On July 30, Rolf Larson and I completed a new route on Phantom Peak, climbing its west ridge. Phantom Peak (8,000+’) is in the northern section of the rugged Picket Range of North Cascades National Park, and requires an involved two-day approach. After ten miles on trail up and over Hannegan Pass, we waded the Chilliwack River, navigated up and down the five-mile-long and scenic Easy Ridge, soloed exposed fourth-class to cross a chasm (the Imperfect Impasse), climbed through Perfect Pass and over the Challenger Glacier, then finally descended and traversed steep snow, talus, and more glacier to arrive at a bivy under Ghost Peak, Phantom Peak’s neighbor to the north. From our scrabbly camp, the profile of Phantom’s west ridge was finally in full view.

In the morning, we ascended to a 6,100’ saddle in the ridge’s lower reaches. A few hundred feet of hiking and scrambling up the ridge led to a notch with a convenient ledge for roping up. Friends and acquaintances had in previous years set out for the unclimbed ridge above us, but were either skunked by the area’s notoriously fickle weather or, upon arriving at the base, reassessed their willingness to continue.

I led the first pitch, which began with a short and steep crack system, then gave way to rambling along the crest. The next four pitches were more of the same, and included some large corners, towers that we either bypassed or climbed directly, and exposed ridge running. The climbing was engaging but surprisingly moderate, mostly 5.7+.

Midway up pitch six, Rolf encountered a tough move over an airy four-foot cleft in the ridge. At the same moment, we spotted a plume of wildfire smoke erupting near the Chilliwack River, apparently threatening our return route home. Out of view, Rolf shouted, “We have a problem!” After a bit of back-and-forth banter echoing around the cirque, we concluded that bailing halfway up the ridge would not help us to deal with the soon-to-be-named Bear Creek Fire, so we continued upward.

The cleft on pitch six required a long 5.10-ish stemming move over the 100’-deep gap. Rolf created a handhold with a nut and a sling to tension across the gap. After removing the gear, and with the benefit of long legs and a top-rope, I was able to free the moves.

Two pitches later, we topped out on a tower and rappelled about 100’ into a notch. Pitches eight through ten served up aesthetic face and crack climbing on solid rock, with outstanding views of the aptly name Picket Range immediately to our east and the sheer northwest-facing wall of Spectre Peak across the way to the south. As the difficulties eased off, we coiled the rope and soloed about 400’ of fourth-class to the sharp summit ridge, followed by an exhilarating traverse to the final pinnacle. The descent by the southeast face route required methodical downclimbing and a sprint across a snowfield exposed to rockfall. (This would be more straightforward on snow earlier in the season.) We eventually circled back to our camp under Ghost Peak. The next day, bad weather scuttled our other plans in the Pickets, but also dampened the Bear Creek Fire’s threat to our route home.

The west ridge of Phantom Peak is ten pitches plus approximately 400’ of easy soloing, and involves much 5.7+ climbing with a single sequence of 5.10.

— Eric Wehrly