7/26/2025 Route: From 13145 Posted On: 7/27/2025, By: IHikeLikeAGirl Info: What Al said (in his TR piper14er).... Summer conditions, but yeah...lots and lots of rock...scree, talus, grit, boulders. Some stable, some...not so much. Just lots of it. Wear good ankle supporting boots. CarpeDM and I started at Pie Plant and ascended 13145 via the south ridge (see 13145 conditions report) then descended 145 towards Grizzly. The "scree-skiing" gully (off of 145 ridge) was not what either of us expected. Maybe I was not on a good line, but I tried several (many). It was a mix of scree skiing, loose talus, grit on hard pan, repeat. Not terrible (if you are experienced with loose, steep, gullies), just not the 400 ft scree "joy ride" I was anticipating. After that, there is a brief tundra reprieve and then the rock to Grizz ridge starts. Rock was mostly stable (depending on line). Ridge to summit wasn't bad, just tedious in spots. On descent, we chose to backtrack down the north ridge and go down the basin between Grizz and 13145. Grade is much gentler (dotted with some lovely tundra) and overall a decent alternative to descending down ~1900' of loose rock in 0.6-1mi (if my calculations were correct). Our alternative added ~1mi (and don't you worry)...there's still plenty of opportunity to venture across rolly polly rocks and tippy boulders...just at a much lower angled terrain. Wasn't pleasant, but still seemed like a better alternative. I also pondered the drop into the east basin (again a bit longer, mostly tundra all the way down, and a gentle grade) but the drop off the north ridge saddle to the east could be nasty. Didn't get a good look at it. |
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7/9/2023 Route: N Ridge, SW slopes Posted On: 7/10/2023, By: eskermo Info: Jenkins and 13,140' are dry, summer conditions. Grizzly has one unavoidable snow patch on the upper North Ridge. Got by fine without traction. Descending the SW slopes to the Timberline Trail really sucked, almost every step down to about 11,600' featured loose, shifty talus. Perhaps going up Grizzly E and then hitting 13,140 to Jenkins, then down the nice grassy slopes to the Pieplant Trail could minimize the suck. I greatly underestimated the time it took to ride the ridge between peaks. Managed to keep it mostly class 2 (maybe a couple class 3 moves) bypassing cliffy sections and losing minimal vertical, but it was quite time consuming travel. Very loose for a long time. Bring a helmet. All difficulties on the ridgeline were bypassed on the Taylor Park side of the ridge, usually west or south sides. Road to Pieplant is Subaruable. The last 0.6 miles was extremely rutted and had an unlocked gate. Lower clearance vehicles can probably make it to this point, although good parking spots were a bit down the road from the gate. Good camping up to this point. Plenty of parking and great camping at the actual trailhead if you have the clearance for it. |
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6/10/2022 Route: From 13,145 (formerly 13,140) Posted On: 6/10/2022, By: HikerGuy Info: Summer condition except one snowfield which was supportive. Descended gully off 13,145, then contoured over to northeast ridge. One word for this peak...TALUS. |
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6/8/2021 Route: Southwest Ridge from Pieplant Posted On: 6/8/2021, By: supranihilest Info: Take the Timberline trail (entirely dry minus one avoidable snow patch) to just underneath Grizzly's southwest side and then hike straight up the peak. Beginning at treeline it's entirely steep boulders and talus all the way to the summit. Somewhat tedious. |
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8/30/2020 Route: North Ridge Posted On: 8/30/2020, By: Flyingfish Info: From 13140 I dropped into the basin to the south and traversed to the saddle with Grizzly. The decent is heinous. |