Heading into the climb of Silver Star Mountain, I wasn't sure what to expect. It is close to Highway 20, but the only trail is a climber's path that heads straight up the side of the Mountain. To make the most of my time, I decided to sleep at the large turnout where the climber's trail begins so I could ascend before the sun was out for the day. Despite the turnout being only a few feet from the highway, I was surprised by how quiet it was through the night. I originally planned to head out around 7 am, but I slept through my alarm and left just after 9 am. Luckily, the sun rises from the opposite side of Silver Star Mountain, so I still had a few hours to make it to Burgundy Col before being in direct sunlight.
The first section of the trail up to the bench where everyone camps was in excellent condition. Early Winters Creek had a solid log bridge to cross, and despite being an unmaintained climbing route, it was easy to follow with decent switchbacks all the way to the camping area.
After leaving the camping area, the trail up to Burgundy Col turned into more of what I expect from a PNW climbing route. It starts with ample cairns that all lead in one direction. However, it quickly devolves into a mess of cairns leading in multiple directions across gravely terrain, leading to a choose-your-own-adventure type of route.
While ascending, you can see from my GPS track, I ended up way too far to climber's left. By getting too far over, I encountered what looked like some serious scrambling. Since no other trip reports mentioned 3rd or 4th class climbing before reaching Burgundy Col, I reasoned I was in the wrong place. To make it Burgundy Col, I down-climbed a bit, traversed across the face of Vasiliki Ridge a couple of hundred feet, and then made a beeline directly towards the Col.
After arriving at the Col, without realizing it, I ended up on the north side of a knob that separates the north and south side of the Col. So, seeing that the north side had a route down to the snow, I began to down-climb. On the way back I found out that the south side of this knob has a far easier route that I should have taken on my way in. So, if any other folks out there are heading up, if you do not see some bivy sites at the top of the Col where the down-climb begins, you are probably in the wrong place, just like I was.
After safely descending the east side of Burgundy Col, the climbing of Silver Star Mountain begins.
Since it was still early season, I was lucky enough to have snow covering most of the rock fields on my way to the Silver Star Glacier. The boulders were starting to poke out of the snow in several spots. From their looks, I'd wager that these boulder fields could be nightmarish to navigate through later in the year. Thanks to the plentiful snow cover, I made it to the toe of the glacier in no time and started my ascent.
Before heading out, I had read other recent trip reports claiming that the glacier had fallen apart and that any ascents up to the summit block were going to be next to impossible for the year. However, once I arrived, only a couple of open crevasses had opened up near the middle of the glacier. For my part, I did not see anything that would scare me away from making an ascent of the peak. So I headed up the climber's right side of the Silver Star Glacier.
My favorite part of this climb was the upper section of the Silver Star Glacier. After making it about halfway up (~8200 ft), I started to make a rising traverse across to the base of the summit block. I don't know why, but making a rising traverse across snow and ice like this is one of my favorite things in the mountains. It always just feels like a rush.
Once at the base of the summit block of Silver Star Mountain, the scramble-up looks tough from below. But after searching around for a couple of minutes, I was able to locate a couple of Cairns leading the way and puzzle out a route that I would rate at around a class 3. The summit block is just two large pieces of rock that are a little tough to stand on, but by using some tension, I propped myself up and sat comfortably for around 30 minutes to grab a few photos and take in the surroundings.
I had hoped to summit Silver Star Mountain and Big Snagtooth on the same day. From a GPX file I found online, a couloir leads down from the southeast side of Silver Star Mountain and allows access to Snagtooth Ridge without having to go all the way back to Burgundy Col and then make a traverse over. The couloir, though, felt more dangerous than it was worth without snow. It is covered in tiny loose gravel and scree and would have a very high consequence fall if one were to slip.
So, instead, I decided to leave Big Snagtooth for another day and retraced my steps back to the parking area. All in all, I made the ascent of Silver Star Mountain and returned to my vehicle for some chili in a little over 8 hours.
Next up for this trip was 2 more Bulger Peaks, Sahale and Boston
