Merchant Peak Scramble, Washington
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ย. 2024
- A climb to the summit of Merchant Peak on the Wild Sky Wilderness of Snohomish County, WA. This was my third attempt at Merchant and was very happy to successfully reach the summit. This video includes quite a bit of beta about the route I followed, which veered off from the standard route just below the third waterfall/boulder jam in the upper section of the lower gulley. I rejoined the standard route at the upper meadows below the saddle of the east peak and main summit. This is a beautiful and steep mountain that is not as popular as many of the other mountains in the area. If you climb in the summer as I did, expect some steep bushwhacking, scrambling, and traveling on loose terrain. The boulder jam is also an objective hazard that could have catastrophic consequences for anyone on the lower gulley when it finally breaks loose. Climb at your own risk, and based on your own assessment of the conditions and your hiking, scrambling, and route finding skills.
I did Merchant before the "boulder jam" was there in 2008 and have a picture of what it looked like at that very spot before the slide made it the obstacle that it is now. Those 3-4 very large boulders are still in the same spot. There were more large boulders below those, that slid away and are no longer there creating that large undercut step. So we went up there 2 years ago and didn't realize this had happened. Got to the boulder jam and tried going up climber's left, but the rock was wet and as you mentioned, it didn't look all that safe and stable so we turned around. May try it again using the route you took.
Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks for leaving the fixed line! I agree that waterfall boulder feels like it'll give way within the next couple years. Nonetheless, I used your line to top rope solo up the face which was actually a great little climb. Cheers!
Sweet views my friend! Thank you for the upload!
Awesome videography! Thanks for sharing.
Another great video. Cheers!
Nice catch! (13:28)
Wow, huge thank you for leaving that rope. We turned around there a couple of years ago without knowing the condition of the old rope or anchor material.
@@biancavaunt999 you are welcome. Still a bit of a sketchy spot, and I would recommend bypassing and rappelling the opposite side of the jam with a longer rope. But I figured this way someone could have some fall protection ascending and/ or a way down if they needed it.
@@thorschosen Did you put in new anchor material/slings or was it existing and in good shape? Looks good in the video.
@@biancavaunt999 I added one additional, doubled, piece of webbing. And several of the old pieces still looked usable
@@thorschosen Again, thanks for contributing to the future of this route! It's back on my list.
Have you done Gunn Peak?
If you have, what is harder to summit, Merchant Or Gunn?
@@North_Cascade_Railfan I have done Gunn, though it’s been a long time. I remember Gunn being a steep hike but I feel like Merchant is more challenging
@@thorschosen thanks!