Trip Report
Alpine Scramble - Crystal Peak (Mount Rainier)
Switched from Tamanos, both to avoid wet rock at the top, and to shorten the trip so as to try to finish before the forecast atmospheric river dumped on us. Not a bad trip with a few views below the clouds, but it did rain for much of the descent.
Fritz Klein
- Thu, Jun 9, 2022
- Alpine Scramble - Crystal Peak (Mount Rainier)
- Crystal Peak (Mount Rainier)
- Scrambling
- Successful
- Road suitable for all vehicles
-
Patchy snow on the trail starting just after the crossing of Crystal Creek at 4600'. At about 5500', we left the trail and scrambled on snow most of the rest of the way. Conditions were very good for kicking steps, and we were able to do some glissading on the way down.
A worsening forecast led us to abandon the original destination of Tamanos Mountain, but a mere atmospheric river (in June, no less) wasn't about to keep this group out of the mountains. On the way up, we could see Goat Island Mountain below the clouds, also part of Governor's Ridge and Cowlitz Chimney. Our route up from the trail at ~5500' led us to the saddle south of our objective, where we could see Silver King, Threeway Peak, and Crystal Lakes, but there wasn't much visibility at the summit. It was also too windy for much of a stop there, so we took a break in the shelter of some small trees a few hundred feet below. The rain was pretty steady for the last couple of miles back to the cars.