Steve by Little Eightmile Lake
Elain and I wanted to try another 8000-foot peak this weekend. Because the weather forecast was not looking too promising, we decided to try Mount Cashmere, which is reputed to be an easy scramble. We got a leisurely start to the day, and were finally starting off at the Eightmile Trailhead at 1:00 PM. It was cloudy but not raining. Within an hour we had reached the small lake that comes before Eightmile Lake. The trail then turns right and switchbacks uphill until it reaches Lake Caroline. As we walked alongside Lake Caroline, it started to rain. By the time we reached Little Lake Caroline, we could see some charcoal clouds at higher elevations. By 6:00 PM we reached Windy Pass. True to its name, it was quite windy there, and it would remain so for the rest of the trip. As it was starting to rain and soon to get dark, we set about pitching the tent. That night, the wind picked up and it started raining harder. Each time the wind gusted, the sidewall of the tent would snap, spraying the condensation onto us. It was like being sprayed in the face with a squirt gun every so often, but eventually we fell asleep. We were up at dawn for our summit attempt, and hiking by 7 AM. The wind was biting as we made our way along the long ridge between Windy Pass and Cashmere. We were glad that the trail was mostly on the lee side of the ridge. Below Cashmere we crossed a talus field that was verglassed, which slowed us down quite a bit. At the 8000' saddle, we took a break in the lee of some boulders and put on our crampons. The northwest slope below the summit was frozen turf, verglassed rock, and a thin veneer of snow crust. We traversed over to the north ridge, trying to stick to snow where possible. Elain's instep crampons were suboptimal for the terrain. By the time I reached the north ridge (10:45 AM), the wind had picked up quite a bit, and visibility had decreased to a couple hundred feet. Even through we were only about 250' from the summit at this point, we decided to turn around because of the deteriorating weather and the icy conditions. On the way down from Cashmere, we accidentally started descending the south ridge, rather than the west ridge. The wind was so strong that it knocked me off balance a couple of times. I had to crouch low to the ground, to keep from being knocked over. Before too long we realized our mistake, so we sidehilled for a mile or so and eventually made it back to Windy Pass. We quickly broke camp and started back down the trail at 1:00 PM. It was windy and lightly drizzling all the way to Eightmile Lake. We made it to the car by 4:30 PM, just in time to enjoy a nice dinner in Leavenworth.
Steve by Little Eightmile Lake
Sunset over Mount Cashmere
Steve with Mount Stuart in the background
Steve climbing
Elain climbing
Steve descending Mount Cashmere
Steve descending the South Ridge
The meadow below Windy Pass