Gallatin Peak from Summit Lake
October 12, 2024: We grunted our way up to the high ridge on Gallatin Peak. It was me, my son-in-law, Chris, and his dog, Forest. When we got to the ridge, it became clear that there was no direct route to get Forest to the peak. It was slabby, sketchy class 4 climbing, beyond the gripping ability of Forest’s claws. We found a space between the slabs that enabled us to move him a little higher, but then the ridge became impassible for him. We discussed taking turns climbing to the peak with the other of us staying with Forest. We had climbed the west face of the peak, taking the most obvious route up, though not the one that AllTrails claims is class 2 all the way up—it’s not. We looked over at the east side of the mountain. It had lots of loose rock, but it offered a possible way to continue moving Forest upward. We worked around the east side; it took a while, but Chris got him up on the peak. Forest wasn’t thrilled with this last stage of the climb, and he was even less thrilled with being on the peak, but he eventually settled down and we enjoyed a few minutes to take in the views.
Views from the peak: looking down on Summit Lake; south to the Madison Range
This was my second time on Gallatin Peak in three attempts. Huk and I made a first attempt in summer 1980. We had met on the ski hill during the previous winter. This was our first trip together. We were crossing the Spanish Peaks, starting at Spanish Creek and planning to come out at Lava Lake trailhead, 4 days later, a distance of about 37 miles. We had climbed and glissaded down Blaze Mountain on our first evening out; it was the best glissading of our lives; we managed to glissade varying between downhill and telemarking form on the 1,000 plus foot descent from Blaze. On our second day, we hiked to Summit Lake, and Gallatin Peak was suddenly standing right in front of us. We hadn’t considered climbing it, but we couldn’t pass up the chance with it right there.
We decided that we’d climb up to the ridge on the east side of Summit Lake and trek the ridge to the peak. That didn’t work out. The ridge was gnarly with technical sections that quickly caused us to have to bail. We retreated back to camp. We had a lot of miles planned for the next day. We were on a schedule; we didn’t have time to make another attempt.
Mt Wilson; one of the Chilled Lakes on our descent from Gallatin
Huk crested Gallatin with another buddy in the early 2000’s; it would be 2013 before I made it to the top. This time I was crossing the Spanish Peaks with Jeremy in the reverse direction: from Lava Lake to Spanish Creek. It was the end of Day 3 of our trek when we plopped ourselves down at Summit Lake for the night. There I found myself experiencing a moment of déjà vu; Gallatin Peak was right in front of us. We had already put in a big day of trekking, so we set our sights on the morning. I knew which way not to go this time. We got up early, figured out the route, worked our way up there, then hiked out to Spanish Creek Trailhead.
North Fork Hellroaring Creek; Bear Basin
Forest, Chris and I weren't crossing the Spanish Peaks, but just running and hiking an out and back that starts at the trailhead in Bear Basin in the southern edge of the range. We climbed 7.4 miles up Bear Basin to the top of the headwall, dropped into the South Fork of Spanish Creek before climbing up to Summit Lake, then dropped into the North Fork of Hellroaring Creek to make our way to the base of the mountain, before climbing the final 1,700 feet to the top of Gallatin.
Chris climbing up the headwall: South Fork of Spanish Creek; Forest on the headwall
Smoke limited the views on both my climbs of Gallatin Peak, though the August 2013 trek was much hotter and smokier. Smoke and heat are consuming more and more of our summers, which already feel too short. Don’t get me wrong, I had a great summer of trail running and backpacking. But running has to be done in the early morning and backpacking has to be fitted in around hot dry spells; smoke ruined many a view.
At 11,015 feet, Gallatin is the highest peak overlooking the Gallatin Valley. While Chris and I put in a good day, at 19.5 miles and 5,450 vertical it wasn’t the biggest day of the season for either of us, but it was an exclamation point on the end of an active season.
Gallatin Peak was the last hurrah of RagingWhileAging for the season. I am taking a break from training and raging generally to do all the things I haven’t been getting done because of my relentless training schedule. I ran and backpacked 1,290 miles since January and between running, backpacking, mountain biking and ski mountaineering I’ve climbed 270,000 vertical feet or 51 vertical miles. It was a great season. One that I hope to replicate next year.
I have a few older stories that I’ve written but never put up, that I will post in the next few weeks, and then I’ll be back with new stuff once I start training and I have something to say, or if something just pops into my mind that I believe is worth sharing.
Thanks for reading,
Chuck
Selfies from the top
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