Trip Report
Alpine Scramble - Mount Wow
Gorgeous vistas of Rainier, a good variety of terrain and skills, plus a nice workout at 4400’ gain.
Dave Morgan
- Sat, Jun 2, 2018
- Alpine Scramble - Mount Wow
- Mount Wow
- Scrambling
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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The west side (boundary trail) route is almost entirely free of snow, with the only continuous snow between 5300’ and 5700’. The vegetation in the basin between 4600’ and 5100’ can still be traversed relatively painlessly using a goat track at 4900’. The stream is still flowing at 4500’ in this basin for parties needing water.
Gorgeous vistas of Rainier, a good variety of terrain and skills, plus a nice workout at 4400’ gain. On ascent we used the west ridge with rock scrambling on mossy (but dry) rock, descended into the basin to traverse it at ~4900’, then ascended steep slopes to reach the upper plateau and the summit. On descent we avoided the rock scrambling by using the same traverse at ~4900’ (to reach the south side of the basin), then descended parallel to the west ridge through mature (and open) forest to a point near the basin stream at 4500’. Finally, we used an ascending traverse to regain the west ridge for our return to the cars. The Lake Allen route is shaping up nicely, and a photo for this route can be seen here. Total time of 10 hours, with 5 hours up, 3.5 hours down, and a leisurely 1.5 hours on the summit. Photos from this and other trips to this venue can be seen here.