June 27, 2004
Mt. Larrabee Day Climb
Twin Lakes
Low Pass
High Pass
Gargett Mine
Mount Larrabee (7861′)
——————– Trip Report Summary ——————–
Region: Northwestern Washington Cascades
Sub-Region: Nooksack Mountains
Area: Mt. Baker Wilderness
Starting & Ending Point: Gargett Mine / Winchester Mountain Trailhead at Twin Lakes (Twin Lakes Road)
Way Points: Twin Lakes Isthmus & Low Pass & High Pass & Gargett Mine (trail hike & snow hike & rock scramble)
Summit: Mt. Larrabee (ascent & descent via Southwest Slope)
Approximate Stats: 8 miles traveled; 3900 feet gained & lost; 5.0 hours up; 4.2 hours down.
——————– Full Trip Report ——————–
What happens when a good mountain goes bad? An ascent of the standard (southwest slope) route on Mt. Larrabee would answer that question for most people. Despite being fairly handsome, having respectable numbers (elevation, prominence, projection), and living in a wonderful alpine neighborhood, Larrabee fell into a bad lithological crowd. Its rock is notoriously loose and crumbly.
Not wanting to dismiss Mt. Larrabee on hearsay alone, I headed out Sunday morning with Jon, Megan, and Ryan so that we could judge for ourselves. I figured (hoped) that an early-season climb would provide some welcome snow cover in the loose gullies. Nonetheless, we all brought our helmets and plenty of caution.
An unexpectedly good turn in the weather added a little more optimism to our venture, but we weren’t sure that the Twin Lakes Road would be snow-free to the end. As it turned out, the road was indeed passable to the first lake, although it is sufficiently rough to give low-clearance cars a little trouble. (We saw two backpackers who had parked at the Tomyhoi trailhead and walked the last several miles of roadway.) There was room for about six vehicles, and ours was the fourth to arrive that morning.
From the road end, we hiked between the still-frozen Twin Lakes and along the trail to High Pass. This upsy-downsy trail segment was alternately bare and snow-covered, making for some steep snow traverses. It was comfortably cool and mostly cloudy but seemed to be clearing slowly.
- Mt Larrabee Over High Pass
After taking a break at High Pass (1.7 hours from TH), we descended several hundred feet into the snowy Gargett Mine basin, then contoured over an ankle-wrenching scree and loose talus slope on Larrabee’s bare southwest flank. Megan enjoyed the side-hilling portion so much, she vowed to make it a weekly trip!
- Canadian Border and American Border Peaks
Starting at 5100 feet, just south of a tree-covered rock rib, we headed straight up a convenient but grungy gully, which gradually broadened into a steep heather slope. When the heather abruptly ended below a cliffy area at 6400 feet, Megan decided to call it a day. She claimed to not like the steeper rock ahead, but I think she was actually disappointed by the lack of additional side-hilling opportunities.
- Megan, Ryan, and Jon
Jon and Ryan and I continued upward on reasonably solid Class 3 rock and shrubbery for 200 feet. This gave way to loose Class 2 slopes with scattered ribs of slightly more solid rock. Thankfully, the upper gullies were snow-filled (per plan), so we were able to make faster progress and avoid loose rock. After about 600 feet of pleasant snow climbing, however, our white highway ended (not per plan), giving us no choice but to scrabble ignominiously—and I don’t use that word lightly—up the final 400-foot rubble slope. At least here we could spread out laterally to avoid rockfall hazard.
- Ryan and Jon On Summit
We topped out at 3:00pm (5.0 hours from TH) and spent a lazy hour admiring the steadily improving views as the clouds dissipated. American Border Peak and Mt. Slesse flirted with us the whole time, never wanting to give more than a partial look.
- American Border Peak From Mt Larrabee Summit
We could not find a register on the summit, which looked like my vision of Mars due to the striking red color in the rocks and dirt.
- Tomyhoi Peak, Ryan, and Jon
Having postponed the inevitable long enough, we began a tedious descent of the junky slopes, interspersed with some rapid plunge-stepping in the snow-filled gullies. It was impossible not to trigger lots of rockfall, but somehow we all managed to get down without receiving a direct hit.
After picking up Megan in her sunny hang-out spot, we retraced our route down the lower gully, across to High Pass, and back to Twin Lakes (4.2 hours from summit). Our conclusion? Larrabee truly is a good mountain that suffers from bad geological genes. It is definitely worthy of a climb, but perhaps not a repeat.
——————- Photo Gallery (click to enlarge) ——————–
