Climbing Route
From Fryingpan Creek/Summerland Trailhead, hike the Wonderland Trail to Panhandle Gap. From there, head cross-country toward Banshee Peak, then drop into the Main (South) Chimney Basin. Traverse right across the basin, aiming for a distinctive fence of trees. Ascend the scree slope to the right end of the trees, turn sharply left, and follow a boot path to the exposed class 3 traverse. This leads directly to a short class 4 chokestone chimney. The traverse and chimney are the cruxes. Team should consider carring a rope if someone isn’t confident to do it unroped.
After exit from the chimney, continuing up a loose gully to upper basin. Find another class 3 small gully and climbg into the gully. After climbing up the class 3 gully, the climbing eases to class 2, and the summit isn’t far. Expect lots of loose rock.
Gear
We carried a rope and rappel gear but never used them. For teams with less experience climber, a handline or rappel setup is highly recommended.
Water
As of 08/24/2025, a snow patch and small stream were still flowing in Main Chimney Basin (46.84806, -121.61466). This has been a low-snow year, so earlier in the season water should also exist in the basin. You can check this via statellite image.
Trip Report
I first climbed Cowlitz Chimney on a Mountaineers trip in 2024. A year later, I returned with Chutang. Beautiful as the area is, the loose rock and permit hassle make me think this was my last visit.
Day 1 Hike to Camp near Panhandle Gap
We started at 11:30 a.m. from Fryingpan Creek Trailhead. The first shaded three miles felt great on a hot day. We filled up at Summerland, unsure if our camp east of Panhandle Gap would have water. In fact, the upper pond at Panhandle Gap had plenty (if a bit silty), and snow patches near the camp were also usable. The next day we also discovered running water in Main Chimney Basin.
Carrying 8 liters between us turned out unnecessary, but we drank it all on an 87°F day when we got back at summerland. The approach to camp took five hours with the extra water weight and time to fill up water. A large, flat camping area sits at 46.85467, -121.63844.
Day 2 Banshee Peak, Main Cowlitz Chimney and Central Cowlitz Chimney
To beat the heat, we waked up at 4:40 am and set out at 5:30 am. The asent to Banshee peak is pleasant and easy broad ridge walking. After spent some time on the Banshee summit, we start dropping down to our target Main Cowlitz Chimney. Chutang and I followed eaiset path get down to the Main Chimney Basin, and we are looking for the fence of tree that we would need to get to. There are several snow patchs in the basin and running water, which makes our 8 liters carry to camp unnecessary. We cached 3 liters water at the bottom and basin and asend to the tree fence.
Once we got up the tree fence, we followed a very obvious boot path to the start of class 3 traverse. The class 3 traverse starts with an easy ramp, then about 4 exposed class 3 moves. Each step had a flat ledge to stand on. The traverse ended with veggie belays to the base of the chokestone chimney. We soloed it, but this section deserves extra care. A friend of mine who did it three weeks earlier told us a hold broke during his traverse.
The chokestone chimney is a solid class 4, but it is short. The start has no good handholds and no good footholds until you commit to a big move. Rock shoes would help, though Chutang and I managed in trail runners and downclimbed it. If you have an inexperienced climber, I strongly recommend using a handline or rappel here. There’s a webbing and rappel ring on a tree directly above the chimney.
After those two cruxes, we continued up a very, very loose gully, then found the correct class 3 steep gully in the upper basin without issue. Beyond that, the climbing eased to class 2 with straightforward route finding. It took us 3 hours from camp to the top of the Main Chimney. After a long break, we started downclimbing and returned to our water cache at the 5-hour mark, though both of us slipped a few times traversing the scree. This area is extremely loose!
We climbed the Central Chimney next. Route finding wasn’t an issue and the scramble was straightforward, though the rock was even looser, with finer scree. From the Central Chimney, we dropped to the same saddle that connects to Banshee Peak and climbed back up near Banshee. I recommend this way instead of traversing directly to camp. I tried that last year and ended up with just as much elevation gain, plus awful side hilling.
We got back to camp in 8 hours, then took another 2 hours 50 minutes to reach the car. Total time: 11 hours 30 minutes. The trip is doable as a day outing, but climbing all three peaks in a single push would be a strenuous day.
GPS: https://www.peakbagger.com/climber/ascent.aspx?aid=2959758
