Cle Elum Valley road has fairly deep snow starting about a mile from Camp Creek road (big trucks are driving through, but you would need enough clearance). Until Camp Creek Road it is snow free.
Parked at the Camp Creek road and walked up Road 140 to the bootpath south of Pt 4472. Bootpath is in great shape and mostly easy to follow. The bootpath to the ridge is essentially snow free.
I started 7am and the snow was very icy all along the ridge. I used a crampons and ice axe. The ice axe got in only an inch or so for self belay, so that was kind of pointless. Crampons were necessary. Still some big cornices on the last section.
I dropped down to road 304 from the ridge where there was a gap in the sagging cornices. The descend to Gallagher Head Lake was very enjoyable with nice views of Stuart. I had to switch to snowshoes pretty soon here.
Proceeded up Fortune Creek Pass. After leaving the road it is mostly melted out with intermittent snow fields that are not hard to cross. Very beautiful climb. There was a sign that the trail is closed due to fire, but I believe that was outdated if I recall the closure map correctly.
Ascended to the pass south of Lake Ann. Beautiful views from there as well. The descend to Lake Ann was a bit sketchy due to north-facing snow still being quite icy. I used crampons here. Lots of animal tracks in this area, including cougars.
Traversed to Van Epps Pass, mostly pretty easy. I was hoping to climb Van Epps, but the snow got really slushy and slippery and didn't feel like it.
I took the Jeep trails down, but those were very eroded and unpleasant. Next time I would try the North Fork Fortune Creek trail. Overall this was very enjoyable route until Van Epps Pass. Down was a bit of a suffer fest.
19.5 miles, about 6000-7000ft gain depending on who you ask.
Comments
Wow, those south facing slopes have so little snow!
Posted by:
Blender of Smoothies on Apr 27, 2026 10:49 AM