Snowking Mountain

Snowking Mountain (7433'+) is 21.8 miles NNW of Glacier Peak in the Cascade Mountain Range of Washington. It is 11.1 miles SSW of Eldorado Peak. Nearby are Mount Chaval and Mount Buckindy.

The Kindy-Found Ridge approach to Snowking Mountain has been described (75 Scrambles in Washington, Peggy Goldman, 2001 and Cascade Alpine Guide, Fred Beckey, 1977). Road 1570 is blocked by a washout at the major creek crossing at 1800'. Beyond that point, numerous downed alder would discourage even an enthusiastic 4x4 driver with a chain saw, should the washout be crossed. The alder pose no obstacle to the hiker.

The first 200' of the climber's trail ascends the steep clear cut slope without the benefit of switchbacks. It moderates a bit upon entering the forest and becomes pleasant by 2800'. A small forest camp is located about 4500' near a seep and small bog.

Good views begin shortly after the 4800' saddle. Near the trail, a narrow fault runs about 1000' north northwest from pt. 5791'. It is a few feet wide and up to 50' deep. The rock is granite. Do not expect the trail to contour around points on the ridge. It closely follows the divide.

A large blue-green lake surrounded by forested slopes and the Cascade
River Valley in the right background.

This view of Found Lake 4000' is from the ridge north of pt. 5697' at about 5 PM on 8/28. The foreground trees are mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana).

Blue sky, a long ridge of light grey rock, cliffs and snowfields, with
forested slopes below.

The northwest ridge of Mutchler Peak (7160+') is viewed from near the northwest shore of Cyclone Lake. It has an alpine appearance with the tree line at a modest 5000' elevation.

Two people sit on light granite boulders in the foreground. The lake
is to the right. A small steep snowfield near the lake is in the background

Near our camp, Brian and Barb rehydrate and filter water from lake 5442', north of Cyclone Lake (5350'). This and the previous image were obtained at 7 PM on 8/28.

Mountain covered with very white snow, light grey cliffs, blue sky.
Heather, granite boulders and small mountain hemlock in the foreground.

The Cyclone Glacier extends from the east (highest) summit of Snowking Mountain to 6400'. 2001-2002 was exceptionally heavy snow season. Even at the end of August, only small areas of firn (darker old snow that has passed through at least one summer melt season) are visible. This is apparent in some of the other glacier images, as well.

We ascended the ridge right of the long narrow snowfield. To avoid the glacier, we downclimbed 10' of 2nd class rock to the snowfield just below the lower edge of the glacier and contoured across pleasant rock to reach the snowfield (albeit with a small crevasse) to the left of the glacier proper. Subsequently, we ascended the snowfield to the skyline ridge.

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

Large icebergs from the lower edges of avalanche-fed snowfields float on Cyclone Lake (5350'). This and the previous image were obtained at 7:30 AM on 8/29 near the northwest shore of Cyclone Lake.

A much-crevassed glacier extends across the image. Two large gendarmes
with steep faces emerge from the upper edge of the glacier right of center.
Below the glacier are large rock slopes, cliffs and snowfields. Background
mountains are partly obscured by small cumulous clouds. Heather, granite
boulders and small subalpine fir cover the slope in the foreground.

The route to the outlet of Cyclone Lake is very near the lake shore. Away from the shore, a low cliff along the east side of the outlet creek blocks descent. Mutchler Peak (left of center) and the 0.5 sq. mile Mutchler Glacier are viewed from 6000' on the ridge east of Cyclone Lake at 9:45 AM on 8/29.

Elevation v. local time is graphed for second and third days of the trip.

This graph summarizes our trip. The horizontal axis is 24 hour Pacific Daylight Time. These data were logged by an altimeter watch. Data for the first day, 8/28/02, were lost due to my error. On 8/28, we left Seattle at 8:15 AM and started hiking at 11:30 AM. We left the 4800' saddle at 3:30 PM and arrived at lake 5442' at 6:30 PM.

Trip summary

8/28 - Hike to camp near south shore of lake 5442'.
8/29 - Ascent to east summit of Snowking Mountain via ridge northwest of Cyclone Lake and snowfield east of the Cyclone Glacier. Descent to camp via east ridge of Snowking and west slope of pt. 5860'.
8/30 - Return to car.

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