Basic Alpine Climb - Devils Peak/South Ridge

quick and dirty route info:  one mile east of silverton,wa, on the mountain loop highway, take a left(north) onto the deer creek road (4052).  drive one mile and park at the junction with the coal creek road(4054).  walk east on the road(cut the switchback, or not). someplace after the third switchback, head nw, lots of flags to follow(unfortunately most are mis-leading :<( ) stay left of the main creek up to devils lake basin. at basin, look up at devils peak and the route is obvious(be sure to study it carefully, as after you loose sight of overall picture, it is not as obvious)  at the base of the summit block, go to the large evergreen tree(nice spot for packs and/or belays).  scramble or lead (class 3/4) (i clipped an established sling around a boulder, then placed a #2 cam and then slung a horn at the beginning of the ramp) up to treed ramp above and right.  begin of the ramp has a established rap, with slings around a tree, that makes a nice belay or continue past(class 2) on the ramp to its end where there is a two bolt and anchor with chains.  class 2 to the summit.  we rapped from the tree(single 50m rope rap).
devils thumb: head ene down devils peak's ne ridge, at 4800 descend to and traverse on north side of ridge over to saddle between devils peak and thumb.  ascend devils thumb, descend to devils lake

original plan was for both devils peak and thumb, like the trip i lead the previous year, but this year we were slower.  so we were quite pleased with a fun trip to devils peak.  snow covered all the brush.  still some cornices to be aware of, but most were well away from the areas we traveled.    no snow to speak of on the climbing route. 

this year we cut one switchback too many, causing us to be on the wrong side of a creek crossing, as you can see by the topo, forcing us a to ascend high enough to cross the creek,  that was a little west of where  (cost us an extra 15 minutes) wanted to be.

9.91mi 3798' gain

 6:30 car to summit (4:33 car to base of the climb)
 0:18 summit stay
 5:30 summit to car (1:03 all rapping and preparing to descend, removing harnesses, etc)(2:36 base of climb to saddle between devils thumb and devils peak)(2:55 saddle between devils thumb and devils peak to car)
12:18 car to car

equipment: snowshoes, ice axe, harness, 50mm rope, #2 cam, 4 double runners and biners, helmet
equipment brought, but not used: crampons, #1 cam

equipment note:  when reading trip reports, it is easy to confuse the rap rope requirements(it confused me to!).  the reason for this, is that there are two obvious rap stations very close to each other.  one is a set of bolts that requires much more rope(maybe two 60m ropes?)  and is said to be a fun rappel.   the other station, a solid live tree with a ton of slings and rap rings, we did with a single 50m rope and may have even been doable with a 40m.   i find carrying a single 50m(which is more than enough for the lead climbing to) is more "fun" than carrying two 60's :>)

water availability: easily accessible all the way to just before the lake

compare to 2016:
10.73mi 4399' gain
 5:05 car to devils peak summit (4:13 car to base of the climb)
 1:26 summit stay (the others climbing and all rapping)
 2:22 devils peak summit to devils thumb summit
 0:08 summit stay
 3:17 devils thumb summit to car
12:18 car to car