March 10, 2021

Lane Peak is a devilish-looking mountain, located in the Tatoosh range of Washington’s Cascade mountains. Lover’s Lane is a narrow snow gully that runs up

Dan and I started our approach from the Narada Falls parking lot, shortly after the Longmire gate opened at 9AM. The skies were clear, and the temperature was in the high thirties.

Approach

From the parking lot, ascend the slope up to the road above. Follow the road to the right until it starts to bend to the left. Enter the forrest and trek downhill until the ground levels out, and you reach a clearing. Head toward the moutain, which will be on your right. Make sure to find a reasonable place to cross the stream on your left before making your way to the bottom of the slope.

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Wish I had skis for this approach!

The Climb

The gully has a few places to put gear. We simulclimbed about half the route, until we could throw a sling around a tree, located at climber’s right.

We climbed with a running belay after that. Dan put in three knifeblades. One of which I dropped and lost, and the other I couldn’t remove.

The very top of the route is marked by a tree. Folks use this to rapp into the Zipper.

Descent

Since we were running short of time, we decided to rapp the ascent gully. Two double-rope rappels got us most of the way down. From there, we downclimbed the rest and followed our tracks back to the car.

Summary

Despite its appearance from far away, this route was relatively mild. I definitely reccomend it as a day trip, especially to those looking to knock off some seasonal rust or hone in their ski-mountaineering skills.