filled gully to the top of Hubbart. Staying on top for the formalities of looking around and snappings some pictures, we quickly left . A couple sitting glissades brought us back to the canyon to find a lower and safer crossing took some time. The canyon keep forcing us down trying to make us visit Silver Creek. We finally found a way down and into the canyon where we ascended snow back to our high traverse. From our traverse, we were able to do a couple more sitting glissades down to the mouth of our exit gully leading us up to the SW ridge of Scott followed by a long brushy march in sweltering heat arriving to the car by 7:30.

Route up,down Scott

Red line- climbing Scott Green line- descending Scott Orange line- regaining the ridge

ScottHubbart

Topo from Stefan Edited by me with red line for the ascent.Orange line for the descent.

[wildernessed]

, Strong work guys ! nice pics.

[Jamin Smitchger]

Did Hubbart in late 2004. It really is a seldom climbed peak. Did anyone climb it last year. I am pretty sure it has only about 25 ascents to its record.

[Stefan]

Great write up Jeff! I was reading past reports and Mike T. in his report said they traversed west under point 5160 at 4500 feet. But I remember looking at that area and it did not look good. It might have went. But for future people if you do not know where the 4500 traverse point is at, here is a good description I came up with: At the point of where two streams meet (the further south one may be dry in late season) with the northern one being the main gulch, be about 50 feet higher where the two meet. You will see multiple trees on this cliff like barrier. You will have to do Tarzan moves up this section. If you are going from Hubbart to Scott, traverse at 4800 feet and then follow the gulch down until you come to your first tree and rappel into the gulch--you will not find a suitable way down to cross this gulch until you reach an elevation of 3700 feet further down. To continue on to Scott from Hubbart, you can do two things: 1)traverse high into the north bowl of Scott and do low 5th climbing with branches and trees to gain the NW ridgeline at 5100+, or 2) traverse down to 4300 to regain the NW ridgeline of Scott at 4600+ through a gully. This option is good in the spring with snow.

[Justus S.]

Great trip report guys. Just a quick question. Would you think it's a good idea for someone(me) to solo Scott later in the year? Should I bring my short rope for the down climb? Thanks again guys.

[Jeff R]