Twin Peaks from the northeast gully on Big Four.
 

While trying to climb Big four one day (trip report) several of us spied Twin Peaks and thought to ourselves that it might be a little fun to climb one day.  A group confession eventually followed and plans were made.  Mark, Eric and myself drove to the trail head one Saturday morning with a forecast of nothing but sunshine.
 

Twin Peaks up close.
 

We hiked up the stream bed till we reached the base of the climb.  From here it looked liked attaining the ridge would be quite a job, with cliff bands to round and considerable avalanche exposure.  We stared at this for a while and then happened to glance over our right shoulders.  Low and behold an enormous gully appeared to offer a far easier option.
 

The huge gully.
 

It was liberally strewn with avi debris and rocks but wide enough to appear very safe.  Mark had been here in late season once and remembered it being an impassible jumble of rocks.  Filled with snow it was a walk-up.  It also ended up being a terrific ear popping glissade on the way back down.
 

Rounding the summit block.
 

Climbing the taller, southern twin first involved a very steep snow gully with slightly treacherous runout.  Soft but sticky snow made it easy.
 

Slab section near the top.
 

We emerged from the steep snow gully onto a slabby, exposed ridge.  The day's excitement occurred when Eric knocked a bigger-than-a-breadbox sized rock loose that slid down the slab and into thin air.  A rope was shortly produced.  The slab section led to a false summit only a few feet shorter than the actual one.  We enjoyed the views, but no sunshine.
 

Standing on the false summit.
 

The real one.

Route taken began at the little patch of snow lower right, followed the V-notch up, and then back along the ridge.
 

Mark at the top of the V-notch.
 

Mark and myself on top.
 

The tippy-top of Twin Peaks actually involves several very big, teetering boulders.  We found the perfect skeleton of a mouse, no doubt regurgitated by an owl.  The vertical rock seen above was marbled with zig-zagging cracks and would have made some excellent top-roping, but it started to rain.

We climbed back down to the ridge above the huge gully.  We started to set up camp with plans to traverse over to Forgotten Peak the next day, but eventually decided the rain made booking to the car a better option.