Tom Grundy's Treasure Peak Page

On Saturday July 11, 2020 I finally felt up for doing something, so we planned a modest adventure up the East Ridge of Treasure Peak. We got up early (and I looked for Comet Neowise with no success) and then drove up to the trailhead.

There was a large party of backpackers at the trailhead but otherwise only 2 people passed us on the trail before we headed up the use trail towards Treasure Lakes and then cross country up the East Ridge of Treasure Peak. This was mostly a mellow scramble up to the East Summit, but the traverse to the higher West Summit looked a little more interesting. Based on Sean's trip reports we knew it looked improbable but went at hard 4th or easy 5th class.

trail and bridge on the way up - Bear Creek Spire just left of center

Treasure Peak - we basically went up the left face/ridge and then up the ridge

Iris near the summit of the East Peak of Treasure Peak - the true summit is middle left

the East Ridge up to the summit

Within a hundred feet I stepped on a rock that dropped out below me - fortunately there were plenty of other rocks around to grab onto as I tried to face-plant onto them (and I wouldn't have stepped on the rock if there weren't options). This was a sobering reminder though, and caused us to be a bit more cautious and slow. We had plenty of time though. There were some interesting bits weaving along and around various spiky rocks but nothing we couldn't handle - especially when I was able to go first to spot holds for Iris. Soon we topped out on the summit where we took pics and ate sandwiches and summit cookies.

Iris scrambling on the East Ridge

Iris gets up to the summit

posing with summit cookies

the moon setting over the Petit Grifon

We headed down the N Ridge, which was mostly pretty easy, but to make it easier we should have bailed down the west face at some point. Instead we stayed close to the ridge with a few spicy moves. Then we traversed down to the gorgeous but cold Mills Lake that we considered jumping in, but opted not to. From there there were more people with a party coming down from Ruby Peak (we think) and another party that had traversed around the base of Treasure Peak while we were up on the ridges. There was no trail so it was easy for people to pass with distance. Back on the main little lakes valley trail there were a lot more people, so we judiciously passed wearing our facemask buffs or stayed a good distance behind people back to the trailhead.

Mills Lake

All in all it was a pretty fun peak with gorgeous views and some fun scrambling. We at least managed to avoid most of the crowds by starting early.

Iris' Strava page for treasure Peak - map and pics

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