Juarez Peak WA

February 05, 2024

Juarez Peak WA

Juarez peak - 1655M

475M Prominence

50.004221, -124.230299

February 5, 2024

8H C2C, 7H 30M moving

1067M Ascent and descent

14 KM

Yesterday I was spontaneously asked if I wanted to make a quick little winter climb of Juarez Peak. I had been looking at this for a few months, and it had interested me, mostly just because I have been analyzing many maps. It kind of surprises me that this peak is even named, and I am not sure what the name comes from. Tyler, Amanda and I began the drive up the logging roads in the early morning hours. We drove down goat main until we hit Goat 1 spur, at which point we turned up and drove up to about 450M where the fallen trees prevented us from going any further. The first part of the day consisted of walking up a deactivated logging road with some fallen trees and slide alder, eventually we turned off the road and started making our way through the old growth forest, which was quite beautiful. Through the forest was the crux of the day, where there were a few steeper parts. It never got all that steep though, and eventually snowline appeared and we all threw on snowshoes. There were a select few spots where the snowshoes were only impeding progress and it was easier to climb without them, but that was short lived. As we made our way into tree line the terrain leveled out into a big wide snowfield, with sparse of trees, and eventually we reached the rounded and uninteresting summit just in time for lunch. After taking in the pretty rewarding views for what it is, we made our way back down. During the descent I was kicking myself for not bringing skis up here. The powdery 20cm layer on top of the stable snowpack, combined with the gentle 20 degree slope would have made for some enjoyable mellow turns. We continued the descent back down the overgrown FSR's and made it back to the car before dark.