Trip Date: May 31, 2004
High Esmerelda Peak Day Climb
North Fork Teanaway River
De Roux Creek Meadow
High Esmerelda Peak (~6775 ft)
Trip Report Summary
Region: Central Washington Cascades
Sub-Region: Teanaway Mountains
Area: Okanogan–Wenatchee National Forest
Starting & Ending Point: Boulder – De Roux Trailhead on North Fork Teanaway River Road (Elev. 3800 feet)
Way Points: North Fork Teanaway River Bridge & De Roux Creek Bridge & De Roux Creek Meadow & High Esmerelda Peak summit (trail hike & snow hike & snow climb)
Summit: High Esmerelda Peak (snow climb via Southwest Slope)
Approximate Stats: 7 miles traveled; 3100 feet gained & lost; 2.9 hours up; 1.8 hours down.
Full Trip Report
For our iffy-weather Memorial Day trip, Suzanne and I headed up the North Fork Teanaway River, hoping the Teanaway rainshadow would do its magic once again. Our goal was High Esmerelda Peak, the highest and westernmost of the five or six Esmerelda Peaks. We left the DeRoux Creek trailhead under skies that were mostly sunny but with much cloud activity.
A bombproof new bridge (complete with concrete wingwall abutments) crosses the Teanaway River, and farther up the trail, another stout new bridge crosses De Roux Creek. The trail was muddy but bare; we didn’t encounter snow patches until about 2 miles up. At 5000 feet, the trail became lost in a snowy basin. We rock-hopped across the creek, then regained the trail as it switchbacked up a bare, south-facing hillside.
Around 5500 feet, where the final switchback traverses a talus ridge, we cut straight uphill on a northeastward bearing. The summit block soon came into view, and we climbed the last 700 feet by kicking steps up surprisingly firm corn snow covered by several inches of newer snow.
- Suzanne Climbing Snow Chute
Shortly after noon, we topped out on the apparent summit, a rocky knob triangulated at 6765 feet. The views of nearby Hawkins Mountain and the Stuart Range were made more dramatic by a backdrop of dark clouds.
- Mt Stuart From High Esmerelda Peak
Over the next hour, the cloud ceiling lifted enough to reveal The Cradle, Harding Mountain, and other mid-range peaks. Still, the air was quite cold, and we felt its bite every time a cloud obscured the sun.
- The Cradle and Harding Mountain from High Esmerelda Peak
While on top, I couldn’t help but notice that the snowy/rocky dome about 200 yards to the west looked a bit higher than our knob. Suzanne and I took turns traversing over to the dome and sighting back to the knob.
- Hawkins Mountain behind High Esmerelda Peak Summit Dome
My eyeball estimate gave the dome a slight edge, but I set up my Gatorade bottles as a makeshift transit to verify it. Yep, both flavors of Gatorade (lemon-lime and glacier freeze) clearly showed the untriangulated dome to be higher than the triangulated knob by a margin of at least 10 feet. I think a conservative estimate of High Esmerelda Peak’s true summit elevation would be 6775 feet.
For our descent, we plunge-stepped and glissaded south-facing snow slopes as far as possible, then picked through light forest to reach the 5000-foot basin. A log crossing of De Roux Creek and a quick hike down the trail put us back at the car in late afternoon. Ahhh, the Teanaway rainshadow did it again!
Photo Gallery
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