Trip Report

Four very eager climbers found themselves at the Green Lakes Trailhead by 12pm. A beautiful day with a slight initial crisp to the air was very comfortable to hike in. By 3pm we found ourselves already at the natural spring above Green Lakes and spent the rest of the day reading and bouldering on what we dubbed the "White-Jones Route" in preparation for the next day's climb.
Bright and early at 6am the next day we had our bags packed and our headlamps on. The wind gradually began to pick up as we gained the northwest ridge. We continued scrambling up and into the cloud along the ridgeline where the rock gradually became wetter and the wind picked up. By the time we had progressed to the 15' "crux" wall, the rock was fairly wet but still doable. Two of us went straight up the wall and two circumvented to the left. We debated whether or not to go directly for the summit on the very exposed Class 4 scramble, but the dampness of the rock made us think that the circuitous but more typical "cat-walk" traverse to the right was a better idea. We all summited around 8:30am but the wind, cold, and damp convinced us to head directly back to camp! On the way back to camp the cloud remained over the mountain but the lower reaches began to clear. After packing up camp and making our way back to the Green Lakes Trail we spied a beautiful and completely cloud free Broken Top summit! Note to self...next time around take your time. The climbers were all in spectacular shape and halved the time that I had alotted for each stretch of the climb. Nice job Doug, Kevin, and Dalen!