Snowfield Peak is a remote “Washington Bulger List” peak deep in North Cascades National Park. Attempting a climb on snowfield requires roped glacier travel, route finding expertise, appropriate gear to deal with the unrelenting weather of the North Cascades and excellent physical conditioning. Standing at 8,274 feet, climbing snowfield requires crossing two glaciers, and is most often done over at least 2 days with numerous options for establishing camp.
Entrance to North Cascades National Park is free, but a wilderness permit (also free) is required for any backcountry camping. If you do you a hike or climb in a single day car-to-car no permit is required. The park gets it’s only funding from reporting its wilderness permit usage to the federal government, and distributes permits based upon backcountry zone. In order to travel safely and support the park getting a permit is essential. These are obtained at the Wilderness Information Center at 7280 Ranger Station Road, Marblemount, WA. Trip planning prior to obtaining a permit here is also essential, use the wilderness zone map to determine the zone you wish to camp in, and have backups planned. For Snowfield Peak, permits are most commonly obtained for the colonial zone; however, if you establish high camp you can also get a permit for the snowfield zone. High camp is at the saddle between the Colonial and Neve Glaciers and offers stunning views in good weather. This high saddle sits at the border between the colonial and snowfield zones so you can obtain either permit if you plan to establish high camp. Plan carefully however as the trail to high camp is not easy and requires over 5400′ of gain in a single push carrying all of your gear.
Due to Covid restrictions, only one ranger was administering wilderness permits and the wait to get ours was 4+ hours, waiting in a rainy parking lot. This delay led us to decide to get our permit for colonial zone since our daylight available to get to high camp at the pass between the colonial and neve glaciers was cut short. The Pyramid Lake trailhead is directly off highway 20, and parking is located on the north side of the road – be careful here as visibility is limited and there’s a blind curve in the road, so watch out for cars!
The hike to Pyramid Lake is pretty easy gaining 1500 feet over 2.1 miles on a well maintained trail. Once you gain the lake follow the trail to the right, and stay high, follow around to the other side of the lake at 2600 feet elevation and from here you start the relentless climber’s trail. The trail starts off moderate but after not too long the relentless uphill march ensues including scrambling up muddy faces, grabbing tree roots, and undoubtedly slipping if conditions are wet (as they often are, and were for us)
Route finding is difficult here, we used this GPS track I found online and it proved pretty helpful in navigating especially once we arrived at snow. Our approach hike was on July 3, 2020 and we encountered consistent snow starting about halfway up our approach.
The climber’s trail follows the ridgeline from the lake at 2600’ to the notch under Pyramid Peak at 5800’, and, I repeat, it is steep and can be sloppy if wet. As you approach Pyramid Peak, go through the notch opting to stay closer to Pyramid as opposed to skirting under the notch. Later in the season descending to and then crossing the scree fields I’ve heard can be more common, but in early July the notch and slope directly under Pyramid are in good shape with compact snow and very manageable travel. There is exposure below you with a waterfall and cliffs, however the slope is very manageable.
Right: snow slope to traverse directly below Pyramid Peak
In our poor visibility conditions we continued traversing below Pyramid and Pinnacle following the map topography to find the colonial glacier moraine lake. Early July the lake is still completely frozen at 6000’ elevation.
Due to our later departure we opted to establish camp in the sites above the lake, which are on the ridge to the left as you approach the lake. Here there were rock walls for wind, flat sites, and a pool of clean water for filtering. Paradise by North Cascades standards! Once settled in, we studied the route up the Colonial as the clouds allowed, ate and turned in for a windy night’s rest hoping our forecasted weather window would come to fruition.
July 4, saw us roped up and on route before dawn. This time of year the route takes you across the ridge a little further, then you descend down toward the moraine lake and start traversing south toward the Colonial/ Neve Pass. Ascending the Colonial is straight forward with no crevasses having opened up more than a finger’s width, but stay to climber’s left on this route – your route to the Neve is up and to the left and traversing under the cliffs in the center of the glacier exposes unnecessary rock fall hazard.
We gained the ridge separating the Colonial and Neve Glaciers to find unused campsites, continued whiteout conditions, more significant winds, and some running water. This high camp is supposed to have absolutely epic views, but not this weekend…. Socked in thick clouds we switched leads and Brad led the route on the Neve.
Here navigation proved challenging and slow due to poor visibility. We continued on route stepping over crevasses traversing across the flat area of the Neve under Snowfield Peak at 6600’ up to 6800’ continuously assessing our progress, weather, and route conditions. Here we encountered distant crevasses that turned out to not be crevasses as we got closer (crevasse mirage!), a lack of visibility beyond 100 feet (worse at times), persistent light rain and wind, and overall uncertainty about route hazards above and around us. This is where we had to make the dreaded decision to turn around. The summit scramble sounded hazardous in wet conditions, our forecasted weather window was obviously not materializing, and our wives wanted us home at some point that day. Live to climb another day (also: happy wife, happy life).
Immediately turning around and retracing our steps, we made it back to camp quickly. After a 20 minute power nap we snacked, packed up camp, and hiked/ slipped our way down the climbers trail to Pyramid Lake.
Back to the cars by 4:00PM muddy, exhausted but happy to have dry clothes. After a heavily caffeinated drive home Brad made it back in time for a family BBQ and I made it back to Katie and Bella for a quiet, warm, and dry Independence Day. We’ll be back.
Useful links:
- North Cascades National Park Website
- North Cascades National Park Wilderness Zone Map
- Mountain Forecast
- Pyramid Lake Trailhead
- GPS track we used on the climb
- Mountaineer’s route description
Some of my favorite gear for climbing in the Cascades:
- MSR Hubba Hubba Tent – its light, tough, and awesome
- Scarpa Charmoz – Mountaineering boot made just barely big and wide enough for my boot size 16 feet.
- Patagonia Men’s Simul Alpine Pants – light, tough and quick dry
- Patagonia’s repair program makes their gear last forever – I’ve sent these pants in twice for free expert repairs after I’ve gotten rips in them while climbing.
- MSR windburner stove
- Patagonia R1 half zip hoody (its always done in an R1)
- Patagonia Triolet Jacket – GoreTex and pit zips (also have had repaired numerous times for free)
- Garmin InReach satellite communicator – can save your life and appease your wife
- Sun Bum mineral SPF 50 face stick
- Leukotape – this tape sticks well & protects sweaty feet from blisters
- Spring Energy Gels
- Skratch Labs drink powder packets
- Sony alpha 6300 camera with my super wide 10-18mm lens mounted on a backpack shoulder strap with a Peak Designs capture clip
- Suunto 9 Baro GPS watch