(1) We parked at the Opal Picnic Area. It took us a few minutes
to study the way up, then just decided to go straight up from
where we parked.
(2) Our chosen route looked really steep from the highway
but it was actually bearable. We had to carefully scale a
5.5 wall though to gain the ridge.
(1) At the ridge, only a few knee-deep snowpatches existed.
We didn't encounter anymore difficulties until we reached the
north face of the summit.
(2) Cairns and trails at this point come and go. Here's an example
of one of the walls we had to go climb. I've been having bad
feelings the whole time we were on this mountain, including
about my jacket I left behind.
(1)
After reaching the summit, we hiked farther south to another
high point where the summit cairn is parked.
(2) We stayed about half an hour at the top to enjoy a perfectly
beautiful day. On our descent we tried to track down the jacket
I lost on the way up so we had to scale an even awkward wall.
This trip became the scariest scramble I've ever done.
