North America, United States, Washington?Cascade Mountains, Mount Blum

Publication Year: 1989.

Mount Blum. Distance and steep forest approaches have severely limited the ascents of this peak. On July 31, my brother Gordie, Steve Ollila, Eric Thorson and I climbed the north glacier and couloir. From a camp near the 5900-foot lake northwest of the summit, we traversed below the base of the north ridge to gain the glacier. The route steepened as we climbed to the west of the icefall and again in the summit couloir, which in places reached 50°. Our reward for a good climb in a remote setting was the untimely arrival of a summit cloud, giving us views only of each other, instead of the Picket Range to the east.

Carl Skoog