Trip Date: May 16-17, 2014

Silver Star Mountain Climbing Trip

Silver Star Creek
Silver Star Basin
Silver Star Mountain (8876’)

Trip Report Summary

Region: Northeastern Washington Cascades

Sub-Region: Mazama Mountains

Area: North Cascades Scenic Highway Corridor

Starting & Ending Point: Silver Star Creek pullout on Highway 20 (Elev. 3450 feet)

Way Points: Silver Star Creek & Silver Star Basin (off-trail hike & snowshoe hike)

Campsite: Silver Star Basin (Elev. 6500 feet)

Summit: Silver Star Mountain (snow climb & rock climb via Silver Star Glacier—East Face)

Approximate Stats: 10 miles traveled; 5900 feet gained & lost.

Related Post

Silver Star Mtn via Burgundy Creek—Upper Silver Star Glacier—East Face – June 10, 1995

Full Trip Report

On an unsettled spring weekend, Eileen and I climbed Silver Star Mountain with Lisa, Kevin L, Steve, Deb, and Fay.

Day 1: Highway 20 to Silver Star Basin

We approached via Silver Star Creek off Highway 20 and encountered snow very quickly. Higher up, the afternoon snow was deep and mushy, prompting us to use snowshoes.

Our campsite was on a nice larch bench at 6500 feet in Silver Star Basin (5.1 hours + 3350 feet from car), directly below Burgundy Col.

Day 2: Silver Star Mtn. Summit Climb & Exit

In the morning, the snow crusted over, so we used crampons to ascend the Silver Star Glacier…or what’s left of it. The largely crevasse-free glacier is now a skiers’ paradise; there were ski tracks everywhere.

A few pickets and flukes came in handy on the final snowfield, which was steep, rock-hard snow.

Since this was Eileen’s 50th birthday trip, she led the Class 4 final rock pitch.

At the summit (4.3 hours + 2500 feet from camp), high fog obscured our view of the distant peaks, but there were some closer peaks showing through.

We were back in camp around midday (2.6 hours from summit), then packed up and retraced our up-route down to the cars (2.8 hours from camp).  Overall, it was an excellent route on a marvelous mountain.

Photo Gallery

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