• Destination: Mounts Redoubt (8969') and Spickard (8979')
• Date: July 1-4, 2007
• Starting Point: Depot Creek Trailhead (c.2500')
• High Point: Mount Spickard (8979')
• Round Trip Distance: c.17 miles
• Equipment: The ten essentials, ice axe, crampons, glacier gear
• Difficulties: Route finding, glacier travel, 4^th class scrambling, steep snow travel

    After the recent June gloom, I was looking forward to getting out into the alpine during some good weather. As it happened, an old friend, Digger, had some time off from his busy schedule and wanted to get out also. After some discussion, we decided to head up Depot Creek to the Redoubt area to see what it was all about. Digger, as you might surmise, is not his given name. During his first tour in the Navy, his squadronmates had found out that during his younger formative years, he had a side job as a gravedigger to earn extra money. So the moniker stuck.
    Digger flew into town on Saturday night, so we decided on an early start on Sunday for the drive up to Canada and the approach hike in. The border crossing went quickly, and soon we were driving toward Lake Chilliwack trying to decipher my badly copied route descriptions. When I had copied them, I had inadvertently cut the margin off, which, of course, contained some critical information. After asking the local Park Ranger for directions we were back on track driving around the northeast side of Chilliwack Lake. Be advised, this road is pothole hell. The final seven miles took us forty minutes. We then found the Depot Creek road and drove this three miles to the Depot Creek trailhead. This road is passable only to high clearance 4WD vehicles.

Lake Chilliwack, Another border crossing

After packing up, we started up the trail, which is an old roadbed that has converted into a stream. We missed a critical turn left uphill, and ended up following some flagging into a bog of devils club. After some consultation, we thrashed uphill fighting slide alder until we intercepted the real trail, which led us to the border. Its not a true Cascades climb until you fight some brush.  Paul Klenke has an excellent sketch of the trail here. (The road has been brushed and the impasse has been made somewhat passable.)

Old Growth

The waterfall
    After the easiest border crossing ever (along with the one on north Ross Lake), the abandoned trail follows Depot Creek through some very enjoyable old growth. Except for the occasional blow-down morass, the worst one occurring directly after the border crossing, the trail was in good shape and easy to follow. This all ended with the waterfall. The Depot Creek waterfall is one of the most scenic and amazing waterfalls in the state. If this waterfall had an easy access, it would be a major attraction. Some people make the trip just to see this waterfall. The steep and brushy trail now follows the waterfall directly up to a hanging valley underneath the North Face of Redoubt. There are a few sections that have a fixed line due to the steepness of the rock and the constant mist coming off of the waterfall.

Awesome fixed lines

Camp.  Northwest Mox is in the background

The North Face of Redoubt
    We then hiked up the scenic valley, admiring the excellent views of Redoubt to its head at Lake Ouzel. This lake is in a cirque ringed by Mts Redoubt, the Northwest Mox Spire, and Spickard. It is truly an alpine wonderland and an excellent campsite. That night Digger produced a food bag that must have weighed in at twenty pounds. Digger’s last long backcountry foray was the Ptarmigan Traverse a couple of years ago. On that trip he had neglected to pack enough food, and by the end of the trip was going hungry. He was not about to make the same mistake on this trip.

 Climbing Redoubt

A historic summit log
    The next day we got a leisurely start for the South Face of Mount Redoubt. The route took us up and across the Redoubt Glacier, across a loose rib underneath the Flying Buttress on Redoubts south side, and up a gully to a wide hanging snowfield on the South Face. From the top of the snowfield we took the leftmost exit, which required a fourth class scramble around a small headwall to a series of gullies which took us to the summit ridge. A short scramble brought us to the summit and excellent views back down Depot Creek. After a summit lunch, some easy down climbing and two raps with an excellent glissade brought us back to the glacier. That night we dined well on Digger’s food stash and planned tomorrow’s activities. The original idea was to climb both of the Mox Spires in a day, then have a restful hike out on day four. However, we decided that the Mox Spires were to ambitious of a plan, so we decided to nab Spickard instead.

Climbing Spickard, Sliver Lake in the background

 Mox Spires from the summit of Spickard
    We got another leisurely start the next morning for what we thought would be an easy summit. We had decided on the Silver Glacier route instead of the looser but more direct South Slope. The initial climb up the glacier was straightforward and fun. Instead of getting on the NE ridge as described, we elected to end run a big bergschrund on the right and climb snow to the summit. Due to our late start, the snow became very slushy and soft below the bergschrund, and steep above it. After some very tiring vertical slogging, we exited onto the West Ridge and scrambled that to the summit. After some lunch, we belayed each other past the bergschrund and slogged the glacier back to camp. Some pickets would have made life easier for us here.

The hike out
    The next day we reluctantly broke camp and started the uneventful hike out past the waterfall, which was now really raging. We did not see another soul the entire trip until the hike out, where we met three other parties going in. After the teeth rattling drive out and another uneventful border crossing, we settled in for refreshments at Bob’s Burgers and Brew.
    Overall, this was an enjoyable trip into an unique and beautiful area. Some considerations: We forgot to get a backcountry permit for the National Park. I have heard that the Park Service will issue these in advance over the phone if you explain the circumstances. I would recommend planning at least five days, preferably six for this trip. I wished we had an extra day or two for some more climbing and exploration. Consider the North Face route on Redoubt. This route looked very attractive, but would require some extra gear.