Malemute Peak

Route: East Couloir (cathedral lake Th)
Posted On: 5/25/2025, By: kyrawhitworth
Info: Major thanks to Chipmunk for the great trip report! It was a bit more melted out on the approach (good = trail runners, bad = a bit more bushwhacky getting across the river). Once in the basin, we headed up the left branch of the couloir at 6am. Snow was perfect for crampons, no sinking so the early start was definitely worth it. Snow bridge is still in up high and from there it’s a short scramble to the summit. We skied down the right branch of the couloir where the “middle finger” is. Skied awesome when we dropped at 9:30am and what an aesthetic line! We then made our way out via cathedral lake which was not good getting back to the trail; it may have been better to ski down and connect with where we came up. 

Route: North face
Posted On: 6/2/2024, By: yaktoleft13
Info: Climbed malemute, electric pass peak, and Leahy from cathedral lake. Able to boot to lake, though there a couple of awkward snow drifts on the steep switchbacks right before the lake. Wore crampons from the lake to malemute summit and back to lake. Weak freeze meant variable snow conditions that heated up fast. Took right gully from the lake, then pieced together snow fields up the North face. Didn't love my ascent route, so went down the West ridge a bit and took a snow field down there. Didn't love that either, super steep, but at least the snow was a bit more consistent. From the lake, took rock/snow mounds over to electric pass peak. Rock is trash up there, snow wasn't much better. And EPP is soooooo far from malemute. Took as long to get from malemute to EPP as it did from trailhead to malemute. Leahy was an quick and easy add on with a dry descent back to 12k. 

Route: Southwest couloir (deadhead couloir)
Posted On: 5/4/2024, By: Geckser
Info: Arthurspiderman (on return from Europe) and I hit Malemute, Pearl and Oyster from the Ashcroft trailhead. We biked up as far as we could (.2 miles) before we switched to trail runners with skis on our back. We were able to get up to 12,000 on Castle Creek Road in runners at which point we switched to Boots/crampons. The snow was not very good on Malemute but it made for descent cramponing. The ski descent was passable hardback, very cool little couloir. We then dropped to 11,200 and ascended to the pass between Pearl and Oyster. We booted to Pearl, returned to the pass and ascended Oyster. We skied down the main Northwest couloir of Oyster and were able to ski back to the creek crossing before switching to trailrunners again. The road is melting out fast! Fun day, lucky to have a hard freeze and some clouds around noon. 

Route: North Side
Posted On: 7/17/2023, By: Camden7
Info: One brief snow crossing, no traction required. 

Route: From Cathedral Lake
Posted On: 5/8/2022, By: hr011242
Info: Road leading up to Cathedral Lake TH isn't completely passable yet, but there is some space to park along the road or right off of Castle Creek Rd. Skinable after ~1.5 miles up the trail. Booted up from the north, descended northeast. 

Route: Castle creek road
Posted On: 7/11/2021, By: Kittenmittenns
Info: Summer conditions from start/finish. Typical loose elk range terrain. 

Route: West Ridge from Castle Creek RD
Posted On: 6/17/2021, By: Flyingfish
Info: From the upper parking lot we did an ascending traverse over typical loose Elk scree to reach the low point in the saddle between Conundrum and Malemute. From there the start of the ridge is loose but 2+ while staying to the north side of the ridge. Probably 3/4 of the way there are a series of notches in the ridge that require class 3 to 4 down climbs but none are very long. Whole route is dry from the road. 

Route: Castle Creek
Posted On: 5/11/2021, By: angry
Info: Continuous snow from creek crossing to ridge. Ridge to summit, some dry loose rock sections and cornices. Did not use flotation as there was a good freeze. Avy debris across trail at ~11,900. Scrambling required to reach summit. Awesome views of Castle/Conundrum. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 9/8/2019, By: Grover
Info: Reached the summit of Malemute Peak by gaining the ridge off of the upper Castle Creek TH. Pick the path of least resistance to gain the ridge. There is plenty of loose rock and dirt to hike through to gain the ridge. Once on the ridge, you can bypass the difficulties on the left (north) side, and there are some spots that will make you look for the safest way to go. No snow on the route at all. A very worthy summit, with a suspended view of Castle, Conundrum and Cathedral. The peak register needs to be replaced, as the cap is broken in two, and thus, the paper inside is trashed. 

Route: From Cathedral Lake
Posted On: 6/27/2019, By: BobbyFinn
Info: See my trail update in my Cathedral Peak update. Here are some pics. First pic is the basin above Cathedral Lake looking at the ridge. Fourth is the face from the upper basin. 

Route: NW face
Posted On: 6/4/2019, By: SnowAlien
Info: Climbed and skied Malemute from Cathedral lake TH. There's some avalanche debris around 10,600 feet, but it doesn't present a major obstacle. Continuous snow starts around 11k and the summer trail is still covered except for the steep section just before the lake. With the good freeze today, the route was bootable. Without freeze or after snow warms up in the PM you will be swimming in the snow. Cathedral coverage is still good, with some avy debris in both Pearl and East face couloir. Malemute was mostly debris free (NW face). Pix of Castle, Cathedral and the basin are attached. Lake is still frozen (crossed it). Register needs to be replaced.