[Matt]

Date: March 17, 2023 Destination: Round Mtn 5320 (USGS Fortson) Party: Matt, Carla (Dicey), Don (peakjunkie), Josh Round Mtn is located just east of Higgins and across the highway from Whitehorse. It has a surprising 4780 feet of prominence, because of its location in the "Logger's Island" of peaks surrounded by the Stillaguamish, Sauk, and Skagit Rivers. With its wide open summit, Round makes a fine winter destination, as long as snow conditions are stable on the upper slopes. It's also a steep trip, gaining 3800 feet in 2.3 miles. Route: Drive Swede Heaven Road and FS1890 to the washout at 1640 feet. Hike the road about a third of a mile further west. Then just go uphill in steep open forest till you get to a small closed contour connecting the Higgins and Round saddles at 4400 feet. Drop a bit across the saddle, then up the nose of Round on more open slopes to the wide summit.

Round Mtn summit view – approach ridge in the center, Whitehorse across the valley, Higgins at right

=Round Mtn GPS track We were able to drive to 0.5 miles from the road end before being stopped by snow. The forest had good step-kicking snow, changing to snowshoes around 4000 feet. Thank you to Josh for kicking most of the steps. Route-finding is simply going uphill, but there are also 56 pink ribbons along the mid-elevations if you feel the need for extraneous decorations of the forest.

Tracks in the forest

At the 4400 contour.

Looking across at the steep side of Higgins

Powdery snow in the shade coming off the 4400 foot contour

The final 1000-foot slope required a change of footwear. We had about a foot of new snow over a firm lower snowpack. The new snow was surprisingly stable, but it was soft enough that snowshoes tended to just slip on the steeper grades. So the solution was to boot up the snow, with our feet punching through the new snow to make solid steps on the firm snow underneath. Higher up, there was no doubt of the prevailing wind, with trees thickly rimed on the west side and bare on the east.

Booting uphill alongside some small cornices

Higher up with Higgins the background

Rimed Trees

Round's summit is very broad, but one has to stay back a bit from the north side, since it's typically corniced over cliffs. Nearby views are dominated by Whitehorse and Higgins. Distant views range from Baker to the Pickets, Ptarmigan Traverse peaks, and Mountain Loop peaks, but hazy skies dimmed those views.

Arriving on the wide summit, with Shuksan and Baker in the distance

Pointing at peaks around the summit

Me on the summit

Looking off the north side to "Orbit" Mtn

Higgins to our west

Descending back down:

Hiking down past the rimed trees.

I really like snowy trees

Looking back at our tracks on the upper slopes

Some warm afternoon light in the lower woods.

7 miles, 4080 gain 8:15 hours, with about an hour on the summit.