cairn mountain - 12,220' - sw slopes class 2
august 2014
This peak I did on a quick weekend trek with John and a guy from Boston. They were heading up to climb Granite Peak, but since I had already climbed Granite twice, I went with them to join them for the approach to Sky Top Lakes, and would camp with them. I would instead climb Cairn Mountain and the Villard Spires HP. We all met in Cooke city very early on the first Saturday of August, met on the deserted streets and packed our bags. We took two cars and went to the lower Aero Lakes Trailhead on the Goose Lake Road. With our 2WD cars we were able to get to the old mining shack at the start of the Lady of the Lake Trail.
We started up the trail, which was steep for a few minutes, then flattened out and we quickly reached the lake and continued north. The trail weaved past a few meadows, crossed a few small streams and we reached the un-signed trail junction. Heading left would take us to Aero Lakes (which we would utilize on the return). We continued straight to head up the Sky Top Creek drainage. I hadn't yet been up this approach and wanted to take it so I could document it for my guidebook. It was a little confusing at first, but we found the trail which actually descended a couple hundred feet to Sky Top Creek, then followed it about a mile to the stream draining the Aero Lakes basin. Crossing this stream was challenging, but we managed without getting wet.
We continued up the nice trail and emerged into a huge flat meadow a half-mile long. We were forced to the far left side as most of the areas was quite marshy. Once at the upper end of this meadow, we saw a large cascade coming down from the right, while the trail continued up the hill leftward. We eventually reached Lone Elk Lake and relaxed for a while, enjoying our first views of the Cathedral Spires and the expansive Beartooth Plateau above the trees. We then continued onward, past Rough Lake, Lower Sky Top Lake, and stopped at the nice, flat grassy spot just north of Upper Sky Top Lake. Since I had been there before the previous year, I knew exactly where this was, and is the best place to camp.
We set the tent up and since it was still pretty early, I set off solo to Cairn Mountain, which was just east of where we set up camp. I had my eyes set on the south ridge, which looked fairly solid, as opposed to the west slopes that looked hideously loose. The ascent started by walking up mellow slabs and weaving through easy gullies to reach the crest of the south ridge at a broad spot with a small tarn. Here I got an excellent view of Cairn Lake and Pika Peak just to my south. I had never seen either of those features up close before.
So I started up the ridge, which was quite solid. Although I wasn't on the actual crest very much, the scrambling was fun, and the hardest move I made was a slightly exposed Class 3 climb of about 10 feet. Other than that it was all second class. When I reached the spot where the ridge jogged east, I traversed left slightly and onto the upper west slopes and finished the ascent on steeper talus and reached the summit plateau. Once on the plateau, it was a 15 minute walk east to the highest point. The views from this peak are nothing short of spectacular. I got to finally see various aspects of many of the 12ers I hadn't seen, like the south face of both Tempest and Peal, the southeast face of Granite Peak (and the so called "gash" was now obvious), as well as the uppermost reaches of the East Rosebud drainage. Man that valley looked awful with at least two large rock glaciers that would make travel across it awful.
I also got to finally see for myself a broadside view of the Villard Spires. Although I was looking into the sun, I was easily able to distinguish which one was the highest, and made it my goal the next day to climb it. After exploring and searching for other potential routes on the north side of Cairn, I came to the conclusion that nothing seemed practical on that side so I started down. I ended up descending the west slopes directly (big mistake) and found myself trying to keep the mountain in place as I continually sent off rock slides below me. Sure is nice to be solo sometimes!
Eventually, I made it back to camp where they were waiting for me. We cooked a nice dinner and watched the sunset over the west side of Cairn Mountain. We quickly went to sleep in the three person tent. The next day I would go my own way and climb the Villard Spires HP while they went to climb the SW couloir route on Granite. We all made our summits and hiked out that same day completing a long two day trip for all of us.
We started up the trail, which was steep for a few minutes, then flattened out and we quickly reached the lake and continued north. The trail weaved past a few meadows, crossed a few small streams and we reached the un-signed trail junction. Heading left would take us to Aero Lakes (which we would utilize on the return). We continued straight to head up the Sky Top Creek drainage. I hadn't yet been up this approach and wanted to take it so I could document it for my guidebook. It was a little confusing at first, but we found the trail which actually descended a couple hundred feet to Sky Top Creek, then followed it about a mile to the stream draining the Aero Lakes basin. Crossing this stream was challenging, but we managed without getting wet.
We continued up the nice trail and emerged into a huge flat meadow a half-mile long. We were forced to the far left side as most of the areas was quite marshy. Once at the upper end of this meadow, we saw a large cascade coming down from the right, while the trail continued up the hill leftward. We eventually reached Lone Elk Lake and relaxed for a while, enjoying our first views of the Cathedral Spires and the expansive Beartooth Plateau above the trees. We then continued onward, past Rough Lake, Lower Sky Top Lake, and stopped at the nice, flat grassy spot just north of Upper Sky Top Lake. Since I had been there before the previous year, I knew exactly where this was, and is the best place to camp.
We set the tent up and since it was still pretty early, I set off solo to Cairn Mountain, which was just east of where we set up camp. I had my eyes set on the south ridge, which looked fairly solid, as opposed to the west slopes that looked hideously loose. The ascent started by walking up mellow slabs and weaving through easy gullies to reach the crest of the south ridge at a broad spot with a small tarn. Here I got an excellent view of Cairn Lake and Pika Peak just to my south. I had never seen either of those features up close before.
So I started up the ridge, which was quite solid. Although I wasn't on the actual crest very much, the scrambling was fun, and the hardest move I made was a slightly exposed Class 3 climb of about 10 feet. Other than that it was all second class. When I reached the spot where the ridge jogged east, I traversed left slightly and onto the upper west slopes and finished the ascent on steeper talus and reached the summit plateau. Once on the plateau, it was a 15 minute walk east to the highest point. The views from this peak are nothing short of spectacular. I got to finally see various aspects of many of the 12ers I hadn't seen, like the south face of both Tempest and Peal, the southeast face of Granite Peak (and the so called "gash" was now obvious), as well as the uppermost reaches of the East Rosebud drainage. Man that valley looked awful with at least two large rock glaciers that would make travel across it awful.
I also got to finally see for myself a broadside view of the Villard Spires. Although I was looking into the sun, I was easily able to distinguish which one was the highest, and made it my goal the next day to climb it. After exploring and searching for other potential routes on the north side of Cairn, I came to the conclusion that nothing seemed practical on that side so I started down. I ended up descending the west slopes directly (big mistake) and found myself trying to keep the mountain in place as I continually sent off rock slides below me. Sure is nice to be solo sometimes!
Eventually, I made it back to camp where they were waiting for me. We cooked a nice dinner and watched the sunset over the west side of Cairn Mountain. We quickly went to sleep in the three person tent. The next day I would go my own way and climb the Villard Spires HP while they went to climb the SW couloir route on Granite. We all made our summits and hiked out that same day completing a long two day trip for all of us.
Rough Lake, Glacier Peak, and Mount Villard
Taking a photo at Rough Lake
Scrambling solid rock on the south ridge
Cairn Lake from the summit plateau
Close up of the SE face of Granite Peak. The gash is easily seen
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Lower Sky Top Lake and the Villard Spires on the left
Small tarn on the south ridge of Cairn Mountain
Reaching the summit plateau
Looking down the East Rosebud drainage from the summit
Looking down the hideous gully I decided to descend on the west slopes
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John hiking around Upper Sky Top Lake
Looking up the south ridge
Granite Peak from Cairn Mountain
Tempest and Peal from Cairn Mountain. Granite Lake below
Upper Sky Top Lake view from camp
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