Colonial Peak and Snowfield Peak

We drove from home on 6/5/24 and spent the night at the Goodell Creek Campground. It was pleasant and nice to have somewhere near enough to Marblemount to get an early start the following day. On 6/6/24 we got up early, and picked up our permit in the morning. We started at 8am at the Pyramid Lake Trailhead, ascending immediately. The trail up to the tarn at 2,600ft is great. After the tarn you start up the unmaintained trail which is extremely steep, bushy and full of roots at times. A lot of hard work with all our mountaineering gear to get up there. This route follows the east ridge off of pyramid peak and stays nearly ridge proper the whole way up – slightly on the north side of it. At the base of the saddle between this ridge and Pyramid Peak, you are directly north of the lake below the Colonial Glacier and Pinnacle Peak/Paul Bunyons Stump. 

We traveled directly south along the base of the cliffs below Pyramid and Pinnacle, to the outlet of this lake, which was covered in ice and snow at this time of year. Due to the exceptionally hot temperatures that weekend, there was evidence of several big slides along this path that made the travel nerve wracking. After a short time the terrain eased up as we approached the lake. We found good camping on the ridge along the eastern lakeshore, and thought about calling it a night there. But we realized we had a lot of daylight left, so we decided to head up towards Colonial peak. We ascended this small ridge to the eastern side of Colonial Glacier, and roped up to travel onto the glacier, below and just west of a rocky cliff band before turning back east to make our way onto the very steep snow face of the western ridge of Colonial. It looked best to travel in a high line across this snow, so we made our way carefully across. The snow was very soft and felt like cement around our feet, but the exposure to the north was intense. After crossing the snow field, a short scramble (with a few sketchy feeling moves) on rock and snow brought us to the summit. 

We reversed our route and went back to our camp on the small ridge above the lake. It was windier than expected when we arrived, and as we went to set up our camp, Carolyn’s helmet started sliding towards the drop off to the east. She tried to stop its fall but the wind pulled it quickly over the edge and out of sight. Of all the gear to lose this piece felt like the worst possible timing. Not only would it be a bad idea to climb farther without it, the terrain we’d come across to reach our camp was not something we wanted to travel on without it either. We sat in frustration for a short while before Jeff decided to plunge step down the snow to see if he could find it. After 15 long minutes he returned with the helmet in hand! 

The next morning, we woke up early to go for Snowfield, starting to walk just before 6am. We traveled on the eastern side of the frozen lake, and roughly up the middle of the western part of the Colonial Glacier to the saddle that separates this from the Neve Glacier. Once on the Neve we traveled on the mellowest angles, directly towards the saddle between the Horseman and Snowfield. At the top of the saddle the wind was biting and we were both feeling cold. 

We got onto the ridge on the south side of the glacier and began travelling on mixed rock, ice, and snow towards the summit. We got to the base of the steep gully (at this time full of ice and snow), just 200 feet from the summit. To reach the summit we would need to step left (towards the north) into the gully, and travel up it to the final summit scramble. We started up towards the gully and paused. The exposure below was huge, the conditions felt tough, we were both not feeling confident about continuing. After some discussion, and a few scouting missions to see if there were any alternatives, we turned around. It felt hard to leave after coming so close, but it didn’t feel right, and in the end we felt good about the decision.

Walking across the Neve was magical. Both glaciers were in great shape and we saw few crevasses on our whole walk. We returned to our campsite, packed up, and reversed our route. 

The trickiest part was the traverse across the slide area below Pyramid Peak. We saw several people who had stopped on the other side, electing not to cross given the risk of further slides. We ended up hiking down and around one of the slides, which in the end seemed more dangerous than quickly travelling through the path we had originally taken. 

We were glad to see the snow hills on the other side, and continued down the snow covered unmaintained trail, reversing our route. 

Long and eventful couple of days but so incredibly beautiful. We were very tired. We both got sunburned on our necks, and swore to wear balaclavas the rest of the summer.