[Tom_Sjolseth]

Ever since climbing North Hozomeen exactly 3 years ago, I’ve been wanting to get back to the area and climb the rugged mountain’s South Peak. Hozomeen is a large massif comprised of two entirely separate peaks, both of which have huge relief to the valley floor. The cliffs on Hozomeen are some of the most impressive walls in the range. Although the North Peak is an exposed class 3 scramble, the South Peak has considerable class 4 and most of the climbing is exposed. On July 15, Dicey, Franklin, Jeff and I left on a 10:15AM boat from Ross Lake Landing below HWY 20. By 11:30 we were in Hozomeen Camp. The Hozomeen Lake Trail begins just up the road from where the boat lands. From here, next to a large cabin, it is 3.6 miles to Hozomeen Lake on easy, well-groomed trail. Hozomeen Lake is nice, and one gets impressive views of the sheer flanks of Hozomeen. The insects were noticeable at the lake, but not horrible yet. Once at the lake, we traversed around its E side, on a path that is strewn with windfall. There is quite a bit of hopping over and under logs here. We travelled a little less than 1/3 mile past the outlet of the lake and cut uphill in a dry, rocky gully. Loose riverbed rocks led us up to a steepening gorge, where we peeled off left onto a steep rib. We encountered short stretches of moderate brush, but overall the rib consisted of open forest with game trails. About 5000’, we traversed to the right so we could gain the gully. The terrain is steep here and getting into the gully is not trivial. The main gully had running water. At 5500’ we found a spot to camp on a dirty, slopy spur. We found a place for four bivys among towering cliffs and called it a day. The next morning we got moving around 5:40AM. We ascended steepening slabs to the ridgecrest. There was a lot of running water on the slabs. From the notch, we descended and traversed loose class 3-4 ledges to a rib. We repeated this procedure twice again which brought us to the W Ridge. From here, it is mostly class 4 and some bits of class 5. Some of the climbing is loose, some of it is solid – the crux 5.6 pitch is very loose and sketchy, and there really isn’t any pro. The summit has incredible views and from a vantage that is unique. Hozomeen lies all by itself just 2 miles to the South of the US-Canadian border. The nearest large peaks are Jack Mountain and the Spickard group both miles away. We took the time to savor the views and got a lot of photos. We admired the summit register put up by Joe Vance and Ted Carpenter in 1990. Only five parties had signed in prior to us. That’s an average of one party every four years. This one definitely doesn’t get climbed much. The descent involved a lot of downclimbing on loose, exposed terrain. We had to be on our toes because of the steep, ball-bearing slabs. There is a lot of climbing on this route, and it takes a lot of care to safely travel the terrain. We were able to make 2 initial rappels, followed by a lot of downclimbing and then 3 more double-rope rappels down slabs where we encountered an enormous rockfall just to our side. We were on a rib, so we were safe from this rockfall, but it certainly startled us. I would guess the amount of rocks that came down was equivalent to a dumtruck load. There were some enormous rocks in this. After rappeling the slabs, we finally made it back to our bivies. It was a long day and I don’t think it took long for any of us to fall asleep. The next morning we awoke and made the descent to the lake. It took us about 4 hours and 15 minutes to get back to Ross Lake via a little bit different route than we used on the ascent. Instead of going back around the lake, we hiked directly towards the trail, intersecting it about 1.5 miles from the TH. Another party we knew had done this same thing and recommended it, and it worked out great. Once back at the lake, Jeff jumped in. Everyone else relaxed in the sunshine and waited for the boat. By 3:30, we were back at the car. This was a great trip to a seldom-visited and rugged place that just has to be seen to be believed.

A gendarme on the W Ridge of South Hozomeen.

Franklin and Carla scrambling on slabs, just above camp.

Carla and Franklin practice synchronized photography.

Upper Ross Lake from ~7000’.

Rugged and majestic North Hozomeen.

Ross Lake and N Hozomeen.

14 labels

Franklin taking in some amazing views!

Jeff pondering the slabs on the way up.

The South Face of the summit block of S Hozomeen.

Looking SW.

Easy but exposed scrambling on S Hozomeen.

Franklin and the SW Peak.

Carla and Jeff scrambling on steeper terrain.

N Hozomeen from the Notch.

Carla and Jeff negotiate a class 4 step above the notch.

The views down to Ross Lake from just below the summit of S Hozomeen.

Looking down at the SW Peak from near the summit.

Franklin poses on the summit of S Hozomeen.

Carla relaxing on a gorgeous July afternoon in the N Cascades.

Carla downclimbing.

We have to downclimb this?

A little color amongst an otherwise barren landscape.

Looking down the N Face from the notch.

More downclimbing.

Thanks for a great climb, guys.

Carla and Franklin took a lot of photos, so prepare for the ensuing photo onslaught. Cheers.

[Redwic]

Pretty awesome, guys! For those who have not seen Hozomeen, it is an impressive-looking peak. Great job!

[raising3hikers]

Great job guys

[Magellan]

Nice work peoples! No rope used?

[Tom_Sjolseth]

Magellan.. most of the time there was no opportunity for any kind of pro. In the photos depicted, there was absolutely no way (besides a rotohammer) to protect the climbing. The only spot we used a rope was on the 5.6 crux which was extremely loose and sketchy. I was able to get one stopper in about 6 feet off the deck - that's it. S Hozomeen has some very loose rock. Even big blocks that look solid can be and are frequently loose. We saw copious rockfall everywhere.. at one point, there was about a full dumptruck load worth of rocks and boulders careening down the gully about 200 feet beside us. Pretty intense.

[Magellan]

A dumptruck of rocks careening down the next gully. Sounds great! Thanks for climbing it so I don't have to...

[Tom_Sjolseth]

[Justus S.]

Solid work on what appears to be very loose stuff. Congrats you all! Some nice looking pictures there, looking forward to the rest.

[veronika]

Looks sweet. Congrats on the climb and yes, people do read that stuff!

[EastKing]

Wow! I think the pictures are great. This looks like a lot of 4th class and 5.6 stuff! So the climb is mostly unprotectable and loose rock with rockfall as large as dumptrucks! You all are beasts!

[Mtn Man]

My hands were sweating just looking at those pics, solid! B)

[Jim Dockery]

[hikerbiker]

Great pictures, brings back memories. I climbed S. Hozomeen via the same route 26 years ago. I believe we roped one pitch below the crux pitch and the short crux pitch itself. BTW this was originally done with a shoulder stand on Fred's FA. When we climbed it there was a fixed pin likely from the FA that my partner pulled out with his hand while testing it. Lots of loose rock on that peak for sure. If you're not comfortable soloing acres of loose 4th class it's not the peak for you. Did you guys do it as a day climb from Hozomeen Lake? Hope you found a reasonably brush free approach. We climbed the N Peak first via the S Ridge route (easy; 3rd class) then bivied on the way up the S Peak approach gully and climbed the S Peak the next day. Got both peaks in a 48 hr rt from Seattle. My first attempt on Hozomeen failed in rain after approaching via canoe from Ross Dam. That was an adventure in itself.

[Tom_Sjolseth]

Very neat that you climbed it 26 years ago. Was there a summit register up there when you climbed it?? We approached from Ross Lake after taking the boat from the dam. Night 1, we camped in the basin below the notch. Day 2 we climbed the peak and returned to camp. Day 3 we headed home. The approach was fairly brush free, save for some downed trees on the E side of Hozomeen Lake. I have been talking about doing the traverse of the 2 peaks in 2 days (along the crest), but this is not high on my priority list any more now that I've climbed both peaks. Nice work on both peaks in two days - no easy feat, for sure.

[Matt]

On Thursday, I was taking the water taxi down Ross Lake from a not-very-successful Pickets trip. The boat driver told us that Franklin, who had come out from the same trip on the previous evening, had already gone back up lake to Hozomeen Camp with a woman and two other guys. We guessed that the woman was Dicey, but could only speculate about who the others were. I incorrectly assumed that the group was gonig to North Hozomeen. Then, on Friday, I learned that Sjolseth was in the group. My reaction was "that's odd; seems like Hozomeen would be too tame for Sjolseth," because I was still assuming the north peak. When I learned you actually went to South Hozomeen, it all made sense. Congratulations. Nice photos of the steep terrain. Loose rocks on exposed slabs, my least favorite kind of terrain. Ugh.