April 20, 2007; Mt. Mystery (Olympic Ntnl. Park)

Hoping for a repeat of his recent trip to Mt. Deception, I decided to join Sky for a return trip to this spectacular spot in the Northern Olympics along with Mike.  The weather was calling for chance of showers in the Mountains & partly sunny in town.  We left Seattle just after 3am, driving south and around the Peninsula.  Left the car shortly after 6am, making good time into Royan Basin, skinning after approx. mile 6 on the trail.  From there we followed the gut of the basin up to a saddle just East of Mt. Deception for our first views of Deception Basin & Mt. Mystery (6th highest peak in the range at 7,639').

From the north, Mt. Mystery is the most prominent & rugged peak (outside of Deception) rising out of Deception Basin to the west.  Although we could see the saddle below Mystery that we needed to gain (another mile + south), our views of our intended descent were hidden behind left skyline.  After skiing into Deception Basin, we began our ascent to the saddle.  Upon reaching the notch we could see the E/NE Face of Mystery, which answered any questions of whether there was a line to ski.  From the saddle, we switched to booting as the slope steepened to 40 degrees.  Mike decided to hang out at the saddle given the big day.  Shortly thereafter the weather moved in with light winds and snow.  About midway up, the slope flattened out for 100 feet or so above the cliffs separating the basin from the upper face of Mystery.  After squeezing through a lightly dusted rock band, the slope steepened and hourglassed toward the final push to the top, reaching close to 50 degrees.    The snow got a bit firmer as the upper face is subject to sloughing off the top.  At this point I was a bit nervous about skiing the crux.  As we negotiated the upper part of the face, the snow showed signs of instability around the rocks.  Sky tried to negotiate the final 20 feet, finaling giving up as the snow sluffed off the rocks. 

With the lower face almost completely socked in, we began our descent.  I sidestepped/slipped, with axe in hand, the upper 50-60 feet.  Sky waited as I stowed the axe, then we negotiated through the rock band and began the descent of the lower face.  The windpacked surface was a bit firm, but more than held an edge.  Visibility was down to maybe 100 feet, but soon we were at the saddle.  Once on the north facing slope, we met up with Mike and the powder we encountered on the ascent, enjoying turns down the basin.

Making quick time of the ascent back up to the notch east of Deception, we decended into Royal Basin and skied out.  Back to car 15+ hrs. after approximately 22+ miles.

A fine trip indeed.  Thanks for the good times Mike and Sky  8)

Hopefully some pics to follow courtesy Mike.