Southern Cascades Volcanoes - 06.25-28.12

Some stars aligned to allow Sammy and me the opportunity to drive south and get on some mountains we had never been on before. (Or in my case, never seen in person before.)

Sammy's new found love of back country skiing gave him the desire to ski a few mountains down south. Our original plan was to ski Shasta and then ski Lassen, but the NPS was supposed to close Lassen to the public for trail maintenance and we opted for a different second objective. We found that in the form of Mount McLoughlin. It would be a little less traveled, and actually on the way home.

We left Seattle on Monday after 3pm, so we made a sleep stop in Southern Oregon around midnight. We found a nice spot outside of Ashland, which was Emigrant Lake. We set up the tent in the dark and went to sleep without setting an alarm. We woke up lazily the next morning, had breakfast and headed south.

We drove to Mount Shasta (the town) and picked up our permits at the ranger station. Then we got a few supplies in town before setting off around the south side of the mountain to get to the Brewer Creek Trail Head.

Mount Shasta - Hotlum Wintun Ridge - 06.26-27.12

We arrived at the trail head around Noon. Gear needed to be sorted, so we set up a few camp chairs and slowly went about our business, eating our "lunch" while we worked. We chatted a bit with another skier from Nevada as we filled our packs and readied for our climb. Eventually we were ready and headed up the trail. There was no snow in sight and "Nevada Joe" said it would be 1000' before we got on snow. The trail was dry and the forest was thin, with no undergrowth. Numerous trees were sprouting at our feet. We hiked up the dusty trail and started crossing patches of snow before we lost the trail altogether. We had gone too far south and wandered a bit before deciding on a particular snow finger to our north and made our way toward it. I jumped on the snow as low as possible and swapped my approach shoes for ski boots and skis. Sammy went up further and made his transition at a bush, while I left my shoes under a boulder. Now the fun was starting!

We skinned up slowly and picked our way up to camp. We were hoping to go to 10000' for camp, but either the altitude or my water/food intake slowed me down. I had a headache and was not operating at full capacity. Unlike others before us, we opted to head climbers' right up a steeper section before finding a site on a rock outcrop. There were numerous bivy sites constructed and we opted for the nearest to us and the snow we were on. My altimeter read 9700'. Sammy flattened the site out while I prepped dinner. After dinner, we melted snow for water and set up the tent and lounged around before going to bed. "Nevada Joe" skied by getting some evening turns which looked pretty good.

We settled down to sleep and set an "emergency alarm" for 5am. The night was cold, but we were comfortable in the tent and slept past our alarm until the late hour of 6am. We ate breakfast and opted to boot up the firm snow leaving the tent around 7am. The snow was good for booting, and at times I was thinking I wanted crampons, but tried not to put them on until we got through a flat section at 11000'. The altitude was no longer bothering me. We rested about once per hour initially and had about three rests before we came to reside at the rock outcrop that separates the Hotlum Snow Field from the Wintun Snow Field. I was a bit ahead of Sam at this point and spent time chatting with a skier from Tahoe while waiting for him to reach my location, somewhere around 12500'.

Once Sam reached me, we had lunch and prepared for the final bit to the summit. We discussed that the next section would have us enter the final "chute" to the summit. After lunch we crossed the rocks and had another discussion.  Sam was unsure of the steeper snow slopes above and debated stashing his skis to better improve his chances of a summit. He was also concerned about how he would feel on the the steeper snow. Sam left his skis and we started up the slope. After a short period of time he was not feeling great about the steep snow and told me he was going to turn back, but that I should keep going. (In our previous discussions I was not to go to the summit if Sam turned around.) He reasoned that I was heading up with two skiers from Tahoe as well as I was close behind two skiers from Reno and that I would not be completely solo. So I continued upward. From this point on, the snow conditions and steepness of slope combined to make difficult going. There were some footprints in the initial section, but after rounding a gendarme, the wind was blowing pretty strong and footprints sometimes got blown away and a harder snow surface was left.

I wandered upward looking at my intended ski route. It did not look too difficult, but the guys before me went around to the top of the Wintun Glacier to ascend. I did not want to make my own steps, so followed theirs around the corner where the snow became icy, and steps did not exist. I wandered lonely up the windy, icy Wintun Glacier watching rime ice fall off the summit blocks. Was it from the wind or the sun, I didn't find out.

A right hand turn around the summit and I was on the plateau just below the summit and could now see west for the first time. There were a few parties hanging around and the snow went back to a fresh consistency from earlier in the week. I trudged up to the summit, happily surprised that my altimeter was reading about 600' too low.

I briefly ducked behind a rock to be out of the wind, but I felt I was in the way, so headed back down to the chute I intended to ski. There I chatted with the two guys from Reno and decided to watch them ski before making a decision. The top section was fresh skiable snow, and after about two turns, their skis started scratching on the wind crust. I made my decision to walk down. I started down with my skis on my pack, quick and easy on the skiable snow. Then I slowed going down the firm snow. I watched the two skiers slip and fall in a steeper section below me. I got a little shaken and opted to head back up the 50-100' and go back down the lower angle Wintun Glacier. The Tahoe team turned around, and now I was the only one on the upper east side of the mountain. I lost a crampon on the upper Wintun while running on the lower angle glacier. I stopped and quickly put it back on and continued downward.

Heading down the mountain is almost always physically easier, especially when altitude is a consideration. However, descending the now icier slopes on the way back down was a bit more technically demanding than when I ascended. I picked my way down and found all types of snow. At one point I down climbed face in for a few feet when I hit a section of sugar snow over crust where I was not getting any purchase. I continued face out after that and eventually saw Sam lounging at some rocks patiently awaiting my return.

Once I reached him, I continued across the rock band to my intended transition location to sit, chat, and have a bite to eat. Sammy met up with me and said he didn't like the look of the snow. Neither did I, sastrugi made up at least a few hundred feet of our initial descent. Sammy hiked lower to bypass some of it. I was done walking and braved it from my transition point. We started down. The skiing was difficult, but not survival skiing. Definitely not "no fall" skiing as I fell and slid for a way before arresting without injury. The upper part was rough though, and I did mostly long traverses with some linked turns before things softened up enough for me to link turns back to camp.

We lounged a bit at camp but then packed up for the ski out. The ski back to our shoes and down to the last bit of snow finger went well and fairly quickly. I made a few hesitant turns leaving camp on a steeper section but then skied out to my shoes while Sam retrieved his. We skied the snow to its end with our shoes in hand and then hiked a little cross country before hitting the trail and hastily following it back to the car.

We packed up and changed into driving clothes to head to Mount McLoughlin. Unfortunately, by the time we got out it was hard to find an open dinner location. We reached Fourmile Lake around 10pm and Sam and I opted to get to bed rather than fire up the stove to have a post climb dinner. I did not have high hopes for a summit the following day. I really didn't have high hopes of waking up before 10am, or wanting to do anything but go into town for some greasy breakfast. The campground was full of mosquitoes and we attempted to get to bed before being eaten.

Mount McLoughlin - Northeast Bowls - 06.28.12

We awoke around 7am and I was definitely feeling the affects of having put in 7000' of climbing in the previous two days and going to bed without dinner the night previous. I made up for it by having a whopping 900 calorie Mountain House dinner for breakfast. The mosquitoes were worse in the morning so we did some wacky dancing around trying not to get bit while we packed for the day. I was feeling better after breakfast and we made an out of the way trip to the the Lake of the Woods resort to ensure enough gasoline in the car to make it to civilization if we got out late. We also filled up all our water bladders for the day and for the ride home before heading to the trail head. We were not successful in procuring a map, but realized at the trail head that was not necessary as there was a large topo posted in the parking lot, and another about 200m up trail. Sam took a picture so we'd have it for reference on the way.

By this time of course, it was a late start. Sam wasn't worried, but I was a bit due to the fact that the later it got the worse the snow would most likely get. We hiked up dry trail and marveled at the forest being somewhat different from back in Washington, but not as dry and sparse as the forest in the Mount Shasta Wilderness. We were bothered by mosquitoes a bit and eventually we must have gained enough altitude, or the breeze kept them away and we were left to ourselves. There were plenty of carpenter ants on the trail, and at one point we saw a large toad in a tree stump, presumably feasting on said ants. (This was the wildlife highlight of our trip.)

We started hitting snow patches somewhere around 6000' and I noticed there were some footprints that looked fresh. When we stopped for a break about an hour in we had caught a party of four heading up the mountain. We passed them as they took their break and then got into more patchy snow until we veered north to gain the ridge around 7200'. Coverage to the north looked a little bare and we were concerned. But, this also looked like a good option to regain the trail if we needed to. We continued upward, now mostly on rock in second class terrain following the ridge to around 8500' where we took our final break before the summit.

The view from our rest at 8500' was much more encouraging. We saw tracks in the recent fresher snow on the north side. We scoped which lines we wished to ski and snacked on our lunches before continuing to the summit. After our break we ended up losing the trail frequently and doing some third class moves to continue upward. The south side also looked skiable in case we bailed on the north side. Although the return to trail from the south appeared much worse. Right before reaching the summit area, we got a view of the drop in to our lines. It looked steep and somewhat unforgiving. We progressed the final 100' or so to the summit area where a snow arete waited for us to get to the true summit. A short walk across and some viewing of the northwest bowls and we went back to where we dropped our packs and talked about the descent while the party of four arrived. Sam and I scouted a possible drop in from almost the summit, but I didn't like it and opted to hike a bit lower to avoid some turns that didn't make the descent any more aesthetic.

While I hiked down a bit to transition, Sam jumped the gun and got his first few turns. Then he waited for me and skied past me to a rollover. Since it was warm and late in the day we wanted to leap frog and keep our eyes on each other as we knew we should be sending down a few wet slides. Sam wanted a line skier's far left under a prominent gendarme. I was looking for a more fall line route which went down a wide chute between rock outcroppings. Sam said the rollover wasn't bad and skied the long traverse to the top of his line. I took a few turns to get a feel for it and then skied the rollover, making sure not to turn back into any slough I may have kicked off. 

While the snow had gone past corn, it was very predictable and enjoyable to ski. I moved down my line and then let Sam take some turns which set off a fairly large amount of snow. He yelled for me to wait and I watched the snow slowly chug to the bottom of the run. I then expected my slope to do the same and cautiously took turns through another rollover before deciding it wasn't going to slide and letting go of the rein. At this moment it was magical. Pretty good snow and wonderful turns down a nice fall line run. I stopped to rest my legs at some point and to let Sam get some turns in to near the leveling out point. Then I leap frogged him to a terminal moraine like mound on the other side of the flats and waited for him. He made nice figure eights out of our turns and joined me on the mound so we would have a bit of a gravity start to finish where we were going. 

Our final destination on snow was something we were calling the snow pond. From the summit area it was a round "pool" of snow at the end of a snow finger that extended east. Probably the result of numerous winter avalanches running down the course. We navigated our way through a tight constriction or two before finally reaching the snow pond and starting our transition back to booting. 

We marveled about our run and looked back on it before opting for a E/SE course through the woods to get back on a trail. This decision was made by our estimate that we were closer to the summit trail, but would have easier terrain to get to the PCT. We headed off watching our bearing and traveling on some more open terrain with boulders. The way became more wooded at some point and started to resemble the open forest we had hiked in on. Then we met up with the PCT and had a smooth hike back to the car. Except that the mosquitoes returned. Sam and I agreed that we would not linger in the parking lot so that we could avoid further mosquito harm. 

We quickly loaded the car and made our way to The Creamery in Klamath Falls where I reloaded with the Oregon Logger "burger". Then it was another 600 miles or so back to Seattle. 

Overall this trip was fantastic. Great to get on a few mountains I have not even seen before. We hit a nice weather window, although not ideal conditions for skiing. I think this could have been mitigated a bit on Shasta with an earlier start, but things worked out OK. An earlier start may have made the skiing slightly better on McLoughlin too, but that run is currently in my top favorite runs, so hard to complain about the snow condition. And of course, it was fun to hang out with Sam, a fellow father and enjoy some well needed time in the mountains, and enjoyable conversation on the long drives to and fro. 

I experimented with a helmet cam for this trip and did not take any still pictures. Photographic evidence will be forthcoming. Unfortunately I ran out of memory half way down the McLoughlin run, which is a serious bummer. But the footage I have is pretty good. 

Cashmere Mountain - 06.30-07.01.10

Sammy was going to be in Leavenworth and had some free time after the conference he was attending there. He wanted to know if I wanted to do anything and I agreed. We decided on a scramble of Cashmere Peak as it would be easier to get permits for the area than the "regular" Enchantments permits. That, and neither of us had been anywhere near that peak ever.

We met at the ranger station to pick up a permit Wednesday at 11:30am. We learned there that you can get a parking permit free with the pass. After eating lunch in town, we dropped Sammy's car at The Sleeping Lady and continued to the trail head. My car had a bit of an overheating issue when we parked, but we figured not to worry about it until our trip was done. Around this point Sammy realized that he had left the permit in his car. We decided that we would continue without it. If we would run into a ranger we could give him Sammy's name and explain the situation. We finished packing, and were on our way.

The trail up to Little Eight Mile Lake was easy and offered some views of the Enchantments. Before arriving at the lake, I realized I forgot to put the parking permit in the car window. We once again continued on hoping for no ticket. We took a brief break at the lake for Sammy to tape his feet before we headed up the steeper trail to Lake Caroline. At this point the trail left the forest and headed out into a burned area while it switched back up the hill. It was here too, that the rock changed from being granitic, to peridotite, like the Ingalls formation on the other side of the Stuart Range. We hiked through the burn area higher with increasing views of the Enchantements.

Arriving at a saddle, we hiked down to Lake Caroline and our first encounters with snow. It was patchy, but soft enough that we just hiked through, hoping not to get any in our boots. The guide book claimed views of Mount Stuart from Little Caroline Lake, so we continued on. We got views of our objective on the way over. A few hundred feet more of gain and we were at the outlet of Little Caroline Lake. We located a horse camp, but searched around for a suitable campsite for us. It was around this time that we realized there were no views of Mount Stuart, or anything but the terrain surrounding the lake. We settled on a location near the lake under a stand of trees and set up our camp.

Then we settled down to eat. This is when we came to the conclusion we had made yet another omission. At the car we debated about taking one or two fuel canisters for the stove, but apparently opted to take none because we did not pack either. There was a long moment of disbelief. Then we yardsaled our packs to "just make sure." We didn't have fuel and we resigned ourselves to eating freeze dried meals with cold water. It was after 6pm, and getting cooler and we missed the ability to heat water for warm drinks before retiring to the tent. Partially due to this we got into the tent early to stay warm. Although, it was surprisingly warm in the tent. We hung out in the tent until dark and then watched the stars a bit before finally going to sleep.

I awoke after sunrise and thought it might be raining. I looked out the tent and I thought I saw a snowflake. I laid around a while before eventually getting out of the tent. Sammy said he would follow shortly. When I got out of the tent, I walked about warming up. There were snow flurries in the air and I knew it was unlikely we would summit this day. After a while Sammy was up and we were eating breakfast. He told me to turn around and look at the lake. We were protected under the trees, but the lake had rain falling into it. We got ready to hike in the wet weather with a plan of "let's go this high, and if we are feeling good, let's go higher."

We hiked out of camp and shortly came to the upper meadows with views in all directions. The cloud deck was low (around 9000') and the top of Mount Stuart was obscured. As we proceeded upward, the clouds got lower and we experienced on and off precipitation in various forms; rain, snow, wintry mix. We reached the point where we could turn off the trail with a more direct route, but we decided that with the patchy snow and off trail terrain that it would actually be slower. So we continued to Windy Pass encountering almost continuous snow just below the ridge. We enjoyed the cloud obscured views to the west and north and then started walking the ridge.

There was mostly a path on the ridge and we headed toward Cashmere now very much obscured by clouds. It was windy on the ridge and we felt colder. After a period, we paused for snacks, and Sammy added a layer. We did one last scramble around a rock outcropping and decided to call it our high point. We knew we would not summit, and the terrain was starting to get more difficult. It had also started snowing again. The clouds were now down to 8000' obscuring all summits of the Stuart Range as well as a good portion of the top of Cashmere.

We decided rather than retrace our steps, we would explore the meadows a bit trying to find the direct route. We wandered around and got on a track, but there was nothing that was quite a path in the meadows that would have made travel easier. If I return, it is likely that I will again head to Windy Pass and follow the ridge.

We returned to camp under a light rain and packed up quickly. The hike out was wet and warmer as we descended. We got back to the car to discover I had not been ticketed and that both fuel canisters were in the trunk.

This was a great outing. Going to a place I had never been before with a chance to visually connect geography of places I have been. Sammy was great company as always and we had a great time despite the weather. It was my first backcountry overnight of the year, which was nice too. I'd like to go back and have another go at Cashmere, but I was very intrigued by the south gully which looked like an interesting snow climb if you hit it at the right time.

My pics are here.

Snoqualmie Mountain - 03.07.10

Sammy and I planned a day of climbing something for Sunday and we didn't want it to be too intense. After throwing around a few ideas we settled on Snoqualmie Mountain. I have never been up it, and Sammy had when there was no snow, so it would be a new experience for both of us.

We arrived in the Alpental parking lot a little after 7am and were discussing our route options. Sammy was originally thinking to come up the Commonwealth Basin and then access Snoqualmie from Cave Ridge. We had both done that approach for winter ascents of Guye Peak. The guidebooks tell a tale of going up the trail to Cave Ridge from the Alpental Parking lot. I suggested we try something new and if it went, the distance was a whole lot shorter than circumnavigating Guye Peak.

From the parking lot we picked a high spot below a tree band that we would go up and assess the conditions to see if we could continue upward. We figured on twenty minutes to that point and potentially leaving us with enough time to come down and try the other route if this one did not go.

We entered the snow at the "Transceiver Training Area" and started to head up. Within five minutes it seemed like we were half way to the trees. Then the slope got steeper. Sammy and I stayed in some tree where we were following steps and we felt the snow was a little better. It was still before 8am and the sun was not hitting the slopes and the snow was hard and icy. We wondered why we brought snow shoes and contemplated stashing them. I said it would be a guarantee that we would be in waist deep snow later if we cached them now, so we kept them on our packs. This was Sammy's first time on steep snow this season and he was not feeling great about the snow climbing and lagged behind me a bit. I broke out of our stretch of trees and waited for him at a final tree in a more level area before we were to make the push to the trees above to see if the route went.

At this point, Sammy was having reservations about climbing the steep snow. But we agreed to go to the trees to see if the climbing became less difficult. Since we were on more level terrain, we donned crampons at this time. That decision gave both of us a little confidence boost to make the trees.

Nearing the trees, I went ahead of Sammy to check out the situation. I had to cross a moat with a small ice bridge with the help of an alder grab and then front point up steep solid snow into the woods. I stopped below a fallen log. While I thought the terrain looked easier above the log, I did not see any easy ways around it that did not involve minimal snow on rock or other loose terrain. I relayed the information to Sammy who made the decision to descend.

Sammy downclimbed facing in while I attempted to get out of the trees without having to downclimb over the small moat I came up over. It took me a while to reach Sammy after he returned to the more level area where we had put crampons on. At this point we had probably burned too much time to attempt via the Commonwealth Basin.

Fortunately due to our time wasting, the temps were a little warmer even if the sun was now obscured by clouds. Sammy got a new dose of confidence and started to traverse the slope to our left. Before we knew it, we were following another boot path up into the trees and feeling like we might still have a chance at the summit. At a minimum we were hoping to gain Cave Ridge and get a view.

Then we followed the the boot path to ice. There was about an eight foot stretch of maybe 40° ice. I started to chop steps into it. I made some moves with my left foot on rock and my right on ice. I had to swing my ax just to get the pick in and inch. A few moves up I questioned what I was doing, and Sammy and I set about to find another option up. Sammy set out on a traverse left while I tried a section directly above us. Neither was going to go without spicy moves on thin snow over moats and wet rock with significant shrub pulling only to get onto a similar steep hard snow slope. All the while considering how we would get back down once we got around the obstacle. After checking four options around the ice patch we finally decided to head back to the car. We down climbed through the woods back out to the open slope where the sun was shining and the snow already quite soft. We removed our crampons and plunge stepped our way back to the car.

Sammy nearing our high point

Before the plunge step down, I told Sammy it was our hubris that caused our failure. While perhaps an exaggeration, we both had underestimated this climb and had full expectation of reaching the summit. This expectation of easy climbing affected me (at least) in regards to my head space when the going got difficult. Climbing when not in an ideal head space is taxing, and not why I go out.

The plunge step out

I usually say that you learn more from a no summit climb than from a climb where the summit is achieved. On the way down and in the car we discussed things we took away from this. One was that we waited too long to put crampons on. I guess we succumbed to the boiling frog issue on that one. Because we underestimated the climb and snow conditions, we did not bring second tools or steel crampons, not to mention helmets or any type of rope.

Overall we had a fun time and joked about the situation throughout. It was great attempting a climb with Sammy and now I'll have a better idea for the next time I give Snoqualmie Mountain a go.

Exit 38 - 07.24.09

I finally got to join Sammy and crew for the Thursday evening Exit 38 climbing. Unfortunately there was a late start due to traffic, and Sammy locking his keys in the car. So we changed from heading to the Far Side to the shorter walk of Deception Crags.

Brett working out the crux on the route not in the book.

Since it was open and we wanted to get climbing, we started on Write-Off Rock. Since it was about six weeks since I had been on rock, I wanted to start with something easier and I led the 5.7 on the right side. Amy led it after me, while Sammy and Brett climbed a newer route that isn't in the book. Sammy and Brett moved over to the 5.9 route while Amy and I moved onto the route that Sammy and Brett were on.

Sammy climbing the 5.9

After feeling done with that crag we walked over to the Hall Rock area. I led the right 5.8 (which felt harder) and Sammy led the left 5.8. Then Sammy was attempting the far left route (not in the book) and had to lower off. I gave the route a try to at least retrieve Sammy's gear. It was getting late and darker, and I just didn't have it in me. But I was able to remove his high piece and down climb from that point without leaving gear. After that we packed up and had a dark hike out in the woods.

A nice day to get out. Weather wasn't cooperative for swimming in the river, but we were running late anyway and didn't have time for that. We did have a good time, and I hope to join Sammy and the gang on future Thursdays out.

Leavenworth - 05.09-10.09

With a avalanche report that read like this:

We are urging potential backcountry travelers to avoid
traveling in or near avalanche terrain until the recent snow
has either slide or settled and stabilized over the coming
days. [NWAC]

Julie and I were not going to be going anywhere where snow was present. Which was a shame as it was her last weekend in Washington before leaving on her trip. So we scratched our plans for something big and snowy and resigned ourselves to heading to Leavenworth to do some rock climbing. Ken and Sammy had canceled their plans for North Twin Sister due to the same avalanche forecast, and we would be meeting them in Leavenworth Saturday morning.

We arrived in Leavenworth with no sign of Ken and Sammy. We started up Icicle Road to see if we could find them at eight mile campground. We found them walking the road just in front of Icicle Buttress and said we'd meet them in town to discuss plans for the day at Starbucks. In the Starbucks we decided to hike up to Givler's as Ken and Sammy had never done it. Julie and I had done it back in March, and we decided we would just lead the opposite pitches we led then. So after a brief stint in Starbucks we headed up the Icicle to climb Givler's Crack.

The hike up is a little longer than most approaches in the Icicle which keeps traffic down to Givler's given it is a four star route that mortals can climb. We had some difficulties in staying on route, but eventually wound up at the base where another party was on the first pitch. We sorted ourselves and gear and started off after the second of the previous party reached the top of the first pitch. Julie led the first pitch, and hung out at the bowl after the crux opening moves. Once the previous party started leaving the belay at the top of the first pitch, she headed off to finish the pitch. I quickly followed. Ken was about half way up the first pitch when I started off on the second. Now having climbed Givler's Crack three times, I can say that the second pitch is one of my favorite leads. I can also say that I enjoyed it much more on lead than following. It is super enjoyable, and long. I arrived at the top and started to bring Julie up. The wind at the top was pretty brisk and we huddled behind the anchor boulder to stay out of the wind.

After a short time Ken was in sight, and he finished the pitch with a tired smile on his face. He clipped into my anchor and brought Sammy up. Sammy was successful at removing the fixed nut at the bottom of the second pitch and came into site with a big smile on his face. I think they were both happy they didn't just go climb R&D. Once we were all on top, we basked a bit and then headed back to our packs at the base. We collected our gear and hiked a bit down before finding a suitable ledge to eat lunch.

After the hike down, we considered another multi pitch climb. We looked at R&D, with crowds on it and some clouds blowing in and decided if it started to rain, we didn't want to be on R&D. We chose to head to Barney's Rubble area which was by the roadside and had some climbs we could do.

Sammy wished to lead a 5.7 that he had led a few years earlier. Julie and I headed to a 5.6 crack to climb. I started up the 5.6 while Sammy climbed the 5.7. The opening moves of the 5.6 were weird as it had to be accessed through a cave like feature and then step up into the crack. After placing three pieces, I was having difficulty gaining the crack and finally asked Julie to lower me off. [I later realized that when she led the route that there were plenty of options for feet on the face. I was trying to put my foot in the crack which was painful and awkward. Sometimes I just have difficulty reading a route.] Sammy was undeterred, and was still making his way up the 5.7 as Julie took the lead on the 5.6. After getting about halfway up the route, Julie slipped and took her first lead fall on gear. It was a minor incident as she mostly ran down the wall backward about five feet or so. She bumped her knee, and had a small rope burn on her wrist. She got right back on and finished the route. I eventually followed (as Ken followed the 5.7) and we topped out. I found the rock on the route to be very greasy feeling and I am not surprised by Julie slipping on it. We later talked to Ian and he used the same adjective to describe the rock and stated that it was because it sees so many ascents being so close to the road.

After topping out, we headed into town to see if we could find Ian and his team who had climbed Yellowjacket Tower that day. We chatted at dinner, and then went our separate ways.

The next day our goal was Condorphamine Addiction(5.10b). It is loosely described as a seven pitch bolted alpine route. Ian had told me that it was within my reach technically. And if we couldn't do the .10b moves it was easy to aid past them. The hike in was long and steep (for cragging.) The trail was loose and sandy as well. We had a minor difficulty finding the correct trail when entering the woods. The book is fairly accurate with the turn left after the first boulder on the map description. Then it was fairly easy to stay on the path up to Condor Buttress.

Once at the buttress, it was easy to identify the start of the climb. Julie and I were apathetic about who climbed which pitch and she finally decided to lead the first (5.7) pitch. After a short distance, she was at the belay and brought me up. The first pitch was nothing remarkable, and a good warm up for the rest of the climb. I took the lead on the second pitch (5.9) which starts with a fun traverse, and then goes up around a corner on steepening terrain to the belay. I think there was 12 bolts on the pitch as I was nearly out of gear at the next belay station. I brought Julie up and she started off on the next (5.4) pitch. After nearly a full rope length, she brought me up. I commented that the latter part of the pitch seemed a bit thin for 5.4. We briefly studied the topo for the route and I was off on the next pitch.

Our fourth pitch started out with easy fun climbing with some horizontal crack features on the slab. It then got to a point where it was steep and there was a difficult move. I commented down that I thought Julie combined the 5.4 and 5.8 pitches and that this was the first .10b move. She didn't believe me as it looked easier from her stance. Not knowing for sure if it was .10b, and feeling like I would kick myself if it 5.8 and I aided the move, I set about trying to figure out how to gain a dish above a bulge with no discernible hand holds. (There were some very tiny edges etc. and an arete to my right that I could use.) After a few attempts at upward progress, I informed Julie I was grabbing the draw and heading up. While it made the move easier, it did not make it more secure, and after gaining the dish, I held on to the draw for a bit until I was able to grab a small hold above me. At that point I moved slightly right and clipped the next bolt. The next moves went left around/through a roof where the difficulties lessened to the next belay. The moves left from the clip felt more like 5.8 or 5.9 from the previous .10b moves. I quickly moved through them and was at the next belay.

I brought Julie up to the crux where she agreed with me that it was a .10b and she proceed to follow my lead by yarding on the draw to complete the move. When she arrived at the belay, we consulted the topo again and agreed that she must have joined the 5.4 and 5.8 pitches and that was indeed the first of the .10b pitches. She then led off on the next .10b pitch.

On the next pitch there was a point from the belay that did not look difficult, but Julie was hesitant below it. She said the moves were thin and committing. I asked her if she thought it was the crux of the pitch. She said she wasn't sure. After some pause, she successfully completed the moves and put me on belay. I arrived at the same spot and saw what she meant. While this portion wasn't as steep as the crux in the previous pitch, it had some thin feet and not a whole lot for hands. I gingerly transferred my weight up to my right foot, and made moves to quickly get through the crux. The difficulty eased after a few moves and I continued to the top of the pitch. When I arrived, we both agreed that the moves felt more like .10a moves than .10b.

Since I had most of the gear, I told Julie I wasn't stopping to transfer gear or the backpack, and I would continue on the final 5.4 pitch to the top. I arrived at the top chains in no time, and brought Julie up. We remained anchored in, and ate our lunches. We wanted to get started on our rappels as we could see another party coming up the route.

We made seven raps down bypassing a party of four on two ropes on the way down. The rappels were easy, and being only single rope, we had no issues with throwing or retrieving the ropes.

The whole climb and rap took about 4.5 hours and Julie and I decided we would check out Bathtub Dome to see if there were options we'd want to climb there.

With some navigational difficulties and some steep sandy trail, we finally arrived at Middle Tier of Bathtub Dome where we were looking to climb a 5.7 crack called New Fixtures. (A two star route.) After looking at it and remembering that Smoot has it rated R in his guidebook I talked to Julie about it. The first 15' or so is climbing between a detached pillar and flake, so I would say there are not safe gear placements during that segment. We then opted to climb Chumstick 2-Step which is a bolted 5.9 to the left of New Fixtures. As we started gearing up, the wind picked up tremendously and started blowing clouds over our heads. we went from shorts and t-shirts to pants and jackets. Then we decided we did not wish to get rained on and packed up and hiked out. Arriving back at the car around 3:30pm we decided to just head back to Seattle.

Overall, the climbing on Condorphamine Addiction was fun. I think my favorite pitch was the 5.9 pitch. The 5.10b moves are easily aided if need be, and I would like to go back and give another shot at freeing the first .10b moves. We witnessed the leader from one of the other parties climb it, and he made it look effortless stemming his hands out to both sides. It probably still wouldn't be easy, but I'd be happy if I could free it. It would also give me a chance to come back up to Bathtub Dome to climb Chumstick 2-Step which looked enjoyable. The hike in and out of the area was tedious, but worth it considering how enjoyable the climb was. I did not find this climb to be as classic as Lost Charms or Dreamer, but was definitely something I would go back to do again. It can also be done with combining pitches, but I think the way we did it was fairly enjoyable. The topo is fairly accurate, and should be easy to follow. You may be able to save time rapping with two 60m ropes, but since it is setup to be rapped with a single 50m rope, I like not bringing the second rope, and not having to deal with the mess that is associated with double rope rappels.

My pics are here.
Julie's pics are here.

Guye Peak - West Face - 08.12.08

Took the day off to climb with Sammy, Jennifer and a few other people. The weather held for most of the day. (We got sprinkled on at the summit.) Route is not the most straightforward, but route finding is not super difficult either. From the street, it is boulder/talus hopping up to a gully where there are a few 3rd class steps to reach the rightward (south) trending ramp. We followed the broad ramp (with large trees) to it's southern end. This is where the 5th class climbing starts. There was a short enjoyable corner to climb then plenty of sandy ledges. We unroped briefly for a bit of a trail walk and start the second 5th class pitch. It starts with an interesting 5.4 flake/crack then deteriorates to rocks poorly set in dirt. The finish is an enjoyable chimney that ends in steep dirt. It was interesting, but not a great way to finish. Then it is a walk to the summit, a scramble to the middle summit, and a rap down the middle and gully up to the north summit. A climber's trail leads down from there. We got a late start, and had a long day, but a good day.

My pictures are here.

Ice Practice 08.02-03.08

Ian set up an Ice I and Ice II combined field trip for Sammy. I was the other instructor. Gabriel also joined us to learn. We had the Nisqually Glacier all to ourselves. Weather was cold and cloudy on Saturday, but cleared and warmed for Sunday. We had a fun time climbing some of the ice and teaching Sammy. The Ranger station at Paradise was reporting ~950" of snow for the Winter of '07-'08. There was plenty more snow on the glacier this August than last year around the same time. Ice was not as plentiful, but there was some to be found.

Pictures are located here.

Second Backcountry Ski - May 15

With warm temps (Seattle in the 70°s) predicted and avalanche danger on the rise, Sammy and I canceled our climb of the Tooth, and decided to do a ski tour up to Camp Muir on Mt. Rainier. The route only has one avy prone area at Panorama Point, but we knew we could avoid any issues with that. Snow was in good condition on the way up, but softened up a little too much for our run down at 3pm. Overall it was a good learning experience for both of us and we had a good time. It took about 5 hours to skin up and about 2 to ski/walk down. (I did the walking for a bit.)

On the way to Pan Point in the morning.

Skin track up the snowfield.

Panorama from Camp Muir from Goat Rocks to St. Helens.

Sammy on ski down.