[Gimpilator]

Since the submissions are down this time of year, here's one from the end of the summer. A video by Bryan:

Short Version Bryan and I took the escalator to Marmot Pass. Our original plan was to do Buckhorn Mountain with the possible add-on of Iron Mountain but in the end we didn't stop until we got to Mount Worthington. By then it was getting late in the day so we dropped down directly into the Big Quilcene valley and went home. Long Version Bryan and I took the escalator to Marmot Pass. From there we failed to find the boot path up onto west shoulder of Buckhorn Mountain. We found ourselves directly west of the mountain on the Tubal Cain trail. Instead of backtracking we ascended east off-trail until we joined up with the boot path. This took us to the large boulders at the summit area. An easy scramble allowed access to the highest point.

Both Buckhorns

Puget Sound And Hood Canal

Views of Constance and Inner Constance to the south we sort of good but I liked the backdrop of the Puget Sound and Hood Canal. Seattle was visible to the west and Mystery, Fricaba, Deception were visible to the east, to the northwest, Graywolf, Baldy, Tyler and to the northeast Townsend. We took time to relax for a few minutes and eat a snack.

West Buckhorn Summit

Graywolf And Baldy

Mystery, Hal Foss, And Fricaba

The direct descent east of the summit didn't look good so we dropped down a few hundred feet onto the north face before traversing to the saddle between the two summits. From the saddle we scrambled over a small rock rib and then picked our way up through a series of short gullies filled with loose rocks. Scrambling to the summit of east Buckhorn was short easy work.

West Buckhorn From The East

Scrambling Up East Buckhorn

Scrambling Up East Buckhorn

Now the summit bug bit us and we stayed only a few minutes before trying to figure out how to get to the next summit over, Iron Mountain. We could see it down below us but there seemed to be a major drop-off between us and the next saddle. Bryan went ahead to inspect our chances of a direct descent from the summit. His findings were that it might be possible but past a chimney section he couldn't see what else was below. I didn't like it. We didn't know it, but we were about to encounter the crux of the day.

Worthington And Iron Seen From East Buckhorn

On The East Face Of East Buckhorn

I recommended that we move off the summit a bit to the south before trying to find a way down. This turned out to be a good decision. We descended more loose rock in a gully (it seems all the summits on this ridge have gullies on the south side of the summit block). Then we crossed over a rock rib onto the east face. It was steep and exposed and a little crumbly in spots. There was a complex array of indentations on the face which allowed a little protection from the exposure. We followed these cracks left and right and down, trying to get to the bottom of the face.

Our Route On East Buckhorn

At one point we had to cross a juniper bush (thanks for the correction Cartman) with nothing to hold onto except, juniper. The bush left spiny leaves in our skin. The scrambling was mostly Class 3 but a few Class 4 sections were unavoidable. I remember facing in down-climbing a rib with Bryan doing the same in a gully next to me when one of my handholds shattered and fell into bits and pieces. Thank goodness for two hands! Near the bottom of the face the route seemed to dead-end. We were forced to traverse across a steep loose section with only the reassurance that we were almost down. We really didn't know if the route would go until we completed it. The whole time I was mentally preparing to backtrack.

Iron Mountain

East Buckhorn Seen From Iron

At the base of the face, traversing a steep rotten slope was also a challenge. The Olympic Range is the only place I have ever encountered steep slopes which are loose on top but somehow disturbingly solid just underneath the surface. Olympic climbers will know what I'm talking about. When we came to Iron Mountain on the far side of the saddle, things eased up a bit. We ascended more short gullies and came to a bit of a false summit. The true summit was a knob formation just north of the false summit. We took turns going over there.

Buckhorn Lake Below

Near The Summit

Gully On The South Face

Looking over at Worthington as our next objective, I told Bryan what I could remember about the peak which wasn't much. But I knew it was doable and the way to go made use of the open southern slopes of the mountain. Looking at the massive hulk of a ridge which separated us from the next key saddle did not inspire confidence. We couldn't see the far side of the connecting ridge as it rose up like a separate peak. Down below on the north side we could see an open rocky basin. We decided to make use of that for reaching the next saddle. After our exciting experience on east Buckhorn, we didn't feel like tackling any more uncertainties.

Iron Summit Knob

Iron Summit And Mount Worthington

Iron Summit Panorama

Worthington And The Basin Below

False Summit Seen From Summit

From the summit we descended a short distance onto the south face of Iron before scrambling around to the eastern ridge crest. We crossed the ridge and descended loose rock and down-sloping ledges until we were low enough to traverse over to the Iron-Worthington saddle. We had to skirt some snow patches carefully without crampons. Our spirits were lifted by a sparse patch of Lupine toughing-it-out in the rocky slopes just below the saddle.

Gnarled Tree

Gully On The South Face

Iron Ore On Iron Mountain

Ridge Crest And Spires

Red Iron Vein

Lupine Below Iron/Worthington Saddle

From the saddle we made an easy ascending traverse on the open southern slopes. The summit formation was visible and this was enough to draw us on. When we got there we found an interesting fin formation about 25 feet high bisecting the ridge. I was feeling a bit drunk on the huge success of the day so I purposely picked a harder line to climb directly up the east face of the fin. On top I found a register in a PVC pipe. Bryan joined me and we sat there for awhile reflecting on what we had just done. I wondered if anyone else had ever downclimbed east Buckhorn as we had. In any case, it was a 4-summit day. Very good!

Southern Slopes Of Worthington

High On Worthington

Looking Back At Iron And The Buckhorns

The Summit Formation

The Easy Way

Summit Fin

Scrambling Up To The Summit

So what were our options now? We had to get back down into the Big Quilcene valley, and no time to doddle because it was getting late. I had heard of people descending from Buckhorn on the southern scree slopes in just a matter of minutes. I was hoping that we could find the same scree here to speed us on our way. But it was not so. After traversing some grassy slopes westward we descended directly. We came into taller fresher grasses and stumbled onto the hidden lair of a thick swarm of flies. They landed all over us and there were too many to fight. Thankfully they weren't biting. I pulled the brim of my hat low to keep them out of my eyes. Bryan wasn't saying a word. He was angry about the swarm but keeping it to himself.

Big Quilcene Valley

Constance And Inner Constance

The Brothers And Constance

From Constance To Mystery And Everything In Between

Iron Seen From Worthington Summit

Bryan Signing In

Peak B And Tyler

Graywolf

Seattle

Scrambling Down

Scrambling Down

We were now paying the price for our successes and the mountain threw us another challenge. Underneath the thick, tall grass, large round stones were becoming more and more frequent. I had to slow down to avoid rolling an ankle as firm footing was becoming impossible. We were happy to enter the trees and get away from the flies but we didn't know that there was one last hardship waiting for us. The deadfall here was atrocious. We scrambled over and under large piles of downed trees as snaggle-branches grabbed at our arms and legs, reluctant to let us go. It seemed to go on and on like that for quite awhile. It was starting to get dark. But finally we came back to the trail, where we shifted into neutral and coasted all the way back to the parking lot.

One Last Shot Before We Go Down

Nice Slopes Before It Got Nasty

Looking Back Up At The Narrow Summit Fin

[Bryan K]

This was really an amazing trip!!!! It had so much to offer as far as terraine, views, challenges and teamwork.

Buckhorn Mt

Up NE Buckhorn

Iron Mt

Traversing to Iron Mt

When we first hatched this plan we wanted to see if we could do the traverse without dropping so far down between NE Buckhorn and Iron as we had heard about so many others doing. The recon below NE Buckhorn did show a "possible" but very challenging route and I'm glad that we opted for another way off the summit instead. I didn't get pictures when we were coming down NE Buckhorn, but It was certainly a challenge and very rewarding when we were down.

NE Buckhorn. We came down the left face

Mount Worthington (4)

On the way to Worthington

Mount Worthington (2)

Adam on the summit of Mt Worthington

I'm not much of a writer, so I'll leave you with Gimpilator's words and my video which he already posted.

[Redwic]

Nice!!!

[IanB]

Nice job Adam!! (One for each summit!) Much as I would love to make this entire traverse - I will never, ever, ever cross this section:

There are relatively brush-free routes between Shelter Rock Camp and both the Iron-Worthington saddle and the Worthington-Hawk saddle (Tull Pass). I've seen what lies between, and I don't envy you that experience.

[Dayhike Mike]

Great information! Thank you so much for posting... I will be trying this exact traverse sometime this season!

[Dayhike Mike]

[Gimpilator]

[Fletcher]

Really cool report. I did East Buckhorn last summer and thought how cool it looked to continue West from there. It is a really unique place.

[Dayhike Mike]

[cartman]

"Solid" use of a day. Ya gotta be peakbaggers to be traversing all that Olympic junk. BTW, the spiny plant you grabbed onto was likely juniper. Heather is soft.

[Gimpilator]

[Bryan K]

I posted some pics and I'll look on my computer when I get home to see if I have anymore.

[Phil]

Nice report, especially at this time of year. How did the route look from Worthington to the saddle south of Tull canyon? The drop from Tull saddle to Quilcene trail is easy as I recall.

[Gimpilator]

Phil - To answer your question, I think it would have been easy to traverse further west before dropping down. For the people who are planning to do these peaks in the future, it's probably better to do it that way. We just descended from Worthington because we were making it up as we went along and didn't know any better.