[Martin S]

Mt. Misch, at 7435 ft the highest point in the Snowking / Chaval / Buckindy region, had been on my hit list for quite a while, but with the Suiattle River Road washout adding 12 miles to the approach I figured I'd just wait until the road was fixed to take a shot at it. However, with the recent news that it might not open this year I decided I couldn't wait any longer so I talked Dave C into joining me for an attempt. We both snuck out of work early on Friday and biked the Suiattle River Road, then the Green Mountain road, then hiked up the Green Mountain trail to the 5200 ft tarn below the summit where we set up camp for the night. On Saturday we did the long and tedious traverse from Green Mtn over to the west slopes below Mt Misch. For details of the traverse see Klenke's excellent description on Summitpost, which we followed with only minor variations. We dropped our overnight gear in the lovely little avalanche basin at 5200 ft just SW of the peak and started for the summit. Following Klenke's and Beckey's descriptions we had few routefinding issues; reaching the west ridge at 7100 ft, crossing on a narrow ledge system into a minor seam that deepened into a small gulley, and ascending it (taking left branches) to the top. The gulley was sustained class 3 with bits of class 4, all on very loose rock. From the top of the gully a short scramble south led to the summit. After some summit lounging we delicately retraced our steps back down and were back in camp about 10 hours after starting out in the morning. On Sunday we worked our way back over to Green Mtn, down the trail, and hopped on our waiting bikes for the cruise back to the car.

Aerial photo of the west ridge of Mt. Misch, taken Nov '07

Dave climbing up the loose gully

Dave on the summit, with Snowking and Buckindy behind

Martin on the summit of Misch

Dave on the summit of Misch

Mount Buckindy

Looking down the chossy gully

Dave starting back across the ledge, visible just past his helmet

Dave at the one delicate move getting off the west ridge

The "ledge" to traverse from the west ridge proper into a shallow gully

Dave descending from the west ridge of Misch

Camp below Misch

Some pleasant ridge running between Misch and Green

Green Mtn (center) from part way along the traverse back from Misch

Mt. Misch from Green Mtn

West ridge route

Misch NE face

Stats: 12,500 ft elevation gain; 42 miles. Mt. Misch concludes my decades-long quest to climb every peak in the state with at least 2000 ft of prominence, all 144 of them (or 148, if you include the ones that are within the "error range"). Whew. Now I guess I need to find a new list to work on.

[don b]

Congratulations Martin. You know how many more lists there are so don't worry!

[silence]

nice!

[Goats Know]

Congratulations Martin! That is an incredible accomplishment.

[puzzlr]

Finishing in style!

[Stefan]

Congratulations Martin!

[Nasty Nate]

[Eric]

Congrats Martin! As someone who aspires to complete this same list I can appreciate the effort and time and skill that it took to finish it off. It's a spectacular achievement. Misch looks like a beautiful peak with some challenging terrain.

[Mesahchie Mark]

p2000 = Awesome!

[iron]

congrats martin! what finisher # are you? that delicate move looks solid glad to get some additional beta on misch. nice to know it's a 3 day trip as we were thinking about doing the traverse. must have been a spectacular sight from the top!

[Martin S]

Thus far the WA P2000 list has been finished by John Roper, Paul Klenke, Andy Boos and myself. It really is a fun list - in addition to all the big peaks in the Cascades, it'll take you to every corner of the state. There's something in there for every peakbagging taste, from road trips to NE WA to mountain bike treks to winter climbs. Some P2000 list resources for those who might be interested: Aaron Maizlish's map List and map at Peakbagger.com

[Stefan]

For the record, I was on 2 of those peaks with Martin. Feels good to be a part of your list!

[Magellan]

Finishing with a tough one. Congratulations on P2000! Iron is right, that hold looks bomber.

[Justus S.]

Nice Martin and congrats! Looks like interesting climb. Always wanted to get in that area myself looks pretty senic. Thanks for sharing.

[Tom_Sjolseth]

Very nice trip. Congratulation on finishing the list, Martin.