Mount Roosevelt

Mount Roosevelt (5835'+) is 4.9 miles NW of Snoqualmie Pass in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. The route is described in standard references (75 Scrambles in Washington, Peggy Goldman, 2001 and Cascade Alpine Guide, Fred Beckey, 1977).

Not too surprisingly, many of the most popular hiking trails are near major highways and population centers and require little elevation gain to reach a scenic destination. Snow Lake qualifies on both counts. The trail head is 2 miles from Interstate 90 and a one hour drive from Seattle. The trail ascends only 1300' to reach the pass south of Snow Lake.

This area is so accessible that it is very popular, especially on weekends after the trail is snow free. On occasion, this leads to tragedy. On one day, Saturday, September 8, 2001, a rock climber was killed in fall on the east face of Chair Peak and a novice hiker suffered a broken ankle at Snow Lake Pass and required evacuation. On the day of our trip, Thursday, July 18, 2002, the trail was mostly snow covered beyond Snow Lake Pass (4400'). Even so, we saw four people beyond that point.

A large mostly ice-covered lake is surrounded by forested slopes, the
middle fork of the Snoqualmie River Valley is in the right background, and
blue sky is above.

From just north of Snow Lake Pass (4400'), this is the view to the northwest of Snow Lake 4016' and Wright Mountain (5430'), the highest peak in the left background. 4:15 PM.

Blue sky, cliffs, sparsely forested slopes and snowfields above a
large mostly ice-covered lake.

The main peak of Mount Roosevelt (5835') is the highest rounded summit at the center. To its right is the north peak (5760+') with a steep north face and low angle southeast slope covered with snowfields. This view is from the east shore of Snow Lake at 10:15 AM.

An ice covered lake is surrounded by a low ridge with small snow fields, mountain
hemlock, heather and rock outcroppings. More mountains are in the distance.

Gem Lake (4857) from the southwest is almost completely ice covered. Big Snow Mountain is just right of center. 12:45 PM.

A large mountain with a large face and summit snowfields is in the middle
distance. Forested and snow-covered lower ridges lead to the mountain from a
large snow-covered lake well below the viewpoint. Mountain hemlock are in the
foreground.

Snoqualmie Mountain (6278') is just left of center behind Snow Lake. Snow Lake Pass is just above the tip of the foreground branch.

Cliffs and snowfields across the lake are reflected in the water.

This is another view of the northwest peak of Mount Roosevelt. The main peak is left of center. This and the previous image are from 5000' on the northeast ridge of Mount Roosevelt at 1:45 PM.

We did not complete the climb because of time constraints, lack of conditioning (it was Brian's first trip of the season) and a minor leg injury (I strained a calf muscle). Our climbing partner Barb soloed the climb about August 11 (on bare trail) and emailed me the following.

I thought the route was fine if not sensational up until the last gully up to the summit. That was my least favorite--steep vegetation. I also thought the views from the top just weren't all that sensational.

My opinion is that this is a climb best done in mid-July. The scenery is enhanced by the lingering snow and the snow minimizes the damage to the much trampled terrain near Snow Lake.

This graph summarizes our trip. The horizontal axis is 24 hour Pacific Daylight Time. These data were logged by an altimeter watch. Our fastest hours were 1040 ft/hr at 9:30 AM and -1160 ft/hr at 5 PM.

You are visitor number access counter

Return to my home page