Cutthroat from below

One of the most prominent peaks in the Washington Pass area is easily visible from Highway 20, just before reaching the scenic overlook. Cutthroat Peak offers numerous opportunities for climbing and scrambling with easy access and grand views across the northern crest of the Cascade Mountains. Here is a trip report from when I climbed this magnificent peak.

After I got out of the shower, I quickly looked at my cell phone to check the time and noticed I had a new voice mail message waiting. I knew the message was from Gene, since his number showed up first on the missed calls list.

Up the 3rd Pitch

We pulled up and parked at the pullout about two miles before the Washington Pass Lookout at almost exactly 11:00am. During the drive up we finally decided to give the South Buttress on Cutthroat a try, so we hopped out of the car and organized the rack. From all accounts in the Guide Book, the route sounded like it was abound with solid rock and relatively easy route finding. So, after a quick stretch and a picture of a marmot that was sunning on the road, we jetted down below the highway grade.

Clearly from the road you can see the trail that heads into the basin below the south face of Cutthroat. It curves steeply next to a tributary stream that cascades from the few snowfields that had managed to survive the heat from the past few weeks. We began by bushwhacking towards the north side of the valley with no sign of the trail on the side we were on.

McClellan's Peak

One of the greatest things about climbing in the Washington Pass area is the scenery in which you climb in. The problem with that is it usually attracts hoards of hikers and climbers alike on clear summer days. I was surprised and grateful that our late start had not made much of a difference since there was only one other car parked along the highway.

Over the Cascades

A short break on a wide flat rock in the basin to take in the scenery while we ate lunch and hydrated ourselves was an excellent recharge. Forgetting the guidebook in the car, we decided to take the right-most gully at the base of the south buttress to gain the crest where the climbing began. We followed a boot path up into the narrow gully and scrambled up some Fourth Class sandy slabs until we reached a small gap. From here, we had to Stem across a scary 30 foot drop that is above a steep-sloping sandy Slab to a set of Rappel slings on the right side of the gully. Realizing that down climbing at this point was out of the question, Gene (who was below me) got out a Sling and I semi-belayed him across. I learned later that had we taking the left-most gully from the basin we would could have skipped this horrendous Move.