I have been thinking about hiking The Brothers ever since I was able to identify it on those Seattle sunsets, the distinctive twin peaks dotting the Olympic Range to the west.  I thought, wouldn’t it be nice to tell my friends, “you see those peaks, I was up there!” I don’t want you thinking it’s all about the ego though.  Messner I am not.

I have only recently started scrambling, and The Brothers was just the right hike for someone like me.  This early in the year, it presented a challenging steep snow slope hike and with the weekend forecast of rain it would be doubtful if I could get anywhere near the summit.  But at the very least it was worth a weekend of exploration and possibly scouting for a future summit attempt.

The cast of characters for this ragtag mission was myself, Rialtosol (Ed), and his neighbor Oren.  Jtost was initially signed on but a last minute leg injury prevented him from coming. 

I drove out Saturday and, with a sidetrip to Taco Del Mar, Starbucks, and the Tacoma REI, oozed into the Lower Lena Trailhead at 1:30pm.  I read the trailhead sign that stated not to ‘shortcut the switchbacks’, but the switchbacks were excessively long.  In order to move 10 ft forward you had to take a 50ft switchback, just a little ridiculous.  But the weather was good, defying the forecasters yet again, and I was happy to begin my trek.

I arrived at the lower Lena Lake and took a break at a nice rock outcropping.  The squirrels in the area were pretty aggressive.  One of those buggers nearly made off with my pack of Dentine I laid on the ground.  Relaxing for a bit, I heard the sound of the radio from across the lake.  I guess ‘tourist’ season starts early out here.

I hiked the remaining 3 miles out through the Brothers Wilderness.  God my pack weighed a ton!  I reminded myself that I will be hiking in Alaska in a couple of months, so I might as well get used to it now.  The trail from Lower Lena to The Brothers had a few downed trees, including one that fell on a log bridge, but thankfully the bridge held up, though the guard railing broke off.  There were 3-4 log bridges between Lena and the base of The Brothers, and they were slippery!  I slipped on one and almost went into the drink, but I was able to pull myself back up.

A light rain settled in as I settled into a nice rhythm, skirting a pleasant creek to an obvious campsite, which seemed where I needed to be.  I dropped my pack and combed the area for Ed (Rialtosol) and Oren.  I had enjoyed Ed’s trip reports on nwhikers.net and his host of pictures, so I was looking forward to hiking with him, and Orrin was a steady, pleasant personality as well. 

I set up camp as Ed informed me that he had climbed up to 5800 ft, just 1000 ft shy of the South Summit, to scout out the route for Sunday.  We had dinner, and got some shut eye.  I got a chance to try out my brothers (Enigma) brand spanking new Marmot Fusion sleeping bag. 

Ed roused us out of bed at 5:00?!  This guy wasn’t messing around, but I got warmed up and gaitered up, and it was much appreciated to get a good early start.  I could tell early on that Ed would be the spark plug on this endeavor.  A man of 47 years shouldn’t have this much energy!  (sorry about the age disclosure Ed ) 

We arrived at the first snowfield, a relatively benign slope, with a couple of nice, small waterfalls at their heads.  Relying on the combination of cairns and pink marker tape to guide us, we cut across a forested area, both muddy and full of roots, which of course meant you’ll bust your ass the obligatory three times passing through. 

The forested section opened up into another, more manly snowfield, which sloped up into the misty false summits of the upper reaches of The Brothers! 

We were expecting the rainfalls to be fighting us, but blue skies made their dramatic sunrise appearance and appealing blankets of sunlight draped the range behind us.  A rainbow even interweaved itself among the sun and mist.  Ed took copious pictures, including of Oren and myself eating his dust down slope of him most of the day.

We reached the first snow-covered meadow, and debated on where terrain features with distinctive names like the ‘The Hourglass’ and ‘The Nose’ were located, all mentioned as landmarks on hiking guides we had read previously.  We went up what I later realized WAS ‘The Nose’, a rock outcropping to the east of the meadow.  It was slippery, wet, and with plenty of loose rock.  I accidently sent a rock the size of a fist barreling down at Orrin, who was climbing below me.  I yelled out ‘rock!’ and thankfully it skittered between his legs, leaving him unharmed. 

We stopped at the top of ‘The Nose’ for a quick snack and a much needed water break.  This is where the trip got a little nervous.  I spied the next snowfield we would have to climb to the west(?).  Hands down, this would be the steepest slope I would be climbing to date.  We gingerly made our way to the base of the slope and Ed led us, kickstepping a respectable path upward.  This slope was not only steeper but it was softer, so it required much more work as my footholds gave way periodically.  There were old glissading chutes to our sides, and all I could wonder is who in their right mind would slide down a steep slope like this?! 

It began to hail and rain periodically.  We put on and took off our raingear half a dozen times on the way up.  The slope was steep and I surely didn’t want to lose my footing, as the slide down looked pretty mean, but we were getting up there one foot in front of the other.  Ed seemed to be having a much easier time than me and Oren, taking shots of us as he waited for us to catch up to him upslope.  We compared altimeter readings halfway up and deduced that the 6866 ft summit couldn’t be more than 400 ft more up.  There was only one rocky outcropping ahead, and THAT had to be it! 

The slope branched in two directions.  Ed went up the left slope to see if it was the correct path.  He was doing Oren and myself a big favor, as we were almost out of gas.  Ed yelled to take the right path, so we headed to the right.  We had to stay along the lip of the snow nearest the summit rock, as there was an avalanche danger throughout the majority of the slope.  Ed meanwhile caught up to us, and led us up the summit rock to the top.  The summit rock was wet and we had to stretch out on a couple of exposures.  This was not a spot you would want to fall on the snow as we were right above the steepest slope on the entire trip, and would undoubtedly be carried down fast if we were to fall.  We were able to safely scamper up, and I heard Ed up top muffle some excited words which could only mean it was the summit.

We all got up in about 5 hours.  The entire summit was fog covered and unfortunately it didn’t clear up.  It got cold, and we decided to make our way down. 

I was pretty concerned about getting back down, but we ended up glissading almost all the way down.  I glissaded one chute a little too close behind Oren, and the accumulated snow I brought with me knocked Oren out of the chute, but he didn’t mind at all.  You should have seen the grin on his face!  We had a ball sliding down the Brothers.

We ran into a couple of European guys on the way back.  We glanced periodically at the summit on the way down, and it seemed to clear up, so those guys must have had a heck of a view. 

The trip back was uneventful save for the incredibly painful and wet feet Oren and myself incurred after many hours of hiking and climbing.  I had an unfortunate accident on a mud slope back down, leaving a gigantic black and blue bruise on my hind quarters.  I can’t even sit on the toilet to go the bathroom!  But that’s too much information.

The trip was great, probably the most difficult trek I have done.  I probably wouldn’t have gotten to the top without the leadership of Ed, a great hiking companion.  I really enjoyed the company of Oren as well, he was a real trooper.

The Brothers was great, just be careful, and try to go with someone who knows the route somewhat.  There was another camp of guys who were going up, but they never made it out of their tents, probably because they didn’t have any experienced hikers with them.

(One last note:  That Starbucks and Taco Del Mar I had before the hike, don't do it my friend!  Or bring plenty of toilet paper and a shovel, but just don't do it! )