North Cascades Scramble

My brother Steve has a love for the North Cascades and every once in a while I go with him on a not-so-quite-explored trip in the region. This time I joined him on a scramble up an unnamed peak just north of Mount Shuksan. We went on a beautiful fall day. The sun was out, but traces of snow could be found on the route. We started by hiking along the climbers trail which leads to Mount Shuksan. Once we reached the ridge of our peak we had to make a decision to climb up either the east or west side. We tried the east side first thinking it would be easier to hike across its snow field. Once we reached the snow we found out it was a bad decision. The snow was steep and icy which made for a nervous ascent.

We then tried the West side which had no snow. The route was a little steep, but we were able to make it up by clinging to heather and trees. On the top we were greeted by wonderful views of Mount Baker, Mount Shuksan and the rest of the North Cascades. We were probably one of the very few people who had climbed this peak, but we saw some local mountain goats further along the ridge who didn't this accomplishment was much to get excited about.