Mount Larrabee - Mt. Baker Wilderness Area
June 25, 2005

Trip Report | Photo Gallery

Our original plan to do Blanchard Needle was abandoned due to Mother Nature not being able to make up her mind. I don't much fancy rock climbing in the rain so we decided to do Larrabee down at Mount Baker instead. Marian and I picked up Gerry and his son Nick and we were off.

The road is pretty rough after the Yellow Aster Butte trailhead but Marian's CRV managed it just fine. We arrived at the Twin Lakes trailhead around 9:50 and were on the trail by 10:20 . The cloud was hanging low and it was pretty chilly. There was snow starting right at the parking lot but it was intermittent on the trail.

We paused to take a picture of the perfectly still lake with a beautiful reflection in it which I knew would never come out right in the picture but it sure was beautiful.

Like most Washington State trails, the trail was in excellent shape with perhaps too many switchbacks and we were up at high pass in about an hour and a half.

After a leisurely lunch break, we headed for Larrabee. Finding the route was a little tricky given that the visibility was fluctuating between really bad and none but we managed to make our way across the snow basin to the ridge. The clouds parted long enough for us to make a decision and up we scrambled.

The packed sand/gravel on this section of the ridge isn't much fun. It's steep and the footing is terrible but before long we had made it to the gully and dodgy footing made way for dodgy holds. It was fun climbing except when the holds came out in our hands or gave way under our feet.

There was one particularly tricky bit that got our hearts pumping but once we were around that it was smooth sailing... as smooth as sailing can be on totally crap rock anyway. After the tricky bit, the grade eases but you have to deal with a LOT more loose rock and sand which is quite miserable when you are socked in with nothing to take your mind off it. The summit was in view though and before long we were on it :)

Just before the summit is an opening in the rock with a view straight down on to the glacier below. It was pretty cool. The summit has a nice flat top that would have been nice to stretch out on and bask in the sun had there been any. We had a short lived view of Slesse before it was devoured by clouds.

We were ready to head down when I remembered that I hadn't put on my knee braces & orthodics for the way down so I told the others I would catch up and went about the task of preparing my knees for the descent. I was amazed when the sun poked out and I was treated to a little bit of a view after all. I enjoyed the sun while it lasted and then hurried to catch up with the others who were quickly disappearing into the mist.

The way down was worse than the way up but it was thankfully much faster. It was easier to see the route from above and we were back down at High Pass relaxing with some actual views in no time.

The weather got better and better as we made our way back down to the car. Too bad we hadn't started 2 hours later! Still, it was a good trip. A misty day out in the mountains with good company and bad rock still beats the hell out of work any day.