Sunrise Peak and Switchback Mountain

Sunrise Peak (8,002ft) and Switchback Mountain (8,320ft)

On the summit of Switchback

Eric and Matthew Gilbertson

November 3-4, 2018

Matthew flew up from California for the weekend, and it appeared the only dry spot for hiking would be on the southeast side of Lake Chelan in Eastern Washington. There were some 8,000ft mountains and alpine lakes in this area, so it sounded like a fun trip. We set our objective as camping at Sunrise Lake, and then maybe tagging some peaks nearby if the weather turned out ok.

Sunrise Lake

We left town Friday afternoon and slept in the car at the Foggy Dew trailhead. There was only one other car there, but I’m not sure where they were hiking. Saturday morning we hiked up a few hours to Sunrise Lake. Snowline started around 6,000ft, and was a few inches deep by the time we got to the lake. The skies were cloudy and windy, but we could see Sunrise Peak above the lake, so decided to go for it before the weather deteriorated.

We dropped out overnight gear, put on gaiters, and hiked directly up to the col on the northeast side of the summit. There was a deep cornice forming there, and we broke trail through deeper snow to the summit. A bit of excavation revealed the tiny summit register placed by Fay Pullen. She labeled the peak as Horsethief Peak, so I’m not sure exactly what the true

Roasting our trout over the fire

name is. After a few minutes the clouds rolled in and we were in a whiteout. There had been some thought of continuing along the ridge to tag more summits, but we instead decided to descend to camp.

It was very windy near the lake, but we found a nice sheltered site away in the woods. Matthew cast a fishing line into the lake a got a big trout on the first bite. That evening we made a big fire and roasted the trout, along with some cous cous.

It was a cold and windy night, and we wished we’d brought winter gear instead of going light with summer sleeping bags. By morning the wind died and the skies almost completely cleared. It was good enough weather that we decided to tag Switchback Peak on the way out. We hiked up to the east ridge, then followed the ridge to the summit. The snow varied from a few inches deep in the wind scoured areas to thigh deep in drifts.