Mount Wow

Started from car @ 4p from Westside Road. Brought crampons, ice axe, poles, used everything but the crampons (gaitors are a must). This climb is STEEP. 1500' in 1mi. Lots of blowdowns caused us to lose the micro 'trail' a few times. Snow started around 4k, leaving us to rely on GPS to Lake Allen, spending some time to find a less-sketchy spot to cross the stream (lots of opening snow bridges over the stream). Followed Mike Black's Peakbagger GPX track up after missing it the first time and backtracking on avalanche debris into the forest to gain the ridge...do not recommend this time of year:  sketchy snow/ice/water on duff/rock climbing, relying on trees for support, really steep and unpleasant until we gained the saddle, a sweet snowfield of sorts awaited us here (likely a meadow in the summer). Headed up from there to the summit at full-speed, crossing some snow and some kitty-litter rock before a damp steep heather and snow bench to the summit. Took in the view for a few before high-tailing it down...followed Ross Kula's  Peakbagger gulley descent, which was filled with snow and considerably safer to descend than the route we took up. Pay careful attention to the where the streams are running under the snow, and flank the sides of the gully closer to the trees to avoid punching through into the stream. Downclimbed a small, shallow waterfall, which was fine, but after the record-breaking temps over the weekend it may be much larger now. This descent was a great choice, allowing us to get down faster and safer and make it to the cars in waning light. 5h RT. Fresh bear scat and prints on the gully descent about 500' below summit (we sang songs and yelled loudly until we reached the lake). Wish we had more time on the summit, the views were beautiful and the goats were clinging to the cliffs by the summit like it was their job or something :)