06/30/14 Unnamed 7720 #51

View of Unnamed 7720 from chalet on June 23

On June 23rd, I hiked up to Granite Park Chalet in Glacier National Park to shovel snow.  I shoveled for 20 days straight and enjoyed my time up there, staying until the 15th of July.  While there, I was able to climb four peaks toward my goal.  The elevation gain for this first peak will include the gain to get up to Granite Park.

On the 30th of June the Chalet opened for the public.  At this point I had worked for seven days and was ready to try to get up my first peak up there.  I had been looking at Unnamed 7720 every day--except the days it was rainy and cloudy--since I had hiked up to Granite Park.  I had climbed Swiftcurrent Mountain a couple times before but I had never gone up this peak on the other side of Swiftcurrent Pass.

Mount Grinnell, Mount Gould, and the Swiftcurrent Glacier

When I had been up at Granite earlier in the month and had hiked up to Swiftcurrent Pass I had seen a large snowfield leading up almost all the way to the cliffs that guard the summit.  So on this climb I decided I would go just past the pass and take the snowfield up to the cliffs.  I wasn't sure of the best way through the cliffs and hoped there was a way around them that I couldn't see from the chalet.  I could see that if no way presented itself that I could traverse below the cliffs back around the west side to some slopes that looked passable even though they were covered with thick, dense trees.

Mount Gould and the Garden Wall

On my way up to the pass I looked up and saw a break in the cliffs that was not as thick with trees and seemed to be an easy way up to the summit area.  I kept this in mind as I carried on to the pass.  The trail was snow-covered and the going was easy up to the pass.  I made it to the pass and the Continental Divide and carried on down the east side for just a bit.  I made it past the trees and found the snow slope I was looking for and started up it.  It was steep but easy to climb and I made my way to the top rather quickly. 

The chalet compound from the summit

From the top of the snow I traversed some rocky slopes a short distance to the base of the cliffs and followed them back toward the west and the break in the cliffs.  Once at the break I made my way up, picking my way through the rocks and around the small trees in spots until I was above the difficulties.  Then it was a short distance to the highest point.  I figured I was on top, but there were a couple spots that looked almost as high and that would yield better views to the south so I walked over to them.  There were goat trails along the ridge with goat hair caught in the branches of the gnarled trees that clung to the rocks.  I easily found myself on the other two high points and could see that the first was indeed the highest even though I found a benchmark further south.  Perhaps I was wrong on my estimation of the top.  I touched all the high spots just to make sure.

Swiftcurrent Valley from the ascent/descent snowfield

 From the southern high points the views to the Swiftcurrent Glacier and Mount Gould were incredible.  I could also look to the west and see down to the chalet compound and was quite pleased to be looking down on it.  I snapped some photos and enjoyed the views and scouted the snow on Swiftcurrent Mountain, which I planned to climb soon, before I decided to head back down.

I walked back to the first high point and then worked over to the break in the cliffs and picked my way through it.  Once down, I traversed back below the cliffs and over to the snowfield, where I enjoyed a long boot ski back down to the trail.  I followed my tracks through the snow back down to the chalet.

Elevation gain:  3425'     Total gain:  83,010'