Mt Triumph, NE Ridge (5.7), North Cascades
Written by: Jan Aengst
Date: July 17-19, 2020
Back in February, I emailed Nancy, Kari, and Karen a list of Cascade climbs to consider for the summer. But as the months went by and COVID-19 numbers increased, a summer climbing trip started to feel harder to pull off. We wanted to climb, so decided to choose something moderate that could be done ‘off the couch,’ so chose the NE Ridge of Mt Triumph. Preston and Chris joined in and soon there were six of us excited to get out and climb.
But as we all knew, climbing ‘off the couch’ in the North Cascades can still be a lot of work! There was some bushwhacking, criss-crossing steep slopes of heather, walking across floating logs in crampons, and route-finding challenges… and that was just Day 1.
DAY 1: Thornton Lakes Trailhead (2,700 ft) Col (5,700 ft)
The first part of the trip is a straightforward 5.3 mile (2,200 ft) hike from the trailhead to Thornton Lake. From lower Thornton Lake, it is a 1½ miles to the Col, but as another trip report put it, “it feels like 3 miles.” And it does. You follow a vague climber’s trail—that is really easy to lose in the snow—on the left (west) side of the lake, which then leads to the next lake (Middle Thornton lake). Though it was late July, the middle lake was mostly covered in ice. Our first delicate moves were walking across the loose logs in crampons at the outlet of the lake.
Chris at the lake
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