Kaleetan Peak

Carla, Ben, and I parked at the Denny Creek trailhead and headed up the trail. We passed a couple guys on the trail who were hauling duffel bags, a coleman stove, a gallon milk jug full of water, fishing poles, and assorted other stuff. Later we passed a woman wearing a mini-skirt and carrying a child. At Melakwa Lake we followed the sign to the outhouse, then took the right fork of the path up the south ridge of Kaleetan Peak. After passing point 5,700 we encountered some steep, frozen snow when dropping down a bit on a NW slope into the basin right below the peak, those of us that had ice axes were glad to have them.

When making the final approach on the summit, one guy was above us and another party was below us. The guy above kicked a rock down the summit gulley which only missed Carla because it deflected a few feet in front of her, otherwise we would have had a MOFA situation. The summit gulley wasn't as intimidating as it looks from the distance.

When we returned to Melakwa Lake there were a dozen people there and two campfires burning.

Date: 2005/03/12
Trip type: scramble
Elevation gain: approx. 4,105 feet
Round-trip distance: approx. 12 miles
USGS quad: Snoqualmie Pass
Car-to-car time: 9 hours 9 minutes

1 hour 29 minutes ascending from Denny Creek trailhead to Melakwa Lake
2 hours 12 minutes ascending from Melakwa Lake to Kaleetan Peak summit
1 hour 44 minutes descending from Kaleetan Peak summit to Melakwa Lake
1 hour 49 minutes descending from Melakwa Lake to Denny Creek trailhead

References

Book: 75 Scrambles in Washington: Classic Routes to the Summits
Book: Climbing Washington's Mountains
2drx.com: Kaleetan Peak

Full sized map

Ben looking at Kaleetan Peak from point 5,700'
Looking up Melakwa Pass from Melakwa Lake
NW side of Bryant Peak
Scramble route on Kaleetan Peak's south side