Frosty Mountain (East Summit) - October 6 2024

South Hozameen Range, Manning Park, BC
2409m

This trip report picks up from that of Windy Joe Mountain, which we'd summited to start the day. After making the decision to take it easy, but keep pushing on for the next peak, I started setting us a calm pace along the 1km section of the PCT before the junction where we started the looooooong ascent of Frosty's East ridge.

For the next couple hours, we kept a pace of around 4kph, methodically plodding along the excellently-built PCT and Frost Mountain Trail, slowly winding through dense, then more sparse forests, until the views started to open up at around 1900m, where the trail got into some old burn scars, and also the tree density just starts to thin with elevation. Getting to that elevation took us about 7km of hiking and a bit under 2 hours, or about 4.5 into the day.

The grade to that point was very gentle, and we barely noticed we were going uphill. After it, though, the trail steepened enough that we noticed the uphill, though it was still quite reasonable and efficient, in fact probably more efficient with respect to gaining elevation quickly without burning excess energy. In about half an hour, we hit some switchbacks starting just below 2100m, where the trail got a bit less "dirt-y" and a bit more gravely. The views kept opening up as we went as well, and we got some nice looks across the border into the states (since the north was still obstructed by the flanks of the ridge we weren't quite on top of yet).

As we started climbing the switchbacks, the trail transitioned again, this time from mostly gravel (still very smooth/graded) to being rockier and more uneven. Once we got over 2200m, most traces of dirt were gone, and we were hiking more so on a "less uneven path through the rocks". This was still fairly efficient and smooth, but not quite as luxurious. As was common until we forked off the PCT onto the Frosty Mountain Trail, but disappeared for a while as we wound our way up that, we started to encounter other people once again, especially once we merged with the Frosty Mountain Trail that comes up directly from Lightning Lake, which more hikers tend to use.

About 10 minutes after that photo above, we clambered our way through the now-fairly-rocky terrain (still hiking vs scrambling, but a lot more stepping around and over stuff) to the 2300m point where the two halves of the Frosty Mountain Trail merged, just about 5.5 hours into the day. That finally brought us onto the ridge proper.

The rocky ridge itself is fairly short, only gaining around 100m over about 0.5km. Since it is rocky and uneven compared to the rest of the trail, though, it did take more time than the previous high-speed trail bits, about 17 minutes to be precise. It was still hiking and not scrambling, just with more boulders to clamber over, and less even footing (which is my kryptonite, and more so when my leg is on fire from medication-induced soreness). We did get to pass a lone larch that made for a nice photo, at least.

Once we tagged our summit, took our pictures, and had a minute or two to relax, it was time to re-evaluate the situation once more, and figure out if we would go for the true (west) summit or not. We both expected it to add maybe an hour and a half to the day, which meant starting the descent from the east summit at around quarter after six. While that was doable, since the descent was a well-made trail, and could easily be navigated in the dark, we still had 13km to hike out from the east summit, along with a drive back to Squamish+Whistler thereafter, which would've made for quite a long day. Moreover, and what ended up being the deciding factor, the pain+stiffness was returning to my leg, and I only had 1 dose of the relaxant I could take on the same day (dosage limitations), and if it got aggravated again while we were hiking out, that could pose a bit of a problem. So, we decided that I'd pop my next doses of each med, relax for a bit on the summit while they kicked in, then head out, being forced to return for the true summit later in the winter, when the snowpack was uncooperative closer to home. Neither of us were thrilled about the circumstance, but it felt right at the time, having hiked on my leg at the worst of it the previous Monday, I knew how bad it could get, and I didn't want that to happen again.

At least we got to enjoy our summit for a while, and get some good photos in before we started heading down at about 5pm.

Once that luxurious break (though now chilly enough we had to put some midlayers on) was over, we started making our way down, although not super fast due to the rocky nature of the terrain (which at least wasn't loose, for what it's worth). While we worked down the initial section of the rocky bowl below the ridge, we encountered a hiker who seemed confused about the way down (which was extra concerning since we'd seen him coming up that same way...), but with some assistance from us setting the way, he managed to get onto the real trail, so hopefully he made it out okay 😅

After about 20–25 minutes of descending, we made it out of the bowl and onto the NE shoulder of the bowl, which brought a better trail and easier travel. Here, me and Kelly both kinda had a thought at the same time, which was "if he descends at a fast, healthy person pace, and I continue making my way out at a doesn't want to have his leg turn into a ball of death pace, he could probably make the extra 3km to the car with the extra time it'll take me to get down, and we could get out faster". Since we both seemed to be on that page, we quickly agreed that he'd yeet down, and I would still move as fast as I could without aggravating my leg, but with that handicap, we expected the timing to roughly work out. I also may have had a podcast downloaded that I didn't mind finishing listening to, but that was only maybe 5% of the reasoning 🤣

So, at around 2150m, or just before 5:30, we split up, and I started to make the rest of the way out solo. The nice larch views lasted for another kilometre or so, until the trail got off the shoulder, and started descending a bit faster into the forest above the campground.

Other than enjoying that bit of views, the rest of the descent wasn't really much to write home about. Below the larch forest was typical BC forest, with the only unusual things being a very well-made trail by BC standards, and an unfortunate smell of human waste downwind of the campground 😅 I did my best to keep moving, and actually managed a pretty good pace, I think, covering the remaining ~9km in about 2 hours. I got through the first 8 or so without my headlamp, and as the terrain got a bit more uneven in the final couple switchbacks leading to Lightning Lake, I did my very best to avoid having to pull it out, to the point that a couple (very nice) hikers who I passed offered to let me hike with them, as they assumed I just didn't have one 😅 After tripping on a couple roots within a minute, though, I finally caved, and strapped it on for the last few minutes of descent.

Clearly the "larch madness" was no joke on the main trail, as I must've passed over 20 people on the way out, despite the late hour. Even as I got to the main road in the dark, I passed multiple groups walking out under headlamp light. The cell service wasn't great there, so I had to hope that our pre-planned methodology of roughly pointing at the map and saying "I'll walk from here back towards the car, so just wait at the trailhead or look for me as you're driving" would hold up. Thankfully, within a few minutes of me turning the GPS tracking off and starting to walk down the road, Kelly pulled up, so our timing worked out pretty great 🙂

With that out of the way, we drove back towards home, stopping for dinner in Chilliwack en-route, and overall having a pretty successful day. How successful is arguable, since we didn't get the last peak, and I did need a couple doses of meds to get through it, but hey, peaks were bagged and we were home safe and even before midnight, so I consider that a win! If you don't mind braving the crowds, I'd say Frosty is a pretty nice peak to get in the fall, the larch views are pretty nice.

GPX Track + Map