[Trailcat]

Here is an abbreviated report for a three-day climbing trip to Gunn Basin in the Skykomish Mountains with Eileen and George on June 1-3. We got stymied on our major summit but managed to tuck in four others.

GunnBasinRouteMap

Starting from the Barclay Lake Trailhead, we walked back to the short spur road and down to Barclay Creek. The traditional logjam crossing adjacent to the spur road was not to our liking, due to a high water level (and possibly some missing logs), but we found a good logjam located 200 yards upstream of the spur road. For reference, this upstream logjam is 30 yards past a huge creekside boulder and almost directly across from the confluence of “Tailgunner Creek,” a side-stream flowing in from the northeast.

CrossingLogsOverBarclayCreek

Once across Barclay Creek, we bushwhacked northward for 200 yards until encountering the overgrown logging road (and some interesting logging relics). The road headed northwest at first, then turned straight uphill and transitioned to a steep climber’s path.

OldPressureVesselNearTailgunnerCreek

The path is fairly easy to discern overall but is currently obstructed by numerous logs and branches from recent windstorms. This was my fourth time up the path during a 20-year span and was by far the worst conditions I’ve seen. We followed the path up to the big cliff, then right across the infamous waterfall ravine.

ClimbingOutOfWaterfallRavine

Because we were still pretty early in the season, we opted for the “spring route” up Tailgunner Couloir rather than the “summer route” up through the cliffs. Conditions were very good in the couloir, and we reached 5320-foot Tailgunner Pass without difficulties.

AscendingUpperPartOfTailgunnerCouloir

Eileen&GeorgeAtTailgunnerPass

At the pass, we got a close-up view of our various objective summits: Gunn Peak (6240 feet) to the north, Gunn Point (5760+ feet) to the northwest, Tailgunner Peak (5842 feet) to the west, and Wing Peak (5760 feet) to the southeast. Camp was made in upper Gunn Basin, just below Tailgunner Pass.

CampInGunnBasin

Day 2 began with an attempt of Gunn Peak, the premier summit in the Skykomish Mountains. We followed the standard route up the southwest couloir, up the hidden ramp, and up the hanging snowfield on the south face.

ScopingOutRouteUpGunnPeak

Upon reaching the summit ridge notch, however, we were dismayed to see that the entire north face of the peak was plastered with super-steep snow patches. This was a no-go for us, especially given our meager gear. As a consolation, we climbed the lower (6160+ foot) east summit of Gunn.

WestGunnPeak&GunnshyPeakFromEastGunnPeak

After descending, we climbed Gunn Point and Tailgunner Peak. Conditions on both of these peaks were favorable and offered a healthy amount of fun. We then hurried back to camp as a rainstorm came in.

George&EileenClimbingGunnPoint

ClimbingSnowHeadwallOnTailgunnerPeak

Day 3 dawned cold and clear, so we set out to climb Wing Peak on our way back over Tailgunner Pass. Wing's northwest ridge sweeps upward from the pass in a series of steep faces and gentle benches; with our rock-hard morning snow, we used running belays to prevent a long slide over the adjacent cliffs.

LookingUpNorthwestRidgeOfWingPeak

ClimbingNorthwestRidgeOfWingPeak

Things got even more serious at the summit block, where a 70-degree, horribly exposed snowfinger covered the north-side traverse. We used fixed belays to get across the snowfinger and up the slippery Class 4 summit rock.

ClimbingWingPeakSnowfinger

ClimbingWingPeakSnowfinger

We had really underestimated Wing Peak; it can be quite challenging with early season snow cover. In fact, Eileen and I had climbed Whitehorse Mountain just a few days before (report here), and that summit block felt almost trivial in comparison!

MerchantPeakFromWingPeak

After rappelling off the summit and belaying back across the snowfinger, we returned to Tailgunner Pass and made our exit down to the trailhead. A full trip report and photo gallery can be viewed here: http://trailcatjim.com/east-gunn-peak-gunn-point-tailgunner-peak-wing-peak/

[Brushbuffalo]

[timberghost]

best done when the snow pack is less and you can see some beautiful scenery

[Nancyann]

Living in the area, I always look up at those peaks on a nice day and wonder how challenging it would be to get even part way up there. As Brushbuffalow said “Looks quite sporty”!

[timberghost]

Just follow the climbers trail its not that bad to get into the area