A leisurely day on the Jerry Glacier: Crater Mtn

Wanting to head out and get my July turns I decided to head into the North Cascades for a relatively easy hike to some small patches of snow. I tried to come up with a ratio of the most hiking for the least amount of turns so I came up with the genius idea of heading to Crater Mountain. After a small and relatively uneventful 10 miles and 6000 vert I came across the Jerry Glacier which had AMAZING 600 foot runs everywhere.

With a quick scramble down to the lake at the base of the glacier I finally got my board off my back and skinned to a low saddle for a run that rivaled the most extreme terrain found under the discovery chair at Crystal Mountain. Not wanting to press my luck I hiked back down to the trail next to massive waterfalls just above cliff band and back on the endless switchbacks. In total it was almost 20 miles and 6500 vert in 9.5 hours.

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In all seriousness this place has some of the best views in all the cascades and was the final trip in my season long project to get into all the subranges in the Washington North Cascades (according to Peak bagger software. While it wasn't Jack mountain it would have to do for the Hozomeen Range. I would like to think of Crater Mtn as the bastard stepchild of Jack Mountain with a face only a drunk person at a bar could love.