Three Fingers


				*Three Fingers*



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Three Fingers has been an amazing mountain for me since my first Mountaineers trip there in 1992, although it's taken seven years to climb all three peaks. The first of 13 trips into Boulder River Wilderness between Granite Falls and Darrington was as a Everett Mountaineers basic student with leader Kim Dickey. It was supposed to be a rock climb up the north peak, but it turned out to be a supply run with three gallons of paint for the lookout on the south peak. We had a hard time finding the lookout in the wet clouds.

Five of us spent the night hoping for good weather. It did not happen. Dickey asked for a concensus on attempting the north peak, but said he would not recommend climbing the wet rock. I was the most reluctant but conceded to his wisdon. It would be six years before I would reach the summit of the north peak.

Kim inside the lookout in1992

The very next month I got my youngest son Jason to go to Three Fingers with me. The view was incredible and as luck would have it, Dickey and Jerry Thompson were there. It was lookout maintenance time and they were roped up and painting the shutters and sides. I got some impressive pictures of them working together, considering the incredible drop below the lookout. Jason and I helped by painting the front door and repairing the attic access cover.

Dickey went down the rock summit on a rope to retrieve some steel shutter rods that had fallen below. It was a fabulous weekend, not just for the view but for the chance to preserve a most amazing place.

Ranger Harold Engles had the vision, built it, and now it was our turn to maintain the lookout for others to enjoy.

Kim & Jerry painting

My second attempt of the north peak, a year later, would also be unsuccessful. Unable to locate the lookout in the rain, we camped overnight at Goat Flats. We awoke with snow-covered tents and knew we were going home.

In July 1993, I went to the lookout in the clouds and rain with five Seattle Mountaineers. There were 11 hardy souls staying there that night. Dickey was also there for a memorial ceremony that was to take place the following day.

Engles' ashes were to be scattered from the lookout. Dickey stayed behind as everyone else departed for the trailhead, passing the ceremonial party heading up with Engles' remains.

At the trailhead I looked in the register and noticed the party had listed, for the last time, Harold Engles. A legend had literally passed by us, whose spirit lives on.

A month later I again attempted the north peak, this time with my brother, my oldest son Jeff and his friend. It was a dangerous route and we had not roped up. My brother Jerry, an avid rock climber, was leading us and it got extremely steep on the west face. I finally convinced him to turn around about 100 feet from the top. It was beyond my capabilities, but not his.

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North peak route above clouds

Tom Barnhart, my weekly climbing partner since 1993, and I tried climbing to the summit of the north peak in thick clouds after setting up camp at Goat Flats. It was July 1995. We used the Cascade Alpine Guide by Fred Beckey and got to the chalk stone. We were above the clouds in the warm sun. Climbing was extremely slow and difficult and it was getting late. We didn't have far to go but decided to be safe and headed down at 7 p.m.

A year later we tried the north peak again. This time we went to the lookout first. Tom and I viewed the north peak route from the lookout and decided it was too difficult so Tom said he was taking it off his list. But time and experience usually build confidence, and the list could change.

Also in 1996 I was part of a maintenance crew of three heading up again with paint cans, shutter rods and 35mm cameras. This trip I took my video camera. We left the paint and rods there and surveyed, photographed and videotaped the lookout for future maintenance crews.

In August 1998 my son Jason and I headed to the lookout in perfect weather. The snow by the glacier had melted back so we didn't even need to use our ice axes. We saw a forest fire raging north of Darrington and called 911 on the cell phone I had started to carry. There were two others in the lookout that night. In the morning we all left early. I packed out the old, broken aluminum framed cot that had been there for many years.

Jason at Goat Flats

Tom on north peak

Lookout from Middle peak

The ladders

Tom and I eventually changed our minds about the north peak, and on Sept. 6, 1998, we finally reached the summit of the north peak of Three Fingers.

We had everything going for us on this trip, including Tom's excellent leading skills. We left Bothell at 5:30 a.m. and reached the summit at 4 p.m. After rapelling down and crossing the glacier we camped under a starry sky at Tin Can Gap.

Tom and I have made more than 100 trips into the Cascades together since our first attempt in 1993, so it wasn't any wonder that we had changed our minds. At last count we had reached the summits of 75 peaks together. On Sept. 4. 1999, we completed climbing all of the Three Fingers by reaching the summit of the middle peak. Tom mentioned that there should be a peak pin for these. I don't collect peak pins, but I hope to go to Three Fingers every year, for as long as I can.

It is an incredible place and certainly worth every effort. I just hope the lookout will outlast me.

View SE from lookout in early morning

Sunset over Puget Sound

For historical information on Three Fingers, read "THREE FINGERS THE MOUNTAIN, THE MEN AND A LOOKOUT" by Malcolm S. Bates.