Mount Deception

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At 7788 feet (2374 m) above sea level, Mount Deception is the highest peak of the northeastern Olympic Mountains, in western Washington's Olympic National Park, despite the fact that it isn't visible from Seattle.

Two small glaciers hug its north-facing basalt slopes. Due to the western Olympic mountains blocking incoming moisture and its easternly location, Mount Deception has much less permanent snow than the slightly taller Mount Olympus.

The treeline and snowline in these dryer and somewhat warmer conditions make many of the high eastern peaks nearly snow-free during much of the summer. Radiating northward from its shoulders are The Needles (Washington), Mount Clark (7528), Mount Walkinshaw (7378), and the northeasterly running spur known as Gray Wolf Ridge.

The peaks of Gray Wolf Ridge -- '7076' (7076), Gray Wolf Mountain (7218), Baldy (6797), Shepster Summit (6537), and Tyler Peak (6364) -- are scalable for fit and determined day hikers; but mountaineering skills are necessary for Mount Deception itself and its closest northern basalt kin.

According to the park service Web site, there have been a number of fatalities in recent years on the normal route for Deception via Royal Basin, due to moderately steep snow and loose rock. This perhaps, despite it's deceptive guidebook rating of "class 2" scrambling. The adjacent Needles are typically regarded as providing better, and somewhat more difficult, mountaineering objectives in the Royal Basin area.