Mt. Cruiser ('87 & '00)

Mt. Cruiser via Mildred Lakes Trail - 1987 & 2000

While hiking to Mildred Lakes in summer of 1977, a couple of hikers passed me carrying a rope; they had helmets also. They intended to climb Mt. Cruiser. In 1982 a friend of mine and I climbed to the crest of Sawtooth Ridge (base of Mt. Cruiser summit block). We descended a rock gulley without a rope (we should have had one). In Aug. 1987, I climbed Cruiser w/ 2 other people. I climbed it again in 2000 w/ one other person. Both times we climbed it via Route 1 (Reference 1).  The pillow basalt is solid. It is 5th class climbing, and we had 2 ropes for the rappel. We have seen goats along the ridge crest of Sawtooth Ridge. During the ’00 climb, a rock the size of a bowling ball came screaming past us. Pieces of rock broke off during each bounce, and made a whistling sound as they flew away from the rock. We believed a goat knocked the rock loose [we saw one near the ridge crest]. During the ’00 climb, we had candy “Runts” on the summit, which quenched our thirst [we didn’t take water up the summit block]!

1. Olympic Mountains A Climbing Guide, Fourth Edition

References

1. Olympic Mountains A Climbing Guide, Fourth Edition


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