[ragman and rodman]

Joker (Point 5459) was recently submitted to peakbagger.com by Dan Lauren for possible inclusion on the Wenatchee Mountains "Back Court" Top 100 List as an unranked peak... Iron Bear (5489') and Jester Mountain (5528') have been on the list for a long time now... and we took the liberty of naming Penguin (5367') and Riddler (5361') in keeping with the theme of the day. A fun trip that included a 4 mile loop that touched 5 high points ranging between 5361 feet and 5528 feet. 2.1 miles north of Mineral Springs Resort we parked (2946') on FS-9714 in a plowed area next to Hwy 97... where we were greeted by a 17 degree temperature that made for a very brisk, 3.2 mile road walk to the summer trailhead for Iron Bear (3701')... where we put on our snowshoes, crossed Iron Creek on a snow covered log, and worked our way steeply up to the south ridge of Joker... where the terrain eased a bit as we continued along Joker's south ridge up to Joker's east ridge (5400')... where we quickly reached the partially treed summit (5459') of Joker. Leaving the Joker summit we continued NW along the ridge to Penguin (5367')... where we were forced to give back 200 feet of elevation before heading up again to the Jester Mountain summit (5528')... then headed SW as we worked our way down and over to the summits of Riddler (5361') and Iron Bear (5489'). Leaving the Iron Bear summit we returned to the summer trailhead by staying on Iron Bear's SE ridge... where we eventually found a faint snowshoe trench that aided in the last 800 feet of elevation loss back down to the road... as we closed the loop portion of our trip... leaving a 3.2 mile road walk back to the car. 10.5 miles roundtrip, gaining ~3200 feet of elevation. Snow conditions were firm for the most part. Photos, trailhead directions and downloadable GPS track of our trip to Joker, Penguin, Jester, Riddler and Iron Bear. ..

[RichP]

Cartman and I narrowly missed running into you at some point as we were planning to be in that area on the same day. We opted for Tumwater instead to avoid that long road walk. Kinda wished we had joined you though.

[the Zachster]

Loop trips and ridge walks....MY FAVORITES!!! Looks like a very fun day!

[John Morrow]

Such a great trip! Why that area doesn't' garner more winter attention I just don't know. Love that ridge climb to 5469'. Thanks for the great pics and the mention of the snow conditions. Might be a little new snow on it since if the sun wasn't too strong.