George And Jack: Two Old Peaks

Mt. Washington and Three-Fingered Jack are both difficult to negotiate, but wonderful to attempt. I reached chicken point twice on both, but chickened out both times on each. As one of my climbing heroes, Reinhold Messner, says: “There were a lot a failed attempts when we weren’t in good form or when we got scared.”

Jack, north of Santiam Pass, is the taller of the two at an elevation of 7,841, while George, south of Santiam Pass, measures 7,794. Close but no cigar for George. Naturally, the southern routes to the summits are the least difficult, with climbing generally free and easy until chicken point. From there, things can become quite tricky.

Nope, for me, it was time to continue south to explore the cones south of Mt. Washington like Belknap Crater and Little Belknap Crater while plotting trips up to North, Middle and South Sisters and relive my Boy Scout memories of hiking up the Obsidian Trail to the Pacific Crest Trail and beyond to the Cascade Lakes Highway.