Mike C and I climbed Mount Blum this past weekend. An outstanding viewpoint with deep footings Mount Blum has 3,260 ft of prominence and one needs to work to reach the summit. There is an old fisherman/climbers trail that climbs steeply over 4,000 ft from the Baker River to the lowest of three Blum Lakes south and west of the mountain but the tread is difficult to follow at times. We found that out during our descent as we were overtaken by darkness coming down and struggled to stay on a trail that just seemed to occasionally disappear for no apparent reason. The terrain along the lower ridge is dog hair thick and consists numerous large fallen trees that crisscross the slopes making for slow going when you invariably do lose the trail.
We climbed the peak from a camp at the middle lake (~5,080ft) first ascending a dirty gully to gain the upper lake then aiming for a prominent couloir at 6,600 ft that reaches to the upper mountain directly south of the summit. We cramponed up the steep couloir until the snow ran out then continued up until being blocked by a large chock stone that necessitated a delicate and exposed bypass on the right flank (low 5th class). Our luck in this couloir ran out at the second and larger chock stone approximately 150 ft higher forcing us to traverse rightward until reaching easier ground at 7,000 ft. From there reaching the summit was straightforward. Not planning on descending this route we dropped along the ridge to the 6,800 col high above upper Blum Lake then picked our way carefully down and back to camp.
All in all Mike and I agree this peak may be better climbed with more snow covering the nasty and steep scree. The couloir we initially ascended could be an outstanding summit route if enough snow covered the chock stone steps but is not recommended in the conditions we encountered. A more tried and true route to the summit is to aim for the ridge saddle above the upper Blum Lake where easy scrambling leads to the top.
13 miles round trip and 6,900 ft elevation gain
Some pictures follow:
Big Cedar along Blum Creek
Looking for that @#$% trail down low
Happy to find the trail
Rest stop
Mount Blum from camp at the middle lake
Dirty gully leading to the upper lake
Mike at the upper lake
Our planned route to the upper mountain
Mount Baker
Mount Shuksan
Mike heading up the steep snow couloir
Starting the dirty scramble. Bacon and Hagen Peaks behind
Hagen Peak with upper Blum Lake
Mount Blum BM. notice the lightning strike
Old aluminum register container. notice the lightning holes
If your approach is from Baker Lake then the least threatening line of ascent (none are easy) is from the end of the upper Blum Lake. A route can be found that would be much more user friendly with some snowpack to kick steps into. But the easiest line of ascent is probably via a high traverse from Hagan Peak.
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