Mount Cleveland looms large on the northern skyline of almost every summit view in Glacier National Park. The tallest peak in Glacier, it's north face is one of the largest vertical drops in the lower 48 states. It also lies far from a trailhead, with the shortest approach involving a boat ride from Waterton National Park and crossing the border ... Read more
Mount Cleveland looms large on the northern skyline of almost every summit view in Glacier National Park. The tallest peak in Glacier, it's north face is one of the largest vertical drops in the lower 48 states. It also lies far from a trailhead, with the shortest approach involving a boat ride from Waterton National Park and crossing the border at Goat Haunt. However, the most appealing approach lies almost 23 miles away at Chief Mountain Trailhead.
The approach begins with 18 miles of tremendously appealing trail in the Belly River valley, enventually climbing to Stoney Indian Pass. From there, the scale of the vertical relief impresses as the route leaves official trail and begins the long, exposed traverse along the Stoney Indian Peaks to the summit pyramid of Mount Cleveland. Mixed climber's trail, goat trail, and scrambling requires the skill to move fast over many different types of terrain, but nothing worse than class 3 is encountered. Many a summit attempt has been stymied by the many grizzly bears that roam on and around the summit, digging for mothworms.
The summit ridge reveals the entire approach, the rugged juts of Lithoid Cusp and Citadel Spire, views stretching from Two Medicine deep into Canada, and the impossibly great drop directly off the north face to Waterton Lake.
Cleveland is a tremendous testpiece for impressive alpine terrain, but with much less frustrating scree and much more bomber alpine terrain than normally encountered in Glacier National Park.
https://www.summitpost.org/mount-cleveland/386386
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