Sliver Star - Silver Star Glacier - 06.03.11

5200'+ elevation gain
8 miles RT
Left car: 8:00 am
Summit: 3:00 pm
Back at car: 5:30 pm
9 hours car to car

Josh had a rare day off from work and we opted to get out together. After some thoughts on destination, we went with an attempt at Silver Star because of the possibly better weather farther east, and it having the least amount of mileage of the destinations we were considering.

We left Seattle around 4am and were walking around 8am. We initially poked around one creek to the west of Silver Star Creek before realizing that it was not it and heading to the correct creek. There is a well beaten trail from the highway heading into the woods and we marched up it. It was bare and wet in the beginning and then we started getting patches of snow. Continuous snow started around 500' above the car and then we were post holing through fallen trees. We separated a bit while Josh followed a boot path further from the creek. We rejoined around 4500' where we looked for a bridge to cross to the west side of the creek. Once on the other side we continued post holing for a bit before the terrain leveled out enough for us to put on skis.

Josh led us up the valley, but I was concerned about how level we were staying. I steered us higher, but that only got us mired in steeper terrain that was more difficult to navigate. After a few downhill turns in an avalanche chute we were back on easier to navigate level terrain. And more importantly, out of the woods and in sight of our objective.

Reaching the headwall of the first cirque we headed right (Burgdorfer's suggestion.) There were boot tracks from a party on foot as well as multiple glissade chutes. I was feeling tired and we switched back up to finally gain the bench above. We stopped for lunch by large tree and watched slides come off the surrounding rock. Then we continued.

I offered the trail breaking to Josh, but he said he was a touch slower than me and that we would be slower in general if he was leading and I was following. So I continued setting a track to the leftmost of the three passages up to the glacier. Once closer to the passages, we opted for the rightmost as it was traveled and did not look to have snow releasing off of slabs in it. This meant a traverse back right to get to it and then numerous switchbacks to get below the wine spires. Josh took over just below the spires and set a nice course up a steep section where we took a pause.

After the pause we had a descending traverse to the main glacier. We both discussed how our ascent route did not seem to be the best descent route and we would attempt to descend farther to the east. There was a fine crust of ice on the snow that would break off as we went up. It was a visible crust, but we could feel it and we didn't think it would affect skiing. I called it a "one molecule thick" crust. Higher on the glacier there was a some fresh snow (perhaps 2 inches worth) that was creamy and buttery. We were fairly excited to get to ski it.

I kept a check on the time and was realizing we would not summit until 3pm. But it was hard to put a turnaround in when it was all sunny. Of course this was leading to us overheating and both of us getting a pretty bad burn. I had stopped putting sun block on my forehead because it was hurting my eyes when I sweated. I felt out of shape and out of practice, forgetting to bring my Buff to protect me from the sun.

Josh led up the final headwall to the col where we rested a bit while donning our crampons. (We didn't think we'd need them, but we carried them all this way...) We headed up to the summit where Josh did the scrambling off width moves to attain the summit. I, in my aluminum crampons and fatigued state opted to keep my high point six feet lower. After some picture taking we descended back to our skis. Another rest, and we were getting ready for some turns.

The first pitch was a bit boney from wet slide activity, but the skiing was pretty good. We opted to head to skier's right and pop over a soft ridge to ski the other side and then come back to the main side to ski out. The skiing was better than expected. A little heavy and wet in places but fairly enjoyable. Lots of traversing on the other side of the ridge releasing wet slides as we went. Some fun skiing back to the basin and we had just descended 3000' in about forty minutes. We were excited with the skiing and our descent time as we were not too excited with how long it took us to ascend.

Once on the flats, we released our heels and kicked around for a bit even finding a place to lock our heels again and make turns. On the descent we kept to the east side of Silver Star Creek and found that to be fairly good terrain. After entering the woods at the bottom of an avalanche path, we found slow going with Josh and I trying not to fall into tree wells in tightly packed trees. I told him we only had 500' vertical of snow left and that skiing was no longer more efficient than booting. A few minutes later we transitioned back to boots and stomped our way back to bare trail and eventually the car.

This was a great trip. While I am not happy with my performance (or lack thereof) it was a great place to be. We had a good time aside from the sun burn and it was in a wonderful place. The skiing was actually pretty good and better than expected so we are not complaining. It was nice to get out with a fellow father on a rare day in the mountains.

My pics are here.

Kendall Stump - 02.16.11

Josh had a rare day off mid week, so we decided to get out and ski a bit. His backcountry rig is new this season and he hasn't got out much on it. He wanted to get out and tour a bit, perhaps as a shakedown. If the skiing was good, so much the better. With the recent winds and a mostly moderate avalanche forecast we opted to stick to the treed slopes of Kendall Stump.

We parked the car just off the road on the pullout. Knowing there might be issues trying to get it out of the unplowed area. Then we walked back to the turn in the road and started in. We didn't feel comfortable hiking past someone's house, and opted to head in the road a bit further before we did eventually turn into the woods and uphill. Which still resulting in walking past a house.

There was just the lightest dusting of new snow on top of very firm icy snow. The skinning was a bit slow and sketchy. We both had slips on the ice and we grew weary of being in the woods. We saw the light of the clear cut and opted to boot out to the clear cut the last hundred feet or so. Out in the clear cut the fresh snow was around two inches deep and the base did not appear to be as firm. We donned our skis and started skinning up the tightly treed opening.

When the guide books were written, this area was more recently cut. It is obvious from the pic in the Seabury Blair Jr. book that there were less trees in the cut and more open slopes than exist now. The trees here are tightly spaced and made navigating uphill almost as bad as the navigation downhill. As we went higher the trees became more sparse and we headed to more open spaces. We used some old logging roads for ease of travel and opted to head to the top of the ridge.

We took a brief break up top and looked at a line a recent skier took. We did not take the same line as the western aspect was more wind blown and had a bit of a crust on it. It was not the nice ankle deep powder we were experiencing around the corner. We transitioned, and I started down. We had a nice run back to the first road and went across it to continue down. We enjoyed the run so much we transitioned to do it again. Now with a good skin track in we made quick time to the top and were soon heading back down.

With the sun shining most of the day to that point it made the snow heavier, but the second run was still great fun. The lower we got in the run the less fun it became as the trees became closer spaced and the hard crust was not as well covered. We got separated a bit picking our way through the trees and then had to traverse skier's right in hopes of finding more open terrain. We were able to make some connected turns just before entering the forest and taking our skis off to hike the still frozen snow in the woods.

My pics are here.

Mount Hood - South Side - 01.22.11

5200'+ elevation gain
7 miles RT
Left car: 5:00 am
Summit: 1:00 pm
Back at car: 4:00 pm
11 hours car to car

With babies on the way Josh and I were trying to plan one last mountain attempt before we are relegated to in town duties. We were hoping for an overnight, but weather and conditions did not cooperate for that type of adventure. The weather looked better further south, so we opted for a climb of Mount Hood, with an overnight in the parking lot. With not much recent mountain activity more committing routes were nixed and we were just going up the standard south side route. (Also due to the fact that the snow wouldn't be too good for skiing and at least we would get ~2000' of groomed skiing in to mitigate the poor snow.

The ride down to Hood always takes longer than expected. This time we didn't encounter too much traffic, but we arrived in the Timberline parking lot around 11:30pm. It was windy and I was not encouraged. But a full moon and a view of the mountain was an encouraging sign. After a visit to lodge and signing in we went back to the car to consider sleeping arrangements. I balked first and opted to sleep in my bivy sack outside, while Josh and Matt slept in the front seats of the car. While I was fairly warm, the wind buffeted my bivy sack and made falling to sleep difficult. A few times during the night people made noise or trucks drove by that woke me up. Next thing I know Josh was waking me up at our 4am wake up time.

We ducked into the alcove at the day lodge to gear up away from the wind. This is when I realized I had made a few packing errors. I didn't bring the ideal ski socks, but I wasn't too concerned about that. But I was mildly concerned about not bringing a hard shell. When we were finally underway, I opted to skin in my puffy jacket for lack of a better wind blocking layer. The wind had not abated since going to sleep. It may have been even more intense as we started up. The snow was frozen solid, but the skinning went well aside from a few slips.

When we got to the Silcox Hut there were a few parties turning back. They were getting turned around by the wind. We took a pause in the lee of the hut to discuss our options. The snow was way too hard for us to ski back to the car at this point. At a minimum we could head up to 8500' and ski once the sun came out. I made the prediction that the wind was from the high pressure coming in and that it should mellow out later in the day, but who could be sure? We kept going uphill.

Above the hut the wind was worse. One bout carried plenty of ice pellets that felt like getting shot repeatedly by paint balls at close range. I told the guys if that event repeated twice more I was turning around. It didn't, but many strong gusts stopped us in our tracks. As the sun rose and we got higher, we adjusted to the wind more and the wind even started to wane. We took a brief stop at the top of the Palmer Chair before continuing.

Above the ski area the terrain was all rime. Without ski crampons the skinning was proving difficult. We shot for a ice out cropping that others were at so that we could stash our skis. We took another break there leaving our skis behind. We put our crampons on and started to boot up. This is where I realized that ski boots are not ideal for French crampon technique. There is just no ankle flex. Matt had it worst as he was in resort boots, due to his lack of owning AT boots. We made slower progress over the delicate and not so delicate rime petals. Due to our inability to easily walk with the ski boots on, we took indirect lines and made many switchbacks to reduce the angle and ease our ascent.

We arrived at the Hogsback a bit tired and I for one was not particularly motivated. We discussed the route with others there who were not going for the summit because they felt it unsafe. We talked with a group coming down from the summit. After a lunch break we opted to leave our packs at the Hogsback and head up with some essentials. We put on harnesses and carried the rope, just in case we needed it and we were on our way. Josh was motivated and jumped out ahead of Matt and I who were just plodding along. We took the old chute variation as most of the beta we got sounded like the Pearly Gates might be a little sketchy in the heat of the day. An hour later we stood on the summit. To our surprise, the summit was much less windy than most of the ascent. We stayed briefly to snap a few pictures, and then headed back to our packs.

Coming down the chute turned into a circus. A party who ascended Leuthold's Couloir was down climbing and skiing the chute. Another party of young boys was trying to climb the chute and this made it difficult to stay safe. At one point I noticed that one of the boys had only one crampon on. Despite the antics we made it back to our packs safely. Although I was dragging behind. I think due to food and hydration, but I can never be sure which one. We packed up and headed back to our skis. Heading down was quick and we reached our skis after coming down through all the rime covered slopes which had not softened up. Josh and I were ahead of Matt and we discussed carrying our skis back to the top of the lift, perhaps another 300' of vertical or so. Walking on the terrain was hard enough, skiing couldn't be any better. At least it wouldn't be fun. Matt, in his resort boots decided to ski it because he could not wait any longer to stop walking. It took him about the same amount of time to ski it, but he didn't fall and did a good job.

Once at the lift Josh and I prepped to ski and then the three of us were off. I took my time skiing as I was tired and made a few stops to rest. I took a wrong turn at the Silcox Hut onto the cat track which was difficult skiing. After a hard face plant, I started skiing the icy snow on the side of the cat track and then eventually I found the nicer "groomed" snow to arrive at the lodge later than Josh and Matt.

Overall this was a nice trip. We had a bluebird day (not in the forecast.) Other than the high winds for a good portion of the morning the weather was fine. We were a little tired, but that is the drawback of being a weekend warrior. It surprises me just how many novice climbers we encountered including the three young boys who had rented gear and didn't really appear to know what they were doing. (They carried helmets up to the Hogsback, but left them there to go for the summit.) It was a bummer the skiing wasn't good, but we sort of expected that, which is why the destination was Hood for the groomed slopes.

Every time I see pictures of the Mount Hood in winter I love the rime ice. I think it is truly beautiful. I am glad I finally got to see it first hand and marvel in view. It made it difficult for me to ascend to the summit as I was content at the Hogsback taking in the views of the summit rime. I always like coming to active mountains, and the smell of sulfur dioxide is more subdued in the winter when in the crater of Mount Hood.

My pics are here.

Snow Creek Wall - Orbit - 05.29.10

For the past few weeks I've been trying to hook up with someone to climb Orbit. Weather and schedule finally worked out for me to be climbing with Josh. While the forecast was for 20% chance of precip, I felt that was a solid enough to attempt the route.

We left casually at 6am from Seattle. After a brief stop in the ranger station and a quick hike in, Josh and I were at the base of the climb around 10am. We spent a fair amount of time casually gearing up as another party arrived behind us. I was off leading the first pitch around 10:30am. Perhaps we took a slightly different start, but there was a small step at a tree, before going into the fourth class gully that is most of the first pitch. The protection was thin or non-existent in the gully, but when the moves got harder before the finish, there was plenty of pro to be had. I arrived at a comfortable belay ledge and brought Josh up.

We re-racked, and Josh headed out to lead the dreaded chimney pitch. He cruised to the crux, and then told me to watch him. He also noted to me that his top piece of gear was a piton. He started working out the crux moves, but complained that it was wet. He then fell on the fixed pin. I caught him, but he fell a little farther than I would have expected. He was alright, but had some road rash to prove his misfortune. He made another attempt, but this time placing a cam in the crack higher before the attempt. After another slight fall and some hanging, Josh managed to work the moves out and stopped the pitch at a slung horn just above the crux. I followed, and slipped/fell a few times before making the wet moves.

Once at the belay I informed Josh he had stopped midway on the pitch, so we agreed to let him continue so that I could get the 5.9 finger cracks. We discussed the belay options and we believed a belay could be set at the base of the cracks, giving me a short pitch. However, as I followed, I realized Josh had gone past the cracks to a belay below the "low fifth" bypass. I didn't have much gear on me and really couldn't set a belay to bring him back to the base. He also didn't want to down climb through a bush between him and I. I struggled in vain to come up with a solution that had me leading the cracks. In the end, I continued to his position. We talked about setting a top rope once we did the bypass pitch, but with the party behind us, that didn't seem like such a great idea. I led the short wet bypass pitch and wedged myself in behind the block as I anchored to the bush there. I guess the finger cracks will have to wait for next time.

Josh didn't spend too much time at the tight belay and was off leading the next 5.8 pitch which many people feel is the crux of the route. The climbing is fairly sustained, and is run out or has difficult pro. Josh sailed it in fine style. I followed, using tiny edges for hands and feet. While I found this pitch to be fine technically, it really was a drain on my feet to climb it and I got to the belay wishing for a foot bath. The hanging belay stance Josh had near an old bolt wasn't much better for feet, so a quick change to me leading and I was off on the next pitch.

Josh felt that this next pitch was equally as hard as the previous, but more due to it being strenuous than technically as challenging. I led up to the ledge which is an alternate belay. (Josh couldn't make it there because he ran out of slings.) I was at the ledge a bit because Josh had to deal with a rope issue before I could continue. There are two old rusty bolts, one Leeper and another home made looking number. I clipped both as there was no other pro to be had before heading up. It took me a bit to commit to the next moves, and then I was on my way. The were some interesting moves when you step out of the corner on to the arete just before finishing the pitch. I stopped just below a small roof, and set a belay as I feared I couldn't go on without running out of slings. Not to mention I had a nice crack in which to build an anchor. It appears after checking the topo, that I stopped in the correct spot, and Josh led the next short pitch to below the big roof. I think stretching that pitch to below the big roof would have been a great tactic, as there wasn't much pro for that short pitch anyway.

Below the big roof, we were in a more comfortable stance again on a good sized ledge. We ate a bit and Josh put on his shell jacket as we were out of the sun. He looked at the start of the pitch and said "I hope to see you slinging chicken heads on this pitch." And off I went. This pitch was wild fun. It was a face covered with knobs. The climbing was easy and if you slung some of the knobs, the run out was not as bad as the guide books make it sound. The only issue is finding your way. It is truly a choose your own adventure style pitch and I wandered around looking for the large ledge it was supposed to end on. I scooted up to a roof and found a ledge to the right of it and a chimney behind it. "This must be the place," I thought as I built an anchor and sat on the ledge to belay Josh up. Josh arrived with a big smile on his face.

We looked at the next pitch with the supposed 5.7 chimney and Josh started to lead. The climbing was so easy that he placed only a few pieces in nearly a rope length. I came up to him where he almost tricked me into climbing an off width before telling me the real route went up one final knobby face. I went right past him hopping boulders before reaching ground and pulling the rope in. Josh soloed up the remaining terrain to meet me and a goat at the top.

We hung out a bit on top snapping some pictures before packing our stuff and heading down. The descent was as bad as I remembered it. (Perhaps worse.) Last time I was up here is was later in the year, and now the descent was a little more wet. We scrambled down, I more slowly than Josh. We reached a spot where I was sure that we were supposed to go left and we went that way. The two options were a sketchy gully downclimb or a rappel off a single old bolt. I told Josh I wasn't rapping off a single bolt and we went back to the descent gully to down climb a bit more before getting on the trail back to our packs. The final scramble out felt easier after the full descent and then we were at my crux of the climb, the log crossing. I tried in the morning to walk across it, but ended up au cheval. I didn't hesitate to au cheval on the way back, but the log is uphill in this direction and took me a bit longer. The hike out was uneventful, except that it marked the first time I had hiked out the Snow Lake Trail in daylight.

I really enjoyed this route, and it was nice to get out and do something harder and more difficult than I have been doing. To make the obvious (although apples to oranges) comparison, I did not like it as much as Outer Space. I have to say that it has more varied climbing on it which makes it a little more interesting. The route finding is not difficult but a little more difficult than on Outer Space. The wildly knobbed pitch was a ton of fun and just really different climbing too. I'd recommend this route (and want to return) but I'm going to hit Outer Space again before returning to Orbit.

My pics are here.
Josh's photos here.

Mount Saint Helens - 04.25.10

5600' elevation gain
12 miles RT
Left car: 6:45 am
Summit: ~12 pm
Left summit: 12:45 pm
Back at car: 1:45 pm
7 hours car to car

Josh and I originally planned a ski trip for Shuksan. But with the warmer weather and closing weather window, we scaled back our objective to Mount Saint Helens. We figured with the southern exposure, the route would have a more springlike snow pack.

So we drove down Saturday night after dinner to sleep at the trail head. We arrived too late to pick up permits, so went along with our now rogue plan. At the parking lot we threw down our bivys in the grass and got to sleep with the alarm set for 6am. It was cold overnight and we awoke to frost on our bivys and black ice in the parking lot. It took us a bit to get prepped, and we were finally hitting the trail at 6:45am.

We were booting it from the start as there was not continuous snow on the trail in the woods. The snow that was there, was plenty firm, so we stayed with boots while still in the trees. After about an hour, we were above treeline, and saw that some other skiers were skinning. They claimed the skinning wasn't bad, and so Josh and I gave it a try. We skinned for a while until we encountered a steeper section that was icy. It slowed us down and we were definitely not having fun on it, so we resorted to booting again. I once again got concerned about the quality of the ski down. It was overcast, but the temps did not appear to warming enough to soften the snow.

We noticed out of the woods that there appeared to be a fresh light coat of new snow. As we got higher up there was more fresh snow. Mostly blown into pockets or foot prints and definitely not offering full coverage. Other hikers were using crampons, but we found them unnecessary. Josh was struggling due to his boots, which he guessed may be a bit too small for him.

About halfway up, there seemed to be enough fresh snow coverage to try skinning again. It was a flatter section and there was an obvious skin track from a guy ahead of us. So we transitioned again. This went well for a bit, but there were plenty of icy patches where the wind had blown the new snow away and I had to resort to some dicey edging to keep going. I foolishly opted to continue skinning through a particularly steep section that actually had good steps in it. This really slowed me down and had me making some kick turns in icy patches. Josh abandoned the skinning earlier as he was more sketched than me about the ice. Unfortunately for him, the skinning was easier on his feet and he was back marching up the hill turning his feet into hamburger.

At a flatter section less than 1000' from the summit, I stopped to wait for Josh. The sun was out now, and it was fairly wind protected there, so I took that time to remove the skins from my skis so I wouldn't have to mess with that process on the crater rim where it would surely be more windy. Josh arrived, and explained his woes to me. He said he was going to make it to the top, but it would not be comfortable. He told me to go at my own pace and he would see me there.

The last bit to the summit was a struggle. The route took a fairly straight up the slope angle, and there was lots of toes into the slope climbing which was proving quite tiring after already completing 5000' of elevation gain. The final stretch actually did go straight up to the summit, but I wasn't too interested and cut a rising traverse to the east where a flat area on the crater rim provided a good lunching/resting spot. There was already a crowd there, and that is where I headed.

Surprisingly there were some technically difficult moments on the traverse as my boots were not kicking into the slope as much as I would have liked. I arrived at my intended location and found a spot for myself among the dozen people already there. I put some warm jackets on and waited for Josh while readying my gear for descent. I looked into the crater, took a few pictures, and then ate lunch once Josh arrived. We chatted a bit, while watching other skiers take off down the hill. It looked like the snow had finally turned skiable. I told Josh we should get moving as the snow lower on the mountain will be worse the longer we wait.

We took off down the hill. The first turns from the crater were great. Fast on supportive corn. We regrouped periodically to choose the line of our descent. The middle section of the mountain had the worst snow of the trip due to deposits of fresh snow that were really sticky and deeper than the corn around it. Transitioning from the faster corn to the sticky snow would throw you forward and almost "go over the bars." In one particular instance for me, I was trying to recover from one such scenario and a woman skinning up started yelling "hands forward" to me. Josh and I mused that she wasn't aware of why that wouldn't be good hitting the sticky snow.

Closer to the bottom there were less sticky patches and now it was a matter of picking appropriate lines to get us back onto the trail into the woods. The skiing was good, but then transitioned into the typical "luge run" where all skiers follow the same line creating a well polished path that is really fast. Stepping out of the run into deeper snow can often result in a crash, so one has to be careful. Josh and I negotiated the final bits above treeline, and then it was back into the woods for the low angle luge run. (Which was still pretty fast.) I took my skis off a few times to carry over bare spots, but still made it to the parking lot an hour after leaving the crater rim.

This trip was great! I think I had a lot more fun than last year. The snow was consistently better for skiing than last May. And I finally got to look into the crater and see the dome. Josh was good company and we had a good time. Prior to this trip, I was mildly concerned about my cardio fitness. While not up to my usual level, I felt pretty good on this trip. My experience from this trip makes me want to put this on the calendar every year.

My pics are here.

Lane Peak - Lover's Lane - 01.24.10

Josh, Matt and I had been discussing this route since we climbed The Zipper on Lane Peak in February 2009. The Zipper was really fun, with a great bunch of guys on a bluebird day. However, due to conditions, it seemed to easy. So we wanted to try Lover's Lane which is supposed to be more difficult.

We didn't bring floatation like last year, and our approach suffered. The final slopes up to the gully were a trail breaking nightmare and I was wishing I had my new snowshoes. We finally reached a section below the gully that was firm having been scoured by avalanches. We donned our crampons, and decided to harness up as well. We continued up with one tool each until we got to a short ice step very early in the gully. The step was about 6' high and around 80° with the lower part being rock and snow. It eased off to a mellow (35°?) angle after the step but had solid blue ice and good sticks. The fun ran out, and it was back to snow after having some ice fun.

By the time we had all got above the ice step, the wind was really blowing. It is difficult to say if it was also snowing as the wind was blowing spindrift all around. It even blew a few light sloughs off the right side of the gully. We continued up keeping a close watch on the snow conditions. While it varied, it mostly had a wind crust, but we did not see it exhibiting instability. We marched onward.

About three quarters of the way up the gully there is a sort of chock stone against the left wall. We went around it to the right with mixed moves and some thin ice. Above the rock, it turned back to snow again. Of course, we were now higher in the gully and the wind appeared to be blowing in all directions. In the upper gully there was a definite wind slab forming and so we were moving in the hopes of getting to safer terrain, although the slab did not show any signs of instability while we were there.

We exited Lover's Lane to the right where we saw a tree in the hopes of rapping into The Zipper, the traditional finish to Lover's Lane. We found a tree with slings on it high up and figured we were seeing the route with low snow. We set a rap anchor and Josh headed down. He went down about 20' before being able to assess that not only did our rope not reach (remember low snow) but there were no intermediate anchors. He then struggled to climb back up to the anchor while Matt and I debated the next move. Josh was tempted to try another lower tree to see if it would reach. Matt and I pulled the plug stating that the avy danger was increasing, and we would be rappelling into a gully where we had no first hand knowledge of the snow conditions. (Other than extrapolating what we had found in Lover's Lane.)

We retreated back to a set of trees in the top of Lover's Lane. From there Josh led out on a short (30m) pitch of mixed climbing which involved several veggie belays and hooking rock and root to arrive at another tree. He then brought Matt and I up and Matt headed out in search of a way down. While that was happening, I had to take my gloves off to warm my hands. My hands had stinging pain and were hard to move or grip. I put them in my armpits for a bit and at this point finally put my shell jacket on. It seemed that my fingers did better actually being exposed to the air rather than in my gloves. But after they felt normal again, I put the gloves back on to continue climbing.

After a short pitch of mostly snow and a little mixed step, Matt arrived at group of snags which he brought Josh and I up to. There was a narrow gully to the southeast that looked promising for a descent. (Continuing beyond it up the ridge would have required some serious mixed climbing.) Matt made a short rap down to a tree in the gully. From there, I led the next rap which had a near overhanging section followed by going under a chock stone. I considered an attempt at slinging the chock stone, but opted not to as it appeared the ropes might get me to walking terrain.

After getting below the chock stone, I realized the ropes might be too short and I attempted to set an anchor with pitons on the steep rocky slope. After sinking a knifeblade I realized I didn't like my stance, and couldn't find a second placement to backup the first with. This led me to trying to see if I could stretch the ropes enough to make them reach below the next step.

In my attempt I ended up hanging off the lip with my autoblock jammed into the knots at the rope end. Meanwhile Matt and Josh were freezing and wondering if I was injured. They yelled down, I yelled back. I tried to sink a lost arrow, but it didn't work. I was able to put a bugaboo in a location and then successfully lowered myself the few feet to the snow below off of my cordelette.

Unfortunately for Matt, when he arrived the rope ends were not even. That, added to his shorter height meant he added another piton to the anchor before he could lower off. We proceeded to traverse to some trees as Josh came down and cleaned up our mess. A short traverse on a steep snow slope got us to our last rappel and finally to walking ground.

The walk out went well if you consider wallowing in 6" of new snow going well. We trudged back to the car and made it out before they closed the gate at Longmire.

Overall, this was a great trip. Unlike last year's conditions we were blessed with what a Scot would call "full conditions." This added to the spice and inspired our reluctance to drop into the Zipper to finish with a possible summit. If we felt good about the snow, it would have proved to be faster to drop into The Zipper instead of taking our retreat route. By the end of the day we were all thoroughly drenched from snow being blow into openings in our clothes as well. But the route was enjoyable. Aside from the bit of ice near the bottom (which may get buried under deeper snowpack) the climb did not feel technically harder. It was more interesting because of the ice and the rappel into The Zipper. We managed to spice it up quite a bit with our retreat variation. Next time I go back, it will be under better skies.

My pics are here.

Hibox Mountain - South Route - 10.31.09

Elevation Gain: 3900'
10 miles RT
Left car: 11:30 am
Summit: 2:30 pm
Back at car: 5:00 pm
5.5 hours car to car

Since it looked like my chances of skiing in October were going down the drain I contacted a few people to see what they were doing. Matt was talking about hiking up to McClellan Butte. I told him I wasn't interested as I didn't want to get snowed off the top, which has happened to me before. I suggested Hibox, and he and Josh seemed amiable to the idea, so it was planned. A late start was planned as the other guys were out late. (Well that is the excuse I am making for them.) We agreed to meet at the Mercer Island P&R at 9:30am. Due to difficulty finding it, we didn't actually leave until around 10am, or even a little after.

It was sunny in the morning, but was chilly and cloudy at the trail head. Matt told Josh and I that he and Shari would head for Rachael Lake while Josh and I headed toward Hibox. It started raining almost as soon as we hit the trail. The trail at times looked like a creek and at other points was heavily flooded. (6"+ of standing water) We stopped to admire Canyon Creek raging where I was able to walk across just a month ago without getting my boots wet. During one long stretch of deep water Josh and I ran across and to our amazement did not get any water in our boots. At that time Matt said he would meet us back at the car as they were going a bit slower, and attempting to navigate the big puddles with a minimum of wetness.

Josh and I continued onward. After a few more creeks/trails we reached the cutoff trail to Hibox in a hour from the car. This trail gets down to business quickly with steep elevation gain and quick switchbacks in the forest. Fortunately there was lots of old growth Douglas Firs to keep most of the rain off us. The trail was pretty good except for a few sections of overgrowth, and a waterfall we had to traverse. Shortly afterward we broke from the trees and it was starting to be a Wintry Mix of precip plus a bit of wind. The elevation was 4700'. We donned our shell jackets and continued. It became more difficult to follow the trail due to the light dusting of snow on the ground while it rambled through grassy slopes.

We kept getting closer, but the summit block was just a shadow in the thick haze of clouds and snow. We reached a point where the grass gave way to talus and snow, and the going got more difficult. It was starting to get slippery. I had doubts we would make the summit. We finally regained the trail and stopped to add another layer as the wind had picked up and it was even colder. I swapped my light liner gloves for a heavier fleece glove. (Which was still not waterproof.) We stashed our poles and continued to the summit block.

We surveyed the first gully we met. Josh thought it might go. I told him if that was the way, I wasn't going to summit. We checked the Peggy Goldman beta. It appeared we needed to keep going around to the right to reach the SE Ridge. Before reaching it, we got a good look at the final gully before the ridge. It was snow filled near the bottom and was less exposed than the ridge. We gave it a go. Josh was making quick time of it while I lagged behind a bit. After the deep snow in the gully, we had to climb some third class rock covered with snow, ice and slush. No moves were that difficult, but it was stressful grabbing the wet cold rock and trying to see which rocks were permanent, and which were removable.

We made the summit, and didn't stay long. We started making our way down as quickly as possible as both of our hands were numbing from the cold and wet. After a slightly more difficult down climb, we were back on more level ground making our way back to our poles. My hands warmed up immediately after I stopped grabbing snowy rocks, while Josh's took a bit longer. We hustled back down the grassy slopes as the snow started to fall more intensely. Back in the woods, we were once again sheltered from the precip and waited until we got back onto the Rachael Lake Trail before losing a layer. The hike out from there was uneventful except for the clever navigation of the wet trail.

If I had this to do over again, I would have preferred a helmet. This was just the sort of alpine experience I was looking for. A small bit of snowy/icy scrambling to reach a summit. There were no views, but that's not what we were after. I think in dry weather, the SE Ridge would be a nice alternative. The rock is supposed to be a little better, but there is more exposure.

My pics are here.

Vesper - North Face - 07.26.09

Elevation Gain: 4100'
9 miles RT
Left car: 7:30 am
Summit: 3:00 pm
Back at car: 5:30 pm
10 hours car to car

Josh alerted me to a day he had available to climb, so we decided to take advantage of it. We both wanted to climb South Early Winter Spire, but the drive to Washington Pass for a day climb seemed a bit too long. So I looked around for ideas and came up with the North Face of Vesper. I knew the approach having scrambled the peak last fall with Julie. The drive isn't too long, and I knew we could be back in one day easy.

So away we went. We left Seattle somewhat casually at 6am. (There was a forecast of afternoon thunderstorms that should have had us starting earlier.) We were at the trail head and hiking at 7:30am and were covering ground quickly. (1000' ~45minutes) We were slowed briefly by my inability to jump from sloping wet rocks onto other sloping wet rocks just before leaving the woods. After leaving the woods, it was very humid and the alder and blueberries were wet with dew making the two of us a bit wet and uncomfortable. We had no issues getting to Headlee Pass and only had to cross about one patch of snow in the valley to get there.

After the traverse, we crossed the creek on a snow bridge and started heading up the scramble route. The skies were attempting to rain on us for a while, and when we got to around 5000', it finally started raining for good and hard. We stopped briefly to put on shell jackets and started to look for a large rock to hide under. We were cold and miserable, and this shower was not in the forecast. After about 20 minutes, the rain passed and we were at the top of the first notch in the sun.

We took a break to eat and let the sun dry out the rock on the route. Due to whatever oversight it was (not reading the route description again?) we set out down the first gully. We opted to take the moat down as the snow looked a bit steep and hard to tackle. This turned out to be the crux of the climb for us and a real time waster. Shortly after entering the moat we had a wet third class step to negotiate. Then there was a lot of slow going on loose rock before we decided that the snow angle was a little more favorable and we moved out onto the snow. My combination of approach shoes and crampons did not fare well and caused me to move equally as slow on the snow (if not slower.) We eventually navigated around the burgschrund and a few crevasses before reaching the base of the climb.

Once again, due to us not reading everything we had handy we ascended the gully. (And possibly due to the party who took the correct snow gully to the glacier and beat us to the base of the route.) We simul-climbed the mostly 3rd and 4th class gully until just below the top out. I belayed Josh us the last bit before we did a roped scramble up to the base of the giant slab.

From here I led out across the blank lower slab (low 5th or 4th class.) After about 50m of rope, I set up a belay where I could. Some beta said "anchors were difficult to locate." This is true and we had to stop when we found locations where more than one piece could go in so we could build an anchor. Even still, all our anchors wound up being two pieces. I brought Josh up and he started out on the next pitch where we agreed to head to the corner dihedral. He made an anchor in the large dish and brought me up where I started out on the first dihedral pitch.

I had a little difficulty making the first move into the dihedral as my foot kept slipping and I decided to climb the short slab to the left that would put me into the dihedral higher. After that it was easier ground with somewhat more opportunity for protection. Shortly before running out of rope, I built and anchor and brought Josh up. He continued to just past the top of the dihedral where he ran out of rope and built an anchor. I followed up and we were on the summit shortly afterward. Since we could see and hear thunderstorms coming from the east, we did not stay long and started the decent quickly after snapping a few photos.

The descent was quick and easy. We lost the first 1000' in about 20 minutes glissading down the snowfields. Before we knew it, we were back at Headlee Pass and heading down the trail. We hammered out the remaining distance and were back at the car without the thunderstorm soaking us.

Overall it was a fun trip. Also one I'd be interested in repeating. The drive isn't much longer than driving to Snoqualmie Pass, and the area is a bit more interesting. In the future I won't make the same footwear mistake on the glacier either. Also now having done the climb and reread the beta, I would climb the buttress on the right of the gully on the lower portion of the climb. (Beckey states 5.6 "1970" route.) It would be slower, but involve more real climbing. Also, if I wasn't to do that, I might as well do the 3rd class ledge traverse to the base of the slab. Next time, I want to venture out in the middle of the slab. It looked really cool out there and would be a change from the dihedral. Speaking of the dihedral, it is dirty and no where near the four star quality that the Diedre dihedral is in Squamish. However, rock is similar with some glacially polished sections and frictionless quartz dikes. This was a fun trip, and I'm a bit surprised people don't do it more often.

My pics are here.
Josh's pics here.

Mount Rainier - Fuhrer Finger - 05.28-29.09

~9000' Elevation Gain
11 Miles RT
2 Days

Josh had been planning a climb of Rainier for the week after Memorial Day because he had taken the time off. He asked me if I still didn't have a job if I would come along. Well the time had come, and I still did not have a job. So we were going to do it. At the final planning meeting it appeared the two Matts would not be able to make it and that just Josh, Zach and myself would be climbing on a Thursday/Friday. This made for easier rope management, but a bummer that the Matts could not join us. (It also meant we wouldn't have two Woofers with us.)

So the night before the climb, Steve called and asked if we were bringing floatation. I told him we weren't, but sent an email to Josh and Zach to bring snowshoes in case we wanted them. The freeze levels were supposed to be around 12000' for Thursday/Friday and this did not mean solid good crampon snow.

At the Paradise parking lot we opted to leave the snowshoes in the car. I'm still not sure this was a bad idea, but more on that later. We signed in at the ranger station and started hiking up to Glacier Vista to drop down onto the Nisqually Glacier. The snow was soft and deep, but we stayed in previous steps to manage the conditions. Once roped up and on the Nisqually, we headed for the early season "direct" route that the Mt. Rainier Climbing Blog said was still in. This involved a suspect snow bridge over a house swallowing crevasse. There were plenty of tracks across the bridge, but it appeared disconnected on both edges of the crevasse. This combined with the fact that the far east and west ends of the bridge had already collapsed into the crevasse caused us to belay across the bridge in the hot sun where the bridge appeared most narrow and well connected. After this minor setback we continued on our way to camp on the east edge of the Wilson Glacier around 9200'.

As the day got later, and we were no longer on well trampled paths, the snow got deeper. We started up the slopes to our camp and probably took an hour to move 200-300 vertical feet to the area where we decided to make camp. We were at 8900' but couldn't take any more wallowing in deep snow. There were numerous bivy sites on the ridge, but none really appeared to accept the tent we had. After walking the ridge and inspecting sites, we decided to use a reasonably flat area near a snow pile to make a flat platform with snow over the jagged loose rock. We then set about melting snow, eating and getting ready for the summit push. We finally laid down around 8pm and set our alarms for 11:30pm, with the hope that the snow would be more solid. Things were looking good for a refreeze, as the sun was not fully set, and the temp had dropped from 57°F to 42°F from when we got to camp to when we went to bed.

We had two alarm failures but Zach's alarm worked and we ended up waking around midnight. It was 32°F in the tent, and we readied ourselves for the climb. We were under way just before 1am and started our traverse to the finger. The snow was variable. Sections were bulletproof, while others were punching in mid-calf. In the darkness of night under headlamp, we did not traverse far enough and climbed some snow slopes west of the finger before topping out to a steep drop above the Nisqually Glacier. At some point above 9000' we were greeted by a cascade fox. It startled me and both Zach and Josh thought there was rockfall or some other hazard. The fox investigated us at a distance of about 15' and then went on its way. Perhaps to tell us that we were off route. By this time, the sun already was shining some modest light on the mountain and we were able to find our way into the correct couloir and head up.

Things got easier once we did not have to navigate by head lamp. Above the Fuhrer Finger, we mostly followed ski tracks out onto the upper Nisqually Glacier. This is not exactly the correct route, but staying on the west edge of the Glacier did not have as much appeal. We probably added 1/4 to 1/2 mile onto our trip heading out to the Nisqually, but it was enjoyable and fairly decent climbing. We were all feeling the effects of four hours of sleep, and altitude and our progress was slowing. (Perhaps too, the negative mental effects of having to down climb 400'+ vertical earlier when off route.) Progress was slow and steady up the Nisqually and we took short breaks hourly to rest. In the late morning, the crater rim came in sight. The last 300' seemed to take forever, and we finally made the crater rim where the wind was blowing. (Isn't it always?) I wanted to drop into the crater to get out of the wind. We dropped into the crater where I told Josh and Zach to proceed to the summit while I took the time to "blue bag."

During this time, the winds picked up. By the time Josh and Zach were off the summit and I was heading to them at the rim, we were in near white out conditions. My thoughts went to spending a night in a steam cave. Well, at least we were heading down. Foolishly we did not place wands on the way up as the forecast was good, and it was very clear on the way up. I led our rope down attempting to follow footsteps and ski tracks as best I could. I also tried to look for landmarks and crevasses we had encountered on the way up at various elevations. Occasionally, the clouds would break and I could see we were on generally the right track. Around 12500' we got under the clouds and were back in blue skies again with our uphill track obvious in the snow. We would later learn from observers at Paradise that a lenticular had formed over the summit for a few hours.

Once lower on the mountain the snow got continually softer. We had originally chosen to descend the Fuhrer Finger route as the ranger at Paradise told us descending the Kautz would involve some steep snow/ice down climbing or a few rappels. Fortunately, the snow was soft enough for good plunge stepping down the couloir. After the hourglass and near the bottom, the snow became deep mash potatoes which we struggled to descend in. (The top half of the Fuhrer Finger took less than a half hour to descend. I'm pretty sure it took another hour and a quarter for the bottom half to camp.) The snow got worse to travel in and we slowly wallowed back to camp setting off numerous small wet slides on our way there.

Once at camp, we contemplated staying until the snow hardened up because we were all exhausted from our thigh deep traverse back from the finger. We lounged around and melted some snow for water. We finally made a decision to "go for it" and started packing up to leave camp.

We left camp around 6pm and started down. The first section of snow from camp Josh and Zach glissaded while I plunge stepped down. We then roped up and headed down the Wilson Glacier. We decided to take a more west trajectory down as we did not want to deal with the scary huge crevasse we belayed over to get out. So we followed a path down that led us to a nice snow ramp at the west edge of the lower Nisqually Glacier. In no time, we were stomping in other's tracks across the lower Nisqually with the 400' climb back up to Glacier Vista looming before us. The snow on the lower mountain was not as bad as near our camp and we made good time. We were back at Paradise a little less than three hours after we left camp, but it was around 9pm. We hit the rest room, and then signed out at the climbing station before drinking some victory home brew compliments of Josh and then driving out.

Overall a great experience. Other than a couple of backcountry skiers from NY that shared our camping area, we did not see anyone on our summit day on the upper mountain. We had the summit to ourselves as well as the route. Snow conditions were not ideal for this climb, but were satisfactory enough to be successful. I will forever contemplate the snowshoe decision, but I personally always feel like the extra weight on the feet is not worth the reduced aggravation of post-holing. I'm not sure which wastes more energy though. It is always surprising to me how much altitude effects me. I did have a headache, and some weird stomach feelings. But having had those stomach feelings persist much through the following day, leads me to believe that both symptoms were more related to dehydration than altitude.

Also, I did not feel this route was technically more difficult than the Disappointment Cleaver route. Route finding is more difficult, and I guess the steeper snow in the couloir is more challenging, but not significantly so. (I'd rather go up the steep snow than walk on the decaying cleaver any day.) I can also see why people ski it. I could see myself skiing the couloir, but the upper mountain has too many large holes that I am not sure I want to try and avoid.) One aspect that is definitely more difficult is that summit day involves more elevation when climbing The Fuhrer Finger. Having high camp at a lowly 8900' did not allow for much acclimatization, and made a for a 5500' summit day. I'm really glad to have climbed this route, as it gave me a new appreciation for Mount Rainier. Next time, I'll do some altitude training shortly before, so I am not as greatly affected.

My pics are here.
Josh's pics here.

Lane Peak - The Zipper - 02.21.09

Things came together to finally make an attempt at the Zipper this weekend. Josh, and the Matts were on board for this "classic" climb. We decided to leave Seattle at 5:30am and anticipated a 6-7pm arrival back in Seattle if all went well.

We got to the Narada Falls parking lot around 8:30am after a stop for snacks and breakfast items along the way. After toilet trips (porta johns, as the comfort station is not open in the winter) and chatting with others in the parking lot we were finally under way at 9am under bright blue skies. We opted to attempt the route without floatation for the approach as the snow pack has been hard. We also figured with all the recent trip reports, that there was a beaten path to the climb.

We were fairly correct. Floatation was not needed on the road in or even after we left the road for the woods. We crossed the creek and meadow and still no need for floatation. We agreed in the meadow that we would harness up at the bottom of the couloir so we wouldn't be caught having to harness up in a situation where we felt we needed protection. We left the meadow and headed up the slopes to the couloir. For parts of this section, snowshoes may have been handy. Of course, other parts of the slope were bullet proof.

We reached the bottom of the couloir, and put on helmets and harnesses. We exchanged pleasantries with a soloist who we let go ahead of us. Then we also decided to put on crampons as this seemed like something we did not want to have to put on in a sketchy situation. We started up the couloir in steps made by previous ascent parties. The snow was variable, but mostly very firm. Crampons were not necessary due to the steps, but somewhat nice to have on. About two-thirds of the way up was a particularly icy section with no steps in it. At this time we all decided to take out a second tool. (Or first tool for those whose primary tool was an axe.)

This section went by quickly. And shortly we could see the top of the gully. We took lots of pictures, and eventually topped out of The Zipper. We relaxed a bit at the top before heading under the south of the summit to reach the summit gully climb. When we arrived under the summit, the soloist was downclimbing the section from the summit. We waited, exchanged pleasantries again, and started up.

This final step felt steeper than The Zipper, and had pretty solid snow despite being in the sun. (Or perhaps because of being in the sun on previous days.) It also had a thin section where rock holds were used, and perhaps some dry tooling. We all soloed to just below the summit, and then took turns one at a time on the small and rocky summit. We descended back down to a tree with rap slings, and made the decision to do a double rope rap from the tree. Once we were all down, we took most of the climbing gear off, and headed off the mountain. It was now Noon.

Since we were on the south side of the peak the snow was soft, and made for good plunge stepping. Matt Jilson and Josh did some glissading. The walk off was pretty straight forward save for a section where you reach the trees just above the meadow we crossed earlier. We didn't follow beta from the Internet stating to take the far left down, and did some sketchy down climbing through trees to reach easier ground. We got back on the trail and headed up through the woods back to the car. We reached the car just before two o'clock.

When we arrived back at the car, I just couldn't stop saying, "I cannot believe it was that short." Conditions were really ideal for a quick climb of the Zipper. And using the USGS topo map, the summit is only about 2 miles from the car. I think if conditions were harder/icier without steps, it might have only added an hour to our climb. The angle of the gully was never scary steep, and even if it was icy, I may have been inclined to solo it the whole way up with two tools. The gully Julie, Steve, and I went up on McClellan, was steeper (and icier) near the top and we soloed it to the rock with a single axe. There was talk of going back up Lane via "Lover's Lane" or "The Fly" after we got back down. But we were more concerned about getting back to Seattle in proper time. Overall, we had a grand time, and this is a route I may try again. (Although now I'm inclined to try one of the other north face routes.) I can understand why it is a classic, because of the setting, and relatively easy nature of the route. The north couloir on McClellan is definitely a more difficult route, and not as nice a setting.

My pics are here.