Ascent of Round Mountain on 2022-02-12| Others in Party: | Eve Jakubowski
Jon Linders
Rob Riethmiller
| | Date: | Saturday, February 12, 2022 | | Ascent Type: | Successful Summit Attained | | Motorized Transport to Trailhead: | Car | | Peak: | Round Mountain | | Location: | USA-Washington | | Elevation: | 5320 ft / 1621 m |
Ascent Trip ReportSUMMARY
Steep conditioning climb with great views. Ideal peak to save for Winter.
See Eve's much more entertaining TR here: https://havetent.com/2022/03/02/round-mountain/
DIRECTIONS
Google. Drive from highway included on GPX. May need to stop before blockade if snow lingers.
EXPERIENCE
Good times with great people!
Had been saving this for a Winter ascent. First climb of the year during a year I plan to get out every weekend after so much time lost to COVID (last several weekends were spent skiing). I also realized that this was my first climb with other people since Sep 2019!
Met at TH ~07:15. Departed ~07:40 as 2 other vehicles pulled up.
Short road hike to flagged turn off point. Open forest hike quickly turns steep. Be sure to have your hiking poles! I didn't realize how steep this leg was until we were on the ground: more than 2,600 feet in less than 1.3 miles with 40+d slope in some sections. Hard to go wrong with the terrain - just keep going up along obvious ridges. Turn North after reaching highpoint for ridge to summit.
Patchy snow began ~3,000 and coalesced ~3,500. Very soft with the crazy temperatures: 50+d(!!) at the summit and 60+d in the valley. But consolidated and shallow enough to continue with boots.
Other team of 2 passed us at the beginning of the summit ridge. About 450 feet up from the saddle is a small ledge just before the steepest section (waypoint "Drop gear"). The other pair dropped their snowshoes and poles and donned crampons and axes. We kept snowshoes for training weight and kept our poles since it wasn't too steep and the snow was soft but axe and crampons would definitely be necessary with hard snow, and we used axes on the descent.
(The amount I was post-holing compared to the others was a sobering insight that I need to quickly lose the "COVID 19" I gained and get back to performance weight...)
Choose your own adventure up the ridge and around a few outcroppings to the large flat summit. Views were stellar! We shared summit treats and identified far off peaks.
We plunge-stepped all but a couple steep sections on the summit ridge descent. Linking multiple short glissades is possible. The approach section descent was tiringly steep (don't forget those poles!) but passed quickly enough.
Went to Rhodes River Ranch in Oso for resfreshments. Crazy fancy horse arena with good food.
PACE
ASCENT
2.25h TH to South ridge highpoint (2.3mi, 2,800ft)
1.5h South ridge highpoint to summit (0.9mi, 1,000ft)
=3.75 hours
DESCENT
0.5h on Summit
0.75h Summit to South ridge highpoint
1.25h South ridge highpoint to TH
=2 hours
6.5 HOURS
RATING
1/1 ACCESS (roads, restrictions) - FS road
1/1 REMOTENESS (popularity, sight/Sound) - Not a popular peak but 2 other groups on route
1/1 CONDITION (trail/route) - Open forest and open slopes
1/2 VARIETY (flora/fauna, geology, terrain) - Higgins looks awesome but otherwise just forest
1/2 VIEWS (frequency, quality) - Super prominent with tons of neighbors
1/1 AWE (does it inspire) - Uniquely prominent peak but dull climb in itself
1/2 DANIEL FACTOR (would I enjoy climbing this again: 0=No, 1=Meh, 2=Yes) - Compact conditioner with great payoffs, but a lot of work
TOTAL 7/10
(does not include difficulty since hikers may prefer opposite extremes)
ALWAYS looking for partners -- don't hesitate to contact me!
Washington Ultimate CoHP/CoPP/Top100e/Top100p/Bulger
Oregon Ultimate CoHP/CoPP/Top100e/Top100p
US Ultimate WEST HP/PP/Iso/2ndLap/4kP/Top100e (doesn't include East of the plains, and WA, OR, CO, AK, HI)
US Ultimate EAST HP/PP/Iso/2ndLap/4kP/Top100e (doesn't include West of the plains) |
| Summary Total Data | | Total Elevation Gain: | 3901 ft / 1188 m | | Extra Gain: | 100 ft / 30 m | | Round-Trip Distance: | 12.8 mi / 20.6 km | | Route: | South Ridge | | Trailhead: | FR 1890 1619 ft / 493 m | | Quality: | 8 (on a subjective 1-10 scale) | | Route Conditions: | Road Hike, Open Country, Snow on Ground, Snow Climb | | Gear Used: | Ice Axe, Ski Poles | | Weather: | Cool, Calm, Clear | | Ascent Statistics | | Time: | 3 Hours 45 Minutes | | Descent Statistics | | Time: | 2 Hours | GPS Data for Ascent/Trip
 GPS Waypoints - Hover or click to see name and lat/long
Peaks:  climbed and  unclimbed by Daniel Mick
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Note: GPS Tracks may not be accurate, and may not show the best route. Do not follow this route blindly. Conditions change frequently. Use of a GPS unit in the outdoors, even with a pre-loaded track, is no substitute for experience and good judgment. Peakbagger.com accepts NO responsibility or liability from use of this data.
Download this GPS track as a GPX file |
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