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Mt Sperry 6002ft (1821m)
Vesper Peak 6214 ft (1894m)
West Ridge and NE Slope via Headlee Pass
June 28, 2004
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Today I hiked up Mt Sperry and Vesper Peak under beautiful skies. I got an early start and arrived at the trailhead
a little after 7am. My low fuel light came on as I pulled into Granite Falls, so I stopped at an older looking
gas station that was advertising $2.05 for a gallon of unleaded. Inside, I talked to a real nice older man and bought
a homemade cherry turn over and a big cup of coffee (.29 with fillup).
With my aforementioned early start I arrived at the trailhead a little after 7am. As I was tying up my Trango boots
another car pulled up with two fellows looking to climb the N-face route on Vesper. We chatted a bit and they told me of
some friends who did the Sperry-Vesper traverse two weekends ago. I learned that they had run into corniced snow higher up on the traverse
so they had to drop down a bit and it ended up taking 10 hours. I didn't have that much time to devote today so I said that
I would probably just do one or the other. We said goodbye and I took off at a brisk pace into the forest with hopes of trying to
get as far as possible.
The sign at the trailhead said that the bridge was washed out, so whenever I came to a little stream with rocks or
logs to hop across, I wondered if this was the "washed out bridge". After three or four of these little streams I finally
came upon the real stream with a large tree that looked like a onetime bridge lying in the middle. The stream was dry most of the
way except for the far end, but someone had built a makeshift bridge that made crossing fairly easy.
Once on the other side I continued hiking in a dense forest, occaisionally passing huge cedars and doug firs. Soon I exited the forest
and started a series of switch backs through a mass of ferns. This lead up into the basin and I could see the north side of
Sperry in all its glory. The Beckey guide had said that all sides except for the south were very steep. Sure enough.
I wanted to keep up a good pace so I tried to focus on a mantra to help with my breathing. (I think it worked because on the trip back
out later in the day I questioned if I was on the right trail because I didn't recognize large sections of the trail)
The trail continued up the basin to where it left the scrub trees and turned into a huge scree/boulder field. I lost the trail
once but soon picked it back up. The guide book said that many people feel that the steep hike up to Headlee Pass is the
most strenuous part of the hike. I still had energy at this point so I didn't have much problem with it. There was a little snow on
the trail but it was mostly bare. I stopped at the "Headlee Pass 4600ft" sign and drank some water and took a few bites of
my PBJ.
From the Pass the trail dropped down the other side and traversed under the southeast
buttress of Sperry Peak. I followed the trail across a large scree field to where it met
the stream coming out of Lake Elan. Once in the basin, the trail turned to snow so I contoured the
eastern slopes of the lake looking for a route up Mt Sperry. What I saw was snow fields leading to steep
cliffs. I saw foot prints in the snow on the north side of the lake, so I just made my way over
to them and then found a route up to the ridge between Vesper and Sperry. Once on top of this ridge, I
relocated the trail and followed it up to the top of Sperry. This was a fun hike/scramble to the top.
I took a little break on the summit, eating some food and drinking some water. Before heading down I
took a timed picture. Now on to Vesper!
I followed the trail back down to the ridge and traversed snow fields over to Vesper. From one point I could look
down into the basin on the north east of Vesper and I saw the two guys I met in the parking lot. They were looking
up the north face, searching for the correct gully that started their route. I made some mental notes for a future
date when I come back and climb that great looking route.
The sun was very bright as I slogged up the snow fields to the top of Vesper. I kicked myself for not bringing
goggles to protect my eyes. I misplaced my contacts earlier this year, so I can't wear sunglasses and still see. So I just looked ahead for 20 feet
then closed my eyes and hiked up that distance. Near the top, I looked down the slab on the north face to try and spot the
climbers, but I couldn't see them. I scrambled up the rocks to the top, took a short summit break,
snapped a few pictures then headed back down the snow slopes, glissading most of the way. Fun!
At the stream I filled up my water bottle, enjoying the refreshing ice cold water on my long hike back down.
Start at TH: 7:30am
Arrive at Sperry Summit: 10:38am
Left Summit: 11 am
Arrive Vesper Summit: 12:38pm
Left Summit: ~1pm
Arrived at car: 2:45pm
Weather: clear and beautiful in the vicinity, some wispy clouds hanging around summits farther north and east.
