May 4-6, 2018, Dark Peak (second descent)
5/4/18
2632
4
Summary
We heard many times that Dark Peak is best done early season otherwise it turns in to a terrible bushwhack. We woke up 3 days in a row at 4:30am to accommodate all the logistics of the trip and managed to avoid the jungle as Swamp Creek was still buried under 5+ feet of snow. The final 2-3 miles of Agnes Creek trail (PCT) before Swamp Creek was still continuous snow but it was breaking up fast as seen on Sunday. From Swamp Creek, the first 400-500' of elevation is patchy and requires booting, but after that, continuous snow. The algae is already forming. I took a few pictures and got coordinates for The Living Snow Project.
Friday, May the 4th be with you
We went so early, we had to arrange a special shuttle from Stehekin to High Bridge through the Lodge at Stehekin, since the red bus shuttle wouldn't start operating until the following week. Fortunately, the folks at the lodge accommodated us. We had the same driver when we did the Bird Creek peaks last year. Thanks Charles and Debi!
We started down the PCT trail along Agnes Creek around 2pm. Shortly after the Glacier Peak Wilderness boundary we started to hit patchy snow with fairly fresh bear tracks, either from that morning or the afternoon the day before. All the streams are running high – the crossing of Trapper Creek required finding a log downstream to keep our feet dry. As the snow steadily increased in frequency and depth, we became encouraged the conditions would be perfect. Still 2 miles from Swamp Creek, we were confident snow was continuous, but we decided there wasn't any point in transitioning to skis since our feet were already soaked and we didn't want to get our liners wet. We arrived at camp ~7:30pm.
May the 4th be with you!
PCT
Bears are out!
Saturday
We could see the slopes on the north side of Swamp Creek were already mostly bare and decided to boot from camp instead of skinning. After about 5 minutes of continuous snow, we finally encountered bare ground on the south side of Swamp Creek as the pitch increased. We booted for about an hour before crossing the creek and putting the skis on. Turns out we didn't need to cross the creek at all, and on the descent stayed on the skiers left side of it the entire way from the headwater basin. Travel efficiency increased dramatically from small steps to longer glides. We meandered across the creek several times and noted the bigger slide alders already started to spring up. This place must be a disaster once the snow melts!
Around 9am we reached the "forested headwall." This was the crux of the trip. We put the skis back on the pack and equipped boot crampons. The next 600-800 feet was pretty miserable on steep slopes full of holes from tree wells and mushy soft snow. Eventually we reached the 5000' basin and were happy to be in the alpine. The travel from there was very straightforward up the Dark Glacier. We had to cross one annoying section full of avalanche debris likely less than a week old. On the ascent, snow routinely was rumbling off the rocky ridges, but well away from our route to not be of concern. The top of the glacier already had a pretty deep moat forming and it was completely hidden in various places due to snow bridge cover. We dropped our skis and decided to boot the remaining 400' to the summit since we had to get on the rocky ridge and it was awkward to walk on in ski boots. We reached the summit at 3pm and enjoyed 2 bar LTE – better reception in the middle of nowhere than at our house.
We started skiing down about an hour later. We decided to avoid the avalanche debris section and made a long skier's right traverse across the glacier. The snow was already too soft for enjoyable skiing. Soon we were back at the forested headwall section and tried a different way down, eventually running in to another section we had to boot for about 10 minutes to cross. Then we stomped out a platform and transitioned back to skiing. We were able to glide about halfway down Swamp Creek before the terrain became too flat and rolling and required putting the skins back on. From there it was another hour and a half back to camp, arriving at 8pm, a 14-hour day.
Good morning!
What bushwhack?
The forest headwall
Hello, Dark Peak!
Also fun...
Easy travel here
On Dark Glacier
Summit!
Summit views are acceptable. Dome in the center
Bonanza
Ready to ski the glacier!
Swamp Creek down low
Scenic detour
What the....?
Sunday
We skinned about 3 miles from camp down Agnes Creek before running out of continuous snow. It was challenging and fun to link the snow patches together. I suspect after this week it will be very difficult to do this on Agnes Creek. The rest of the hike out was straight-forward and Debi was waiting for us at High Bridge, arriving shortly after noon, plenty of time to get back to Stehekin for the boat ride leaving at 2pm.
Orchids
Dogwood
Rainbow Falls
Lily
pretty blooms
Once we got back to cel range, we did a little research on the ski descent history of Dark Peak. From the summit register entries, we wondered if it was possible no one had skied it yet. Turns out the peak was first skied in May 2014 by Scottk and TonyM. Dang, so close, but we are told we are the 2nd descent at least!
TR: Chris
Photos: Radka
More photos on NWHikers: http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8027025
We heard many times that Dark Peak is best done early season otherwise it turns in to a terrible bushwhack. We woke up 3 days in a row at 4:30am to accommodate all the logistics of the trip and managed to avoid the jungle as Swamp Creek was still buried under 5+ feet of snow. The final 2-3 miles of Agnes Creek trail (PCT) before Swamp Creek was still continuous snow but it was breaking up fast as seen on Sunday. From Swamp Creek, the first 400-500' of elevation is patchy and requires booting, but after that, continuous snow. The algae is already forming. I took a few pictures and got coordinates for The Living Snow Project.
Friday, May the 4th be with you
We went so early, we had to arrange a special shuttle from Stehekin to High Bridge through the Lodge at Stehekin, since the red bus shuttle wouldn't start operating until the following week. Fortunately, the folks at the lodge accommodated us. We had the same driver when we did the Bird Creek peaks last year. Thanks Charles and Debi!
We started down the PCT trail along Agnes Creek around 2pm. Shortly after the Glacier Peak Wilderness boundary we started to hit patchy snow with fairly fresh bear tracks, either from that morning or the afternoon the day before. All the streams are running high – the crossing of Trapper Creek required finding a log downstream to keep our feet dry. As the snow steadily increased in frequency and depth, we became encouraged the conditions would be perfect. Still 2 miles from Swamp Creek, we were confident snow was continuous, but we decided there wasn't any point in transitioning to skis since our feet were already soaked and we didn't want to get our liners wet. We arrived at camp ~7:30pm.
May the 4th be with you!
PCT
Bears are out!
Saturday
We could see the slopes on the north side of Swamp Creek were already mostly bare and decided to boot from camp instead of skinning. After about 5 minutes of continuous snow, we finally encountered bare ground on the south side of Swamp Creek as the pitch increased. We booted for about an hour before crossing the creek and putting the skis on. Turns out we didn't need to cross the creek at all, and on the descent stayed on the skiers left side of it the entire way from the headwater basin. Travel efficiency increased dramatically from small steps to longer glides. We meandered across the creek several times and noted the bigger slide alders already started to spring up. This place must be a disaster once the snow melts!
Around 9am we reached the "forested headwall." This was the crux of the trip. We put the skis back on the pack and equipped boot crampons. The next 600-800 feet was pretty miserable on steep slopes full of holes from tree wells and mushy soft snow. Eventually we reached the 5000' basin and were happy to be in the alpine. The travel from there was very straightforward up the Dark Glacier. We had to cross one annoying section full of avalanche debris likely less than a week old. On the ascent, snow routinely was rumbling off the rocky ridges, but well away from our route to not be of concern. The top of the glacier already had a pretty deep moat forming and it was completely hidden in various places due to snow bridge cover. We dropped our skis and decided to boot the remaining 400' to the summit since we had to get on the rocky ridge and it was awkward to walk on in ski boots. We reached the summit at 3pm and enjoyed 2 bar LTE – better reception in the middle of nowhere than at our house.
We started skiing down about an hour later. We decided to avoid the avalanche debris section and made a long skier's right traverse across the glacier. The snow was already too soft for enjoyable skiing. Soon we were back at the forested headwall section and tried a different way down, eventually running in to another section we had to boot for about 10 minutes to cross. Then we stomped out a platform and transitioned back to skiing. We were able to glide about halfway down Swamp Creek before the terrain became too flat and rolling and required putting the skins back on. From there it was another hour and a half back to camp, arriving at 8pm, a 14-hour day.
Good morning!
What bushwhack?
The forest headwall
Hello, Dark Peak!
Also fun...
Easy travel here
On Dark Glacier
Summit!
Summit views are acceptable. Dome in the center
Bonanza
Ready to ski the glacier!
Swamp Creek down low
Scenic detour
What the....?
Sunday
We skinned about 3 miles from camp down Agnes Creek before running out of continuous snow. It was challenging and fun to link the snow patches together. I suspect after this week it will be very difficult to do this on Agnes Creek. The rest of the hike out was straight-forward and Debi was waiting for us at High Bridge, arriving shortly after noon, plenty of time to get back to Stehekin for the boat ride leaving at 2pm.
Orchids
Dogwood
Rainbow Falls
Lily
pretty blooms
Once we got back to cel range, we did a little research on the ski descent history of Dark Peak. From the summit register entries, we wondered if it was possible no one had skied it yet. Turns out the peak was first skied in May 2014 by Scottk and TonyM. Dang, so close, but we are told we are the 2nd descent at least!
TR: Chris
Photos: Radka
More photos on NWHikers: http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8027025
author=radka link=topic=40667.msg161527#msg161527 date=1525934329]
Summary
We heard many times that Dark Peak is best done early season otherwise it turns in to a terrible bushwhack. We woke up 3 days in a row at 4:30am to accommodate all the logistics of the trip and managed to avoid the jungle as Swamp Creek was still buried under 5+ feet of snow. The final 2-3 miles of Agnes Creek trail (PCT) before Swamp Creek was still continuous snow but it was breaking up fast as seen on Sunday. From Swamp Creek, the first 400-500' of elevation is patchy and requires booting, but after that, continuous snow. The algae is already forming. I took a few pictures and got coordinates for The Living Snow Project.
Friday, May the 4th be with you
We went so early, we had to arrange a special shuttle from Stehekin to High Bridge through the Lodge at Stehekin, since the red bus shuttle wouldn't start operating until the following week. Fortunately, the folks at the lodge accommodated us. We had the same driver when we did the Bird Creek peaks last year. Thanks Charles and Debi!
We started down the PCT trail along Agnes Creek around 2pm. Shortly after the Glacier Peak Wilderness boundary we started to hit patchy snow with fairly fresh bear tracks, either from that morning or the afternoon the day before. All the streams are running high – the crossing of Trapper Creek required finding a log downstream to keep our feet dry. As the snow steadily increased in frequency and depth, we became encouraged the conditions would be perfect. Still 2 miles from Swamp Creek, we were confident snow was continuous, but we decided there wasn't any point in transitioning to skis since our feet were already soaked and we didn't want to get our liners wet. We arrived at camp ~7:30pm.
May the 4th be with you!
PCT
Bears are out!
Saturday
We could see the slopes on the north side of Swamp Creek were already mostly bare and decided to boot from camp instead of skinning. After about 5 minutes of continuous snow, we finally encountered bare ground on the south side of Swamp Creek as the pitch increased. We booted for about an hour before crossing the creek and putting the skis on. Turns out we didn't need to cross the creek at all, and on the descent stayed on the skiers left side of it the entire way from the headwater basin. Travel efficiency increased dramatically from small steps to longer glides. We meandered across the creek several times and noted the bigger slide alders already started to spring up. This place must be a disaster once the snow melts!
Around 9am we reached the "forested headwall." This was the crux of the trip. We put the skis back on the pack and equipped boot crampons. The next 600-800 feet was pretty miserable on steep slopes full of holes from tree wells and mushy soft snow. Eventually we reached the 5000' basin and were happy to be in the alpine. The travel from there was very straightforward up the Dark Glacier. We had to cross one annoying section full of avalanche debris likely less than a week old. On the ascent, snow routinely was rumbling off the rocky ridges, but well away from our route to not be of concern. The top of the glacier already had a pretty deep moat forming and it was completely hidden in various places due to snow bridge cover. We dropped our skis and decided to boot the remaining 400' to the summit since we had to get on the rocky ridge and it was awkward to walk on in ski boots. We reached the summit at 3pm and enjoyed 2 bar LTE – better reception in the middle of nowhere than at our house.
We started skiing down about an hour later. We decided to avoid the avalanche debris section and made a long skier's right traverse across the glacier. The snow was already too soft for enjoyable skiing. Soon we were back at the forested headwall section and tried a different way down, eventually running in to another section we had to boot for about 10 minutes to cross. Then we stomped out a platform and transitioned back to skiing. We were able to glide about halfway down Swamp Creek before the terrain became too flat and rolling and required putting the skins back on. From there it was another hour and a half back to camp, arriving at 8pm, a 14-hour day.
Good morning!
What bushwhack?
The forest headwall
Hello, Dark Peak!
Also fun...
Easy travel here
On Dark Glacier
Summit!
Summit views are acceptable. Dome in the center
Bonanza
Ready to ski the glacier!
Swamp Creek down low
Scenic detour
What the....?
Sunday
We skinned about 3 miles from camp down Agnes Creek before running out of continuous snow. It was challenging and fun to link the snow patches together. I suspect after this week it will be very difficult to do this on Agnes Creek. The rest of the hike out was straight-forward and Debi was waiting for us at High Bridge, arriving shortly after noon, plenty of time to get back to Stehekin for the boat ride leaving at 2pm.
Orchids
Dogwood
Rainbow Falls
Lily
pretty blooms
Once we got back to cel range, we did a little research on the ski descent history of Dark Peak. From the summit register entries, we wondered if it was possible no one had skied it yet. Turns out the peak was first skied in May 2014 by Scottk and TonyM. Dang, so close, but we are told we are the 2nd descent at least!
TR: Chris
Photos: Radka
More photos on NWHikers: http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8027025
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Cool adventure...thanks for taking the time to write it up!!
Great trip! Early season on skis is the way to do Dark Peak. I recommend our route via Holden Pass and the Company Glacier for a more aesthetically pleasing approach and a better ski/boot ratio. http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=31668.0
Just saw your excellent report. This approach was the one that inspired the Holden approach! Another friend and I attempted to do a climbing traverse from Dark to Bonanza and had our butts handed to us to say the least. But during that recon trip, plus reading a Bonanza TR from Forest here on TAY, the Holden approach seemed doable. Anyway you approach Dark Peak is a long one, so big time congratulations for a successful climb/ski.
There are several more un-skied peaks in that area, from both sides. Its a wild place and not too many people venture that far back... If I recall correctly, you made a nice comment on a clockwise ski we did way back in May of 2009 around Dragontail. That ski seemed tame compared to Dark Peak!
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