Trip Date: May 27-29, 2016

Cashmere Mountain Climbing Trip

Little Eightmile Lake
Lake Caroline
Little Caroline Lake
Windy Basin
Windy Ridge Saddle
Cashmere Mountain aka Mount Cashmere (8501′)
Windy Pass

Trip Report Summary

Region: Central Washington Cascades

Sub-Region: Icicle Mountains

Area: Alpine Lakes Wilderness

Starting & Ending Point: Eightmile Lake Trailhead on Eightmile Creek Road (Elev. 3300 feet)

Way Points: Pioneer Creek & Eightmile Creek & Little Eightmile Lake & Caroline Pass & Lake Caroline & Little Caroline Lake & Windy Basin (trail hike & snow hike)

Campsite: Windy Basin (Elev. 6500 feet)

Sidetrip: Windy Ridge Saddle (off-trail hike & rock scramble)

Summit: Cashmere Mountain (snow climb & rock scramble & rock climb via West Ridge; descent via Northwest Face)

Sidetrip: Windy Pass & Little Windy Point (off-trail hike & rock scramble)

Approximate Stats: 18 miles traveled; 5600 feet gained & lost.

Related Posts

Cashmere Mountain attempt via West Ridge – May 2014

Cashmere Mountain via Northwest Couloir – June 1976

Cashmere Mountain via South Slope—South Gully – July 1975

Full Trip Report

I spent Memorial Day Weekend in the Icicle Mountains with Lisa, Kevin L, Kevin K, George, and Eileen.  Our goal was Cashmere Mountain.  It had been exactly 40 years since my last ascent of this peak, so I felt confident that a return trip would not be viewed as excessive repetition.  I soon found out that some peaks—including this one—just get better with age.

Day 1: Trailhead to Windy Basin

We hiked into Caroline Lakes on Friday and continued upward to establish a base camp at 6500 feet in Windy Basin (5.3 hours from TH) above the lakes.  There was a chilly wind blowing out of the northeast all day.

Day 2: Cashmere Mtn. Summit Climb

We awoke to a skiff of fresh snow in camp on Saturday morning.  No doubt, this was going to be a more interesting climb than expected.

The day started clear enough to give some nice views over to the Stuart Range.  It was also comforting to see a healthy high-elevation snowpack.

We hiked up frozen tundra and crusty snowfields of Windy Basin, heading for Mt. Cashmere.

Our clear weather didn’t last long.  Upon reaching the low saddle between Windy Ridge and Cashmere, we were met by fog and snow showers.  Frosted vegetation gave a sublime beauty to the landscape.

The weather looked unpromising, so Lisa and Kevin L turned around here, but Kevin K, George, Eileen and I were game to continue onward.  The four of us roped up and climbed along Cashmere’s west ridge.  In the summertime, this route would be a Class 2-3 scramble; with the snow and rime covered rock, it became an interesting Class 4 climb.

We got a nice mixture of rock and hard snow on the northern side of the ridge.  Numerous slings and several chocks provided adequate protection along the way.  The southern side was all bare rock and easier climbing.

The fog and wintry conditions gave a wonderful “big mountain” feel to the ascent.  George remarked that he’s had many winter climbs that were warmer than this one!  After a long series of running belays, we hit the rimey summit shortly before noon (4.4 hours from camp).

Rather than retracing our up-route back along the west ridge, we descended via the northwest face.  This featured moderately steep and crusty snowfields between rock outcrops.  We used running belays with several snow pickets on the steepest snowfields.

A blizzard passed through during our descent, but the weather gradually cleared throughout the afternoon.  Having time to spare, we made a sidetrip over to Windy Pass and Little Windy Point before dropping into camp in early evening (5.0 hours from summit).

Day 3: Windy Basin to Trailhead

We awoke to cold blue skies on Sunday and hiked out to the trailhead (4.2 hours from camp), passing 50 or so day hikers heading up to Eightmile Lake.

Photo Gallery

Click to enlarge…