Mt. Catherine

This morning several mountaineers met together and traveled up to the Alpental Ski area. We all had the goal of summiting Mt. Catherine. We drove up to the snow line and parked our cars and we got our stuff together and we traveled NNW and then climbed the west ridge. The weather was cloudy with off and on showers. The climb was short and fairly easy. Our route was a mix between kicking steps in snow and bush whacking. Once we gained the western ridge the wind was quick strong, making it an uncomfortbaly cold climb. We made our way off the ridge a little bit to guard against the strong wind and contented to climb. We found a trail near the top and followed that for a short distance to the peak.

At the peak we rested a bit, took a few pictures, although the visibility was quite poor, and ate some lunch. Although there wasn't much to see at the top, due to the poor visibility it was an important climb for most of the group because it was their first official summit with the mountaineers.

On the way down we followed the trail most of the way and this time avoided the windy ridge. We left the trail once it turned and we headed straight down towards were we parked. As we arrived at our cars there were more people just showing up to enjoy the mountains. The sun was peaking out just as we were leaving. But we still had a good time even though we just missed the sunshine.

Region: Snoqualmie Pass
Distance: 4 miles (total distance)
Elevation Gain: 1500 feet
Peak Elevation: 5070 feet
Difficulty: Easy
Pass Requirement: Yes, most all passes honored.

As always check out all the photos from of the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.