Having scrambled White Chuck the day before and with yet another sunny Sunday ahead of us, Susan and me decided to try Silver Tip in the Monte Cristo area the next day. We had a lovely car-camp along the Sauk river.
In the morning, we drove the final few miles to the trailhead at Barlow pass, and biked in the first few miles to the old townsite. Totally the way to do it since the route is mostly flat and goes along an actual road! After biking for approximately an hour we sat down at the townsite and had some yogurt for breakfast in the sunshine, watching a few boyscouts enter the townsite and explore the old artifacts. Entertaining to watch.
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| Yogurt in the sun! |
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| Grassy field by the townsite. |
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| The townsite, in the evening. |
Soon enough we started hiking again, taking the trail the 2,000 feet up to Poodle Dog pass. At the top of the pass awaits Silver lake which is pretty. I would love to camp there some day.
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| View from the lake towards Silver Tip |
After Silver Lake, the trail disappears but the route is straightforward, just head up the heather/talus slope towards the low point in the south ridge and from there is a boot path leading along the ridge. Following the ridge you will eventually find yourself atop a false summit with rocky crags ahead of you. We dropped down to the eastern side and followed the base of the cliffs until there was a natural way up. This may be tricky in early season if there are cornices but straightforward in dry conditions.
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| Looking down towards the lake and Cadet, Monte Cristo and Columbia Peak in the distance. |
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| Summit block. |
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| Dropping down from the ridge to the eastern side |
The summit pyramid looks difficult from afar, and does offer a mix of 4th and a few steps of low 5th climbing. Definitely want dry conditions and a rope. Find the easiest way up towards the south(southeast?) corner where you will find it advantageous to rope up for the final 50' to the summit. The climbing is easy, but exposed and it would be difficult to down climb especially the move just below the summit plateau. 2 nuts and a .75 cam later we were on the summit.
We spent an hour or two napping on the summit, until we decided to head back down again. What a wonderful fall day.
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| Rappelling down from the summit. This is the climb route up. |
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| Huckleberry slope? |
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| Heading back after napping. |
Gear: small rock rack, 30m rope, ice axe, helmet.
Condition: late season is ideal
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