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Happy to have helped! I believe it, those slab sections were no joke. I think I recall a trip report noting a fatality years ago on that section. Thankfully our navigation of it ended up being relatively straightforward.

Thanks! It totally felt like something you would have done in the pickets!

Awesome climb and report! Glad you could leave those chossy death blocks sleeping. Solid adventure for a single overnight!

Ugh sorry about your car. Thank you for putting in those boot tracks, they were great to follow! Navigating the snow and slabs in the dark is a classic! We did the same 4 years ago on the West Ridge and didnt get to lower camp until 3am....

Trip: Forbidden Peak - NW Face Trip Date: 07/13/2025-07/14/2025 Trip Report: This has been on my list for a while given the high praise in guidebooks. Checking rec.gov on Monday, somehow permits to Boston Basin were available for this Sun-Mon that Alex, Liza, and I had saved for this route. With Liza and my previous experience on W Ridge, we figured this would go smoothly, but as is tradition with Forbidden, we were a bit slower than expected. Day 1: Approach to bivy on base of NW Face We left the Boston Basin trailhead at 8:45 am. The trail was brushy as usual and the river crossings had easy rocks to hop over. After a bathroom break at the lower boston we made our way to Sharkfin Col. We shot up a snow finger arching right towards Sharkfin and scrambled up and left in a gully about 200 feet before the big notch at the end of the snow finger. Two raps down to Boston Glacier over/in and out of the two bergschrunds. We made quick work of the Boston Glacier (thanks to some faint tracks likely from the day before) and scrambled the classic “potato chip” gully/col up to the Forbidden Glacier. With the crumbling rock/sand combination, this required the full body tension of precarious slab climbing with the added bonus of explosive holds that kept things spicy. Walking down the Forbidden Glacier was very chill and there were some rocks that were poking out in the middle that had water flowing over them which allowed us to fill up before crossing below the route and ascending the glacier on the other side. We saw tracks from a team that did the NW Face Var of the N Ridge (Scary!). We then navigated around crevasses on the west side of the rib to a snow ramp onto the rib at ~7,600 feet. This was smooth sailing for the most part, but the little snow finger to get onto the rock is thinning out so threw in a picket given the large bergschrund right below us to ease our nerves. The snow finger didn’t look like it would last much longer than a week or two, so additional shenanigans may be needed later in the season. By 8 pm we found a small bivy, which we adjusted to make decently comfortable for all three of us and set up camp under clear skies with views of Moraine Lake. Luckily we had no bugs or snafflehounds overnight, just very gusty wind and the occasional sound of rockfall echoing around the cirque. Day 2: Ascent and descent We woke up and made breakfast as the clouds came and went, occasionally completely surrounding us in grey. After breakfast we made a quick 4th/low 5th pitch to the base of the knife edge starting around 8 am. All of us were stiff from the day before and were grateful for the warmup. The knife edge was very fun and super chill! A short section of crumbly rock, but otherwise quite solid. Clouds rolled in and out making it hard to suss out the route above us. The crux pitch took some figuring out and I’m still not sure if I did it right. The first bit was one quick 5.8 move that was quite fun above the old piton and perfect finger-sized gear. The second bit was a weird overhanging hand/fist crack that felt burlier than I expected. I pulled up into the crack then switched to the face to make use of some great footholds. The chimney pitch was quite loose, with multiple death blocks that I stepped on to avoid the crumbly rock-sand. I did not enjoy leading that…. After the chimney pitch it was fun ridge romping up cleaner rock. I was a bit gassed so I handed the lead to Liza. Luckily the clouds cleared and we had some fun sunny climbing. Liza made the mistake of shooting left onto the face rather than staying on the true ridgeline once the ridgeline got more licheny. This led to harder climbing on what looked like cleaner rock, but it had minimal protection and hid multiple death blocks that threatened a scary rope-cutting incident. She shot back over to the ridgeline on the right for more fun and cleaner rock climbing to the summit by 4 pm. No major mistakes happened, but we were way slower than expected with the fatigue, weather, and figuring out our simul dynamic with this trio. We ended pitching out more than we needed to. At this point the clouds started rolling in, so we decided to high tail out. As we began the rappels along the ridge, the wind picked up and it started to rain. This was probably the low point of the day as sideways rain blasted us along the knife edge rappels. After two raps along the ridge, we did two raps down the west side to an easy 4th class ramp that meets the first ⅓ of the W Ridge. We added some tat to some of the weathered stations. Four double raps down the Cat Scratch and we were out hiking! It was great knowing the descent beta from when we did the W Ridge four years ago. Luckily it was still light was we navigated the snow field and slabs below. We got back to the car by 11 pm. Overall: This was an engaging adventure that required a bit of everything. Knowing the W Ridge descent was very helpful. The climbing was not as good as we expected, but the knife edge and some of the upper ridge were a blast. The position, line itself, and the approach are amazing. 4 star line with 2 star climbing (though with more traffic/trundling could be 3-4 star climbing). Overall, an engaging experience, but we are still quite confused as to why this route isn’t called NW Rib because the only time we were climbing what I would call a “face” we were definitely off route… Heading up the snow finger towards Sharkfin (rap we used is just to the left, rather than up in the notch straight ahead): Chossy scramble up to Forbidden Glacier: Snow finger to access the base of the route: Looking down on the the snow finger and the bergshrund below it: Morning at the bivy spot: Looking back down the knife edge: Cruxing: Alex pulling the weird crux move: Liza following the crux: Solid exposure! Summit selfie: W Ridge descent: Gear Notes: Singles 0.2-2 with doubles 0.4-1. 1 picket. Axes. Crampons. Having another 0.3 would have been nice. Approach Notes: Boston glacier approach

Trip: Forbidden Peak - North Ridge Trip Date: 07/12/2025 Trip Report: Spent the weekend climbing the North Ridge of Forbidden Peak (a climb so remote you have to climb over another ridge just to get to it) with a team of 4! It was a full value Alpine climb that doesn’t go too hard at any individual point, but requires the full suite of mountaineering skill sets, and is jam packed with them. This comes out as one of my all time favorite climbs, but had a bittersweet ending due to coming back to the trailhead at 1:30AM only to find two of my car windows smashed, and our happy bags stolen. Rough end to a 21 hour day climbing. GPS tracks here Our timeline was roughly: -7:45AM departure from trailhead -12:00PM Base of the gulley to go up Sharkfin Ridge -1:30PM over the ridge, and rope up for crossing Boston Glacier -3:45PM on the North Ridge -6:15PM stopped at bivy site -5:15AM Sunday started climbing -3:00PM Both parties summited, starting descent -7:00PM Arrived at the Notch of West Ridge Coulier -9:15PM Finished rappelling down the WRC -10:40PM Past the last major creek crossing and back on the main trail -1:30AM back to cars The approach was straightforward up through the Boston Basin. The creek crossings were reasonably low in the morning. As we got up to the start of the snowfield we caught sight of the gulley we were aiming for to get over sharkfin ridge. We briefly lost sight of the gulley we were aiming for as the cloud cover dropped, but thankfully we already had a general sense of where we needed to go before that happened. The gulley up to the notch we needed was thankfully still fully snow covered, but was quite thin in sections, and will probably start melting out soon (the exposed sections we saw in the gulley had very unconsolidated dirt and rock, and I’m glad we didn’t have to climb it). We did a double rope rappel down into and out of the bergschrund onto the Boston glacier (there was a 2nd rappel station for single rope rappels). We then roped up as a team of 4 to cross the Boston Glacier. Crevasses are definitely opening up on the glacier, but we didn’t have any major issues moving around them. Reading up on beta, there are two primary entrance points to get onto the North Ridge, and we chose the first and steeper option. This seemed to be the right call as we had minimal issue transferring from the snow onto the rock, and talking with another team heading out to do the NW Face who took the other option, they didn’t have kind things to say; it sounded like the other entrance point was sketchily wet and hard to protect when getting on the rock. After a scramble up to the ridge proper, we got our first sight of the full climb! Ryan C on Peakbagger very graciously marked bivy sites on the North Ridge. We stopped at the 2nd to last bivy site on the ridge. Our timeline was going well enough that we decided to start the climb and see how far we could get before dinner. We ended up simul’ing up to the first snowfield, where we opted to stop for the night. The snowfield was nice as we were able to melt some snow on the ridge for the next day. There was no running water between Boston Basin and the end of the rappels down the West Ridge. Sunday morning we got up and did the rest of the climbing, mostly simul climbing. Most of the ridge was 5th class fun with ~4 sections of 5.5-5.6 climbing (a fun challenge with mountaineering boots and a carry over pack, but still manageable), and longer stretches of class 3 scrambling on the flatter sections. Almost all of the climbing stayed close to the ridge, but there were a couple notable spots you had to get off the ridge slightly to stay in the low/mid class 5 climbing. We could have been a couple hours faster on this section, but a combination of a traffic jam right before the summit + one of our rope teams getting off route, and having to deal with some spicier sections pushed our summit time back a bit. Snowfield crossing on the ridge Summit traffic jam View close to summit looking back down on the North Ridge I found the crux of the climb to be the descent (via the west ridge), possibly the hardest mountain I’ve had to get off of. I think a major portion of the challenge was descending a 5th class route other than the one we went up. We made the mistake of trying to rappel right off the summit (should have downclimbed the section), and ran into some shenanigans. Once we were done with that, we did 3 more rappels down the face, traversed back left to the ridge, and did 1.5 pitches of downclimbing on the ridge to get down to the notch of the West Ridge Coulier. There were plenty of rappel stations down the gulley, almost too many (it made it challenging to find the right one). We found a big one that seemed to have more tat then the others, and rappeled off it4-5 single rappels later, plus a final double rappel, and we hit the snowfield below! We finished the rappels right at sunset, and had to break out our headlamps as we finished the snowfield and started hitting the slab. Getting down the slab sections almost became a serious navigational issue in the dark, as we couldn’t easily tell where the slab bands cliffed out, and it was very easy to slip on sections. Thankfully, with some aid from GPS racks we had, we were able to trend down and right until we found a weakness in the rock face that allowed us to go down and left below the cliff bands. We found a trail leading back to Boston Basin that faded in and out. Then with the aid of GPS tracks + plus another team that rappelled down just after us, we managed to find crossings through the two fastest flowing creeks. And the rest of the way down was just a normal slog to the trailhead. We got back to the trailhead around 1:30AM, only to find two of my car windows smashed open, and our happy bags stolen): Thankfully most of our valuables were locked away, but the loss of our happy bags were devastating after a 21 hour day climbing. And when it rains, it apparently pours, because about 1 hour into our drive back my car’s low tire pressure light came on. Turns out I managed to puncture the sidewall of my back right tire. Best guess is that it was from a rock on the turnout I parked my car on. Thankfully I had an air pump stowed just for this (and it wasn’t stolen!). It took three stops to refill my tire, but we were able to limp home on it so that I could deal with it later. All in all, one of my all time favorite Alpines, but a very expensive weekend for my car! Gear Notes: 60m rope, mountaineering boots, stove for dinner and melting water on the ridge Approach Notes: See GPS tracks above

Really thoughtful and inspiring TR. Rest in peace, Teemo.

Excellent report again as always. Can’t wait to see what you guys do next?

St Helens, about 1968 with the Seattle Mountaineers. Qualifying for the Intermediate Climbing Course. First time with 12 crampons, which I still have and use occasionally. We climbed the Forsyth Glacier, that is no longer there, then slept in ice cave on summit we had to dig out. I'm wearing an REI 60/40 jacket, short gaiters and army surplus wool pants. Unforgettable trip. I have climbed it in the Spring with group of friends about 20 years ago, snowboarded down Worm Flows. Others to compare? Olympus in late 60's, next with son and friend about 20 years ago. Same for Rainier, Stuart West Ridge. Baker was my first glacier before St Helens, then several times on Baker summit by three different routes Still at it, but slow. My goal is all the volcanos in Washington in my 70s' with better gear.😁

I’ll be heading to the cascades in August and looking for a partner or partners. I’ve done Mt Whitney via the mountaineers route and Grand Teton. Looking to tic off some Washington summits.

Where's the "love" button? Thanks for the time you spent conveying all the pieces of your journey!

These things are unobtanium. There were people scrounging for them on this site like almost 20 years ago.

Try Geartrade. I've sold a lot of stuff on commission through them without any problems.

@SeaLevel at least we did it on purpose this time!

Looking for a partner for some late summer objectives either in the pickets (inspiration east ridge, mt terror) or Forbidden. I have climbing experience but I've been out of the game for several years. I've climbed complete north ridge of Stuart c2c, multiple routes on prusik, acid baby, triumph, wa pass classics.. Have some random days the next month or so/ somewhat flexible..

Sick! I was the one working who chatted with you guys briefly before the easy ridge turn off. Stoked you guys made it out safe.

Conditions report from last weekend look close to perfect timing now with balance between glacier coverage and meltout on the corkscrew. Planning to leave Seattle at 3am. Was in Sierras last week and stoked to stay high and bag peaks in my backyard.

Nice Brian looks fun!

Beautiful! It is on the list!

Trip: Goat Island Mountain - West Ridge Trip Date: 07/11/2025 Trip Report: Another MRNP Peak with Dwayner today! Left the Summerland trail about half mile above the creek crossing and boulder-hopped up Fryingpan Creek until we were forced to cross. The water was pretty high. Up to the saddle above the giant chock stone, then along the long long long ridge to the highest point. Some of the best views in the park--or anywhere on Earth IMO. Gear Notes: Boots Approach Notes: Trail to Summerland, then XC

After having thought about this more (and having gone and climbed La Croupe du Poney a second time to make it a little more "ready" for other climbers,) this is, to the best of my understanding, my best guess about where the route Pampas Drifter is relative to La Croupe du Poney: I think Pampas Drifter made a direct-start from the toe of the buttress, starting climbing about 100' lower than La Croupe du Poney (whereas we started La Croupe by scrambling up the easier right side of the buttress to a big larch.) The bottom of the drawn line in the guidebook has a rightward-arching shape that appears to match the shape of a rightward-arch on the friction slab at the very bottom of the buttress. So Pampas Drifter's first pitch starts lower than La Croupe du Poney's first pitch starts, which leads to pitch numbers being half-offset the remainder of the way up. Shared segment: Although the 1st pitches of the two routes start in different spots, likely the majority of the middle of those first pitches are the same. A divergence: Pampas Drifter describes "a long, sustained 5.8 finger crack on the third pitch". Wherever that is, it is definitely unique from La Croupe du Poney. My best guess as to where that "long, sustained 5.8 finger crack" could possibly be is a clean section of rock with a number of vertical cracks that's 50ish feet to the right of La Croupe du Poney, and in terms of height, lines up with La Croupe's upper-half of our 2nd pitch plus the lower-half of our 3rd pitch. Since Pitch 3 of Pampas Drifter is definitely unique from La Croupe du Poney, it somewhat suggests that Pampas Drifter's pitch 2 and pitch 4 are also unique from La Croupe du Poney, since Pampas Drifter's route diagram doesn't show any sudden jogs to get to or from it's pitch 3; the route diagram implies that the pitches before & after pitch 3 are roughly vertically in line. Coming back together: I believe that La Croupe du Poney's pitches 3 & 4 and Pampas Drifter's pitches 4 & 5 are close neighbors, which slowly come back together and probably eventually share the same line at some point; most likely near the end of La Croupe's P4 and Pampas Drifter's P5. It's quite plausible that those pitches end at the same belay location. Shared segment: I guess the corner system marked in Pampas Drifter's diagram on their P6 has to be the same as the small right-facing-corners that La Croupe du Poney's P5 climbs through. So La Croupe's P5 and Pampas Drifter's P6 are mostly the same thing. A divergence again: Depending on where exactly Pampas Drifter's "dramatic turn on the right" is, it's likely the routes diverge again near the end of La Croupe's P5 & Pampas Drifter's P6. It's unclear to me if Pampas Drifter the huge chimney with a giant chockstone that's directly above Shish Kabob Tree, or if the "dramatic turn" is indeed further right, since further right does indeed look more likely to "lead to easier ground" out there. In either case though, it's clear that Pampas Drifter's P7 goes somewhere very different, and La Croupe du Poney's P6 & P7 are definitely new and unique. Another coming back together: Unfortunately, Pampas Drifter gives effectively no information at all about where its pitch 8 happens to be. If it had been my brain planning the route for Pampas Drifter back in the 1990's, I know I would have chosen to go for the "Incredible Dihedral" that's also La Croupe du Poney's pitch 8. So I'm guessing they made that decision?? But I'm surprised they didn't make at least some even small note at all about this striking last dihedral in their route diagram or description. It seems like if they had climbed it, they would have made at least a little mention of such a striking feature, so maybe they didn't climb it and went some other way?? But I'm going to assume they did climb it, even though they didn't say so, just because it is a probable way they might have gone. Based on that assumption, that would make pitch 8 of both La Croupe du Poney and Pampas Drifter the same. In summary: These two eight-pitch-routes would appear to have three pitches that overlap (some of the P1, some of La Croupe's P5 is the same as Pampas Drifter's P6, and to make an assumption: all of P8,) leaving each route with its other 5 pitches of climbing being unique and separate from the other. Considering that: The routes have more pitches that are separate than they do that are shared… And that I went out and climbed La Croupe du Poney as if it were a first ascent, with no beta at all except some of my own photos I had taken a few weeks prior, as there wasn't a single shred of information available about other routes on this buttress at the time that I climbed it… And that these older routes seem like they had been forgotten to time long before I got here… (I can't find any internet-evidence of anyone having climbed Pampas Drifter at all in the last 25 years) …the combination of all those things (especially point #1) makes me feel pretty good about saying "La Croupe du Poney is indeed a new first ascent" here! I've posted La Croupe du Poney to Mountian Project: https://www.mountainproject.com/route/201307606/la-croupe-du-poney If anyone has more-conclusive information / better beta about those historic routes, Archer and Pampas Drifter, it would be cool if you posted those to Mountain Project too, so that they aren't totally lost to time!

Hello folks. Summited Mt Rainier years ago on foot. I want to explore skiing from summit to high camp NE side and descend interglacier. I skinned and skiied interglacier last summer. I anticipate this would take some research, minimum party of 4, gear, terrain analysis, slope analysis, permit etc. It may or may not be feasible but would like to explore doing so ! Trenton 503-330-0660

MEGA! Love it, all of it! Glad you had another safe adventure in the wild heart of the North Cascades. Thanks for taking the time to share the flavor.

Rip Teemo. Quality as always gentlemen! What a trip!

Trip: Spectre Peak - Spirited Away (IV, 5.9, ~2000 ft, 10 pitches) Trip Date: 07/07/2025 Trip Report: "Spirited Away" Second Ascent Spectre Peak & Exploring the North-Western Pickets Adam "Mo" Moline & emilio Taiveaho Peláez Itinerary: Day 1: Camp on Easy Ridge Day 2: Perfect Pass & Whatcom Day 3: Perfect Pass to Phantom Ridge Day 4: Climb “Spirited Away” (2000’, IV, 5.9) on Spectre Peak Day 5: Push Camp to Copper Creek Day 6: Hike out from Copper Creek First is a pitch-by-pitch description of the climb, written by Mo, followed a trip report written by both of us in collaboration. We climbed ten pitches, including a long (~600 ft.) simul of 3rd-low 5th to the summit block. Several of our pitches (p.4-6) diverged from the first ascent route. The Climb: “Spirited Away” (FA: Sam Boyce, Joe Manning) is an excellent remote alpine climb with stunning features in a hauntingly beautiful landscape. Pitch 1. From the notch, Emilio leads right and up 4th class ramps to a chimney, then opts for going right to the 5.7 face with good high feet moving up to the tree ledge. ~35-40 meters. Pitch 2. Emilio finishes tower 1 by first scoping the 5.9 chossy overhang, then opting to shoot left for the clean Gully. We both wanted to add to Sam and Joe’s incredible line by exploring places they mentioned, and we’re happy to report the gully was a very enjoyable and clean 5.6 romp up Tower 1. Pitch 3. (Mo) I, who haven’t yet realized we’ve bypassed SJ’s crux, eagerly take the lead after moving the rope further along the large ledge. The long pitch starts with moving the rope along the large ledge and travels up the 3rd-4th class ridge with nothing close to a 5.9 chossy overhang, odd. Very enjoyable climbing though! At this point, I stay along the ridge crest completely enchanted by the tower and therefore diverge from Sam and Joe’s (SJ) line for the first time. I anchor in at the base of the obvious and impressive Tower 2. Pitch 4. Emilio leads up the tricky face with bad pro. They shoot for the corner to find good gear for the steep headwall. The options from below appeared to be a steep and potentially overhanging crack up the middle, or heading to a notch on climber’s left between the 2 spires into overhanging face climbing. Emilio picks an inspiring line up to the notch through the corner followed by 20-30 feet on the steep but surprisingly juggy face, 5.8. Pitch 4.5. After the tower and an awkward belay, Emilio lowers down 15 feet climber’s left off a slung horn to a ledge below to set up an anchor for the “sky bouldering” pitch. Mo down-leads easy but chossy terrain. Pitch 5. (Mo) Along with the tower, this divergence (??) is also a complete treat. Comparable to the Rooster Comb on Mongo, or climbing in the Fisher Towers, the sky bouldering pitch involved some of our favorite climbing. Along with a series of easy V0- boulders, the ridge presents a perfect hand crack splitting an impressive boulder. Climb up and over this 4 star boulder, gymnastically flow through more boulders digging your hands into serious lichen, and finish with a reachy smear onto extremely licheny rock suspended over air. Belay on one of the golden slabs below the next gendarme. Like the RC, it’s hard to put a grade on this type of gymnastic climbing, top shelf fun though. Pitch 6. Emilio climbs the corner block with good pro, up and left of the gendarme until they meet SJ’s line once again. After lowering off nut/horn pro left by the FA team, Emilio sets up an anchor out of the shooting gallery and I lower down to the very redundant anchor deep in the gully. The only pink tricam placement of the trip. The kind gear left behind by the FA party for this pitch. Pitch 7. (Mo) Lead up 4th class to a left trending ramp where 5-moderate begins. Future climbers take the larger, earlier ramp rather than be entranced by the huge bulgy crack splitting the face (like I did). After returning to the ramp, it meets the beautiful hands/fist crack. With many alpine draws, continue up to meet the slightly overhanging crux of the pitch with a mix of choss and bomber jugs. Physical wandering with cautious choss dancing leads right, up, then left through stellar holds to a clean finish. Steep and committing but surprisingly good holds made this feel like 5.8+. Good pro. Let the choss sleep here for the sake of your follower! Looking down from above the hand/fist crack. Pitch 8. Emilio climbs up the heather ramp with choss for roughly 30m but not great pro until the blocks. Follow 5-moderate blocks up and left. After running low on rope and scoping options, Emilio belays on choss 20ft below the ridge crest. Looking up at the heather ramp. Pitch 8 Notes: Continuing on the ridge crest could be an alternative to the heather ramp. To avoid rope drag on the Hoodoo pitch, belay from the ridge crest if possible. Pitch 9. (Mo) Hoodoos. 3 options presented themselves to reach the ridge crest. Follow Emilio’s wisdom and take the chimney to the right or the easy ramp to the left, or my idea to shoot straight up the white 5.9 face. With my hopeless delusion being prevention of rope drag, I shot up a few cruxy moves and pulled it without showering Emilio with choss. All of a sudden, the spirits are all around you. We traversed low around many of the hoodoos both out of a fearful respect of their haunting beauty and temporary nature. We didn’t stop for any pictures and quietly danced around their north sides when possible, or climbed over when it wasn’t. After this steep, exposed, licheny, and hauntingly beautiful traverse, rappel off the furthest Hoodoo for 25-30m to a nice grassy ledge, then move to avoid rockfall. Pitch 10. (Simul, Emilio then Mo). 600ft of 2nd, then 4th, then 3rd class stellar scrambling following heather ramps and solid rock. Emilio leads what was some of our favorite climbing of the ridge moving efficiently up to the headwall. Emilio hands me the kindest gift of finishing up the 5.0 pitch. We finish this climb in memory of Teemo (Chad) the Cat who was spirited away weeks before this climb. An inspiration of our climbing, style, and backcountry meals (Chad’s Backcountry Catfood), and who lived with Emilio and me over a decade ago. With Love, for Teemo. Climb Descent: We now realize Emilio has accidentally stached their ice axe at the base of the climb. However, before we tackle this challenge, we must figure out how to down climb the east side which appears ledgy at first, but then becomes 5.moderate and steep. We navigate and beta share our way down after some interesting 5th-class moves on good holds. This side of the rock was significantly harder climbing than the side we summited. Now, the fun begins. We read SJ’s report of steep snow and early conditions and see this to be true. However, we have luckily navigated somewhat similar situations where on Mongo Emilio traverses steep snow with sharp and flat rocks for aid. I (Mo) kick some deep steps down a short steep section in similar style. After a few minutes of thoughtful snow travel, it eases up to walking a beautiful snow ramp down to a heather and slab rib. From here, a gorgeous dyke ‘Thank God Ledge’ becomes obvious and points you directly home to the base of the climb. Walk the 2nd class dyke admiring the unique rock and granite eggs. This section feels like walking towards Minas Tirith. Follow until the dyke turns into heather ledges/ramps at the base of the climb. 10/10 descent, would maybe rap in the future, or find the actual route down. Ascent ~11hrs Descent ~1 hr Trip Report Introduction (written by emilio): “When you get to the top of the mountain, keep climbing.” Nothing embodies this mantra more than a trip to the Northern Pickets, with its endless folds, valleys, and ridges. Summertime in the northern hemisphere means it’s high time for licheny choss and remote alpine meadows. For me, the solstice brings a yearning for good snowpack and godly glaciers, and despite my attempts to think or dream of other mountains, climbs, and ranges, the Pickets keep calling me. Throughout the year, I often wake up in the middle of the night longing for their surreal gendarmes, gnarly towers, towering spires, and self-willed wildness. Last summer, Mo and I climbed the climb we’ll never come back from, Mongo Ridge on West Fury. The three nights we spent on route mark some of the most significant moments of my time here on Planet Earth, so it was difficult to tell what would unfold after that experience. But, as it often does with these things, the idea of returning to the Northern Pickets for a seventh time as a team came organically. This is a blessing, because nothing is better than going into the mountains with Mo, the strongest free-climber I know and one of the very best all-around humans I’ve ever met. Although for the last few years we’ve been entering the park through Ross Lake, the first time Mo and I went into the mountains together we went in through Hannegan Pass, embarking on the long trek up Easy Ridge with a group of six. That year, we ate hearty servings of humble pie as we crossed the Challenger Glacier, climbed Challenger, dropped down to Luna Cirque, hiked up the other side, and tumbled down Access Creek. Photo I took on a disposable camera on our first trip to Challenger (2018). This was the first any of us had roped up together, the day after Mo's first rap ever. Jake Johnson, secret hero of all our trip reports, leads the way. Returning to Hannegan Pass in order to visit those places of intensity where our love for the Pickets began—the Imperfect Impasse, Perfect Pass, Whatcom Peak (where I was first benighted), and the Challenger Glacier—with all these years of hard-earned experience felt right. Also, filling in the lore of Mongo, we knew that Wayne had first seen that mythic ridge while climbing the mind-boggling “Haunted Wall” of Spectre Peak. We had to at least see the Haunted Wall in person, to trace Mongo backwards, and get to know this obscure and remote peak we had seen from the neighboring ridge. The call from Spectre was coming from several directions. Beyond the opportunity to climb exquisite choss, the pleasure of going to such a remote country and live, even if momentarily, in the freedom of the hills, is hard to pass up. As a team, Mo and I have been on a little tour of second ascents across Washington (summiting Lemolo, “Sharpen the Saw,” and going up the Rooster Comb), often setting SKT’s in the process (slowest known time), so even if we didn’t yet have the gumption or cojones to repeat Mike Layton and Wayne Wallace’s insane line, we figured we could celebrate Sam Boyce’s remarkable achievement, “Spirited Away,” the South Ridge of Spectre, and enjoy our time in the process. The hoodoos, gymnastic traverses, and time spent on the ridge, made this line appealing. At the same time, Sam’s recent climbs in the Pickets have been inspiring to follow, and the beta he and Lani provided from their climb of Mongo made our experience on that ridge much more pleasurable, so our ascent of Spectre is a celebration of this current Picket Renaissance. As opposed to the ultra-light mentality we brought to Mongo, for Spectre we shouldered heavy packs, bringing extra food, creature comforts, and redundancy (including an additional pack stuffed inside my pack, which strangely came in handy) for the ~50 mile round trip and ~20,000 ft of elevation gain. We started our trip on the Fourth of July and budgeted the entire week ahead in order to adapt to the weather and be able to luxuriate like sybaritic alpine lizards. Trip Report (written in collaboration by both of us): Approach (days 1-3): We left the Moline Compound in Olympia early in the morning, driving steady to the Hannegan Pass trailhead to get there and get walking by 8:30 a.m. Surefoot miles brought us past hikers and trail crews hard at work. Crossing the Chilliwack was a treat in the heat and we zig-zagged the long diagonals up to Easy Ridge, encountering Chaga, old COTW, and copious Calf’s brain while admiring a solitary hand-crack along the way. For the return, we knew we’d have fresh berries Bilberries and Huckleberries. Like everything in the Cascades it seems like Easy Ridge is sandbagged because it’s a serious hike, but it also lives up to its name in the views it affords–though on our way up it was mostly clouds. We camped at a nice bivy before Easy Peak proper and drink some fresh Chaga tea. We stop after 15 miles and 7 hours of moving. The following morning we slept in and made coffee in the morning, taking our time before getting moving. Right as we pack up to take off, Mo’s side backpack zipper breaks exposing all the innards. After several seconds of perseverative thought, the universe reminded us that we have, in fact, 3 total backpacks between us! Not being able to decide which pack to climb in, Emilio serendipitously packed double bag includes both a 35L pack with a 30L pack stuffed inside. Mo’s pack is strapped shut with some climbing equipment (reminiscent of the broken crampons on Mongo attempt 1) and we ramble scramble onward without any anxiety of gear for the climb ahead. The scree-step up to the summit of Easy Peak brought us to more walking and descending, before reaching the threshold that the Imperfect Impasse provides. What a chasm! It’s hard to believe Mo’s first rappel ever was into the snow down below, though there was no need to rap today. Fourth class ramps and early season conditions were in our favor and we were able to quickly move across and head up the slab and heather to Perfect Pass. It’s nice to imagine what evaporating dew must feel as it ascends, but gravity in a human form is more easily navigated in diagonals. On the way up we ran into a group who had just summited Challenger, having camped at the bottom of the Impasse, but they were the only group we saw and from there we had Perfect Pass to ourselves. Given our odd timing at PP, to warm up for Spectre, and because it seemed ridiculously fun, we decided to drop our stuff and romp up Whatcom. The snow conditions were great and the sun was shining. Whatcom is a stunning mass and a wonderful teacher, and as specks on her summit we lingered admiring the landscape. The way back down to Perfect Pass brought joyful plunging leaping running down the mountain and we made twelve minutes of it, even after stopping to take pictures and laugh. Deciding Perfect Pass lives up to its name we made camp and stopped here for the night sleeping once again under chossy stars. emilio bouldering at perfect camp trying to strengthen the toes after descending from Whatcom. There are some quality blocs to be found out here! I’m wondering if FKT.com will allow for the Pass-to-Pass FKT to be submitted up to Whatcom, here we humbly submit 1 hour for our time. The next morning brought us to search for the somewhat mysterious Challenger Col. It’s mysterious because there are several possibilities for which one it may be and we had been overconfident on the beta for this section of the climb. After weighing our options we decided to go up high to the (later identified) West/Middle Challenger col and found some vintage tat. A slung horn of rope fibers suggested the way down a dihedral next to a stunning arete, and the glacier below seemed to provide ample access to the Western slopes of the Northern Pickets. We slung the same horn with fresh webbing and went down for a 35 meter rap. On the way down we found an offset nut with some red tat. The full rap was a little longer than 35 meters, but luckily it ended in a hungry offwidth so we were able to untie and downclimb a few extra feet to the snow, which provided a welcome ramp into the glacier. Here, again, we benefited from early season conditions. We navigated the glacier down to the south ridge of Phantom where we made a gorgeous rockside camp on clean slab near drippy snow. Sleeping early brought thought-dreams of the climb ahead and brief periods of waking up (at 8 pm) to gape at the Haunted Wall. Seeing the Great Gendarme that adorns the South Face and thinking about the bold, committing, and cerebral nature required to climb such an audacious route left us floored. For what it’s worth it’s worth remarking that Wayne Wallace and Mike Layton’s climb of the Haunted Wall of Spectre is perhaps one of the most impressive feats not just in Cascade climbing, but in USAmerican climbing more broadly. Mo enjoying an ice bath on Phantom Ridge preparing for the climb ahead. Harvesting Water on Phantom ridge. In lieu of prayer flags we adorned our camp with the tat we had found along the way. Mo with Mongo. Day 4 (climb): An alpine start at 3:40 has us moving to arrive at the climb with the sunrise. [See Previous pitch by pitch section] Descent (days 5-6): An alpine start at 4:00 a.m. has us moving well before daylight, as we hope to cross the Chilliwack by the end of the day in order to avoid the incoming weather. Cold coffee gets us moving and we go back up and down the rhyming patterns of scree, talus, and heather, scree, talus, and heather, until we hit the snow. We had debated whether we would try to find the actual “Challenger Col” that ostensibly did not require a rap to go down, or retrace our steps and retravel our known road up the glacier, and lead the pitch back up to the Col. The thought of leading the pitch back to the col had Mo full of energy so the decision to retrace our steps up to Solar Glacier was an easy one to make. Snow brought us back to the rock where Mo put on the rock shoes and racked up (only to place minimal gear). The arete provided excellent, though not well protected, 5.4 / 5.5 climbing. What an incredible way to get back on the Challenger Glacier! Back on the glacier we stayed high to scope out additional low points on the glacier. A stacked cairn gave indication that we had perhaps found Challenger Col. After reading several other trip reports, it’s hard to say which col is indeed the standard col to access the western side of the Pickets, but perhaps someone can help us piece this together. Looking up at the arete from the solar glacier & Mo leading the way. The rest of the day brought long miles up and down, through scree and talus and snow and heather, next to waterfalls and tarns, zig zagging under the sun. The snow on the imperfect impasse had melted so the way back was far spicier than the entrance. Thoughtful moving on steep terrain brought us back to the other side, having once again crossed that threshold into the Pickets. The moving kept going all day, as going down is often more of a climb than going up. Thankfully, the trail on Easy Ridge fed us bountiful berries, bringing out the bear in us. Blistering feet peeled and the miles eventually brought us to a solitary and welcome camp on Copper Creek. The Imperfect Impasse! Or is it the Perfect Impasse? Either way, it's awesome and steep. Easy walking along Easy Ridge. The next morning we woke without an alarm, made coffee and leisurely made our way out in a welcome wetness. Rain brought out the technicolor of the plants and clouds clad the peaks in true Cascadian fashion, dramatic and graceful is this ruggedly delicate corner of the world. We walk out in a delightful drizzle with clear pee. Some strange snake staring at us on the way out... We stuffed our pockets full of rocks for games and drove back to Olympia in the early afternoon. An additional note is that we were able to cook most of our meals with Chaga, which seems like a huge aid to pulling this off. Our climb was supported not only by all the manufactured goods we used and the infrastructure required to access this wilderness, but by the countless unseen helpers who made the trails, mapped the land, have lived with the land, and enabled the great privilege that it is to go into the backcountry. There is no such thing as an unsupported climb. Looking back on Mongo Ridge. Gear Notes: Singles from Micro - Large Supercam (no #3), doubles from .1-1, one Offset 10 Alpine Draws Rack o’ Nuts & Tricams 70m Beal Opera & 80m 6mm tagline 60 feet of Tat (used 30). 3 Backpacks 7 meals of Chad’s Backcountry Catfood, 6 freeze-dried meals, 2 ramen, 5 containers of fish Too many bars Copious sports beans and electrolytes to avoid the coca-cola piss Bivys, Pads, light bags Many other creature comforts Gear breaks down when you push it to the limit. Bringing cord, duct tape, and climber’s tape has been enough so far to fix any mishaps between the pack, crampons, or other gear failures in the past. However, the importance of proper gear planning is proving to be more and more crucial. The backpack luck was the universe smiling on us, but being creative and over preparing is often a psychological luxury deep in the alpine. We may have brought too much food and some silly luxuries (not crocs, those are essential), but we also frequently find immense health, physical, and psychological benefits from being properly fueled, rested, and prepared for huge days covering rugged terrain. Luckily, I have a sherpa, Emilio, who seems un-impacted by carrying weight, and I’ll continue to train my pistol squats to validate that extra tin of lemon-caper mackerel. A note on Time. Time continues to be one of the most influential variables that moves the needle on risk in the mountains. With recent epics of friends and horror stories of accidents in our home range, it’s ever important to weigh the gravity of certain decisions. For example, that extra push to get to the base of the climb rather than bivy and the subsequent exhaustion can lead climbers, from amateurs to experts, to make tragic decisions. We both frequently weigh our luck as we’ve gone on 7 and 8 trips to these rugged and gorgeous North Cascades. One considers the roll of these dice weighing the sheer audacity of accessing these ranges with the intense spiritual home that this place has become. There is certainly a time for absurd ultra-marathon style pushes and we frequently love those, but to commune in the mountains with a pace to properly appreciate the weight of these spaces is key. We added on a day on the approach to feel rested on the climb and walked out in the rain to avoid destroying our feet. I feel deeply lucky to have teachers like Emilio, Monica, and Jake who have prioritized a sense of truly enjoying Quality time in the mountains. As we work towards being adequate mountaineers, what matters most is returning home to tell the tale and give back. Approach Notes: Long