"Trail is actually decent relative to a mountaineering route. No snow. No helmet needed. No climbing. Don’t miss the notch just before the summit ridge either. Our down route is the one to follow. Up route we got off path multiple times. W Luke" — castrode • Aug 24, 2023

"Starting out the season with a bang. Hiked with Louie and Sean to the climber's camp. It was super wet so no fire. Started out at 730 and the snow conditions were perfect. We were socked in on the way up keeping the snow hard. Crampons definitely a necessity. The hourglass was pretty straightforward but it got a lot steeper towards the summit block. We got above the clouds and fog and enjoyed amazing views at the top. Had to reverse climb the steep snow which was softening up. Did a few short glissades and made our way out. Good start before our work season begins. " — MatthewWinterberg • Apr 21, 2019

"Report from WTA from the boys: We got to the Lena Lake parking area at around noon Saturday, and it was completely full - we had to park quite a ways down the road. Please note that this trailhead requires a Northwest Forest Pass since it's federal land, NOT a Discover Pass. We saw many cars getting ticketed for the wrong pass. We left at 12:30 in overcast weather, but that was nice for carrying heavy packs. The trail to Lena Lake is well maintained, fairly flat, and easy to follow. It was a nice leisurely way to start our adventure. Lots of people out, and at the lake there were tons of people setting up camp. The creek crossing on the north side of the lake really isn't that bad despite what some reports say. After the lake we entered the Valley of Silent Men which truly reflected its name. There was so much moss and it's so green with huge trees, devils club and lots of blow downs and obstacles. It was so beautiful and we felt like we were in a Lord of the Rings movie! At this point it's easy to get off the trail - GPS helped a great deal. There is one very difficult creek crossing where the log is at an angle and we ended up crawling across. At 4:30 we arrived..." — BryHong8 • May 27, 2018

"This was an amazing trip with OSAT grads! Dan McCambridge slipped and fell at one of the waterfalls and had to bow out from leading the group to the summit. Nik and Ray stepped up as leaders and it was a bluebird day!!" — chrisfiamengo • Sep 27, 2015

"Almost everything went according to plan as I finally got out to explore this classic. We left the TH at 5 pm and made it up through the Valley of the Silent Men in dense fog and dimming light to the Brothers basecamp by 8pm. Next morning we got a late 8am start for the summit. A lot of sections to this climb: first the forest, then the fire section, then the rockpile/streambed section, then finally the snow (with a long hike portion after the first gully). The Hourglass was still in great shape, and snow ramped all the way to a little below the summit. Crampons required. Descending things almost took a turn for the worse a couple times, like when Dave knocked me down in the crux of the Hourglass while self-arresting, or when Steffen dislodged a huge boulder and Dave jumped over it at the exact right moment (like Mario in Donkey Kong). We greatly underestimated how long the climb and hike back to the TH would take (by 5 hours or so) and were bonking on the way down. A 1-lb Eagle Burger at the Eagle Creek Tavern did the trick." — scott • Jun 11, 2014