Trip Report
Winter Scramble - Sourdough & Point 6308
A great soul cleansing North Cascades day (albeit partially cloudy ;). The ~5500’ gain workout had some much appreciated frosting in the form of afternoon clearing w/stunning views of the surrounding area. [Lead photo by Nina Crampton]
Dave Morgan
- Sun, Mar 26, 2023
- Winter Scramble - Sourdough Mountain
- Sourdough Mountain
- Scrambling
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Cold temperatures in the morning (even a brief snow storm between Arlington and Darlington), yet the roads were 99% clear and dry. Donned micro-spikes at ~2700’ and thanks to several preceding parties (the day and week before) we were able to defer snowshoes until above the constriction at ~5500’. We did get some trail breaking practice through fresh snow on the final approach to Point 6308. Did not use crampons on ascent or descent.
The attention getting constriction at ~5500’ is hard to capture in photos (nice job Nathan). The turn just above and to the right of Max (note steps) had boilerplate compact snow/ice which made solid ice-axe self-belay placements time consuming in a precarious spot:
(By Nathan Goulding-Hotta)
Boogying towards Point 6308…
(By Jesse Bengtsson)
The summit of Point 6308 for a welcome lunch (not much in the way of views ;)…
(By Nathan Goulding-Hotta)
With clouds lifting Nina nicely captured the constriction’s complexity when looking down (as well as some breath taking views)…
(By Nina Crampton)
As it turned out the west side of the constriction actually had some nice step kicking and ice-axe self-belay snow conditions. Seemed more secure than the crest, especially when able to rely on a solid self-belay above when kicking the steps.
Here comes the sun…
Positively summerish down lower…
A great venue that leaves you feeling like you’ve had a substantial vacation (even for a one day trip). Our total time was 9.5 hours with 5 hours up, 4 hours down, and several snack/lunch breaks. Photos from this and other trips to this venue can be seen here.