Trip Date: September 28, 2003

Red Mountain Day Climb

Commonwealth Basin
Commonwealth Pond aka Red Pond
Red Mountain (5890 ft)

Trip Report Summary

Region: Central Washington Cascades

Sub-Region: Snoqualmie Range

Area: Alpine Lakes Wilderness

Starting & Ending Point: PCT-Northbound Trailhead at Snoqualmie Pass off Interstate 90 (Elev. 3000 feet)

Way Points: Commonwealth Basin & Commonwealth/Red Pond (trail hike)

Summit: Red Mountain (off-trail hike & rock scramble via Southwest Face; descent via South Ridge)

Approximate Stats: 8 miles traveled; 3000 feet gained & lost; 3.8 hours up; 2.4 hours down.

Full Trip Report

Laura and I thought we were the only two climbers around who’d never been up the Red Mountain near Snoqualmie Pass, but then we found that Deborah hadn’t either.  Since we were all looking for an easy and short scramble on this summer-like Sunday, our choice of peaks became obvious.

We chatted our way up the Pacific Crest Trail and the Commonwealth Basin trail, touching on many different conversational topics but frequently coming back to language, word etymology, and semantics.  Deborah’s background in Latin always made for informative discussions.  Soon, we arrived at the pond below Red Pass and immediately spotted the well-trodden climber’s path that leads up Red Mountain’s west slope.  Although steep and crude, it was fairly easy to follow until it intersected the southwest ridge crest about halfway up.  Deborah, a budding scrambler, eye-balled the rockier terrain ahead and decided to call it good here.

Laura and I continued traversing up and left, across small ledges, scree gullies, and heather slopes.  The exposure remained only moderate, and the climbing never really exceeded Class 2.  At noon sharp, we stepped onto the roomy summit with its convenient rock-bench seats.  It was remarkably warm and still for the last weekend in September.  We admired the close Snoqualmie Mountains, especially Mt. Thomson, Chimney Rock, Lemah Mountain, and Chikamim Peak,  but a bit of haze obscured the more distant peaks.

Although the views and weather demanded a long stay, we remembered that Deborah was waiting below—with the home-baked cookies.  For the descent, we followed a steep path down along the southwest ridge and eventually found Deborah playing lizard.  As a threesome, we continued downward, passing several other parties heading up.  A bit later, one party sent two grapefruit-sized rocks zinging down between us, clearing each of us by less than 10 feet.  We were glad to be wearing helmets on this seemingly benign “walk-up.”

To add variety to our hike out, we took the old Cascade Crest Trail down along Commonwealth Creek.  This saved us over a mile of hiking and provided some much-appreciated shade against the hot afternoon sun.