June 23, 2013, Bedal Peak
6/23/13
3513
3
Following Saturdays beautiful skies and disregarding the forecast for Sunday, three of us set off for a day hike of Bedal Peak off of Forest Road 49. Camping along the river below Spring Mountain was pleasant and sleeping in was permitted considering the proximity to the solstice meant plenty of time for route finding if necessary. We started our climb around 10:00 AM and were immediately greeted by classic climber trail with zero switch-backs and plenty of places to slip. This would prove much more of a pain on the descent. Fortunately somebody who wants to increase the popularity of the route had marked the trail with ribbon about every 50 feet or so allowing for minimal trail searching as we gained the northwest ridge. (A previous attempt circa 2006 was met with quite a bit of difficulty in determining where we were and where we were headed and resulted in giving up before reaching the face).
Crossing onto the north face was aided by a ribbon marking the location of a steep but short climb out of the snow gully above the ridge. In our previous attempt we climbed all the way to the top of the gully only to get cliffed out and turned around in a white out. This time we knew better and crossed over to the north face below the large cliff band to the east. Once on the face it was an easy slog to the summit. The cloud layer, although sprinkling rain a bit here and there, stayed up around 7000 feet so visibility was decent. At the summit we had nice view of Pugh and Sloan, but Glacier was pretty well ensconced.
After some lunch and an Interurban IPA, the rain started picking up so naturally it was time to strap on the skis! The snow was quite agreeable for about 1500 feet before sun-cupping and runnelling started to make turning more difficult. The north face itself is covered in snow and there were plenty of lines to be had. The hike down was slow and painful, but the trip was definitely worth it. We were back at the car at about 5:00 PM. Set another personal milestone with 120 consecutive months. Time to put some thought into retirement¦ nah, thatll never happen.
Crossing onto the north face was aided by a ribbon marking the location of a steep but short climb out of the snow gully above the ridge. In our previous attempt we climbed all the way to the top of the gully only to get cliffed out and turned around in a white out. This time we knew better and crossed over to the north face below the large cliff band to the east. Once on the face it was an easy slog to the summit. The cloud layer, although sprinkling rain a bit here and there, stayed up around 7000 feet so visibility was decent. At the summit we had nice view of Pugh and Sloan, but Glacier was pretty well ensconced.
After some lunch and an Interurban IPA, the rain started picking up so naturally it was time to strap on the skis! The snow was quite agreeable for about 1500 feet before sun-cupping and runnelling started to make turning more difficult. The north face itself is covered in snow and there were plenty of lines to be had. The hike down was slow and painful, but the trip was definitely worth it. We were back at the car at about 5:00 PM. Set another personal milestone with 120 consecutive months. Time to put some thought into retirement¦ nah, thatll never happen.
Love the 3rd picture. PNW.
We all see that 3rd picture and say "I've done that." It's like that Pemco "skis in the rain guy" ad. But this is "walks uphill to ski in the rain guy".
Awesome that you guys made it up Bedal! Way cool! I have not read any reports for Bedal since our venture there in March 2009. Yes the route is pretty rough, but the view of Glacier from up high is totally worth it if she's out. Great effort!
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