Frisco Mountain, Rainy Benchmark

September 02, 2025

Frisco Mountain, Rainy Benchmark

Frisco Mountain - 2376M

407M Prominence

48.4886, -120.75691

September 2, 2025

Rainy Benchmark - 2369M

148M Prominence

48.48513, -120.74644

September 2, 2025

7H 24M C2C, 7H moving

1277M Ascent and descent

15.47 KM

On the second of the three days in Washington Pass Finn and I decided to go bag a few peaks that didn't require any technical climbing. After a bit of improvised research the night before while we were hanging out in Mazama, we settled on Frisco and Rainy. It was yet another brutally hot day, so we got to the trailhead at Rainy Pass and started hiking at 7:30. We followed the paved Rainy lake trail for a short distance until the turn off for Maple Pass trail appeared. We hiked up the switchbacks and gained steady elevation on the simple trail until 2000 meters, where we had to start making our way toward Frisco Mountain. We descended off the trail to a slightly brushy and meadowy and started making our way to a big bowl with a small tarn at the bottom of it. instead of awkwardly circumnavigating the loose bowl, we descended about 80 meters from where we turned off on the trail in order to traverse the bowl where it was flatter and easier to cross. From the bottom we picked out what we imagined would be the most simple way to climb out of the bowl. We picked a line out of the South face of the bowl toward a ridge that jutted out to the East. We hiked up the loose rock and aimed toward a few small trees and a grassier area that would be more simple to ascend. From the ridge we then continued to climb at a more gradual incline along yet more large and loose rocks toward the base of Frisco, where there was a quite obvious way up to the bottom of the short East ridge climb of the peak. Maintaining the ridge was the most fun, but the route could probably easily be class 2. We stopped for a minute on the summit which was quite small and offered good views of Black Peak and other nearby peaks. We then looked South East toward Rainy Benchmark and the entire ridge line that would take us there. It started by descending 150 meters or so down to the col between the two peaks, then climbing up to Rainy's false summit, then a bit further along the true summit which is debatably taller. The traverse was a bit scrambly at times, especially at one quite short but fun face, but in hindsight much of the scrambling could have been avoided by simply sticking a bit more South than we did on the ascent. On the South side of the ridge there was a more gradual incline and it avoided some of the rock cluster scrambling. The false summit was a bit of a bummer as you have to descend a bit before gaining the true summit which is only a hair taller. After a short while on the summit we then made our way back to the Maple Pass trail by following a pretty similar route. We did stick a bit more south on the ridge and avoided the more scrambly sections of the ridge. The afternoon got incredibly hot, but the return was simple as the terrain was all very familiar from the ascent. Finn and I accidentally got a little split up on the ascent back up to the Maple Pass trail from the scree bowl. This is probably the part of this route that requires the most navigation. We soon found ourselves back on the Maple Pass trail and were glad to be back in the shade once we started the descent into the trees. Back at the truck we wrapped up the hike and drove back into the little town of Mazama for another night at the Snow Park parking lot.