Next Time I’ll Bring my Helmet! – Mt. Larrabee – Aug. 20, 2016

Background

Winchester Mountain – July 25, 2016

Back in July, my wife, Janine, and I hiked to the top of Winchester Mountain, a great little peak near Mt. Baker. The access road is the same as to Yellow Aster Butte and you simply continue to the end of the road at Twin Lakes where there are a few camp spots and a pair of gorgeous lakes (note that the road is fairly rough beyond the Yellow Aster Butte trailhead – high clearance is required, 4WD preferable).

Janine is currently pregnant (with twins!), so we had to target a less-than-strenuous peak. The trail is highly rewarding with views virtually the whole time as it switchbacks up the mountain.

Snow can linger late into the summer, so later in the year might be a better time to target this peak. We were able to bypass the two snow patches that covered the trail without too many difficulties.

The trail first climbs up the east-facing slope of Winchester, then crests the ridge and climbs up the southwest-facing slopes to the top.

Views from the top were great! There’s an old fire lookout on the summit that was built in 1935 and was restored and is now maintained by volunteers from the Mt. Baker Club.

From the top, there’s a huge number of peaks to enjoy. Baker and Shuksan are particularly eye-catching to the south, Tomyhoi is the most notable peak to the west, and Goat Mountain is the closest peak to the east (with the seemingly endless peaks of the North Cascades providing a backdrop).

To the north, the view is dominated by Mt. Larrabee with the Canadian and American Border Peaks on the left and the Pliades on the right.

I had read about the scramble up Mt. Larrabee and I didn’t think it was supposed to be all that difficult, but from Winchester, it looked pretty much vertical. I logged it away and hoped to return someday to tag it.

The hike down was beautiful as the sun set behind us and Winchester’s shadow climbed up the neighbouring mountains. I was super proud of Janine for climbing to the top of a mountain while 21 weeks pregnant!

Distance: 5 kms   Elevation: 415 m    Time: 2 hours 52 minutes

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Fast forward a month. I needed a destination that would be quick and Larrabee immediately came to mind. I had just read a trip report on ClubTread about it and the author made it sound like it was doable without too much difficulty. My plans were set and my buddy Aaron was able to join as well.

We met early in the morning and he ended up riding his motorcycle all the way to the trailhead. It’s a Suzuki V-Strom, so it’s pretty adept at handling pavement as well as logging roads.

The High Pass trail is used to access Larrabee. It starts out exactly the same as Winchester, but pretty quickly we took a hard right and headed in a different direction. We immediately reached a pass where we got our first views of our destination.

The trail lost some elevation skirting steep terrain on Winchester’s east side before gaining a ridgeline at Low Pass after a series of switchbacks. We then got a fantastic look at the route ahead of us.

We gained more elevation along the trail, making it to High Pass where we stopped and enjoyed the views for a few minutes.

Directly to the south, we could see Shuksan framed by Winchester on the right and Goat Mountain (east) on the left.

Aaron was pointing something out while I took a look back at Baker with Low Pass in the foreground on the left and High Pass on the right.

Baker was, as always, pretty epic.

Yellow Aster Butte and Tomyhoi were not far away to the west.

Ahead of us, we could see the large scree bowl we’d have to cross and then the steep gully we’d climb to get to Larrabee’s south ridge.

The trail continues on to the appropriately named Even Higher Pass, but we left the trail before it started to switchback up again. After a short traversing descent down to the snow, we began the climb. I was able to keep using my poles with only the occasional use of a hand for help as I made my way up to the ridge. Aaron stayed on the right, but I found nice steps in the heather and almost a trail on the left, so that’s what I’d recommend to others (and it’s what we used on the descent).

At the top we met up with a guy named Evan who had slept overnight at the trailhead and was hiking solo. A trail reappeared for a short 70m section before the actual scrambling began.

The scramble starts out in a narrow gully filled with loose rocks. I left my poles here. We opted to climb one-at-a-time because none of us had brought helmets and if a rock was dislodged by a climber above, it would be virtually impossible to get out of the way.

Looking up, it appeared the loose stuff was going to be a theme.

It was. The first half of the scramble was mostly in a gully of varying width, so after the short, skinny gully at the beginning, we were able to spread out and climb side by side in a wider part so as not to rain down debris on one another.

The second half of the scramble tended to follow the ridge a bit closer. It was still loose, but it wasn’t quite as steep and rocks that were dislodged often didn’t go very far. They also weren’t funneled by being in a steep gully. And although it was loose, it was consistently so, which I prefer.

It seemed like it took us a long time to reach the top, but I think that was because we had to take so much care to not be climbing below anyone else.

The summit had a surprising flat section so we all plunked down and enjoyed the impressive views while grabbing a snack. Evan was not loving the airy feeling of being on the summit and Aaron wasn’t really either, so they both started to head down before I had even taken my camera out. Once I finished my snacks, I was alone on the summit to take photos.

To the north, smoke from the Ryder Lake forest fire was blowing down the valley between the Border Peaks and Slesse.

Aaron was already well on his way down.

Evan was just setting off.

I kept snapping pictures.

 

American Border Peak with McGuire in the background:

Tomyhoi with Church in the background:

Baker with Yellow Aster Butte in the foreground:

I switched over to the zoom lens. By now Aaron was well on his way down.

Baker:

Winchester:

McGuire:

Tomyhoi:

Yellow Aster Butte and the camping area around the tarns:

Glacier Peak (which I attempted a few weeks earlier):

Shuksan (with Goat’s east and west peaks in the foreground):

Ruth:

Rexford and the Nesakwatch Spires (Silvertip in the background):

Slesse:

I’ve climbed the 5 western peaks in the Cheam range – from L to R, Cheam, Lady, Knight, Baby Munday, and Stewart:

The north side of Larrabee even sports a pretty sweet looking glacier:

Content that I had taken enough photos, I began my descent. I was a little nervous about it, but after the first few steep steps I gained my confidence back and made good time down the top half. I caught up to the other guys just above the most difficult section of scrambling where I got off-route a little trying a slightly different way down. It didn’t work very well for me and I had to make some of the most difficult moves of the day just to get back into the gully (rather than going back up and around).

The narrow chute at the bottom of the scramble was easy to descend with many handholds and in short order I was back at my poles. Aaron and I were quicker on the descent of the loose rubble, but were slower than Evan on the trail and he eventually passed us shortly before the parking lot.

I think this climb could be done much faster  with only two people or by going solo because the concern about falling rocks would be minimized or negated entirely. We spent a fair bit of time on the scramble section just waiting for one or the other of us to finish climbing a route directly above or below. That said, having another perspective on the scramble is always a good idea and there’s really no need to rush this one because there are plenty of views to occupy you while you wait for your fellow scramblers. Just remember a helmet!

For a more immersive summit experience, check out this 360 degree image I made with the Google Streetview app.

And, as usual, here is my track in Google Earth. If anyone ever wants a copy of the GPS track, just let me know in the comments and I’ll post a link to it. 

Distance: 9.6 kms   Elevation: 1,013 m    Time: 5 hours 8 minutes