Glacier Mountaineering Society

Sat, Jul 16 2011 - East Flattop & Otokomi Mtn. (View Original Event Details)

Coordinator(s):		Greg Kushnak
Participants:		Greg Kushnak, David Koel, Daniel Fern, Thomas Bourgeois, Ginger Flesch, Diane Lundgren, Scott Eklund

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Write Up:
Starting 3 miles up the Lower St Mary South Shore Road, we hiked west on the two-track trail toward the ridge top east of Flattop Lake. The trail fades out near the base of the ridge, but it’s only a short bushwhack to the open slopes to the top. On the ridge top, we followed a primitive road southward, which soon branched down to Flattop Lake. At the outlet of the lake, we joined a horse trail which took us to the top of Napi’s east ridge. Game trails provided an easy traverse around Napi’s south end and to the open expanses of East Flattop (EFT). We wandered at will across EFT through a carpet of wildflowers and scenic views. A side trip out to the middle lobe of the mountain provided good views into two of the cirques. The headwall cliff of the middle cirque had dozens of sheep. The great southwest cirque of EFT was a splendid sight, and contained a beautiful lake. Traversing the arête ridge between EFT and Peak 8208, we climbed through some blocks of rocks and small cliffs with a small bit of exposure, and then continued to the summit of Otkomi. At that point, the pleasant part of this splendid alpine tour was over. The descent from Otokomi was obnoxious, with slippery unstable talus. The trail to Rising Sun was a welcome relief. The hike was about 14 miles & 4600’ vertical, in 10 hours. On East Flattop summit, L to R: Diane Lundgren, David Koel, Ginger Flesch, Scott Eklund and Greg Kushnak, (Mt Jackson center background).

Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Tim Anderson at twamontana@gmail.com. Please note that we prefer to receive the photos in approximately 640x480 or 750x500 pixels - do NOT send original high-res photos. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to twenty of your favorites (only) for a day event, or up to forty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.