This was my plan B after my friends bailed on doing Colchuck Peak due to weather concerns. The road to the trailhead is in decent shape, but keep in mind that it’s pretty narrow. I drove up to around 4,600 ft, where snow patches made driving further impossible. From reading previous trip reports, it seems that this is the spot many people choose to park in the summertime due to the road becoming rougher beyond that point.
I walked approximately 1.2 miles to the actual trailhead. Besides the patchy snow, I encountered a couple of blowdowns. Nothing extraordinary to report up to peak 6,086—easy-going route with some snow here and there. The saddle between 6,086 and Jolly is fully snow-covered, but flotation wasn’t necessary.
Descending the slope from 6,086 to Skookum required using an ice axe and spikes, as the steep slope was snow-covered. That was the only part of the trip that required gear. After downclimbing the slope, I stayed on top of the snow-free ridge and hiked up to Skookum, which is a simple walk-up.
I followed the ridge to the Louvre, hitting intermittent, easy-to-navigate snow. To reach the true summit from the false summit, a bit of slightly exposed scrambling is required. I’d say it’s a couple of easy Class 3 moves, with one move being high Class 3 due to a patch of snow. I’m generally not the most “courageous” in exposed terrain, and this didn’t seem too bad to me.
I backtracked my route until the steep slope before point 6,086, where I stuck to the ridgeline and scrambled up through a melted rocky line instead of putting my spikes back. From peak 6,086, I cruised to Jolly. The snow was still pretty firm and easy to travel across, with minimal post-holing.
I considered doing Humerus Hill, but I didn’t want to get home too late, so I headed back. Instead of walking down the forest road from the summer trailhead, I decided to beeline to my car down the slope, which saved me a bunch of time.
You can find my track on peakbagger. Started around 7:20 and finished at 13:40. ~11.5 miles RT with ~4200ft gain. I only saw one person on my way back close to the TH.
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