The weekend before last, Adam, Shawn, and I set off to attempt The Three Dicks, a relatively obscure but rugged three-summited mountain on the edge of North Cascades National Park. According to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, The Three Dicks are (is?) officially known as The Triad, but folks in the know call them by their original name, The Three Dicks, which was bestowed by the 1949 first ascent party, which included three men named Richard. Apparently, however, “The Three Dicks” was deemed unsuitable for the delicate sensibilities of the midcentury American public, and so we ended up with the diluted “Triad.” A shame.
The Three Dicks are an engorged hunk of rock on the high ridge between two more well known mountains. To the northwest is Eldorado Peak, a classic NCNP mountaineering objective, while to the southwest of The Three Dicks sits Hidden Lake Peaks, which, while lower in elevation than The Three Dicks, has a Instagram horde-summoning fire lookout and an easy trail. The Three Dicks, on the other hand, seems to see only a handful of ascents a year, and has relatively little information available about it online. Nonetheless, I had wanted to climb it for years, and I thought that it was a truly delightful climb that ought to be a classic: short approach, beautiful ridge walking, a tasteful amount of off trail travel, and a clean, easy, and incredible exposed scramble to reach the summit. A taste of the full North Cascades experience, no suffering required.
In a fit of quintessential Weld-boys last-minute planning, I talked Adam into joining, and he talked Shawn into joining as well. The three dudes were assembled and ready to take on The Three Dicks. However, before we even left town, I threw our team into disarray. I wanted to catch the sunset and sunrise from up high, but Adam and Shawn had Friday evening commitments, so I set out by myself, with plans to bivy solo on the ridge and link up with the two remaining dudes Saturday morning.
I set out from the Hidden Lake Peaks trailhead under more-overcast-than expected skies, and quite tight on time to reach my intended viewpoint before sunset. I cruised up the trail then headed up towards Sibley Pass (rather than climbing the drainage directly, go a few dozen yards further along the trail, then find a climbers path which goes all the way to Sibley Pass), enjoying the lovely array of flowers strewn across the hillside. As I approached the pass, the sun burst out of the clouds to the west, and cast beams of light down into the valley below.
Paintbrushes below overcast skies and Hidden Lake Peaks.
The setting sun bursting out of the clouds, high above Sibley Creek. Mount Baker to the right, along with Little Devil.
I frantically snapped photos as the sun dodged clouds near the horizon, and made my way along the stunning and steep heather ridge, following a climbers’ path. The views were stunning, with dramatic clouds to the west, and pockets of sunlight on the Cascade Pass peaks to the east. It was a shame to not have been there 30 minutes earlier, but I had a great time snapping photos in the fading light. After sunset, broken clouds formed in the valleys below me, and blew along the ridges. Having forgotten my tripod (oops!) I balanced my camera on a rock to take a long exposure of the clouds forming on the dramatic West Face of Eldorado before getting out my bivy sack for a cozy night.
Sunset from the ridge above Sibley Pass, looking down the ridge that divides the two forks of Sibley Creek. Baker, Little and Big Devil, and the Southern Pickets in the distance.
Clouds flowing below camp, with Baker in the distance, partially shrouded.
A long exposure of clouds blowing around the impressive West Face of Eldorado as night falls, with Dorado Needle to the left.
My alarm went off before sunrise, and I was thrilled to see color on some beautiful high clouds to the east. I had a grand time scampering around, snapping pics of backlit dewy flowers and the great views in all directions.
Boston, Sahale, and Johannesburg at dawn, with Cascade Pass hidden behind a cloud.
The rising sun lights up the sky behind Dorado Needle and Eldorado.
Dome Peak, Spire Point, Mount Bruseth, and Glacier Peak fill out the skyline to the south above the steep ridge just south of Hidden lake (not visible).
Morning light on Hidden Lake Peaks’ highest summit, with lovely asters in the foreground.
By 6:30 or so, the sun was high enough in the sky that the light was starting to get flat. I knew that Adam and Shawn were planning on leaving Seattle around 5am, but I figured it would still be a few hours before they made it up to the ridge. On the hike in, I had floated grand plans to go tag the summit of Hidden Lake Peaks, or to hike down to the trailhead and join them for their hike up, but all those ideas fizzled out when confronted with my own laziness. In the end, I climbed back into my bivy, and went back to sleep, knowing that the boys would practically have to step over my sleeping body to continue further along the ridge. I eventually woke back up around 9:30, and made myself some breakfast before packing up. A few minutes later, I spied two figures strolling along the ridge, and Adam and Shawn popped up, having made great time up the trail after battling their way up the Sibley Creek road in Adam’s VW Golf.
My first glimpse of Shawn and Adam as they headed towards our morning rendezvous.
I left my overnight gear at camp, and the newly united three dudes set off for The Three Dicks. We continued along the lovely path on the ridge for another 10 minutes or so, before the ridge steepened and looked more challenging. Here, we dropped easily onto the north side of the ridge (a short bit of 30 degree snow), then walked on easy snow to the “key col” (48.51726, -121.17455) where we crossed back to the south side of the ridge. It looked pretty steep on the south side of the ridge, but it went easily with a tiny bit of class 2/3 scrambling. In the basin below, we traversed talus and snow, crossing an easy rib and staying at around 6,500 feet to stay below the South Buttress of the Western Dick. Once in the main basin south of The Three Dicks, we climbed up easy snow and slabs to the saddle immediately south of The Eastern Dick, between it and Pt. 7,200+.
Shawn boulder-hopping with a lovely view of Mutchler, Snowking, and Hidden Lake Peaks.
Shawn and Adam climbing snow in the broad basin south of The Three Dicks. Check out the impressive slab/slide on Razorback Mountain at right.
Above this saddle, we began the fun scramble to the summit. We worked our way up and then across an easy ledge system guarded by a single fourth class move (probably the hardest move on the whole route), then climbed easy slabs to the intra-Dick saddle (between the diminutive East and larger Central Dick). From here, we stayed very close to the ridge crest, enjoying beautiful clean scrambling, no harder than class 3, with stunning exposure and views of Eldorado to the north. The last hundred yards or so to the summit were easy walking.
Shawn dispatching the class 4 move to gain the ledge system.
A short segment of downclimbing on the ridge crest, with amazing views of Eldorado. The East Dick is the shaded summit above Shawn and Adam.
Easy terrain just below the summit. Cascade Pass in the distance, just above and left of Adam’s helmet.
Downclimbing easy slabs on the descent.
Adam descending easy slabs towards the bottom of the scramble, with Forbidden in the distance, and Boston/Sahale in the clouds.
After enjoying the view, we retraced our route without incident as we started our descent. We made good time boot skiing snow in the basin below the Dicks, and before long we crossed back onto the north side of the ridge, where Adam was thrilled to spot a human-shaped tarn in the upper Sibley Creek Basin below us. He sped ahead to stand on a rock and demonstrate to me the humanoid resemblance. From there, more lovely ridge walking and mercifully brief bout of hacky-sacking brought us back to the main Hidden Lake Peaks trail, and the trailhead not long after.
Adam gleefully demonstrating how the tarn below him is shaped like a person.
Beautiful and easy ridge walking on the way back to Sibley Pass, with the Backbone Ridge at left, Dorado Needle and Eldorado in the distance, and The Three Dicks at the right.