Adventures of a Math Geek: Swan Peak with Dan: Swan Range

Dan on the summit of Swan Peak. Behind him, to the east, is the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

After a really busy year of work that just kept going until the end of the conference I put on at UM at the end of June, July was filled with a number of fun, head clearing, outings. One of the best was a climb of Swan Peak with my climbing pal Dan Saxton. We went on August 1, which for the purposes of this blog, I'll count as the last day of July.

One of the things I like about being a part of a community of individuals with a shared passion is that you meet and get to know interesting people that you may not have otherwise interacted with. I've experienced this for years with mathematics, and more recently with peakbagging, both of which attract a small, passionate, and eccentric group of individuals. Through a shared passion, you are joined with others and friendship grows. Dan Saxton is a major figure in the (admittedly quite small) Missoula peakbagging community. I first met Dan when I joined him for a very memorable climb of Mount Calowahcan last summer, which he offered as a outing through the Rocky Mountaineers. Dan offers many Rocky Mountaineer outings each year, as a service to the community, and is a scholar of Missoula area peaks.

There are a handful of peaks in the Missoula area that have mystique due to there difficulty to reach or to climb. One of these is Swan Peak, which is the second highest in elevation in the Swan Range, but is more spectacular and challenging than the highest, Holland Peak (also an awesome climb). The challenge of climbing Swan Peak is twofold: first there's getting to the base of the climb, and then there's reaching the summit. Thanks to a decade of volunteer work by a fellow named Jim Valentine, a primitive trail up Squeezer Creek that appears on some maps has been cleared, making way for a relatively easy to follow trail all the way to Lower Squeezer Lake, the last couple of miles of which are extremely steep. A mile or so from the lower lake, and 7.5 miles from the trail head, is Upper Squeezer Lake, where the real climbing begins. The effort to clear the Squeezer trail had to have been immense; there are literally 100's of fallen trees cut by a chainsaw and removed from the trail. Thanks Jim!

Squeezer Creek is also gorgeous: you start in a larch forest, which becomes an old growth cedar forest, and then changes again to old growth spruce. After some very steep trail sections, you reach the Squeezer Lakes: the lower is nondescript, but the upper is a gem, which would make a great overnight camp. From the upper lake, you gain the ridge to the north near an obvious saddle and then walk the ridge, first east then southeast. You will not stay on the ridge top all the way, but rather traverse on the south slopes of a small summit on a climber/goat trail to the saddle just below the final class 3 summit ridge (see my GPS route for more detail). The upper sections and crux are class 3, but a daydreaming climber can easily find his/herself extremely exposed, so care should be taken. This is a fantastic climb, requiring significant stamina (it took us 12 hours), and a steady head on the final class 3 sections. What a day!

Morning view of Swan Peak.

Beginning the steeper portion of the climb.

Dan climbing through old growth spruce.

Dan again in the midst of some mild bushwacking.

Swan Peak and I from Lower Squeezer Lake.

Above the lower lake on the way to Upper Squeezer Lake.

Upper Squeezer Lake, with the west ridge of Swan Peak in the upper-left.

The Missions and McDonald Peak from the west ridge of Swan Peak.

Above Upper Squeezer Lake, on the way to the ridge.

Again. The Missions are faint in the background.

Nearing the ridge crest.

Action shot on the ridge.

Dan nearing the class 3 portion of the climb. Swan Peak in full view.

Upper Squeezer Lake and the Missions in the background.

Looking down the west ridge of Swan Peak.

Dan with the valley far below.

Summit shot!

Another, looking east.

Looking south toward the other giants of the Swan Range.

benchmark.

Thanks Jim!! Many of the entries in the summit registered contained a similar sentiment. Doing Swan Peak in a day wouldn't be possible without Jim's Squeezer Creek trail.