Anyone who has gone to Crater Lake, Diamond Lake, or the Southern Oregon Cascades will immediately recognize the pointed Mt. Thielsen, often referred to as the "Lightning Rod of the Cascades." The mountain's shape is imposing, perhaps even intimidating, but there's a secret about Thielsen... it's summit block is only a 5.0 climbing route, in fact Summitpost considers the difficulty of the summit block as 4th class. I had seen and read about Thielsen to know that it was a mountain that I wanted to climb, so I applied and got onto an end of September climb led my Mazama Climb Leader, Paul Underwood.
Though we were anticipating a full 12 person climb, two late cancellations and one no-show decreased our numbers to nine. The plan was to drive down to the West Thielsen View Campground on the west side of Diamond Lake on Thursday night and meet at the trailhead Friday morning at 7:00am. I rode down with one other person and we arrived at the campground at 10:45pm. We woke up at 6:00, ate breakfast, packed up our gear, and drove to the trailhead. After introductions, discussing the plan for the climb, and divvying up ropes and group gear, we started up the trail at 7:30am. The weather was a hazy sunshine. Aware that a cold front was approaching, we kept our eyes on the skies for any sign of building thunderstorms or otherwise inclement weather.
The first four miles up to the intersection of the Pacific Coast Trail was uneventful. The well maintained trail weaved through a pine tree forest with occasional views of Mt. Thielsen above and Diamond Lake below. We reached the intersection of the PCT at 9:15. From the PCT, the official trail ends, but there is enough indication of a trail to lead us all the way up to the summit block itself. Above the PCT, our trail increased in steepness significantly, but we kept going noticing that the winds had picked up dramatically. Paul stopped us for a break about 500 feet below the summit block and told us that he had concerns of the changing weather and reminded us all to keep an eye out for developing thunderstorms or a further increase in winds that would make travel too dangerous.
Though the winds never decreased, they never increased either We continued up the loose rock until we reached the summit block around 11:30. There we took a lunch break and put on our harnesses while Paul and the assistant, Gary, set up a fixed line. Once that was set, Paul and Gary went to the summit to set up a rappel while the rest of us, while monitored by a very capable climber, Kellie, attached our prusiks to the fixed line and made the climb to the top.
Since the summit itself is small, there was only room for two people at the high point, so Paul and Gary had set up a system where after climbing to the summit, we would each get a short break to take pictures and sign the climbing register, then we would rappel so others could get to the summit. The system worked well and I was back to the base of the summit block after a quick rappel down. From the summit, I could see part of Crater Lake, Diamond Lake, the three Sisters off in the distance, and a lot of smoke from forest fires both to the east and south of Thielsen.
Soon, all nine of us had completed the summit, so we took a break for "Leader Treats," coiled the ropes, put away our harnesses, and began our climb down. Despite a minor slip and fall on a steep section of rock, all of us made it back to the trailhead safely around 5:45pm. Though camping a second night was an option, all of us decided to drive back to Portland that evening. I was home and in bed before midnight.
Mt. Thielsen is a fun mountain to climb and I would definitely do it again. After reading the Summitpost description of the mountain, one may be tempted to climb to the top without ropes, but I wouldn't recommend it. Take the time to set up the fixed line because there are a couple spots where a wrong step could lead to a bad fall.
For the complete album, click on the photo:"
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| Mt. Thielsen Climb 09/30/11 |
Thanks to Paul for leading the climb, Gary for assisting, and to Howie, April, Adam, Kellie, Michelle, and Bob for a fun climb.
