Buck, Fortress, and Chiwawa Winter Ascents

Buck Mountain (8,560ft), Fortress Mountain (8,760ft), and Chiwawa Mountain (8,459)

Feb 12-13, 2022

Eric, Paul, and Steve

I was hoping to push myself up to the halfway point on the Winter Bulgers list and I needed three more peaks to do that. Last weekend I had climbed Sherpa Peak to get me to 47, and this weekend I was looking to go for some slightly less-technical objectives. The weather and snow conditions looked favorable in the east central zone, and it appeared possible to get Buck, Fortress, and Chiwawa and push me to 50 winter bulgers.

These peaks are very popular in the fall when the larches turn color, but access is difficult in the winter. The road is plowed to the Fish Lake sno park, and from there it is 21 miles on unplowed road to get to the trailhead at Trinity. The road is occasionally groomed for snowmobiles to trinity, but it is difficult to know when this will happen. The published grooming schedule online is from last year, and even last year it wasn’t followed very closely.

It actually makes a big difference if the trail is groomed or not. Last year in January Fred and I snowmobiled in to Phelps Creek to climb Seven Fingered Jack and Maude, and I got stuck quite a bit in deep snow and spent three hours getting to the trailhead. But if the road is groomed it could take closer to one hour.

For this trip Paul and Steve were interested in joining. My plan was to take one passenger riding on the snowmobile and I would tow the other like a water skier. This could be ambitious for the person getting towed to go 21 miles over a rough road, but Steve was up for the challenge.

For route choice we first considered doing two day trips, one to get Buck and one to get Fortress and Chiwawa, sleeping at the sled in between. But then we decided it would be neat to camp above treeline and get sunrise and sunset views. We could do the trip in a big loop up the south side of Buck, then over to Berge to camp, then through high pass and Buck Creek Pass over Fortress to Chiwawa and back. Our packs would be heavier, but the mileage and elevation gain were a bit less and we could get great views camping above treeline.

There was a bit of uncertainty in the route since there’s not a lot of information on winter ascents of these peaks. I knew Buck had been climbed in February 2015 (Hinkley) via a north face ice route and the party descended the south face. So I knew the south face worked in winter. Steve had climbed the south face route in summer and was familiar with the route, so we decided to start the loop from that side.

I couldn’t find beta on a good winter route for Fortress, but I’d climbed the southwest slope in the summer and it was low angle class 2/3, which seemed like it would be ok in the winter. To make a loop, though, we would want to descend the northeast ridge of Fortress to proceed to Chiwawa. None of us had done that route and I’d read there was a 4th class chimney along the ridge. Generally if a route is 4th class in the summer I want a rope in the winter. So I planned to bring a short rope to rappel and some pitons and rap gear to build an anchor.

I had climbed Chiwawa in the summer via the southwest slope and I’d read some people ski this slope in the spring. So we were looking forward to at least one good ski descent on the trip if snow conditions were favorable.

We met up at the Fish Lake Sno Park Friday night and I unloaded the sled on the very icy road. Saturday morning we were loaded up and riding just after 5am. This would be the most load I’d ever transported with the snowmobile. We stacked the three overnight packs, my chainsaw, and two sets of skis on the tunnel and Paul and I sat on the seat while we towed Steve. I could hear the track rubbing against the tunnel whenever we went over a bump, but it didn’t sound too bad.

The road was groomed the first few miles but still very icy. I deployed both sets of scratchers and there were no overheating issues. But after five miles the grooming stopped and the road turned into a sheet of ice with lots of whumphs. I was happy to have recently replaced a broken ski carbide so I could turn in the ice, but overheating became a big issue. I had to balance going fast enough that the scratchers churned up ice to cool the engine with going slow enough that Steve could hang on. Whenever I saw a slightly flat patch of untracked snow on the side of the road I would swerve to hit it to hopefully help cool the engine.

We soon overheated, though, and had to stop and pack snow on the tunnel. Steve reported that getting towed on the ice was very tiring, and the break was appreciated. We continued making slow progress on the icy road, generally riding for 10 minutes before overheating happened, then spending 5 minutes packing snow and cooling the engine and repeating. Once the terrain became more level and downhill near the Phelps Creek turnoff the engine was not working quite as hard and we finally made it to Trinity by 7:30am.

Almost every other time I’ve been to this trailhead it’s been overflowing with cars, but we were now the only ones there. I parked next to the trailhead sign, which was buried in snow. We stashed the chainsaw and extra snowmobile recovery gear under the sled, packed up, and were soon heading up the trail.

We encountered an old set of ski tracks soon after the bridge, and I suspected this was from a group that had skied Berge in early February and posted an observation on NWAC. We skinned past the buildings at Trinity and up along the shore of Chiwawa River until we reached Alpine Creek. Our plan was to try to cross just above the confluence where it looked low-angle on othe other side based on topo maps. We reached the confluence, but there were unfortunately no snow bridges.

The water was about knee deep and we discussed wading across. In the past I’ve had good luck taking the liners out of my ski boots and wading across a river while wearing the shells. Then on the other side I shake the water off the shells, put the liners back in, and everything stays mostly dry. That sounded like it would work, but would take some time, and we wanted to scout around a bit more for an easier crossing.

I happened to look up and saw an old rusty cable strung across the river about 20ft above us. I joked about doing a Tyrolean traverse across, but the cable looked too sketchy. I’m guessing it was for old mining operations. We instead skinned a bit higher up stream and found an avy slide had crossed the river making for an easy crossing on the debris pile.

On the other side we found a low-angle slide path and skinned up with ski crampons. From there we angled up and right for a ways until we found another avy slope that went up through the cliff bands. From there we transitioned to crampons and booted up until the slope angle eased a bit. Apparently this route has very dense bushes and slide alder in the summer, but in the winter that all gets smoothed over and the woods are quite open.

Around 4,600ft we put skis back on and skinned up a broad low-angle ridge. As we got higher we got views of the southeast slopes of Buck. The summit was a huge cliff but below it was a broad open bowl. It looked like it would have excellent skiing, and we commented this would be a very popular day-trip ski objective if Trinity were more accessible in the winter.

Partway into the bowl we dug a snow pit and were satisfied with the snow stability, so continued to commit to a steeper slope.  There was a sharp southeast ridge to cross and we found a gap in the cliffs around 7000ft. I led across the steep traverse, and then we crossed the ridge and popped out in another large open snow bowl. The snow was heating up now and getting softer, and we hoped for soft conditions like that when we descended.

We traversed the bowl, then cramponed up a gap in the southwest ridge of Buck around 8,000ft. From there we traversed right maintaining elevation to the western cirque. We found a large flat area at 8,200ft just below the summit and stopped to drop gear. From that vantage point it’s a bit confusing which peak is the true summit of Buck. The northern peak looks like it might be tallest, and this is the point surveyed on the quad. But in June 2021 I took a surveyors sight level up and measured the middle summit is in fact 32ft taller than the northern summit. I suspect the northern summit is the surveyed point because it gives good visibilty to the north to sight it from other peaks.

I was happy to have done this measurement to not waste time tagging both summits, or worse, get the wrong summit. Steve decided to hang out with the gear and melt snow while Paul and I proceeded to tag the summit. I went light, only carrying my ice ax and whippet. We cramponed up steepening snow, then scrambled exposed rock to reach the summit by 2pm.

There was a massive cornice on the east face and we made sure to stay on the rock. We got lots of good picures, and it looked like we were early enough in the day to still make it to our planned campsite before sunset.

We soon returned to the packs, loaded up, and started down. It was fun skiing, though conditions were a bit icy. I think my standards are low enough from skiing breakable crust the previous weekend on Sherpa that these conditions seemed perfect. We skied down a gully to the west, then traversed north and made fun turns down into a larch basin at 6700ft.

From there we skinned up a narrowing ridge, then traversed across the south face of Berge to the 7600ft col on the south ridge of the southwest peak of Berge by 4pm. Interestingly, we came across some old bootprints in the snow at the col. I suspect this was from the guys who posted the Mt Cleator observation on NWAC Feb 5. They didn’t mention where they went in the post, but it appears they scrambled the southwest peak of Berge.

We had plenty of time left before sunset, and we could have easily pushed farther to High Pass. But the col would have the best sunset views, so we stopped there. We pitched my mega mid tent and dug out the bottom enough so we could all sleep inside. Then we got to work melting snow and cooking dinner. Sunset was spectacular, and we got great pictures looking towards Buck to the east and Napeequa to the west.

The plan for the next day was Steve would hang out getting sunrise pictures then return the way we came back to the sled. Meanwhile Paul and I would get an alpine start and continue the loop around Fortress and Chiwawa.

We got up early and were moving by 3am. The moon was bright enough that we hardly needed headlamps. We were concerned about skiing ice in the dark, though, so we started out in crampons. The slopes were indeed very icy, and we cramponed down from the col and traversed to the high pass basin. From there we put skis and ski crampons on and made it through High Pass to the ridge northwest of Cleator.

We had hoped to get a quick ski down to Buck Creek Pass from there, but conditions were too icy to be safe in the dark. So we instead put crampons back on. We intended to follow the tail traversing around the east side of Rally Cap, but the ridge was corniced and we couldn’t find an easy was off of it in the dark. It seemed safe to just stay on the ridge, so we continued up to the summit of Rally Cap, converting another red dot of mine to green.

I hadn’t done this route before, and it’s always a bit risky to do a new route in winter, but it looked doable based on the topo map. The ridge stayed broad and easy, but soon narrowed into a rocky knife edge. It looked technical to stay on the crest, so we steeply downclimbed the west side and traversed. We then regained the ridge, and after some scrambling it finally mellowed out. We were releived to make it to the col below Liberty Cap, and put skis on there.

We were able to traverse around the icy west slopes of Liberty cap, and then found some slightly softer snow on the north side to make a few turns down to Buck Creek Pass. It had taken about an hour longer than anticipated to get there with all the unplanned shenanigans, but we hoped to make up time if there was good skiing in the afternoon down Chiwawa.

Sunrise hit as we were traversing around Helmet Butte and we got great views of Buck and Berge. We crossed some old avy slides that looked at least a week old, and finally transitioned back to crampons as it got steeper and icier. Travel was actually very efficient in the icy terrain. We cramponed up to near Pass No Pass and then front pointed steeply up the face on the left.

We took turns leading, and slowly made it up to the base of the southwest face of Fortress. I remembered scrambling up this face in July 2018. There had been one tricky move to get through cliffs at the base, but now it was all smoothed over with snow. The snow was icy, though, with rime ice feathers sticking out. Paul led up this section and was able to kick nice secure steps. Interestingly we got nearly continuously sprayed with small bits of ice falling down from the summit ridge. I think this was from the sun melting off the rime from boulders on the ridge.

We soon hit the ridge crest, then traversed just below it and reached the summit by 10:30am. It was covered in deep snow, which was a bit surprising given the Buck had mostly exposed rock on the summit. Views were great of Dakobed/Glacier Peak to the southwest and Bonanza to the northeast. The east face looked corniced and we stayed well away.

I paused for about a minute to take some pictures, then continued on the ridge. I was eager to get past the crux coming up before I would take a full rest break. Neither of us had done the northeast ridge of Fortress and it was unclear how difficult it would be. I had hoped it would be exposed rock scrambling like on Buck, but it was instead covered in deep snow.

Fortunatlely the ridge was mostly uncorniced. I cautiously kicked steps across the flat ridge, always expecting to be cliffed out. I then faced in and downclimbed as it got a bit steeper. Farther down the ridge the snow pillows on rocks steepened, and I considered rappelling. But I was able to get good purchase with my ice axe and crampons in the snow, and my steps and ax placements felt secure enough to be within my comfort level.

I proceeded downclimbing slowly and cautiously, but eventually I reached a lip that was too steep to get past. This was just above a small col at 8500ft. The face to the east looked steep but not as steep as the step, so I crossed over and started down. The top was difficult since my knees kept getting in the way of kicking steps in the steep face, but eventually the angle eased. The snow was still secure, and we managed to kick steps down a few hundred more feet.

By then the southeast face was heating up in the morning sun and it was soft enough and low-angle enough we decided to ski. It appeared we had completely missed the 4th class chimney, so hadn’t needed the rope and rap gear after all. But I’m not sure our route would work in the summer when not covered in snow.

We strapped skis on and conditions were actually very fun. I would say we harvested a lot of corn getting down that slope. It was kind of surprising, since I’d never heard of anyone skiing Fortress and we hadn’t really expected to be able to ski this face given the tough conditions earlier in the morning. We skied down and traversed into the Fortress-Chiwawa col by 11:30am.

It appeared our timing might just be perfect. The southwest face of Chiwawa would get sun slightly later than the south face of Fortress we’d just skied, so it might be firm going up and soft going down for us. We had originally been concerned about high clouds rolling in late morning that might make the face breakable crust, but they appeared to be delayed.

We stashed or extra gear in the col and continued up light. We cramponed up carrying skis and the face was firm enough to make for efficient travel but was just starting to soften. I had scrambled this route in July 2018 and recalled getting off route and climbing a short bit of 5th class terrain. This time, though, I knew how to avoid that mistake. When close to the summit we crossed over a rock ridge at 8300ft and ditched skis there. It looked to be all rock and ice from there to the summit.

It was a short scramble up to the summit, and we topped out around 1pm. The summit was covered in deep snow and there was no hope of finding a register, but the views were great. I could pick out Bonanza, Copper, Fernow, Seven Fingered Jack, and lots of other peaks. That was officially number 50 for winter bulgers for me, and it felt like crossing a small milestone to be halfway done.

We wanted to ski down before it got too slushy, so soon retreated. I strapped skis on and started down first. The top section was steeper and more south facing, and I pushed down some small sluffs of slush, but it wasn’t yet slushy enough to be concerning. The skiing was very fun, and I think we nailed conditions again getting down. We had fun turns in the fresh corn, and were back to the col about 10 minutes later.

We packed up at the col then continued skiing down the south face. The snow conditions were great all the way to to the trees, and we tried to avoid the ice in the shade. We picked our way through the cliff bands to a flat basin below, then skied through trees to eventually meet up with the trail. When it leveled out we had to skin for a while, but eventually we interected the old road grade for the Red Mountain mine. From there we changed back to ski mode and made very good time gliding down.

By 4:15pm we cruised back to Trinity, somehow almost exactly on schedule. Steve had been there for a few hours hanging out with the caretaker at Trinity, and we quickly loaded up the sled. Our hope was that we could get out while the snow was still a little slushy and maybe we could avoid overheating.

Paul volunteered to get towed this time. We tried a few different variations of loading gear to try to help with cooling, but eventually settled on my tried-and-true method of stacking packs on top of each other on the tunnel and strapping skis on the side of the tunnel. Interestingly, Steve had encountered a solo skier from Leavenworth who had snowmobiled in that morning and skied Buck via alpine creek. He had left just before we returned.

The road out was indeed a little bit softer, though I still tried hard to hit the untracked patches on the side to throw up more snow to cool the engine. Amazingly we didn’t overheat at all. We also got lucky that the road had gotten groomed all the way to the gate, and we had smooth riding out the last 8 miles. Without stopping for overheating or resting and with smooth conditions we made it out in just one hour, and were back to the cars shortly after sunset. We then loaded up and headed back home.

Movie of the trip:

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