Big Snagtooth Survey

Big Snagtooth Survey

Oct 22, 2023

Eric and Ross

Summary of Results: Elevation 8374.3 ft +/-0.1ft. Quad in error by 44ft too short.

I’m working on surveying edge-case peaks for inclusion in the WA Top 100 list. Some peaks have been directly surveyed on the quad, but I’ve found these measurements can have errors up to around 40ft in rare cases. Currently the bottom peak of the WA Top 100 list is Big Kangaroo at 8326ft. So any peak within 40ft above or below this elevation with a height given by the quad is considered an edge-case peak and I need to survey it more accurately. I’m using a survey-grade differential GPS that can get 1 inch accuracy, and I’m trying to bring this to all the edge-case peaks.

Big Snagtooth has a quad-surveyed height of 8330ft, so it is an edge case peak. Interestingly, though, there appears to be some uncertainty in whether the “8330” written on the quad is for Big Snagtooth or the nearby spire called Willow Tooth. The 8330 is in between them, so it could be for either peak. Both are enclosed in the same 8320ft contour, but Big Snagtooth is enclosed in a bigger contour. Either way, I wanted to get a very precise summit measurement.

Ross is nearly finished climbing all the Bulgers and Big Snagtooth was one of his few remaining peaks. Big Snagtooth is technical and it makes sense to have a partner, so we planned to team up. The standard route starts from highway 20 and you bushwhack up Willow Creek to gain the southwest ridge. You follow the ridge to the saddle between Willow Tooth and Big Snagtooth. Then there is a short low-5th class pitch to a scree gully that leads to the base of the summit block.

The summit block is a 5.7 slab that is unprotectable and usually climbed via a shoulder stand. I’ve so far climbed Big Snagtooth twice, and have used different methods to get up the summit slab. In June 2018 I climbed Big Snagtooth with Steven Song and the slab was dry and grippy. I just soloed up in rock shoes trailing a rope and then belayed Steven up. In February 2021 I made the first winter ascent of Big Snagtooth with Mik and Chad. The summit slab was too verglassed and snowy to friction climb or mixed climb up. So we flipped a rope over the top, anchored it on one side, then I prussiked up. The others then jugged up the rope. As far as I’ve heard this is the first time this technique has been employed, though I think it is more common now.

Ross and I planned to climb and survey Big Snagtooth Sunday, and the weather looked marginal with rain and snow. But I knew I could use the rope-flick trick to get up the slab even if it was wet and slippery, so we decided to go for it. I needed to be on call for work Sunday by 1pm, so we needed to start early. We planned to follow the same bushwhacking route I’d done with Steven in 2018. I recalled that was very tame, and mostly open woods. It requires staying high above Willow Creek. I think reports of difficult bushwhacking for Big Snagtooth are based on routes that stay low closer to the creek.

We slept at the pullout and started hiking at 3am. We dropped down to Early Winters Creek on a climbers trail, crossed the creek, then continued up the trail. Surprisingly it was very well-maintained, with huge trees freshly chainsawed out. This is just an unofficial climbers trail to access peaks in the Silver Star area, and I suspect maybe guide companies maintain it.

We turned off right on the abandoned Early Winters trail and followed that for 10 minutes, then turned left into the woods. I followed the track from my trip with Steven and the woods were mostly open with easy bushwhacking. We made good time up to the edge of treeline, then hiked up a steep scree slope to the crest of the southwest ridge of Willow Tooth. We followed the ridge crest as sunrise slowly arrived, and we stopped to take a break at the Willow Tooth – Big Snagtooth col.

There we roped up and I led the short low-5th class pitch, putting in one #1 cam before mantling up to the rap anchor. I used a 30m rope. I belayed Ross up, then we hiked up the scree gully to the summit slab.

We were stuck in a cloud by then and all the rocks were very wet. The black lichen on the summit slab was very slippery, and I decided not to solo up it in rock shoes. We would instead do my rope-flick trick. Ross got on the north side of the summit block and tied the rope to his harness. Then I went to the southern end and we flicked it up as high as possible. I then clipped my ascender on and started to jug up. The south side is overhanging with a few ledges and I’d optimistically hoped I could get up it in my hiking boots with carrying all the survey gear.

Unfortunately, though, it’s tough to get the rope completely over the summit, and it kind of slides to the right if not weighted perfectly. My boot slipped on the slippery ledge and the rope slid a bit down the slab. So I took off the pack, switched to rock shoes, and then was able to easily jug up edging on the small ledges of the overhang and weighting the rope down to the left. I mantled onto the top of the overhang, and then the rope no longer provided protection. But from there it was an easy scramble to the top, which I reached at 7:45am.

Sometime in the past few years someone has put a bolt up there to replace the old anchor of webbing around a boulder. I generally don’t like bolts in the mountains, but in this case I clipped it. I threaded the rope through the rap anchor, and then Ross prussiked up the normal route. I then rapped down, got my pack, then jugged back up.

The summit is a bit above the rap anchor, so I tied myself to the anchor on a clove hitch with 15ft of rope out, then climbed up to the top. I moved a few loose rocks to the side, then carefully mounted the antenna for the differential GPS. It started snowing then and my down jacket started getting wet, but luckily the survey gear is all waterproof. Just to be safe, though, I put the GPS unit in a ziplock bag.

I then downclimbed to the ledge near the rap anchor. We ate a snack and it kind of stopped snowing, but unfortunately there were no views through the clouds. I was getting nervous about getting back to cell service by 1pm, but I still wanted to get a full one-hour measurement. In the end I decided the measurement was worth it even if I were a little bit late for work.

We hung out for an hour eating snacks, then by 9:15am the measurement finished. I packed up the GPS unit in the pelican case, then we rapped off the summit. We made one more rap down the lower step, and then scree surfed down the ridge. On the descent there was off-and-on drizzle, and I’m happy that didn’t happen on the summit.

We made good time on the bushwhack back, reaching the car at 11:30am. I was able to get back to Newhalem for cell service just in time, and stayed in service for the rest of the way home.

After 24 hours I processed the data and found that Big Snagtooth is 8,374.3 ft +/- 0.1ft. This is 44.3ft taller than the 8330 quad-surveyed height. I suspect on the quad the 8330 actually was a measurement of Willow Tooth, which is shorter than Big Snagtooth. Big Snagtooth was not directly surveyed, so the quad contours are approximate. The peak is pretty sharp, so the quad is actually missing the highest contour (the 8360ft contour). This is uncommon but not unprecedented on the quad. (For instance, Fortress Mountain is not directly surveyed and the quad is missing the highest two contours, and I discovered this by using Lidar data to find its more accurate elevation).

Big Snagtooth is thus still on the WA Top 100 list, currently number 82.

Video Ross made of trip:

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