Scott Peak

While most of the scramble up Scott Peak is a steep forested slope with little brush, precipitous terrain on all sides of the summit block makes the final portion of this climb more challenging than one might expect. Regardless of the final approach used to the summit, one should expect some class 4 climbing, and at least one rappel on descent.

Getting There

Route

Follow FR6340 W/NW for approximately 0.6 miles, where the road bed will curve to the right (north). Travel along the road will involve hopping some blowdowns and crossing a few stream gullies, but very little in the way of brush. Turn right, uphill, and begin following the crest of the SW Ridge, which is not well-defined at this point. (Note: It is possible to leave FR6340 at any point after crossing a large stream at the 0.25 mile point - I am unsure about the condition of brush or cliff bands if you choose to go this way.) 

Travel along the lower SW Ridge will involve some light salal brush, but overall it is very tame by Cascade bushwhacking standards. At roughtly 1900', you will arrive at the base of a fairly substantial cliff band. We chose to traverse to the left to get around, which seemed more intuitive based on the game trails we were trying to follow. The map seems to suggest that traversing to the right would probably work as well. We found a nice little gully to take us to the top of the cliff band, defined by WP127 and 128 on the route map. From here, simple scrambling with light salal brush brought us to a nice rocky overlook at 3100' (WP 133).

From this location, the SW Ridge became very open, and the brush was nonexistent for the rest of the climb.

At about 4000', the ridge will finally start to lay over, and give your weary legs a little bit of a break. From here, there is a fairly nice view of Spire Mountain, weather permitting.

Continue up the SW Ridge, arriving at an open basin/slope at roughly 4400'.

From here, it is possible to study the summit block. Coming at the summit block directly from the south did not look too appealing to us, so we decided to make a gradually rising traverse over to the NW Ridge (I had studied this ridge from Hubbart Peak, and it appeared 'easy'). After passing around a cliff band, we angled up to intersect the NW Ridge at roughly 4700'. Travel was fairly simple until about 5000' - then things got a little spicier. 

Travel along the last portion of the NW Ridge was made a little uncomfortable by cornicing on the northeast side of the ridge, and nasty moats on the southwest side (In hindsight, I probably would have enjoyed this peak a little more as a late season climb). After getting past this delicate balancing act, we found ourselves up against a short portion of class 4 rock about 100' below the summit. Had I brought along a little more equipment (slings, biners, harness) this probably would not have been that big of a deal. Nonetheless, we thrashed our way through it, then floundered through deep snow for the final push to the summit. Thankfully, we did bring along 100' of 8mm, which made the decision to commit to the summit a little easier. 

Use caution as you approach Scott Peak's summit (in early season), as it is sure to be corniced.

Views from the top were quite pleasant, but our views of the 'big boys' were obscured by a high cloud layer. If you would like a better idea of the views on a clear day, please see the Hubbart Peak photo gallery, as it is probably very similar.

We really didn't want to backtrack our route under the conditions of the day, so we decided to descend via the south/southwest face of the summit block. While it did not seem much easier in terms of steep, class 4 climbing, it did reduce our exposure to a couple objective hazards (moats, cornices). Once descending to 5100', with the help of one 'rappel', a steep snow slope brought us back to our original route.

 

Red Tape

A parking pass is not required for the start of FR6340.

When to Climb

May to October would probably provide the best conditions. It is possible to access Scott Peak from the 'Index side' earlier or later, just use extreme caution for avalanche potential on the upper portion of Scott Peak.

Camping

The nearest official camping is the Troublesome Creek Campground, just one mile east of FR6340. For those who want to camp on route, the flat portion of the SW Ridge at 4000' would make a good location.