iceberg peak - 11,552' - class 2
august 2014
This is a quick trip I did solo and was amazed at how much ground I covered in a short amount of time. The trip started the first Wednesday in August when I rented a nice mountain bike in Red Lodge, drove over the Beartooth Pass to Cooke City and parked at the Goose Lake 2WD parking area. I then biked/walked up the Goose Lake 4WD road passing by many nice lakes in the process. Although I was on a bike, and walking more than half of it due to the large boulders all over the road, I was keeping pace with a group of ATV's ahead of me. I continued pas them and went all the way to the wilderness boundary where I parked the bike and started hiking on the trail to Goose Lake. This large lake is spectacular and reminded me of the area around Shelf and Moon Lakes.
As the sun was setting, I reached the broad saddle between Iceberg Peak and Sawtooth Mountain where the official trail ends. I then started looking for a nice place to camp so I continued down the other side a ways, crossing a mellow permanent snowfield and heading towards the remnants of the Grasshopper Glacier. The only ice left was just north of the saddle between Iceberg Peak and Mount Wilse. A new lake has also formed and I found a nice grassy patch about 50 feet above the lake with an excellent view of the west face of Glacier Peak. An awesome looking couloir was clearly visible on the north face of Iceberg Peak that I noted as a possibly early season route.
The last rays of sun glowing on the clouds was beautiful and by dark, my tent was set and I quickly went to sleep. Waking the next morning, I was up and moving at 6am. Although I was hoping to get to the summit of Glacier Peak, I needed to be back in Red Lodge around noon so I instead hiked up Iceberg Peak right from the broad saddle at the end of the trail. It wasn't much more than a class 1+ hike really. The west ridge from the saddle only rose 800 feet and was standing on top in less than 30 minutes. Views of Glacier and Granite Peaks and the Western Beartooths were spectacular. The banner above shows the Western Beartooths, none of which I have even been close to as none of them rise to 12,000 feet. Hopefully sometime I can venture over there as well.
After a quick hike down I shot some amazing reflection panorama photos of Goose Lake and reached my bike. I had to walk it up the short hill and passed by a couple people on ATV's and horses. From the top of the hill, I was able to ride 90% of the road back down to my car. That was a strenuous ride though as I could have easily crashed multiple times. I reached the car I think at 10am, covering a total of 17-18 miles in basically one day.
As the sun was setting, I reached the broad saddle between Iceberg Peak and Sawtooth Mountain where the official trail ends. I then started looking for a nice place to camp so I continued down the other side a ways, crossing a mellow permanent snowfield and heading towards the remnants of the Grasshopper Glacier. The only ice left was just north of the saddle between Iceberg Peak and Mount Wilse. A new lake has also formed and I found a nice grassy patch about 50 feet above the lake with an excellent view of the west face of Glacier Peak. An awesome looking couloir was clearly visible on the north face of Iceberg Peak that I noted as a possibly early season route.
The last rays of sun glowing on the clouds was beautiful and by dark, my tent was set and I quickly went to sleep. Waking the next morning, I was up and moving at 6am. Although I was hoping to get to the summit of Glacier Peak, I needed to be back in Red Lodge around noon so I instead hiked up Iceberg Peak right from the broad saddle at the end of the trail. It wasn't much more than a class 1+ hike really. The west ridge from the saddle only rose 800 feet and was standing on top in less than 30 minutes. Views of Glacier and Granite Peaks and the Western Beartooths were spectacular. The banner above shows the Western Beartooths, none of which I have even been close to as none of them rise to 12,000 feet. Hopefully sometime I can venture over there as well.
After a quick hike down I shot some amazing reflection panorama photos of Goose Lake and reached my bike. I had to walk it up the short hill and passed by a couple people on ATV's and horses. From the top of the hill, I was able to ride 90% of the road back down to my car. That was a strenuous ride though as I could have easily crashed multiple times. I reached the car I think at 10am, covering a total of 17-18 miles in basically one day.
Long Lake from the Goose Lake jeep road
Perfect place to camp
Sunset from my tent
|
North side of Iceberg Peak from my camp
Sunrise on Sawtooth Mountain
Sawtooth Mountain reflection in Goose Lake
|
Mount Wilse and the lake below the Grasshopper Glacier
Sunrise view near the summit
Sawtooth Mountain
|
Iceberg Peak summit view with Goose Lake on the left
Goose Lake reflection panorama
Close-up of the north couloir on Iceberg Peak
|
Mount Zimmer from Iceberg Peak in early July of a different year - Photo by Bob
Frozen Goose Lake in July of a different year - Photo by Bob
|