Duchess of Kent after hours
Carla and I parked on Road 9020 where it is washed out at Alice Creek.
We rode our mountain bikes up the logging road to 3,400' where it
crosses the west ridge of the Duchess. We're wimpy riders so we had
to push the bikes up much of this.
We ascended the west ridge of the Duchess. The ridge was steep,
narrow, and very satisfying. We both really wished we had our ice
axes, they would have been very useful while ascending and descending
the steep, pine needle-covered slopes. I was glad we both had our
helmets, there was a lot of loose rock on steep slopes.
Around 4,200' we hit a cliff and traversed south along its base until
we found a steep gully. We scrambled up this gully to the col
between the two summits of the Duchess. This gully was steep and
challenging, on the way down we used a handline here.
The northern summit seemed higher, had a cairn, and had slightly
better views.
On the way down at around 3,800' we dropped off of the ridge into the
large basin that is NW of the Duchess. This involved exposed
side-hilling on down-sloping dirt, then descending a slope filled with
loose rock and devils club -- if I do this trip again I'll stick to
the ridge.
It was dark by the time we reached the logging road. Riding down by
headlamps was a challenge, but the bikes were still worth it.
Elevation gain:
2,500 feet
In:
South Fork Snoqualmie Drainage
Car-to-car:
4 hours 4 minutes
-
52 minutes
driving there
from
Capitol Hill
to
Alice Creek & Road 9020
-
2 hours 16 minutes
ascending
from
washout
to
south summit of Duchess of Kent
-
9 minutes
traversing
from
south summit of Duchess of Kent
to
main summit of Duchess of Kent
-
1 hour 33 minutes
descending
from
main summit of Duchess of Kent
to
Alice Creek & Road 9020
West side of the Duchess of Kent from the logging road
North side of the Duke of Kent from the logging road
South side of Mount Defiance
Duchess of Kent with Defiance Ridge in the background
Copyright © 2024 Gabriel Deal.