zoroastr Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 Climb: Graybeard-S. Gully - Summit + Circumnavigation Date of Climb: 5/29/2006 Trip Report: Saturday's weather was crap, so a simple conditioning hike in the I-90 Corridor was called for. While punching through a few miles of Cascades Concrete to the top of McClellan's Butte, it occured to Erick Johnson and I that Sunday's promise of a possible decent weather window might be a good opportunity to grab Mesatchie Peak in the North Cascades. By the time we reached Easy Pass the following day, conditions still looked very doubtful--moist, gray, gloomy. It was at this point, we decided to settle for Graybeard. Erick had heard of a nice gully on the back side of the peak, so we made for it... Erick starts up toward the gully... Weather started to improve as we headed up the classic, moderate gully, on perfect, bucket-kicking snow... The top of the gully presented us with a short, low-fifth class rock step, which we chose to abseil on descent. E.J. fixes an anchor near the summit blocks. We admired elusive, still-distant Mesatchie as we descended from the summit and continued our circumnavigation of Graybeard. With perfect weather finally established, we had the entire mountain to ourselves. Although we'd seen some fresh boot tracks on the hike up to Easy Pass, we saw no other evidence of recent summiteers as we headed down and around Glorious Graybeard, surrounded by more Cascade climbables than I thought could possibly exist in one area. The sheer density of rugged, alpine summits in this place is staggering! Endless, stunning vistas, perfect weather, miles of virgin powder, and Blueberry Pop-Tarts....life can be beautiful. Gear Notes: Boots, stick, rope, a few slings... Approach Notes: Familiarity with the approach valley is definitely a plus. You could spend hours trying to pick your way through the remnant, trail-obscuring hardpack. Fortunately, you break out under Graybeard in only a couple of miles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad_A Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 Very cool. Nice TR, and great pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klenke Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 Ah, so those were your tracks all over Graybeard. Perhaps you saw ours on the way out to Katsuk. I've annotated one of your shots showing our traverse and camp. Tom and I are probably in this photo somewhere. (I will remove this picture if you want me to.) Climbing Katsuk solo in near winter whiteout conditions (8 inches of fresh, soft snow on the mountain) on Monday morning was quite enjoyable, especially after spending all day Sunday in the tent. The traverse back to Easy Pass had melted out quite a bit by Monday and was damn near deleterious in two concavities (a smattering of snow clinging to slick heather and slabs!). That upper Fisher Creek valley has got to be one of the most beautiful in the Cascades! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayB Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 Cool. Great photos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archenemy Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 Are you allowed to piggyback on someone else's TR? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klenke Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 Guilty, as suggested. I felt my ascent was not worthy of a TR in and of itself (who wants to see pictures of gray?). However, I do have some good shots of the surrounding valley and mountains, including Graybeard, that I may present on this thread later this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoroastr Posted May 31, 2006 Author Share Posted May 31, 2006 Thanks, Klenke, for the peak recognition info. Yes, we saw your tracks, and were a bit baffled by their direction--it looked like you started to wander around the back of Graybeard and then doubled back. Anyway, congrats on the summit--nice job. When the sky finally opened up, Monday turned perfect! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Off_White Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 I do have some good shots of the surrounding valley and mountains, including Graybeard, that I may present on this thread later this week. That'd be great, you shoot good mountain pron. Looks like a great day in the mountains Zoro, thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klenke Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 Thanks, Klenke, for the peak recognition info. Yes, we saw your tracks, and were a bit baffled by their direction--it looked like you started to wander around the back of Graybeard and then doubled back. Anyway, congrats on the summit--nice job. When the sky finally opened up, Monday turned perfect! On Saturday (at around 1:00pm) our tracks were the only ones going up to the pass. We didn't wander and went straight into our traverse to Mesahchie. On return we saw your tracks high on Graybeard then even more tracks (including dog tracks) "wandering around" the area of the pass. We saw your tracks going up the east side of Graybeard and we figured whoever it was was doing a up-and-over loop, which is what you did. Off: You wait 'til you see my shot of Fisher Peak! 10: The estimated number of posts before JoshK chimes in with snide "why in the name of god didn't you use skis?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountainmatt Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 Nice job guys, great pics! Glad that you could get out when the weather was so crappy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoroastr Posted May 31, 2006 Author Share Posted May 31, 2006 Oh...OK. Then there definitely *was* at least a third party up there. We saw your slightly older trax leading up the pass and toward Mesatchie, but we followed a set of newer trax up the ridge and out behind Graybeard. They didn't go very far before turning around--that's what was odd. We pushed beyond and into the bowl on the S. side of G.B. b4 heading up. Anyway, we're planning to return to the Colonial Gl. area this Saturday if the weather's nice... cheers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klenke Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 Piggybacking photos Graybeard Peak from the WNW on May 29 Fisher Creek Valley from below Panther Peak (aka Mesahchie Peak) Fisher Peak from the NW Logan and traverse under Panther Peak (aka Mesahchie Peak) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Off_White Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 Gorgeous. The Fisher Creek Valley is equally wonderful when the meadows are full of flowers, a great place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klenke Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 Kind of like this? [Photo by Alex Krewarik] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfs Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Did any of you happen upon evidence of old heli ski tracks on either easy pass or head of fisher ck, in both cases direction of granite cr? I went on a tour thru the area last 'winter' and was quite disillusioned to see lots of heliski tracks in those 2 places. That particular day they were raised and frozen and pretty much wrecked entire slopes. Was curious whether this area was one of NCH's regular milk runs, or just something that got hit in the desparation of last season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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