Bench Peak (Ski)
Most skiers have never identified Bench Peak on the horizon, let alone contemplated a trip to its lonely summit. Though it is mountain of exceptional prominence, dominating a massif to the south of Turnagain Pass, it does not stand out on the skyline like Carpathian or Silvertip. Nestled in between the Isthmus Icefield, Turnagain Pass, and the range east of Summit Pass, Bench is a singular peak in the middle of nowhere, and therefore an alluring if exhausting destination.
Unlike the relatively dry mountains around Summit Lake, Bench Peak gets walloped with the wet storms that inundate Turnagain Pass and its environs. Or at least that’s what the glaciers surrounding Bench Peak would suggest. In reality, most people have no idea what the weather is doing in the vicinity of Bench Peak. The avalanche center makes few to no observations in that area, and Grandview is probably the most representative weather station. Since Bench sits nearly equidistant from Turnagain, Summit, and the icefield, it would take obsessive attention to storm tracks throughout the season to have even a rough sense of Bench’s snowpack. Fortunately, there’s a simple, if not easy, way to figure it out for yourself: Go there.
The shortest, simplest route to Bench begins at the Johnson Pass trailhead, during conditions in which it is open to snowmachines. If there’s not enough snow for snowmachines, there’s not enough snow to make it through the forest and brush to the base of the mountain. If there is enough snow, wayfinding can be relatively simple. From the trailhead, follow the well-used winter snowmachine route toward the Center Creek/Bench Creek valley, which is a broad floodplain. The summer trail will be to your left, contouring along the base of Pete’s Mountain. It is an option for non-motorized travellers, but is closed to snowmachines. The summer trail also crosses several avalanche paths. The non-motorized and snowmachine routes come together just south of the summer route’s steel bridge over Center Creek, which is too narrow to cross on a snowmachine. This bridge is convenient for summit attempts when the creek is open, as it could preclude the need for icy, barefoot stream crossings.
This bridge also marks a decision point: In cold years with heavy snow, Center Creek provides a direct, scenic route toward the Divide Creek valley that leads to Bench Peak. If the creek is completely covered, the fastest route to Bench is up the creek, heading nearly due east. If the snow bridges don’t last, bushwhack to your right (south) to join the series of meadows that parallel the creek.
If the creek isn’t sufficiently snowed in, follow the summer trail south for about ¾ of a mile after the winter and summer trails join. In good snow years, a snowmachine trail will head uphill and east through a narrow meadow. This turnoff is located just north of an unnamed tributary that passes under the trail from the east (the first mapped tributary south of Center Creek). From here, the meadow improbably continues east for a mile and a half before opening up in the broad, lightly vegetated valley where Center and Divide Creeks come together. As you skin or snowmachine through this long meadow, dense forests and brush on either side make you feel extraordinarily grateful not to be bushwhacking. Unfortunately, this meadow route is not a fast ski out. Its numerous undulations, some of which are a hundred vertical feet or more, require skinning in both directions or arduous sidestepping on the way out. Alternatively, non-motorized users could consider using fat bikes to travel from Johnson Pass trailhead to Divide Creek. If the snowmachine trails have been well-used, biking could be faster and less tedious than skinning. It is approximately six miles from the trailhead to Divide Creek, or 12 miles roundtrip, a long way to skin on flat to rolling terrain.
The skinning doesn’t get any easier or more efficient at Divide Creek. The creek is a deeply incised terrain trap with brush on either side. The west side of the creek is much steeper, with numerous avalanche paths that drop straight into the creek. The east (climber’s left) side of the creek is preferable, with hills and benches with more dispersed brush. It still has avalanche risk from short steeper pitches, and that risk is more acute since the north-facing valley is prone to developing surface hoar that doesn’t get melted by sun or blown away by wind. With the lumpy terrain, it can be difficult to set a skin track that will allow for quick skiing out. After a couple more miles of skinning next to a terrain trap, the valley finally opens up past an old terminal moraine of Bench Peak’s north face glacier, whose toe looms above a cliff band several hundred feet overhead.
There are at least two fairly obvious routes up to Bench’s summit: the east ridge and the north-facing glacier bowl. At first glance on a map, the east ridge seems obvious, as it avoids a long skin track up a glacier on avalanche terrain above cliffs. However, the east ridge route has its hazards too, including a canyon terrain trap at the bottom of the climb, a headwall that is often on the leeward side of strong winds coming in from Seward, and an exposed ridge scramble to the summit. The east ridge route is longer, whereas the north glacier is a straight shot to the summit. Either way, the climb is not technical--from the north glacier, you can skin right up to the summit in good conditions. It is a 3,500 foot climb from Divide Creek to the summit, spread out over about a mile and a quarter on the glacier or close to two miles taking the east ridge.
Bench Peak’s prominence becomes clear as you ascend the final few hundred feet. Pastoral and even Kickstep look small where they crown the Turnagain mountain complex to the north. Silvertip does not appear to loom over the Canyon and Six Mile valleys, as it does from nearly every other perspective. Byron Peak’s twin summits look like scallops barely emerging from the ridgeline above Skookum Glacier. Carpathian, as always, lords over the glacial landscape, with its nearly vertical southwestern face glowing orange in the afternoon sunlight. Trail Creek and Center Creek look extraordinarily distant--though they are close as the crow flies, thousands of vertical feet of separation seem to place them in another country.
There are some crevasses on Bench Peak’s northern glacier, which climbers should take note (and perhaps photos) of to avoid on the descent. The other hazard is the cliff band below the toe of the glacier: An avalanche on the upper glacier certainly would be deadly as it sweeps over this precipice. The lower bowls directly below the glacier toe have avalanche terrain as well. Fortunately, there are enough undulations in the glacier to provide relatively safe spots to meet up and reconvene on the way down before separating for the next pitch of steeper snow.
The other thing you can see from Bench’s summit is the incredible distance separating you from the trailhead, very little of which is a quick ski. Prepare for a long slog back, taking into account possible risks of isothermal above Divide Creek if travelling during the spring. With luck, passing snowmachiners may take pity and give you a ride back after rejoining the sled trail paralleling Center Creek. Alternatively, at some point in the course of exhaustion, hallucination takes over, and that’s probably a better option than thinking lucidly about how much your feet hurt after 17 miles of flat slogging. Still, for one of the most remote, longest glacier ski runs around Turnagain, every blister-limping step is worth it.
 |
| Josh Gray summits Bench Peak |
 |
| Bench's north-facing glacier |
 |
| Descending the glaciated north face |
If the creek isn’t sufficiently snowed in, follow the summer trail south for about ¾ of a mile after the winter and summer trails join. In good snow years, a snowmachine trail will head uphill and east through a narrow meadow. This turnoff is located just north of an unnamed tributary that passes under the trail from the east (the first mapped tributary south of Center Creek). From here, the meadow improbably continues east for a mile and a half before opening up in the broad, lightly vegetated valley where Center and Divide Creeks come together. As you skin or snowmachine through this long meadow, dense forests and brush on either side make you feel extraordinarily grateful not to be bushwhacking. Unfortunately, this meadow route is not a fast ski out. Its numerous undulations, some of which are a hundred vertical feet or more, require skinning in both directions or arduous sidestepping on the way out. Alternatively, non-motorized users could consider using fat bikes to travel from Johnson Pass trailhead to Divide Creek. If the snowmachine trails have been well-used, biking could be faster and less tedious than skinning. It is approximately six miles from the trailhead to Divide Creek, or 12 miles roundtrip, a long way to skin on flat to rolling terrain.
The skinning doesn’t get any easier or more efficient at Divide Creek. The creek is a deeply incised terrain trap with brush on either side. The west side of the creek is much steeper, with numerous avalanche paths that drop straight into the creek. The east (climber’s left) side of the creek is preferable, with hills and benches with more dispersed brush. It still has avalanche risk from short steeper pitches, and that risk is more acute since the north-facing valley is prone to developing surface hoar that doesn’t get melted by sun or blown away by wind. With the lumpy terrain, it can be difficult to set a skin track that will allow for quick skiing out. After a couple more miles of skinning next to a terrain trap, the valley finally opens up past an old terminal moraine of Bench Peak’s north face glacier, whose toe looms above a cliff band several hundred feet overhead.
There are at least two fairly obvious routes up to Bench’s summit: the east ridge and the north-facing glacier bowl. At first glance on a map, the east ridge seems obvious, as it avoids a long skin track up a glacier on avalanche terrain above cliffs. However, the east ridge route has its hazards too, including a canyon terrain trap at the bottom of the climb, a headwall that is often on the leeward side of strong winds coming in from Seward, and an exposed ridge scramble to the summit. The east ridge route is longer, whereas the north glacier is a straight shot to the summit. Either way, the climb is not technical--from the north glacier, you can skin right up to the summit in good conditions. It is a 3,500 foot climb from Divide Creek to the summit, spread out over about a mile and a quarter on the glacier or close to two miles taking the east ridge.
Bench Peak’s prominence becomes clear as you ascend the final few hundred feet. Pastoral and even Kickstep look small where they crown the Turnagain mountain complex to the north. Silvertip does not appear to loom over the Canyon and Six Mile valleys, as it does from nearly every other perspective. Byron Peak’s twin summits look like scallops barely emerging from the ridgeline above Skookum Glacier. Carpathian, as always, lords over the glacial landscape, with its nearly vertical southwestern face glowing orange in the afternoon sunlight. Trail Creek and Center Creek look extraordinarily distant--though they are close as the crow flies, thousands of vertical feet of separation seem to place them in another country.
There are some crevasses on Bench Peak’s northern glacier, which climbers should take note (and perhaps photos) of to avoid on the descent. The other hazard is the cliff band below the toe of the glacier: An avalanche on the upper glacier certainly would be deadly as it sweeps over this precipice. The lower bowls directly below the glacier toe have avalanche terrain as well. Fortunately, there are enough undulations in the glacier to provide relatively safe spots to meet up and reconvene on the way down before separating for the next pitch of steeper snow.
The other thing you can see from Bench’s summit is the incredible distance separating you from the trailhead, very little of which is a quick ski. Prepare for a long slog back, taking into account possible risks of isothermal above Divide Creek if travelling during the spring. With luck, passing snowmachiners may take pity and give you a ride back after rejoining the sled trail paralleling Center Creek. Alternatively, at some point in the course of exhaustion, hallucination takes over, and that’s probably a better option than thinking lucidly about how much your feet hurt after 17 miles of flat slogging. Still, for one of the most remote, longest glacier ski runs around Turnagain, every blister-limping step is worth it.
Comments
Post a Comment