Bonanza Peak is the biggest non volcanic mountain within the Cascade Mountains of Washington State. Located near the head of Railroad Creek it’s main access is via Holden Village. It has two main drainage’s which are both to the East and to the North and is located in Glacier Peak Wilderness. Although it is a massive and complex mountain with potential on every aspect the area is relatively quiet. We had arrived in Holden Village in Mid April with the plans to ride both Bonanza Peak and Mount Fernow. Being that we had rode Fernow two days previously or attention had switched to the highest peak around.

Heading Towards Holden Lake From the Village

We were woken up at 3:30 a.m. by Brenan, who was a Holden local. He had chatted with us earlier and he was interest in going for Bonanza Peak. Before long we walked over to the mess hall and got our gear dialed quickly before departing. We were loosely following the Railroad Creek Trail past Big Creek before splitting off towards Holden Lake. By now the sun was starting to rise and we could see the alpenglow starting over Copper Peak. under a starry sky. There was a lot on my mind as we climbed with the sunrise on our backs and the adjacent peaks in the alpenglow.

Wondering what was in store for us on the trip we kept pushing higher on the ridge to Holden Lake. Above us the clouds were on fire from the morning sun and we were happy with our progress so far. We stayed next to the raging outflow of Holden Creek knowing that it would be the most direct route up. Soon enough we were on mellower terrain and switching to skinning.

Heading From Holden Lake Over to Holden Pass

We reached Holden Lake as the sun broke over the surrounding mountains. Finally we got our first taste of the warm sun and view of our objective over 4,000 feet above. The eastern face and true summit of Bonanza Peak by now was basking in the sun.

As we started making our way towards Holden Pass we couldn’t help but to look to the west. We finally had a clean view of the eastern side of Bonanza Peak right in front of us. The whole are was massive with steep snow-covered headwall. We could see on the summit there was a cliff band in the middle and the Mary Green Glacier below. It seemed like we could had a route to ride but we needed to get a closer look.

We made our way up to Holden Pass happy to find firm snow to bootpack on. By now to south we could see the upper ridge and layers of complex rock bands. While it was beautiful it was all quite intimidating. We switched off bootpacking until arriving at the lower flanks of the Mary Green Glacier.

Making Our Way onto the Mary Green Glacier and Bonanza Peak

Looking back towards Holden Pass the terrain rose sharply to the east. We could see the clouds were slamming on the south summit of Martin Peak. How long would we have the sun on our backs and would things switch to a whiteout.

We skinned in shin-deep powder, marveling at the slopes that surrounded us. While Bonanza is amazing, it is only one of many humbling mountains in the area. The complex terrain was covered in wind lips, crevasses and the occasional serac and needed to be carefully navigated.

Clouds cloaked the summit pyramid as we kept moving forward. The weather would give us a snow storm one minute before being in the sun. Occasionally we would see the silhouette off Bonanza Peak and wondered what was in store.

We pushed up the slopes for the next two hours, exchanging trail-breaking duties in snow that got deeper and deeper with every foot, until finally reaching the base of the summit pyramid. It was just as steep as I had imagined and made even worse by the fact that we would have to traverse over a cliff to gain the summit ridge.

Climbing the Mary Green Glacier Headwall on Bonanza Peak

Jason clicked out of his skis first and sunk almost to his chest. There was no question it was going to be a wallow fest for the next 1,000 feet. Post-holing in the snow was a nightmare as each person’s sluff would bury the footsteps below, causing the lower person to kick in new ones. Jason led the way, Brennan stayed in the middle and I took up the back end, carefully climbing up with ice axes in hand and crampons on our feet. It was a challenge the entire way up with the crux being the upper face — we were literally digging a trench and steps into the 55-degree slopes all while trying not to look at the abyss directly below.

The climb was slow and tedious, taking me almost four hours in total. By the time I reached the summit ridge, I was wiped out with knees shaking and nerves rattled. We were 10 feet below the summit proper and carefully transitioned to our downhill gear on top of a freshly dug out ledge.

Snowboarding Down the Mary Green Glacier on Bonanza Peak

The nervousness dramatically dwindled once I had my snowboard on my feet. I felt solid and knew if I fell I would be able to stop. Both Jason and I were stoked to ski the face while Brenan felt more comfortable down-climing, so we said our goodbyes and made a meeting point at the base of the summit pyramid. We had worried about sluffs and potential slabs, so after a nice ski cut we were on our way down.

Here we were on a 55-degree slope, carefully riding above and across a 100-foot cliff and causing enormous sluffs with every turn. Our hearts were pumping and our adrenaline was in overdrive. Once out of the exposed area, we breathed a sigh of relief and let our turns rip down some of the deepest snow of the season. Face shot after face shot, we celebrated with yells screaming at how amazing conditions were.

We had made it down the headwall and below us was 3,000 feet of roller powder fields. We rode directly down the glacier all the way towards Holden Lake. On our way up we had spotteed a more direct way down then Holden Pass. Once near the bottom we waited for Brenan and high-fived in celebrating our riding off the top of Bonanza Peak.

Finally we reached Holden Lake, the sun had set and a full moon had risen. Around us, numerous peaks illuminated in the glow as we skinned back through the Railroad Creek Valley back towards Holden and arrived to our room at around 10:30 p.m.

The Final Day in Holden Village

On the final morning, we woke up and packed our bags for the departure with our bodies beaten by the climbs. We left Holden under a sunny sky and with a warm goodbye from the village. It had been a great trip tagging both Mount Fernow and Bonanza Peak

Stats: 15.5 miles

8000 feet elevation gain

Thank you for reading this trip on Bonanza Peak and the Mary Green Glacier. If you want to see more ski tours within the Stevens Pass Backcountry check out this link.