Chalangin Peak, WA Top 100 Completion

Chalangin Peak

WA Top 100 Completion

June 1, 2025

12:45am – 5pm

Survey results: summit 8370.7 ft, prominence 409.6 ft +/-0.1ft NAVD88

Chalangin was my final peak to climb on the new WA Top 100 list, and it took me three tries to finally get it. The new WA Top 100 list is slightly different than the Bulgers list. The Bulgers list uses a 400ft prominence requirement in most cases, but it made exceptions in a few cases, and relied on the USGS quad, which had errors. A quad-based WA Top 100 list using strict a strict 400ft prominence rule was created by John Roper and Jeff Howbert between 1987-2001. This is sometimes referred to as the traditional WA Top 100 list. The USGS quad had some errors, though, that weren’t known at the time since it was the most accurate data source available. I finished climbing the Bulgers list in 2018 and the traditional WA Top 100 list in 2019.

Starting in 2022 I began conducting dozens of ground surveys on peaks with professional surveying equipment including thedolites, abney levels, and differential GPS units. My goal was to determine the most accurate list of the WA Top 100 peaks and correct errors on the USGS quads. I also analyzed Lidar data, with the help of Kyle Bretherton.

By late October 2024 I completed my ground surveys and Lidar analysis, and published my results of the new Lidar dGPS WA Top 100 list. I had climbed all the new peaks that needed added to the list, except for Chalangin. Lidar data showed Chalangin had much more prominence than was shown on the quad, enough that it didn’t need a ground survey to definitely qualify for the list. So I published that it was on the list even though I had never climbed it myself.

By November, with survey season ended by deep snow accumulations on the peaks, I finally decided to finish climbing my last Top 100 peak and bag Chalangin. Ross, Peter and I hiked up the White River trail, then broke trail through deep fresh powder up the west face towards the Chalangin-Luahna col. However, avalanche conditions were too sketchy, and we bailed less than 1000ft below the summit.

Over the winter I prioritized climbing Bulger peaks, so Chalangin had to wait. By April, with Winter Bulger season over, I decided to give Chalangin another try. Olly and I snowmobiled up Chiwawa River Road, forded Chiwawa River, and skied up to Little Giant pass to approach Chalangin from the east. However, many delays, including snowmobile overheating issues on the icey 15-mile approach road, put us well behind schedule. The snow conditions were sketchy breakable crust, and we ended up bailing.

I decided then to wait until later in the spring when chance of success was higher to give Chalangin another shot. This would have the added benefit that if the snow melted down from the summit and key col, then I could bring my survey gear up and verify for certain that Chalangin qualified for the list.

By late May I assessed conditions would be good for a high chance of success at reaching the summit and conducting my surveys. There are three main routes to climb Chalangin, though it has only seen a handful of ascents, mostly since 2023 when Kyle Bretherton discovered it qualified for Top 100 inclusion.

One route is to approach from Chiwawa River Road, hike on trails over Little Giant Pass and up the Napeequa Valley, then hike up the east ridge to the summit. This route is mostly trail, with minimal bushwhacking. However, it has the most elevation gain and distance of all the routes, and is generally best later in the season. In the spring Chiwawa River Road is gated at the end of the pavement, adding an additional 10 miles of biking approach on the road. Also, this route requires fording the Chiwawa River (no bridge), and it can be high in the spring. Finally, the Little Giant Pass crossing will likely be snow covered in spring.

Another option is to approach via the White River Trail, and follow the standard route up Boulder Creek to climb Clark and Luahna. Then Chalangin is just a short distance farther along the ridge from Luahna. This approach requires the most above treeline travel, which can be bad if snow conditions are challenging. It makes sense if you are also trying to bag Clark and Luahna.

The third option is to hike on the White River Trail all the way to Thunder Creek, then bushwhack up Thunder Creek, then scramble up the west face to the Chalangin-Luahna col and summit from there. This option has the least elevation gain, and shortest distance of all three approaches. It also requires the least time above treeline and has the least exposure to avy terrain, which can be beneficial in the shoulder season. However, the White River Trail has not been officially maintained past the Boulder Creek intersection for many years. In 2017 I exited via this trail and it was a very challenging bushwhack through slide alder. I’ve heard about hikers who tried to unofficially maintain it get in trouble with the WTA (Washington Trails Association)!

I decided the White River approach made the most sense for the late spring. Based on my November approach up this trail, I knew it had been freshly cleared by a good citizen in late fall, and was likely still in good shape. There would be lots of snow up high, which would slow things down on the other approaches. Plus I needed an extra few hours for my surveys on the summit and col, so needed the fastest approach. I planned to bring snowshoes in case of slow travel above treeline, and crampons and whippet in case the snow was icy.

Saturday night I drove to the white river trailhead and slept in my truck. I was the only one there. I set my watch timer for three hours, which is my rule of thumb for the minimum functional level of sleep before a trip. By 12:45am I was up and moving. I made fast time on the freshly-logged-out trail to the boulder creek intersection. From there the trail got a bit more challenging, though not too bad. Fresh brush had grown in since November, and in a few places I had to crawl under slide alder branches. I think it still hasn’t completely popped up after being buried in snow. In a few other places the trail turned into a creek with snow melt runoff. But in general it was followable and way faster than bushwhacking.

By 3am I reached the edge of the burn zone near Thunder Creek. In November I’d stayed on the right side of the creek and ascended through mostly open former burn zone, thought the creek crossing was a bit tricky up higher. This time in spring the creek was raging and I was worried that crossing would be dicey. So I stayed low following the trail remnants and some pink flagging and found a good log crossing. I then followed the trail a bit farther, looking for the old climbers trail up Thunder Creek that I’d taken in 2019 climbing Tenpeak. I couldn’t find it, though, so I eventually just started bushwhacking up.

This section had a few stretches of dense brush, but by 3800ft I cleared the edge of the burn zone and picked up the old climbers trail briefly. I then hit a talus slope, and I stayed high on the left side to traverse above a slide alder patch. Past the slide alder I dropped back down to Thunder Creek. Back in November this spot had been an easy crossing with low water levels. But now it was much deeper. I couldn’t find any logs so I took off my shoes and waded across the thigh-deep water.

On the other side the woods opened up, and then I reached the base of the cliffy west face. It was easy scrambling through open, non-forested terrain on the left side of the water drainage. I soon reached the flat cirque at 5500ft. From here I scrambled directly up a rock face, which was mostly free of brush and required one or two 4th class moves. Above this cliff band the slope eased around 6500ft and snow became continuous.

It was very icy from a hard overnight freeze. I cramponed up from there, soon reaching the steep section I’d bailed at in November. I was happy to have my whippet for the steep icy traverse, and I soon reached a rock outcrop above my previous highpoint. From there it was an easy walk up to the Chalangin-Luahna col. Some climbers have climbed directly up from the col to the summit, but I think it’s loose class 4 or low 5th class. That didn’t sound great covered in ice. So I crossed over to the east side of the col, dropped down, and traversed a snow slope above the Pilz glacier. I then gained the southeast face, which I cramponed up to the summit by 8:45am. The new WA Top 100 list was finally completed.

Luckily the top was melted down to rock, as expected. I used my abney level to find the highest rock, then mounted my Trimble DA2 differential GPS unit on the top using my trusty new flexible tripod. I hung out for an hour collecting data and admiring the views, including great undercast over to the northeast. After an hour I packed up and downclimbed back to the Chalangin-Luahna col. I set up the DA2 again for another hour measurement.

I considered bagging Luahna and Clark also, since it would be nice to get measurements on those summits too. However, the west face was still very icy, and it would have been sort of treacherous traversing those slopes for such a long distance. Plus, I had aurora-viewing plans that night back in town that I didn’t want to miss. So I downclimbed the icey face. Then, instead of downclimbing the 4th class cliffs I cut down climbers left into the trees following my November route. I then made it down to the cirque and hiked down to Thunder Creek.

I waded back across, then bushwhacked back to the White River Trail and hiked back out to the truck by 5pm. Interestingly, I didn’t see anyone all day on the trail or at the trailhead. I can’t say I’ve witnessed any of the overcrowding being written about a lot recently in Seattle Times op eds or online forums.

The aurora activity over the weekend was not great for surveying results (OPUS generally has trouble in these cases), but I was able to process the data with TrimbleRTX. I measured the summit is 8370.7 ft +/-0.1ft and the prominence is 409.6 ft +/-0.1ft NAVD88. Chalangin definitely qualifies as a Top 100 peak with over 400ft of prominence.

© 2025, egilbert@alum.mit.edu. All rights reserved.