In my opinion, East Wilman's Spire is the definition of a Classic Cascade day climb in that it involves a little of everything. You start off with an enjoyable 4+ mile bike from Barlow Pass to the old townsite of Monte Cristo. This is followed by a leisurely stroll of less than a mile to the point where one cuts off the trail and starts bushwacking up a leftward sloping boulder field to a short stretch up through a dry creek and finally up the old mine cable car slope to the old abandonned mine shaft. One then goes through another boulder field up to the first views of Glacier Basin (which is a nice place for a deserved rest and for a drink of water). One then turns his/her attention to some more boulders prior to entering a 300-500 foot semi-steep snow gulley which happened to be in perfect shape for us on this day. I should note that it was about to schrund out in the middle. The hard work is all done at this point as one only has to hike up another 200 feet through lose scree to get to the climb start and to the fun exposed low 5th class climbing and route finding . I've done this climb twice and I still don't know where some of the supposed old pitons are! The summit itself is tiny and it has great views of Sloan Peak, Gothic and Del Campo, and Wilman's Peak, of course.
I highly recommend this climb to all who appreciate the beauty of nature when climbing in the mountains!
