Trip Report
Alpine Scramble - Cashmere Mountain
Long single-day scramble, exhausting & rewarding.
Brian Booth
- Sun, Jul 3, 2016
- Alpine Scramble - Cashmere Mountain
- Cashmere Mountain
- Scrambling
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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No snow till 8,000' saddle. Patchy network of soft snow & loose rock on rising traverse of N face. The rocks & mini-ridges on the N face are large enough that you cannot see your way across the traverse, we ran into several dead ends & had to back up & start again. Ice axes and helmets absolute necessities.
Partly sunny, and very cold for July 4 holiday. Also very strong winds in the section near Windy Pass (not surprising I guess). We were wearing rain / wind gear and layers to stay warm. (Note that it is usually the opposite here at this time of year - too hot. The approach trail to Lake Caroline burned in ~2005, and is basically shadeless; can be very hot.) We followed the trail to the 6,600' turn above Little Caroline Lake, did a 100' drop into a basin full of shooting stars, and then up & across dry meadows (tiring terrain) to the N-S ridge leading to the 8,000' saddle. There is a visible bootpath on the ridge, to the saddle, and partway up the N face traverse. Follow the rising traverse of the N face ALL THE WAY till you approach a dead stop at a knifedge ridge - turn R here, and it's 200' to the summit. (Do not ascend straight up too early; that will get you in non-scrambling rock.) Very long trip - took us 13 hrs RT, and we did not stop long for breaks.