Kaleetan Peak July, 1999

Route Information

This was a 'feelgood' trip - after a record snowfall the past winter, and a cold spring, the snow was not going away. A few weeks previous, we hauled our overnight gear up to Whitehorse ridge, camped in the snow, and were uninterested in going any higher up that mountain. We needed a quick fix, and Kaleetan Peak was our newest target. We figured we could conquer Kaleetan, located near Snoqualmie Pass, and it would get us back in the saddle.

2DrX stud at Denny Creek crossing. It was running high.

We hit the Denny Creek trailhead around 8:30 or so. Not many cars yet, with good reason: There was still lots of snow in the high country, and the weather wasn't looking too great. We made good time up the wide trail, intent on making Melakwa Lakes in 2 hours. We started hitting snow near Hemlock Pass, and many blowdowns. The trail was soon lost, and we pushed straight up until we hit the trail again. We made the lakes in a little over 2 hours.

It was an amazing summer. Here we were at Melakwa Lakes, on the last day of July, and the lakes were mostly still covered with snow! We climbed up on a big rock by the lower lake for a rest. The entire basin was still fogged in and quiet. No one else was around. Here we laid our plans for the ascent - the decision was made to go up the valley towards Melakwa Pass, and veer left after the first little bowl - if memories were correct, there should be a couloir (filled with plenty of snow now) that would take us right up to the ridge.

Taking a morning rest in the fog at Melakwa Lake

We started up the valley from the upper lake (snow covered) along the snow. The travel in this area is usually slow, a rock hop on the big boulders. We rambled up the easy snow slopes to the a small wooded area and a creek.

We noticed a dead mouse in the middle of a large snowfield. We stopped. We looked. We wondered.

The snow-filled valley made it easy to make our way up

The way above the upper lake leads up a boulder field to a small wooded area and creek. This marks another small bowl feature. We rested for a few minutes here after the mouse incident, and veered left. The couloir we remembered was coming into view now, and it held plenty of snow. We had not read of any ascent of this couloir anywhere previously, so we figured that we should name it - "2DrX Couloir" it became. We made our way up the moderate snow slopes to the gully. The sun threatened to come out. Our target for the day, Kaleetan, appeared in the mist beyond. We gained momentum and moved upwards.

Approaching the bottom of 2DrX Couloir

The couloir steepens quickly, and an ice ax is desirable, if not neccessary. This route might only go with a good amount of snow in the couloir early in the season. In any case, the snow on this day made a good route until near the top, where the going looked iffy. We jumped over on the right side after a while onto the rock (Beckey Guide suggests this also), and made our way up the easy ledges to the ridge top. It was not noon yet, however we deemed it lunch time, as we usually do a few hours after breakfast.

Chair Peak, from our lunch spot on the ridge

The weather had cleared. We enjoyed a nice vantage point on the ridge, looking over towards Chair Peak to the east, and down to the Tuscohatchie area to the west. We ate, talked about our lunches (the ever present sub-sandwich would mysteriously be replaced with a taco salad the next year on the Coney Basin trip, but we didn't know it at this time), and also wondered how the mouse got into the middle of the snowfield below. It was time to get moving. We had something to prove. Or something dramatic like that.

Once the ridge is attained, the rest of the route up Kaleetan is pleasant. We made our way up the well-worn goat/people paths around the alpine fir and boulders, the sun filtering in and out of the clouds. Our destination loomed up closer ahead. One must think of all the feet that have previously pounded the same path. This route is also very popular from the lower Melakwa lake, one can work up from the outlet directly up the ridge. Some parts are brushy, but the route is obvious. Many variations are possible.

Working up the ridge, with Kaleetan Peak in the distance

After about 45 minutes, we reached the bottom of the summit gully. This is a little steeper, and consists of a class 2 climb up a rocky gully, with the threat of some rockfall if multiple parties are climbing it at the same time. Since it was only us, and we didn't care if we knocked rocks on each other - we made it up pretty quickly. As if on cue, the clouds moved in. We clambered up to the summit rocks in the fog and founds the summit register.

The final climb up to Kaleetan's summit is a class 2 gully

We enjoyed the summit views, approximately 100 feet in either direction into the fog. We would pose for the summit photo shot, and again would be deceived by the timer on the camera. As we made our way down from the summit, the views opened up again.

We would try a different descent route - after a few hundred yards from the bottom of the summit gully, we would drop down east on the ridge towards Melakwa Pass. This route is obvious coming down, one can work down an easy ridge feature east, and then drop into a steep but short snow slope which runs out below the pass. This would be the easiest summit approach as well. One of us was a wimp on the steep snow coming down, while the other waited and worried about missing a dinner party that evening. In due time, we found ourselves slogging down the slopes towards the lakes.

Kaleetan summit photo

Once at the lakes, we suprised a couple 'making out' at a campsite - whoops! Oh well, no harm done. It was strictly a G-rated situation. We apologized and moved on before the ratings changed. The day had turned out pretty sunny at this point, and the snowmelt poured down the trail. Many people were encountered as we hiked down, coming up at this late time in the day. This was an amazing summer already - we had the entire summit to ourselves on a beautiful day.

As we made our way down the last miles of trail, the topic of trail conversation once again shifted to the old story about a Melakwa day hike from the past, which included 3 (or was it 4?) young women sunbathing topless on the large rock near the east side of the lower lake. Rehashed were the details of how some hapless guys, almost on the ridge between Bryant and Chair had suddenly 'given up' on the climb, and quickly descended to the lake, only to be rejected by the women. With these thoughts, another successful outing ended. The dinner party was made more or less on time.

References:

• 100 Hikes in the Alpine Lakes - Mountaineers. Denny Creek Trail.
• Cascade Alpine Guide (brown book) - Beckey. Kaleetan routes.