4,167 feet
Haystack, III class scramble

    Stats:
  • 8 miles round trip
  • 3,360 vertical climbed
  • approximately 3 hours and 25 minutes round trip
May 7, 2008

The Drive

Mt. Si is a quick 45 minute drive from Seattle. Just head towards North Bend on I-90.

The Hike

Once again, the unreliable rear their ugly heads and find any excuse they can to bail on our climbing plans. I was hoping to climb South Early Winter Spire today but early mornings don't work for a lot of people. Anyway's, I ended up with no partner and decided the least I could do is hike up to the Haystack on Mt. Si. This can be a great training hike as it gain about 4,000 feet in 4 miles! I defiantly need the workout.

I was surprised to pull into a fairly busy parking lot as the weather was pretty wet. Guess I wont be alone on this hike; but are you ever alone hiking Mt. SI? I started hiking a little after 1 and was immediately amazed with the greenery that is so prevalent on this hike. The mile markers passed pretty quickly as I did the first 2 miles in less than an hour. I thought that the next 2 miles would take much longer as after mile marker 3 I was following packed down snow which was really slippery and slowed me down.

Mount Si approach
The beautiful forest on the Mt. Si hike.

The upper part of the hike was in a thick fog as I entered the clouds that surrounded the peak.

Mount Si
Dark and foggy.
Mount Si
Compact snow and ice lead up the last mile of the trail.

The Climb

I reached the Haystack in about an hour and 35 minutes. I headed straight for the gullies on the north east side of the peak. The gullies were still pretty much filled with snow. I kick stepped up the steepening coulior until it forks. I decided to take the right hand side as I could stay on rock more. It was easy climbing the whole way up with only a couple of moments of me wondering what the hell am I doing up here? I made it to the summit in about 10 minutes from the base.

Mount Si pitch 1
Summit ridge of Mt. Si.
Mount Si pitch 1
Looking down the valley.

I spent maybe 30 minutes on the summit and then started to climb down. I down climbed the left hand couloir as it is not as steep as the one that I climbed. I down climbed slowly at first until I made it to the section where the couloir split and the angle lessened. From there I could plunge step back to the base.

I made it back to the car in about an hour from the base.

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