Larry Laverty - Jun 1, 2013 3:16 am Date Climbed: Apr 2, 2013
West Ridge, Winter
Snow the entire way. Snowshoed in behind three skiers. Just the four of us on the mountain that day. All the way in and to the top, there in the snow, for a month of posterity to see, were two clean ski tracks, and right next to them the prints of the abominable snowman.
ElGreco - Nov 29, 2011 4:16 pm Date Climbed: Nov 27, 2011
West Ridge
With Ann. Strong winds, especially from the West summit onwards. If the Cascade volcanoes aren't loose enough for you, come to Round Top... All in all, a fun day out, but I'd far rather spend time on granite, even the loose stuff. Crescent Moon looks like a winner though! Have to come back for it.
Calling the West Ridge a "walk-up" is misleading. It's Class 2 until you get to the West summit. Getting from the West summit to the East (true) summit, is the crux of the route, and if you haven't made it to the East summit - well - then you haven't summited Round Top, sorry guys...
Getting to the summit involves negotiating very loose scree slopes, some with undesirable, cliffy runouts in the distance. How confident are you in stopping a slide on scree? It also involves Class 3 (the route we took was more like Class 4) scrambling on rock to mount the summit mound with virtually no protection opportunities, and it's not unusual for your foothold to give way or for your handhold to find itself sitting squarely in your hand, no longer attached to the rock, if you don't pick and test carefully.
There is a rappel/belay pole a few steps down from the summit marker if you want to make your descent safer and skip the crux downclimb. I bounce tested it and it seemed solid. The rappel is low angle/load too. A 30m rope is enough to get you past the difficult section, almost to the base of the summit mound.
WayneFry - Nov 20, 2011 9:13 pm Date Climbed: Nov 19, 2011
Brrr...
This is great local climb and always a pleasure. Very cold and windy conditions that day but still a lot of fun.
Made it to the saddle then took the faint trail along the west side and climbed about 100 ft until I realized I took the wrong route. Backtracked and found the trail to the summit along the north side. Good scramble. Continued on to Sisters. By the way it costs 5 dollars a day now to park at the trailhead(Carson Pass).
chskier - Aug 21, 2008 1:15 pm Date Climbed: Aug 31, 2003
Normally I don't sign a summit log unless I top out, but since I used this route to summit in March '06 I'll make an exception. Met several SPers at the Carson Pass parking lot. Everyone had different objectives, and I had a hard time restriction. Thus at noon I had to descend from 10,000' from the West Ridge via splitboard to make my appointment. Snow was excellent, not quite 'cornflakes' for nearly 1,500. Will have to return for the Crescent Couloir!
T. White - Sep 1, 2023 6:29 pm Date Climbed: Aug 30, 2023
Fine line between excursion and adventure"Fun" scree slope, but regrettably I had to turn back after hitting the class 3. Maybe another time when in better shape and no evening commitments!
kevbauer - Jan 30, 2022 5:09 pm Date Climbed: Jan 19, 2022
Fun climb with my dadA fun, quick climb. Snowshoed most of it, using crampons on the steeper parts toward the top. The very top was bare rock.
SuperChthonic - May 8, 2018 12:57 pm Date Climbed: Jul 7, 2012
Fun scrambleLooks a little worse than it seems to be.
GlennD - Jun 13, 2015 2:00 pm Date Climbed: Sep 19, 2014
West RouteA quick hike on the way back from South Lake.
Marmaduke - Jul 23, 2013 2:15 pm Date Climbed: Jul 21, 2013
Fun ScrambleGreat day with my wife and our two Labs.
Larry Laverty - Jun 1, 2013 3:16 am Date Climbed: Apr 2, 2013
West Ridge, WinterSnow the entire way. Snowshoed in behind three skiers. Just the four of us on the mountain that day. All the way in and to the top, there in the snow, for a month of posterity to see, were two clean ski tracks, and right next to them the prints of the abominable snowman.
ElGreco - Nov 29, 2011 4:16 pm Date Climbed: Nov 27, 2011
West RidgeWith Ann. Strong winds, especially from the West summit onwards. If the Cascade volcanoes aren't loose enough for you, come to Round Top... All in all, a fun day out, but I'd far rather spend time on granite, even the loose stuff. Crescent Moon looks like a winner though! Have to come back for it.
Calling the West Ridge a "walk-up" is misleading. It's Class 2 until you get to the West summit. Getting from the West summit to the East (true) summit, is the crux of the route, and if you haven't made it to the East summit - well - then you haven't summited Round Top, sorry guys...
Getting to the summit involves negotiating very loose scree slopes, some with undesirable, cliffy runouts in the distance. How confident are you in stopping a slide on scree? It also involves Class 3 (the route we took was more like Class 4) scrambling on rock to mount the summit mound with virtually no protection opportunities, and it's not unusual for your foothold to give way or for your handhold to find itself sitting squarely in your hand, no longer attached to the rock, if you don't pick and test carefully.
There is a rappel/belay pole a few steps down from the summit marker if you want to make your descent safer and skip the crux downclimb. I bounce tested it and it seemed solid. The rappel is low angle/load too. A 30m rope is enough to get you past the difficult section, almost to the base of the summit mound.
WayneFry - Nov 20, 2011 9:13 pm Date Climbed: Nov 19, 2011
Brrr...This is great local climb and always a pleasure. Very cold and windy conditions that day but still a lot of fun.
A-Lex - Nov 24, 2009 1:03 pm
West RidgeSuper fun!
bradb - Sep 13, 2008 9:57 pm Date Climbed: Sep 13, 2008
Round Top ScrambleMade it to the saddle then took the faint trail along the west side and climbed about 100 ft until I realized I took the wrong route. Backtracked and found the trail to the summit along the north side. Good scramble. Continued on to Sisters. By the way it costs 5 dollars a day now to park at the trailhead(Carson Pass).
chskier - Aug 21, 2008 1:15 pm Date Climbed: Aug 31, 2003
FunFun scramble with friends.
96avs01 - Apr 6, 2008 5:07 pm Date Climbed: Apr 5, 2008
SP outingNormally I don't sign a summit log unless I top out, but since I used this route to summit in March '06 I'll make an exception. Met several SPers at the Carson Pass parking lot. Everyone had different objectives, and I had a hard time restriction. Thus at noon I had to descend from 10,000' from the West Ridge via splitboard to make my appointment. Snow was excellent, not quite 'cornflakes' for nearly 1,500. Will have to return for the Crescent Couloir!
stepho - Nov 30, 2007 10:46 pm
FunFun easy scramble. Great views. Want to go back and try crescent moon couloir.
A Bit - Sep 1, 2007 2:45 am Date Climbed: Oct 15, 2006
Enjoyable scrambleNot too bad a scramble.
CBoldt1010 - May 9, 2007 6:40 pm Date Climbed: Oct 14, 2006
Nicelittle scramble at the top but easy and fun!