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Mount Freda

 Mount Freda - 1904M

800M Prominence

49.977996 -124.151072

April 16, 2025

4H 53M C2C, 4H 30M Moving

1000M Elevation Gain

It's about time I make my way up Freda, and quite frankly it's embarrassing that it has taken this long. Freda is currently one of the most accessible alpine peaks in Qathet, and for this reason it sees loads of visits every year, especially in the summer when it is simply a 4 hour hike. Today however, as we enter spring time, it is still definitely winter conditions on Freda. The snow is melting off quickly with this spell of fantastic weather and 15+ degree days. After waking up at 4:20 and driving down Stillwater main in the dark, I met up with Raphi at 5:40 at Freda lake rec site where he spent the night. We carpooled up to the second bridge at 900 meters where snowline started, then got going at 6:10 AM. The trek to the summer trailhead was short lived and the crust was extremely supportive on the snow. It felt like walking on concrete. Once at the trailhead, we made our way through the old growth forest. This section offers a fairly straight forward route if you are attentive and follow the orange spray paint markers and occasional bits of flagging tape. It is fairly easy to loose the route and some time, but as long as you are gaining elevation it is not problematic in the long run. Throughout the trees I found some slightly softer snow, and opted to throw on my skis to avoid post holing in my ski boots. A few sections forced me to take off my skis and boot pack, as making kick turns on the icy snow was quite sketchy on any steep terrain. We made good time through the forest, and eventually made it out to the alpine, where we got some good looks at Freda herself. By this point we were well into daylight hours and the weather was absolutely perfect. it was a warm bluebird day, with not a cloud in sight. We made our way up to the summit ridge, traversing the rock hard snow that continued to offer zero purchase for any uphill skiing. Thankfully for me though, the terrain was mellow and I was able to boot pack straight up for the most part. Once we got just below the summit ridge we were able to see all the cornices facing the North West. They were relatively tame for the most part, aside from one large overhanging chunk of snow that we would make sure to steer clear of on the ascent. The summit ridge was yet again un skiable, but the snow was solid as ever, and the remaining ascent was like walking on a concrete slab. Half way up the summit ridge there was one very short lived snow climb maxing out at around 40 degrees. This was definitely the crux of this extremely low technical difficulty day. Once up on the summit we celebrated with some Toblerone bar and some snacks. The stunning views that Freda has to offer went on as far as the eye can see. It is hard to compete with Freda's effort to visual reward ratio. After a good 25 or so minute break, we downclimbed back down the summit ridge and towards the face we came up. Raphi took a few long glissades that saved him some snowshoeing, and I threw my skis on for the rest of the descent. The snow had not softened much at all, especially since we were on the North West aspect of the mountain. For this reason turns were fast and very ice skating adjacent. We made it back down to the forest eventually, and then after some survival skiing through the trees, we were back on the road. The road was arguably the best skiing of the day, as it had softened up a bit and I could make some turns. We met back up at the Jeep and headed back down to Freda lake to hang out for a bit before convoying back out on the busy Stillwater main.

Mount Freda from Freda lake in the early morning hours



















Raphi making his way up to the summit ridge















Skinning my way out of tree line. Photo by Raphael















Taking a good look at the summit. Photo by Raphael













Raphi working his way up the ridge






























The summit ridge



























Me climbing the one steeper section of the ridge. Photo by Raphael



























Summit shot. Photo by Raphael




























Summit panorama with Diadem in the center



















Me skiing down the face. Photo by Raphael



























Route (Red)

















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