Vesper Peak
“Hi, I love you and I’m working on mountain planning. I’ll keep you updated.”
Shelby and I had planned to climb Mount Adams a couple weeks ago, but ending up postponing it due to my hip flexor being wonky from Mount Hood the weekend prior. But as our rescheduled date drew closer, the weather on Mount Adams forecasted 50mph winds, which neither of us were terribly excited about.
This was Tuesday so I started to look to my favorite guidebooks and looked up the weather forecast on tours that had been on my bucket list that would be a fun alternative to Adams.
So a couple of days, a spreadsheet, and a lot of back and forth later, we landed on Vesper Peak. This climb can easily be done in a day, but I’ve been missing a good relaxing overnighter so we broke it up into two days. Our friends Weston, Kevin, and Andrew joined us for this trip.
On Saturday morning, we got a 10am leisurely start at the trailhead. The trail had melted out at this point to a bit below Headlee Couloir. I started in my Nikes (not exactly the best choice of footwear – I’d wear trail runners if I could have a do-over), carrying my skis and boots on my back. There were about bigger washouts we had to cross, which were probably the sketchiest parts of the whole trip.
Weston and I had both brought our skis so at this point, we were able to skin up to the base of the couloir. The snow was a bit slushy but skinning up wasn’t too bad. I put my skis back on my pack at the base of Headlee Couloir and booted up the rest of the way up. There was a bit of dirt at the top of the couloir but it quickly turned back into snow just a minute or so down the path.
There were 3 small boulder fields to cross at this point before reaching our camp destination near Lake Elan (aka Vesper Lake).
It was only 4pm or so by the time we had finished snacking, basking on the rocks in the warm sunshine, and setting up camp. We took the opportunity to chat and catch up, filter water at a waterfall about 50 feet below our camp, and explore and take photos. The forecast had called for a chance of a slight bit of rain and a thunderstorm and we watched as the clouds rolled in and the rain begin so we hunkered down in the tents to wait it out and nap for awhile. It was a brief 15 minute downpour with a deep rumbling of thunder in the distance, followed by clear sunny skies, another brief spattering of rain, before the skies cleared back up again just in time for a proper fiery alpine sunset.
The next morning we took about an hour to summit. We booted up most of the way, went barefoot for the very short rock scramble to the true summit, and stuck around for an hour or so to take photos and have a snack and coffee. There were mountain views for days (Mountain Loop Highway, you truly live up to your name)! From the summit we were able to spot Baker, Shuksan, Index, Forgotten…and so many more! Andrew had already headed back down, Shelby and Kevin followed suit soon after for their glissade down. And Weston and I descended on skis for a slightly slushy but very fun ski back to camp.
After we packed up and strapped on our heavy packs (why do packs always feel heavier on the second day when there’s actually less stuff in it?) we trekked back to the top of the couloir and we began a very spicy but exciting descent. Seriously, this was a no fall zone situation.
We transitioned back to our sneakers and began the arduous and very hot trek back to the car.
I haven’t had a slow, relaxing overnighter in awhile and this fit the bill perfectly – and now it’s got me looking forward to some backpacking trips this summer! Moving to Seattle opened up more opportunities for me to get out in the mountains just by sheer proximity. I’d heard so much about Mountain Loop Highway and its accessibility to climbs and the area truly lives up to its name. I can’t wait to go back!