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I've had this peak on my to do list since doing Russian Butte a few years ago. It's a small, obscure peak, but also super cool looking (to me). Maybe my Google Fu skills aren't very good, but I was only able to find one trip report for Little Comrade, and it dates back to 2009. They took a roundabout way via Thomson Point to get there. I wanted to take a more direct route. Back in January, I scouted out a potential route up the NW side, and turned around at ~2900ft. I finally went back today. TL;DR it went! I started out at the Granite Creek TH, and bushwhacked over to the abandoned Gifford Creek Rd. I did this for my own peace of mind/plausible deniability to avoid the private property/no trespassing signs at the pull out off the MF road, even though I know there are folks who ignore those signs. Lots of devil's club, a few late oysters, lots of old bear sign, bird's nest fungi everywhere. Then the road; there's a boot path. My poles were used mostly to protect my face from the shrubs. I turned off shortly after the creek that comes down from Zorro Point/Little Comrade. Typical MF bushwhacking. Lots of deadfall, random holes, loose rocks covered in duff and moss, slabby moss-covered rocks, etc. All quite wet of course. I strongly regretted wearing my mountaineering boots. I more or less followed my tracks from January. Then around 3000ft, I got on a small rocky rib that looked like it might lead to the ridge. I did not have any other real options, as I was flanked by two rather vertical gullies. There was plenty of veggie belays involved, as well as lots of fresh goat sign. I may or may not have put my hand down in goat scat, and this may or may not have happened more than one time. The rib took me all the way to the ridge! Yay! I followed it towards Little Comrade. Around 3700ft, I encountered a somewhat sketchy little notch. With any other footwear, I would've gone for it, but boots don't do well on wet rock. I contemplated the situation while eating lunch. I poked around to the left, then to the right, and was able to traverse over to the right. Then I encountered steep duff. Like steep steep duff. I suddenly was grateful for my boots. It's the sort of steep duff where an axe and/or microspikes might be useful. I had both, but I don't like causing more impact than necessary. Also, a handful of sad tiny little snow patches. An eternity later, I was on the summit! It's tree-d, so the views aren't the greatest, but views are not why I do these things. The summit register was in sad shape - lid disintegrated and writing on the paper gone. I replaced it with a new one. I have the old register drying out right now, but I don't think it's salvageable. After pictures and a snack, I headed back. On the plus side, steep duff and gravity make for a fast descent. On the minus side, steep duff and gravity. Rain started coming down pretty good. I got past the worst of the scramble whacking by sunset, and finished in the dark. I wasted probably a good 15min or so when I got turned around on the road. Who knew following a boot path on an abandoned road in the dark and rain could be so hard? I ended up taking Gifford Creek Rd all the way back out to the MF Rd, trespassing be damned. By the time I made it back to my car, my pants and boots were soaked and my rain jacket had a new tear in it. But I tagged Little Comrade! 10.5 hours C2C - quite committing for such a small peak! https://caltopo.com/t/ADVTR5K6JN

[LukeHelgeson]

Fantastic Report! I too have been really interested in this "little" peak after doing Russian Butte and Zorro Point. Sounds like a fun one.

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[Anne Elk]

Interesting looking fungi. I wonder if any of our member mycology buffs could ID.

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[gabrielx]

Nice work! 👍 That's a gnarly little peak. You are the first person I have heard of going up there since our 2009 trip. Wow, our plastic cayenne summit register really disintegrated. I just remembered a little detail of that trip. There was a deer on the summit, which surprised us given how very steep our ascent was. It felt like ice climbing on duff.

[Comma]