Find Nearby Peaks

Peak 8634 is a soft-ranked summit that sits on the northwest ridge of nearby Cup Benchmark (9,147 feet). It is a worthy objective if you plan to also climb nearby Cup Benchmark. The easiest ascent route is via the southeast ridge, most of which has an old 2-track road on it. USGS Buttercup Mountain

Access

Same as for Peak 8595. This climb begins at the end of Willow Creek Road, where the creek drainage has a major fork. For this climb, head up the right/main fork of Willow Creek rather than the West Fork as for Peak 8100 and Peak 8595. This is the first leg of a 2-peak adventure that includes Peak 8634 and Cup Benchmark (9,147 feet). It covers 10.0 miles with 3,500 feet of elevation gain round trip.

Southwest Ridge, Class 2

The Climb

From the parking/camping area at the fork in the Willow Creek drainage (6,110 feet), hike northeast up FST-223/Willow Creek ATV Trail. Early on, stay on the west side of [raging] Willow Creek on steep, angled terrain (sometimes with the aid of a cattle trail) to avoid two creek fords (not shown on maps) that occur over about a ½-mile section of the ATV trail along Willow Creek. The trail is not passable even for ATVs early on because of avalanche debris strewn across the trail and a large rutted gap with a feeder stream in it.

At just under 2-1/2 miles from the trailhead, the ATV trail fords a strong feeder creek coming in from the left/north. Jump across this creek just upstream from the trail. Willow Creek (and the ATV trail) heads right/east here. After another ½ mile, the ATV trail turns left/north up a narrow gully and then turns right/east to drop and cross a small feeder stream at about 7,300 feet.

After the gully crossing, the trail turns hard right/south and then bends left/southeast to cross the southwest ridge of Peak 8634. Leave the trail here and scramble northeast up the steep, open ridge in scattered scrub with a somewhat loose underlying base of scree/gravel/dirt. Higher up, there are a few ridge pines to skirt. The summit of Peak 8634 has a modest cairn which I built up.

Southeast Ridge, Class 2

The Descent

From the summit, descend east-southeast to a minor saddle. From there, scramble up over a minor ridge hump then continue southeast down steeper terrain to a visible ATV trail junction at a small saddle. The terrain on the southeast ridge is mostly sagebrush and presents no problems. The 8,340-foot saddle is the connecting saddle between Peak 8634 and Cup Benchmark. It concludes the first leg of today’s 2-peak adventure. Cup Benchmark is up next.