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Summit Chief   (7464')

July 24-26   Friday - Sunday 

Dates may change a bit depending on other climb postings as the season progresses. I’ll keep those interested aware of any change.

Summit Chief is located in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness east of Seattle with access via I-90 thru Roslyn to the Cooper lake trailhead (TH el 2800’)  -  about 2 hours from Seattle.  It’s about 11 miles and 2700’ of elevation gain to the camp at Vista tarns (5500’), but I might propose  a shortcut to avoid the long, interminable, low gradient switchbacks on the PCT.

Though compact, the Snoqualmie subrange is particularly rugged.  The class 3 climb of Summit Chief follows its SE ridge up past Summit Chief Lake into a snow bowl beneath the summit. We then angle northwesterly to cross to the west side of the ridge and ascend the summit from the west. 

Gear requirements:  helmet and ice axe, maybe crampons. I’ll bring a shorty rope for a handline if necessary.

Expectations would be to drive up the first day and hike in to camp – it’ll be a long day. We’d summit and return to camp on the second day. I’ve not climbed Summit Chief previously, though I have  been in the general vicinity several times for climbs of Chikamin and Lemah. Last year we failed on our attempt when we got off-route onto rotten rock not too far below the summit. In deference to those driving up from the Willamette valley, we’ll spend a second evening at camp unless we make especially good progress on summit day.

Map link:

https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=47.51011,-121.26106&z=14&b=t

 
                                                                Summit Chief climb route