Forum Index > Trip Reports > Picket Pass Traverse 2008, Day 6, “To Picket Pass”
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Matt
Tea, Earl Grey, Hot



Joined: 30 Jan 2007
Posts: 4307 | TRs | Pics
Location: Shoreline
Matt
Tea, Earl Grey, Hot
PostSun Dec 14, 2008 2:18 am 
Picket Pass Traverse, via Little Beaver Trail, Whatcom Pass, Whatcom Peak, Challenger Col, Phantom Arm, Pickell Pass, Swiss Peak, Picket Pass, McMillan Cirque, Elephant Butte Bypass, Stetattle Ridge, Sourdough Trail. Dates: July 19-27, 2008 Party: Matt Burton, Mike Torok, Billie Butterfield, Paul Bakke This report covers Day 6 of the trip. Previous segments are: Days 1-3, Into the Pickets Days 4-5, Cloudbound at Pickell Pass The rest of the trip will be posted later. Day 6: Out of Pickell Pass, Up Swiss Peak, Onward to Picket Pass
Day 6 Map (red line)
Day 6 Map (red line)
Morning at Pickell Pass Morning brought clear skies and rosy dawn light. A few valley clouds dissipated quickly in the sunlight.
The cairn west of camp last night
The cairn west of camp last night
The cairn west of camp this morning
The cairn west of camp this morning
Triumph last night
Triumph last night
Triumph this morning
Triumph this morning
Alpenglow on Shuksan
Alpenglow on Shuksan
A cloud waterfall in the distance
A cloud waterfall in the distance
We could finally see that layout of the terrain around us.
The basin behind us curving back to Phantom Arm.
The basin behind us curving back to Phantom Arm.
The slope north of Pickell Pass, leading up to Swiss and down to Goodell Creek.
The slope north of Pickell Pass, leading up to Swiss and down to Goodell Creek.
Picket Pass on the opposite side of Goodell Cirque
Picket Pass on the opposite side of Goodell Cirque
Getting Off Pickell Pass Our first challenge was to get off Pickell Pass. The darn thing had a huge cliff dropping on the east side toward Goodell Creek, and steep faces running upward toward the peaks at each end. Somewhere high on the north end was supposed to be an exit onto the slopes of Swiss Peak, where we could descend into the valley. Yesterday we had scouted upward a few hundred feet in the fog, but didn’t see any likely exit. Today we went higher, about 450 feet uphill, almost right to the base of Spectre’s cliffs. There we found the exit ramp, which including some intimidating large steps between steep rock and slippery greenery. We worked our way across blockier rocks and greenery, then up and across to snowfields, where we could kick steps with more assurance.
Hiking up from our camp toward the edge of Spectre
Hiking up from our camp toward the edge of Spectre
Hiking past heather above the pass
Hiking past heather above the pass
Getting off the pass onto steep rocky slopes
Getting off the pass onto steep rocky slopes
Looking back at our exit from the pass (it’s the smaller green patch on the rocks between the two more steeply cut gullies)
Looking back at our exit from the pass (it’s the smaller green patch on the rocks between the two more steeply cut gullies)
Up Swiss Peak We dropped our packs and headed uphill to Swiss Peak, 7988.
Looking back down at Pickell Pass
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Looking back down at Pickell Pass
The slope was moderate snow with a bit of 2nd/3rd class rock at the top. We first arrived at a flat crest, and then scrambled a little higher to the pointy summit. The view down in to Luna Cirque was breathtaking, literally. Approaching from the Goodell side, you scramble some moderate rocks to a level crest, step up to the edge, crane forward to look down, gasp, and quickly step backward. Swiss Peak stands in the center of the arc of mountains surrounding Luna Cirque. Their north faces form possibly the steepest continuous wall of peaks in the Cascades. (Beckey lists the NE face of Swiss as 27 pitches, class 5.8.)
Arriving at the rim of Luna Cirque
Arriving at the rim of Luna Cirque
Walls of Phantom, Crooked Thumb, & Challenger
Walls of Phantom, Crooked Thumb, & Challenger
Mike taking photos
Mike taking photos
Summit Group
Summit Group
Looking back toward the Spectre
Looking back toward the Spectre
To the left, gray cliff walls stretch toward Challenger. To the right, hanging glaciers grind down the sides of Fury. Straight ahead, empty space drops vertiginously to Lousy Lake down below and Luna Creek far outward.
Left: Crooked Thumb & Challenger
Left: Crooked Thumb & Challenger
Ahead: Lousy Lake & Luna Creek
Ahead: Lousy Lake & Luna Creek
Right: Luna, Luna Lake, & East Fury
Right: Luna, Luna Lake, & East Fury
Standing On the Rim Swiss Peak was a place where I could directly perceive that I was on a wall of mountains carved between two massive cirques. On both sides, and both ahead and behind, the crest curved outward in sharp lines of peaks outlining the adjacent cirques, Goodell behind and Luna ahead. The crest was narrow enough in some places that you could look down the line and see both front and back faces dropping away on both sides. It felt like perching right on the rim of a freshly sculpted mountain wall. Or perhaps a picket fence.
Goodell Cirque, from Fury to Spectre
Goodell Cirque, from Fury to Spectre
Luna Cirque, from Spectre to Fury
Luna Cirque, from Spectre to Fury
Shoe shot on the rim
Shoe shot on the rim
Summit Flowers Amid all the bare rock and snow below, we also had the colorful treat of summit flowers, growing in little bouquets among the highest rocks just below the summit. I’d say that it was a surprise, but what’s actually surprising is how often this happens – little patches blooming among the steep rocks that had appeared to be only harsh and barren, like a welcoming smile of greeting in what had seemed an inhospitable place.
Flowers looking toward Mongo Ridge and the Southern Pickets
Flowers looking toward Mongo Ridge and the Southern Pickets
Mossy flower patch
Mossy flower patch
Mike scrambling past flowers
Mike scrambling past flowers
Flowers
Flowers
Traveling Cirque to Cirque Now it was time to dive down into Goodell Cirque and back up to Picket Pass.
Pickets Route & Cirques
Pickets Route & Cirques
This trip crossed or traversed a half dozen passes or cols along the way, but it wasn’t the kind of traveling through passes that I’ve usually experienced. Most times for me, crossing a pass has meant traveling valley-to-valley, hiking up a valley to a pass, and then down a valley on the other side. But the central Pickets valleys too steep and wild for through-hiking. Or, occasionally, I’ve traveled summit-to-summit, following a line of peaks by climbing up each summit and then traversing high around its flank to the next summit. But the most of the Pickets crest is too sharply serrated to travel directly from one summit to the next. (And, alas, we didn’t make it up to several of the summits we had intended.) On this Pickets trip, the passes bridged the boundaries between huge cirques. So we traveled cirque-to-cirque, traversing each cirque by crossing through a pass, curving down around the headwaters the cirque’s defining stream, and then working back up to different pass on the far side. So I didn’t experience the Pickets much from valleys below or summits above. Instead, I skirted around the flanks of the cirques, angling across passes to adjacent cirques and occasionally climbing over a col to opposite cirques. Instead of viewing the peaks from far below and or high above, I viewed the lines of peaks curving sideways along the flanks of the cirques and fanning outward from their junctions at the passes. It gave me a different kind of impression of the range. Not long valleys or high peaks, but giant adjacent arcs of steeply carved rock. And it’s a fitting impression, for it reflects the forces that shaped the dramatic amphitheaters of the Pickets – water and ice sculpting fiercely into the mountains to leave deep curving basins rimmed by high sharp crests of peaks. Down to Goodell Creek Closer to the center of the range, the dives through the cirques were deepest. 4000 feet down from Swiss to Goodell Creek, then 2400 feet back up to Picket Pass.
Pickell Pass at right, Goodell Creek center, Picket Pass at left
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Pickell Pass at right, Goodell Creek center, Picket Pass at left
Most of the descent was easy on solid snow and short bits of rock. Near the bottom was a nasty green section. The low plants were so steep and slick that all of us fell repeatedly and had to self-arrest with in the brush and dirt. For the first time ever, I donned crampons for walking on heather and grass. But then the brush got about knee high with woodier stems, so my crampons constantly caught and twisted, leaving my ankles screaming in protest. Fortunately, it only lasted a few hundred feet.
Heading toward the Southern Pickets
Heading toward the Southern Pickets
Descending below Pickell Pass
Descending below Pickell Pass
Down the steep greenery
Down the steep greenery
At the bottom we traversed below Fury across a mix of talus, snow, and brush to get to the base of Picket Pass. Small waterfalls tumbled down from the rock bands above.
Below the streams of Fury
Below the streams of Fury
Traversing the basin (our goal is the snowpatch on the far side of the rib of forest)
Traversing the basin (our goal is the snowpatch on the far side of the rib of forest)
The Shape of Picket Pass The Picket Pass divide actually has two passes separated by a 6900-foot high point. South of the point, the more obvious pass, looking like a giant scoop out of the ridge, is the 6230-foot Goodell-McMillan Pass. No one has bothered to abbreviate its name, because no one travels through it. It’s too cliffy. North of the point is 6420-foot Picket Pass, where Fury’s SE ridge angles down to the divide. From Picket Pass, one can reach Goodell Cirque, McMillan Cirque, or SE Fury, but not easily. The western key to Picket Pass is a gully that ascends up toward SE Fury, allowing one to ascend most of the way past the steep rock below the pass, and then exit out and traverse a more moderate slope southward into the pass. It works if the gully is snow-filled. Otherwise the only alternative is a nasty brushy forested ridge alongside the gully.
Picket Pass & gully, 2002 view from Mystery ridge
Picket Pass & gully, 2002 view from Mystery ridge
Route from Swiss to Picket Pass, July 5 photo from Tom Sjolseth
Route from Swiss to Picket Pass, July 5 photo from Tom Sjolseth
Up the Gully So all the way down, we wondering, did the gully still have continuous snow? We forced our way across the brushy bottom of the forested ridge to the snowy run-out at the base of gully. The gully narrowed and twisted out of sight as it climbed, becoming a cliff-walled slot, but its center was a solid path of snow. We kicked steps upward 1800 feet till we could find an exit point to climb out of the slot. The only hazard occurred when we exited onto a steep grassy slope. The terrain above was pocked with marmot holes, and suddenly rocks came whizzing past our heads. The damned marmots were kicking rocks down on us to keep us away from their territory. We survived the marmot assault and escaped onto moderate slopes below the pass.
At the base of the gully
At the base of the gully
Ascending the gully
Ascending the gully
Further up the gully
Further up the gully
Looking back down the gully
Looking back down the gully
Sunset at Picket Pass We arrived at Picket Pass just as the lowering sun turned the area golden.
Picket Pass at last
Picket Pass at last
Ahead of us, alpenglow lit the peaks of McMillan Cirque, where we would go tomorrow.
Alpenglow on the Southern Pickets
Alpenglow on the Southern Pickets
Degenhardt Glacier & Lake 4310
Degenhardt Glacier & Lake 4310
Southern Pickets Sunset Panorama
Southern Pickets Sunset Panorama
Last Light on the Southern Pickets
Last Light on the Southern Pickets
Behind us, the sun sank behind Pickell Pass, where we had been yesterday.
Pickell Pass Sunset 1
Pickell Pass Sunset 1
Pickell Pass Sunset 2
Pickell Pass Sunset 2
Pickell Pass Sunset 3
Pickell Pass Sunset 3
Lying on the Divide After dark, I walked away from camp and stretched out lying on my back on a slab of rock at the center of the pass. With the day’s business done, I wanted a few quiet moments to soak up a sense of the place. Beneath me I could feel the hard glacier-smoothed surface of the rock, holding me up and stretching far beyond my length to bridge the pass. Above me, I could see the stars shining, and the dark silhouettes of summits hovering at the periphery of my vision. But what surprised me was what I heard. From the basins around the pass, there was a continual rustle of water cascading downward, a familiar sound anywhere high up in these water-carved mountains. But as I let my consciousness drift, I realized I was hearing two entirely separate sets of sounds, one on each side. If I turned my head left, I could hear the streams of McMillan Cirque. If I turned my head right, I could hear the streams of Goodell Cirque. With my head centered, I could hear the voices of both basins intermingled but still distinguishable. Lying exactly on the crest, I could actually hear the divide, singing out in two distinct melodies of cascading water, combining from both sides to present an aural manifestation of this special place. Continued in Day 7: McMillan Cirque

“As beacons mountains burned at evening.” J.R.R. Tolkien
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EastKing
Surfing and Hiking



Joined: 28 Mar 2007
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EastKing
Surfing and Hiking
PostSun Dec 14, 2008 4:40 am 
Extremely impressive!! Great TR and photos!!! up.gif up.gif up.gif up.gif

YouTube | SummitPost Saw the depths of despair. Now I am salvaging what time I have left on Earth.
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Yana
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Yana
Hater
PostSun Dec 14, 2008 5:55 am 
Wow, Matt. Sometimes I get the impression that you experience more in a day than many people do in a lifetime of being in the outdoors. * *or maybe you just articulate it so much better lol.gif

PLAY SAFE! SKI ONLY IN CLOCKWISE DIRECTION! LET'S ALL HAVE FUN TOGETHER!
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Magellan
Brutally Handsome



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Magellan
Brutally Handsome
PostSun Dec 14, 2008 8:02 am 
I love it! Thanks for sharing Matt. up.gif up.gif

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Dayhike Mike
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Dayhike Mike
Bad MFKer
PostSun Dec 14, 2008 9:50 am 
Wow...the gully up to Pickett Pass is pretty impressive. Do you have any pics of the section you had to crest to reach the pass? I'm assuming you didn't break through the cliffy section at the top of this pic.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke "Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
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seawallrunner
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seawallrunner
dilettante
PostSun Dec 14, 2008 10:02 am 
Matt, your trip is astounding, your photos are gorgeous - but your words, your feelings, your descriptions... pure poetry.

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GaliWalker
Have camera will use



Joined: 10 Dec 2007
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GaliWalker
Have camera will use
PostSun Dec 14, 2008 10:08 am 
Matt, your trip reports take a bit of time to appear smile.gif, but every one is of the highest quality. I can't think of a report you've written that has been a letdown.

'Gali'Walker => 'Mountain-pass' walker bobbi: "...don't you ever forget your camera!" Photography: flickr.com/photos/shahiddurrani
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cascadetraverser
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cascadetraverser
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PostSun Dec 14, 2008 8:47 pm 
Looks like the snow was very helpful for you. When we did the trip in 2006 we dropped directly off the pass as discribed in R and R by Tabor and Crowder; we had checked the other route as you did and eventually went as above. It was difficult but doable; we had to rap down off the supersteep grassy section at the end; did you guys avoid that? Since the snowpack was low we figured the gully non navigable and avoided it and went straight up the brush and crossed the slot up high. It was difficult to get across and a short stretch of difficult climbing was required to get out of the slot. We unfortunately were very tired by the time we reached the slot and ended up at an uncrossable section. We camped right before the slot and thankfully rested and crossed it the next day. Kudos to you for climbing Swiss peak before heading onto to Picket Pass. The view from it is stupendous. If you want more of the pickets (maybe you have done this trip) your picture outlines another great route: Beaver Pass up challenger arm over to Luna Lake via Lousy Lake and out via Access creek. We did it in 2007 and had a great trip until my buddy dislocated his shoulder heading down the gully to access (axes) creek. We managed to put it back in and hobbled home!

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puzzlr
Mid Fork Rocks



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puzzlr
Mid Fork Rocks
PostMon Dec 15, 2008 12:42 am 
Thanks for a great TR. You express yourself wonderfully. It's given me a better feeling for what to expect if I'm ever lucky enough to take a trip to that area.

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Matt
Tea, Earl Grey, Hot



Joined: 30 Jan 2007
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Matt
Tea, Earl Grey, Hot
PostMon Dec 15, 2008 1:39 am 
Yana wrote:
Wow, Matt. Sometimes I get the impression that you experience more in a day than many people do in a lifetime of being in the outdoors. * *or maybe you just articulate it so much better lol.gif
Maybe I just spend a lot longer writing it. The duration of my trip reports is getting to be more epic than the trips. When I try to put it into words afterward, though, I recognize a lot that I wasn’t necessarily conscious of at the time. Most of the time my thoughts while hiking are much more mundane, something along the line of: “Lift this foot, now lift that foot, now lift this foot, etc.” Sometimes, “where’s the helicopter, get me the hell out of here.” Sometimes, “I only took 30 photos of this spot so far, maybe another 10 would be better.” But then occasionally I pause and let myself appreciate how wonderful it is to be out there.
Dayhike Mike wrote:
Wow...the gully up to Pickett Pass is pretty impressive. Do you have any pics of the section you had to crest to reach the pass? I'm assuming you didn't break through the cliffy section at the top of this pic.
Actually the gully angles up and left alongside the rib to bypass all of the cliffs, and brings you out on the snowfield at upper left, where you can angle back rightward to the pass. It was important to know about it ahead of time, because the gully is hidden by the angle of the slope until you get right below it. It shows well in this photo that Tom Sjolseth took from Crowder.
Route from Swiss to Picket Pass, July 5 photo from Tom Sjolseth
Route from Swiss to Picket Pass, July 5 photo from Tom Sjolseth
But this wasn’t even the most impressive gully on the trip. The gully we descended later on the other side of the pass had walls towering a hundred feet above our heads, with waterfalls free falling off the edges, and a flower garden in the middle.
cascadetraverser wrote:
Looks like the snow was very helpful for you. When we did the trip in 2006 we dropped directly off the pass as discribed in R and R by Tabor and Crowder; we had checked the other route as you did and eventually went as above. It was difficult but doable; we had to rap down off the supersteep grassy section at the end; did you guys avoid that? Since the snowpack was low we figured the gully non navigable and avoided it and went straight up the brush and crossed the slot up high. …your picture outlines another great route: Beaver Pass up challenger arm over to Luna Lake via Lousy Lake and out via Access creek.
One of our requirements for this trip was to have an average or better snow year, and do the trip early in the summer, so that we’d have snow to cover or fill some of the obstacles. We didn’t rap on the steep grass, but two of us used crampons. The northern loop you mention (Wiley Ridge, Challenger Arm, Luna Cirque, Luna Pass, Access Creek) is a great route. I did it in 1997, before I had a digital camera, so, alas, no postable photos. As you mention, Swiss gave a fine view of the route.
Luna Cirque, viewed from Swiss - a great loop comes up Wiley Ridge left of Luna Creek, traverses the cirque below, and exits by Luna on the right.
Luna Cirque, viewed from Swiss - a great loop comes up Wiley Ridge left of Luna Creek, traverses the cirque below, and exits by Luna on the right.
A sideways view of Luna Cirque from the NE, with Wiley Ridge in the middle distance, and the cirque wall peaks at back; Swiss is the flat summit in the center of the wall.
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A sideways view of Luna Cirque from the NE, with Wiley Ridge in the middle distance, and the cirque wall peaks at back; Swiss is the flat summit in the center of the wall.

“As beacons mountains burned at evening.” J.R.R. Tolkien
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Stefan
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PostMon Dec 15, 2008 11:58 am 
great stuff Matt. really great stuff.

Art is an adventure.
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Dayhike Mike
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Dayhike Mike
Bad MFKer
PostMon Dec 15, 2008 6:50 pm 
Nice view from Crowder! Thanks to both Tom and Matt for that one! smile.gif

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke "Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
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Malachai Constant
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Malachai Constant
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PostMon Dec 15, 2008 7:22 pm 
Thanks for holding off until now, Pickets have to be my favorite place. your pixs brighten up a cold winters day. In the summer or fall they could be lost in the shuffle. biggrin.gif

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Backpacker Joe
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Backpacker Joe
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PostTue Dec 16, 2008 12:42 pm 
Krazie Klimbers. Great pics Matt. Nice work you guys. up.gif

"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide." — Abraham Lincoln
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Sabahsboy
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Sabahsboy
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PostWed Dec 17, 2008 7:31 pm 
Stunning photos and great TR...often poetic and deeply moving. This is the most fabulous traverse in Cascades, I am sure. None has so much drama from what I see in the photos. However, perhaps every trip has its special experience and incredible features. Thank you for sharing all that you have enclosed in this and previous threads describing the high adventure of your shared tour of The Pickets. Not just kudos, but absolutely amazing!

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