Monday, January 23, 2017

Route: The Brothers (Olympic National Forrest)

Mountain Information:

Driving Directions:

  • Trailhead:  Lena Lake Trailhead
  • Co-ordinates: 47.5997, -123.1512
  • Address:  N Hamma Hamma Rd, Hoodsport, WA 98548
  • Elevation:  650 ft
  • Pass:  Northwest Forest Pass
  • Directions: (From WTA) "From Hoodsport, drive travel north on Hwy 101 for 14 miles. Make a left onto Hamma Hamma River Road at milepost 318. Continue for 7.5 paved miles to the trailhead. A privy is available at the large trailhead, that can accomodate 30 cars. Keep in mind that the parking flanks an active road, so if you must park across the road from the trailhead, look both ways before crossing!"

Route Information:

  • Gain: 6042 ft
  • Round Trip: 16 miles
  • Difficulty: Physically most difficult, technically difficult
  • Season: May to October
  • Source: https://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.aspx?trailid=HGW230-074
  • Existing tracks: http://www.peakbagger.com/climber/GPXFile.aspx?aid=646347&sep=1
  • Related Trip Report: http://www.peakbagger.com/climber/ascent.aspx?aid=646347
  • Caltopo Route: http://caltopo.com/m/S07B (Imported track and haven't created a new route yet. It is not a good example without breaking the route into sections, will fix it later) 
  • Approach
    • Begin at the trailhead at 650ft and hike north on Lena lake trail 810 up to and around the west side of Lena Lake. Pass the junction with Upper Lena Lake trail 811 to the left, cross Lena Creek, and enter the Brothers Wilderness at the east side of the lake. Continue up East Fork Lena Creek through the Valley of the Silent Men on The Brothers Trail 821. At 6 miles from the trailhead, reach the Lena Forks Camp at the final creek crossing and the end of the maintained trail at 3000ft. You can find a camp nearby at the intersection of two streams. 
  • Ascend
    • Follow a boot tread west along the north side of the creek that drains the south ridge of the Brothers. After a half mile, turn right (north) to go up an avalanche area and an area of burned-out forest before entering the gully and stream-bed directly below the low point on the south ridge. The way may be difficult to find here. In early season, go up on snow or in later season on rocks, which may be marked by tape and cairns, crossing back and forth over the creek. Scramble up the gully on the left. 
    • In the second meadow at a gigantic boulder at 5000ft, go east by following rock ledges and scrambling on loose scree to an open, rocky slope. You may be able to travel on snow for sections in early season. Scramble about 200 yards and then bear left into the narrow upper couloir, The Hourglass. The last 500ft of snow can be steep and hard. When you are heading into snow in shadow, put on your crampons before you get there, as it may be difficult to do once you are on the icy slope. You can go around the Hourglass by going right up snow slopes or rock to the main shoulder next to the upper chute. Scramble up to about 6000ft, where the gully opens up.
    • From about 200ft below the summit, you can take several routes. One is a steep snowfield to the right, which leads to an easy scramble to the summit from the east. You can also look for a notch before you reach the saddle, with the summit to the right. Pass through the notch and scramble the last 200ft on loose rock to the summit (6842ft)
  • Descend: Retrace your steps to the trailhead 

Misc 

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