Trip Date: October 2, 2010

Cutthroat Peak Day Climb

State Creek
Northeast Whistler Basin
Cutthroat Peak (8050’)

Trip Report Summary

Region: Northeastern Washington Cascades

Sub-Region: Upper Methow Mountains

Area: North Cascades Scenic Highway Corridor

Starting & Ending Point: State Creek pullout on Highway 20 (Elev. 5050 feet)

Way Points: State Creek & Northeast Whistler Basin & Southwest Cutthroat Saddle (trail hike & off-trail hike & rock scramble)

Summit: Cutthroat Peak (rock climb via West Ridge—Upper North Ridge)

Approximate Stats: 4 miles traveled; 3300 feet gained & lost; 6.1 hours up; 4.1 hours down.

Full Trip Report

For the second part of our Rainy Pass / Washington Pass double-header weekend, Eileen and I teamed up with Mike T to climb Cutthroat Peak. Mike and I seem hard-pressed to find wanna-do peaks in common, so we were pleased to hook up for such a worthy objective.

On a bluebird Saturday morning, we met at the State Creek pullout beside Highway 20, directly below Cutthroat Peak, and headed off in the dawn chill.

Another party of two (Norm and Nick, from Bellingham) left minutes before us, with the same goal. Not finding any sort of climber’s path down to State Creek and back up the other side, we were all immediately faced with thrashing through dense, wet, scraggly bushes and trees. Thankfully, this ickiness was short, and we were soon hiking up a well-beaten path through sweeping meadow slopes.

After passing through scenic “Northeast Whistler Basin,” we started scrambling up talus, scree, sand, and rock ribs to reach a saddle in Cutthroat’s southwest ridge (3.0 hours from car).

Views from this saddle were marvelous, but the peak was guarded by a daunting west buttress. We pondered our route options, which Beckey describes as (1) an unprotectable and intimidating Class 3-4 scramble up the buttress, (2) a poorly protected Class 3-4 scramble up the crumbly “first southwest gully,” and (3) a poorly protected Class 3-4 scramble up the loose “second southwest gully.” Our fourth option was to go home, and that was starting to look pretty good.

Norm and Nick were already making their way up what we (and they) initially thought to be the “first southwest gully.” We soon decided to scratch that option, based on their slow progress and the scary sound of rockfall. After re-reading several route descriptions, however, we concluded that they were actually in the SECOND gully rather than the FIRST.

A bit of exploration revealed that the FIRST gully is much closer to the saddle and is really not so much a gully as just a shallow recess that runs up to the ridge crest. I suspect that many climbers miss this inconspicuous feature and, inadvertently, end up in the SECOND gully.

Once in the true “first southwest gully,” we were delighted to find that it offers a reasonable–even enjoyable–Class 3-4 scramble on mostly solid rock, ending at a double-bolt belay/rappel station. From there, a crux 5.2 face led up to easy ledges below the ridge crest.

The continuing traverse along the crest itself is not difficult but is breathtakingly exposed. Wow!

We did running belays over and around a series of crestline horns, and then across the northwestern face of the summit block, finally ending at the upper north ridge.

One full pitch of fun Class 5.0 rock gained us the blocky summit in early afternoon (6.1 hours from car).

Norm and Nick were already on top, having survived their horrible gully. We shared some summit photos with them and made an agreement to combine resources on our descent…but only after enjoying a long break to soak in the autumn views. We all marveled at the favorable positioning of Cutthroat Peak, which offers a whole new perspective on familiar mountains.

For our descent, we made one double-rope rappel off two summit bolts, hoping it would get us to the west ridge notch.

Our 50-meter ropes came up 10 meters short, but we were able to scramble down to a ledge and then over to the ridge notch. A long, roped traverse back down the exposed crest allowed us to reach a second double-bolt rappel station. From there, we made another double-rope rappel down the “first southwest gully.”

Steep sand slopes below the gully transitioned into meadowland and a welcome climbers path. We followed this path through the State Creek brush and stepped onto Highway 20 in early evening (4.0 hours from summit) to finish off a great day.

Photo Gallery

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