Hozomeen Mountain is a double-summited rock peak on the east side of Ross Lake in the

North Cascades The North Cascades are a section of the Cascade Range of western North America. They span the border between the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington and are officially named in the U.S. and Canada as the Casca ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

state. Despite its modest absolute elevation, it is notable for the large, steep drops from both of its summits to the surrounding terrain.

History

The name "Hozomeen" is derived from Salish, a geographically broad language group of the indigenous bands of southern British Columbia and northern Washington State. The name appeared on a sketch map prepared for members of the first boundary survey of the 49th parallel, ca. 1857-1860, designating the name of the mountain. The map was drawn by Thiusoloc, one of surveyor and topographer Henry Custer's Salish guides, and like other geographic features labeled on the map, it recorded Salish place names. According to Annie York, a native Salish speaker, "Hozomeen" refers to "sharp, like a sharp knife." and links the name to the ca. 9,000 year long tradition of indigenous use of Hozomeen chert (a flint-like mineral) to make a variety of subsistence and hunting tools.

Hozomeen North Peak

(the main summit) was first climbed on September 6, 1904 by Sledge Tatum and George E. Loudon, Jr. of the Boundary Survey, from the northeast. Other routes exist on the South Ridge and Southwest Buttress. The north summit is Washington's fourth steepest peak, with an average angle from the summit of 38.86°

Hozomeen South Peak

elevation , lies approximately southeast of the higher North Peak. It was first climbed on May 30, 1947 by

Fred Beckey Friedrich Wolfgang Beckey (14 January 1923 – 30 October 2017), known as Fred Beckey, was an American rock climber, mountaineer and book author, who in seven decades of climbing achieved hundreds of first ascents of the tallest peaks and best ro ...

, Melvin Marcus, Jerry O'Neil, Ken Prestrud, Herb Staley, and Charles Welsh, via the Southwest Route. While lower than the North Peak, it has a north face which is "almost completely vertical for 1,000 feet." This makes it the steepest peak in Washington with an average steepness angle of 42.62° from the summit.

Hozomeen South-west Peak

Hozomeen South-west is a steep sub-peak, with only of prominence, first climbed by John Dudra and Howard Rode in 1951. Easiest route is a peak rib and gully loose , two other routes exist. The peaks steepest side is the northwest face. Hozomeen from Sourdough

Mentions in Media

Hozomeen Mountain is also mentioned often in the latter portions of Jack Kerouac's 1958 novel ''

The Dharma Bums ''The Dharma Bums'' is a 1958 novel by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac. The basis for the novel's semi-fictional accounts are events occurring years after the events of ''On the Road''. The main characters are the narrator Ray Smith, based on ...

'' and the beginning of his 1965 novel '' Desolation Angels'' when the protagonists are stationed at a

fire lookout A fire lookout (partly also called a fire watcher) is a person assigned the duty to look for fire from atop a building known as a fire lookout tower. These towers are used in remote areas, normally on mountain tops with high elevation and a ...

on nearby Desolation Peak. A rhyme in ''The Dharma Bums'' goes ''"Hozomeen, Hozomeen, the most mournful mountain I ever seen"''.

Routes

Hozomeen North

*North Route, *Northeast Buttress, first ascent Sledge Tatum, and George E. Loudon Jr. September 6, 1904. *South Ridge, *Southwest Buttress, first ascent Dick Culbert, and Alice Purdey August 1968. Grade IV to hard to protect, very few successful ascents. *West Face Grade IV Very difficult to protect, considered one of the hardest routes.

Hozomeen South

*Southwest Route, first ascent

, Melvin Marcus, Jerry O'Neil, Ken Prestrud, Herb Staley, and Charles Welsh Grade III+ *North Ridge, first ascent Fred Douglas, and Paul Starr labor day weekend 1974. Grade IV+ *Southeast Buttress, first ascent Dave Adams, Don Goodman, Ken Johnson, and John Petroske. Grade III

Hozomeen South-west

*Southwest Route, first ascent John Dudra and Howard Rode in 1951. *South Ridge, first accent Dick Culbert, Gary Johncox, and Bill Sharpe 1958. Exposed *West buttress and face, first ascent Edmund Zenger, Juergen Oswald, Gernot Walter July 26, 1969. Exposed Grade III Hozomeen Mountain and Ross Lake

References

External links

* {{cite bivouac, id=6173, title=Hozomeen Mountain Mountains of Whatcom County, Washington North Cascades of Washington (state) Mountains of Washington (state)