Humpback Mountain is a solid winter destination close to Snoqualmie Pass. There are two viable approaches in the winter, either the northeast or northwest ridge. My dad and I opted to ascend the northeast ridge because it was closer to the “trailhead.” To get to this “trailhead”, merely take exit 47 on I-90 and park on the shoulder of NF-9034 on the north side of the freeway. To get started, we crossed back over the freeway on the exit 47 overpass and then proceeded east on the blocked-off and snow-covered Asahel Curtis Road toward the Annette Lake Trailhead. It was quite a cold day and there hadn’t been any new snow in a few days so microspikes were a big help on this icy and slick road.
Once we hit the Annette Lake trail, we took it up for half a mile until we reached the Palouse to Cascades railroad grade trail. From here we walked on the icy and crusty trail as it looped north for about a quarter mile. Soon, we reached a big, dilapidated wooden structure that created something of a tunnel on one side of the path (I believe this structure was created in order to shield the former railroad tracks from avalanches in the winter). Almost immediately after passing this structure we turned left and entered the woods. We immediately picked up on some old snowshoe tracks, which were a good sign that we were on the winter route.
From here it was straight up through the woods. We were sure to stay on the ridge because to climbers left, we could see a good size avalanche path that was devoid of any trees of any significant size. Even though the avalanche danger was low on this day, it was still not a path that either of us wanted to be in. The woods on the ridge were safe, however, and we continued to plod upward. Snowshoes weren’t required because of the cold conditions and lack of snow.
At around 3700 feet, our route angled to the left, and we soon found ourselves in more open terrain. The snow slope was hard and fairly steep, so we decided to strap on crampons at this point. This turned out to be a good idea, because the next ~200 vertical feet or so were icy and without crampons and ice axes would have felt too precarious for my liking. Near the top of this section, we encountered a party of 2 preparing to rap off a tree to get past the iciest part without downclimbing. Neither myself nor my dad were necessarily eager to come down this way, so it was nice to know we had the west ridge as an option for descent if we felt it was safer.
Above 4200’ the terrain mellowed, and we angled around a headwall to gain the ridge at 4800 feet. At this point views started to open up and the summit was within striking distance. We sauntered up to the summit at around 2 pm, about 3 hours and 45 minutes after we departed the trailhead.
The views were great, especially being able to look straight down the South Fork Snoqualmie River valley all the way to North Bend. It was a unique view of a lot of familiar places, and pretty cool to see them in their winter coats.
After taking the requisite pictures and savoring our successful summit, it was time to head down. Neither my dad nor I felt 100% solid about descending the way we came because of the steep, icy section. We knew that the moderate summer trail came up the northwest ridge, so we opted to descend that way, under the assumption that it would be more moderate. Even though we had not come up it and knowing that it would mean a longer road walk back to the car once we were off the mountain. I generally don’t like descending something that I have not come up, but this seemed like the better option in my mind.
We immediately made a bit of a route-finding error, descending too far skier’s left of the summer trail. This got us into some steep snow that thankfully felt more protected because it was in the woods. After some careful step-kicking and ice axe placements, we reached more moderate terrain and were able to locate the main trail on the ridge. What a relief! If you are descending Humpback this way, just head down the ridge immediately and don’t make the same mistake we did.
Now that we were on the main trail it was easy to follow and we enjoyed our romp through the woods, getting some nice golden light in the trees as the sun began to lower on the horizon. We had to be careful about post holing on this descent because the snow had softened considerably over the course of the day.
We finally hit the 5510-120 forest road and began the big switchback down to Tinkham Road. This section was deceptively long, especially since we were getting more tired and cold as the sun disappeared behind the ridge above us. Still, we felt good about our decision to come down the west ridge and the road walking was fast and efficient. We made it to the ext 47 overpass just as darkness was falling, completing a pretty epic loop in the process. Thankful for another great day in the mountains with my dad.
Final Stats: 8.98 miles / 3,413 feet of ascent / 7 hours and 20 minutes
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