Alpine Scramble - Stevens Peak

This was a re-attempt after turning around on the northern approach a month earlier due to challenging snow conditions. When we met in Ashford, I went with my gut instinct and switched to the southern approach. I was concerned about significant snow melt creating a moat at the Unicorn notch, or steep scree on the Maple Creek route, and wondered what it would be like descending from Boundary Peak. Even though the southern approach is longer, I felt confident it would be easier travel and a higher probability of success. I also wanted a different experience seeing other areas.

We departed Tatoosh trailhead 161 about 8am. There were only a couple of cars. It was a hot day so we took plenty of water. It’s a long climb on easy trail with switchbacks at the bottom, but mostly in shade. Plenty of water coming from a couple of streams near the top. After leaving the main trail, this is more than just a boot trail. The wildflowers were at peak and incredibly beautiful. I was so glad I took this route. We didn’t have too much trouble finding our way through a few snow patches. The views were stunning, especially since three of us summited Mount Adams just a week before.

Eventually, you’ll reach a point where the boot trail disappears and all of the gpx tracks start to diverge. The choice is to head for the ridge, or contour a bit further. There was a very short, fun little rock scramble at the top. We saw the back side of the Unicorn-Boundary ridge, then Stevens Peak in their full glory.

When we reached the spot to descend to the Boundary-Stevens saddle, there was still a lot of snow. We traversed along a rock ledge to get lower before getting on the snow. On the return, we ended up using ice axe, crampons and going straight up this section. The route out to Stevens is what we expected and recommended by most. Just keep sidehilling on the south face pretty far until reaching an obvious place to go straight up to the ridge. This is such a unique peak, standing very separate from the rest of the Tatoosh Range with views all around. We enjoyed a 45 minute break at the summit.

It ended up being 10:52 total c2c, 13.1 mi and 5,352’ gain. I have a more detailed report on Peakbagger.