Chiefs Head Peak

July 31st, 2005

Report Summary

In 2004, we attempted to climb Chiefs Head Peak. We stopped at the middle of the North Ridge after a poor route led to delays through rough terrain. Fortunately, the weather was nice as were the views, so it was still a success. This year we made our second attempt. Again, the weather was very nice, but this time we had a better route and successfully reached the summit.

The hike is made up of 4 parts: Sandbeach Lake Trail, the ascent of Mt. Orton, the easy North Ridge, and the ascent of Chiefs Head's south slope. We started from the TH at 5:45AM. We reached the lake at 7:30AM and stopped for a snack. To climb onto Mt. Orton, we used the route through the woods we learned during last year's descent. This time we hiked around the west side of Mt. Orton's summit area. It was much easier and missed all the krummholz and excessive talus we dealt with last year. We made excellent time and reached the North Ridge by 9:30AM. After a short break, we continued on to the summit. The south slope of Chiefs Head starts as tundra and gradually steepens. Then it turns to all rock. Shortly after the transition to rock is the steepest part of the south slope. It's on loose, small rock so it's fairly arduous. But it's short, maybe 100-200ft. Once past that, the slope slowly eases, and the terrain is good, solid talus. It was 11:40AM when we got to the summit.

Once you clear the woods above Sandbeach Lake, the views are fantastic. The entire Wild Basin is visible from Mt. Copeland all the way around to Mt. Meeker. From the summit, you can see all the lakes of Glacier Gorge, and several popular Wild Basin Lakes. We spent about 25 minutes on the summit. There were many, many climbers on Longs; we were alone. Don't forget your binoculars on this hike. Our descent went smoothly until just after we passed through Mt. Orton's summit area. I was in the lead meandering around some very minor krummholz. At some point, Sandy and Ali drifted a little west, and we were separated by a narrow band of pine trees. I called and waited, but we were too far apart to hear each other. So I eventually continued down figuring there wasn't too much trouble they could get into. Ali does a good job of finding her way back on our off-trail adventures. I made it back to the TH at 4:30PM with the last bit in a light rain. I donned my rain gear for the last mile and a half or so. Meanwhile, Ali and Sandy found their own unique way down to Sandbeach Lake. Once there, they waited briefly for me, not knowing I'd already waited there for them and then continued to the TH. Of course most of their hike from the lake was in the rain. They finished up at 5:45PM. All in all, very good hike.

This is a fairly strenuous hike with over 5000ft of elevation gain. It's about 16 miles round trip. If you can climb Longs, you can certainly do this hike. And vice versa. If you've done something like Flattop-Hallett, and you're looking for something bigger, the next challenge, this might be a good choice. You also might want to consider it if you're uncertain about climbing Longs because of crowds, exposure, or early starts to avoid dangerous weather. You still likely want to start fairly early, say between 5:00-6:00AM. The weather issues are the same for all the high summits. But on this hike, even if you just make it to Mt. Orton, you'll have had a great hike with wonderful views. If you follow a good route, there should be very little difficult terrain in the woods. Maybe a little minor bushwhacking climbing onto Orton. I'm not one for heights, and I was completely comfortable throughout this hike. There are some very steep spots above Sandbeach Lake and on the south slope of Chiefs Head. However, they're all slopes, not cliffs. There are no areas of exposure unless you choose to go to the edge of something. On this hike, we were alone from the start until our return to Sandbeach Lake that afternoon. And even then, we only saw a handful of people on the Sandbeach Lake trail.

Hike Stats:

Slide Show

Click the picture to advance, or use the right and left arrows. Mouse over the picture for text.