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Wow thanks Dave, I love to hear these old stories! I totally know those wool army pants as well, when I started climbing through Explorer Search and Rescue assisting Olympic Mountain Rescue I was totally equipped by surplus pants with a plastic lined butt and knees and wool button up shirts from the thrift store over REI long underwear! I would love to hear more about the longer traverses you did! Which ridges did you run? What were your favorites?

Such great detail @Dave 1970, thanks for the stories! Your path to climbing is very similar to mine, which started for me in the early 1990s. I acquired the skills (and gear) I needed as the summits got higher, harder, and more complex. I remember the smell of the old REI, thanks for the reminder! I worked in the "new" REI in 1997 and 1998 and got nearly all my early gear there (and Swallow's Nest). Keep the stories coming as you remember them!

I suppose a good place to start the story of the Truckers is with how we got into climbing in the first place. Rich and I were friends in junior high school in the mid-60s, and we began hiking on the North Fork of the Skokomish and other hikes in that area around that time, usually with one or more of his eight brothers coming along. The first indication that we were heading toward climbing, was when we hiked to First Divide. Coming up out of the forests into more open country – the beauty of the meadows, and the ability to see a wider expanse, enticed us to hike to higher places. At that time, there was no climber’s guide to the Olympics, but Rich had an uncle who had gone up Mt. Washington, and gave us a general idea of the route. We successfully ascended it and felt the satisfaction of getting to a summit. But there was also that feeling of anticipation as you’re approaching the ridge leading to the summit, and then the exhilaration of seeing the mountains, valleys, and ridges beyond it that hooked me. Since there was no climbing guide, we relied on topographic maps and a compass to plan and execute a climb. Sometimes that worked out – sometimes not. There are a lot of details missing on topographic maps. We would start ascending what looked on a map to be a relatively steady incline to find an impassable cliff, or a slope covered with devil’s club. You can see how the concept of a “truck route” would evolve as we took roundabout routes to find our way to summits like Mt. Pershing, or North Brother. Originally, we saw rock-climbing as kind of crazy, but as some of the summits became more technical, we realized the necessity of learning that skill. We turned to “Mountaineering – The Freedom of the Hills” (1st Edition) for guidance. We went to the hardware store and got a rope and practiced rappelling on Green Mountain, which was close to home for us, and practiced belaying techniques to protect the one rappelling. A couple years later, we replaced it with a Goldline climbing rope from the REI warehouse store on 11th Ave in Seattle. That store was a trip It was an old warehouse with a strange smell and a lot of stuff at cheap prices. The only other place to get similar gear was Eddie Bauer, which was very upscale. We paid one or two dollars to become members, and bought nearly all our gear there. · Used Climbing boots - (heavy leather boots with Vibram soles that I used whether hiking, climbing, or rock climbing - $30) · Steel crampons that would fit my boots (about $15) · A wooden ice axe – Himalaya Pickel, model Kuno Rainer, made in Austria ($13) · And lots of other equipment, like nylon webbing, pitons, hammers, gaiters – all much heavier and bulkier than the equipment you see today. I had a Cruiser pack that was too large for most of our trips, but I got a smaller Jan Sport pack in the early 70s at a discount because I worked at the K2 ski factory on Vashon Island at that time. I haven’t done any serious climbing for quite a while and, except for the ice axe, it’s all been given away. I can’t part with the ice axe – it’s been used and misused, on well over a hundred climbs, and has saved my life on many occasions. We got climbing pants at a military surplus store for $3. One hundred percent wool, with padded butt and knees, baggy above the knee, and cuffs just above the ankle. I’m not sure which servicemembers wore them, but they were indestructible, warm, and comfortable. You can get a general idea of them from one of the photos attached to a previous post. My Himalaya Pickel

https://www.backpacker.com/news-and-events/news/hikers-marijuana-prosectuion/ by the what is prosectuion? Clearly the writer of the article was high.

Ah, saw this too late. I guess I actually need to check spray more regularly.

Still for sale? I will buy it. Thanks

Monkey shrieks and grunts and take! Take! Take!!!!!!

Fred Padula's 1978 film El Capitan has really great sound design that might be fruitful for your research. It's a film of remarkable beauty that doesn't subsume the climbing within a voice-over, and the sounds of pitons getting hammered give the ascent the feeling of a steely gamelan orchestra--the soundscape of the film is as important as the visuals.

Not what I wanted to hear, but thanks for the update.

Well, spring time in November continues. But don't worry everything is fine 🫠. This next storm has the freezing levels over 10k so any ice that is there will get washed away. The next day temps drop to freezing level around 7k which would be perfect with all that water up there, only it will spike again over the weekend. Hopefully the second round will stay cold as currently predicted and we can actually start moving toward some semblance of normal start of winter conditions.

Hello, When not climbing, I work in sound design and sound studies at Edinburgh Napier University. We are conducting surveys on the soundscape and its perception while climbing. I would appreciate it very much if you could complete this survey: https://survey.napier.ac.uk/n/ClimbingSuoundsape.aspx Happy climbing, Balandino.

YES! Post up some TRs from whatever Truckers adventures you remember!!

I would love to hear all of that stuff. I grew up out there, born in Forks till first grade, then Quilcene from first grade to half way through high school, then PA for the rest of high school and junior college. Via scouts I hiked all over the Olympics. i love those pictures! Reminds me of the pictures of my early scouting days, nobody in Quil had any money and you could see it on the clothes on our back and the gear we had. That was early 80s. tell us about the truckers!

You should tell me what you'd like to know more about. Differences between climbing in the 70s and climbing now? Cool traverses across the Olympic Mts? Idiosyncracies of the Truckers? Rock Climbing ? Climbing Tahoma? Environmental advocacy? Climbing particular peaks? I have quite a few photos that I digitized from slides that I took with a Canon AE1 SLR.I didn't digitize them until they were 40 - 50 years old, so some of them aren't great quality, and, of course, some were just too deteriorated to save. I'll send a few here. Breakfast on an approach to Mt. Lincoln from Wagonwheel Lake. The core group of Truckers: Dave, Rich, and Scott; looking appro priately tough with their Animal Crackers before a grueling climb up some damn peak. Rich chimneying on one of the spires on Jabberwocky Ridge. He went through to the other side to finish the ascent. Scott drew the short straw and therefore, was chosen as the mothertrucker to be first across the Hoh at flood stage on an ill-fated attempt at a winter climb of Mt. Tom.

Thanks, all!

So great!! Thank you @AAI!

Huge shout out to these guy....the @AAI continues to keep the lights on here. I'm so greatful that they recognize what this site means. Please do pitch business their way, support them because they support us. They have a great gearshop with great selected equipment too, btw. Thank you Jason, we really do appreciate you and your folks!

Thanks Dave I would love to hear more from you, anything you can share about your time in the Olympics!

Left a pair of REI Flash trekking poles on 11/8/25 along the trail from 542 up to Welcome Pass. If found, please message me. Thanks!

This is amazing history @Dave 1970! I never would have thought that register would yield such rich memories....please post some photos and stories from those trips if you have any!! I would love to see what a 1970's mother trucker looks like!

MSR Dragonfly/pump/windscreen with 20 and 11 oz fuel bottles, stainless steel pots and pot grabber. All in excellent condition. Price includes shipping, located in Leavenworth. $70. SOLD sold SOLD

You asked if anyone knew about the truckers. I was a part of that organization a long time ago. I remember when we placed the register on the Citadel, but I don’t remember which other summits we put registers on. We climbed lots of mountains in the Olympics as well as many of the minor peaks and even some unnamed peaks. The truckers were active from about 1970 to maybe 1977 or 78. Most of the time our membership consisted of 3 - 5 guys. Our name was inspired by a common phrase of that time: “Keep on Truckin’. “ we generally avoided common routes up mountains. We referred to our routes as “truck routes,” and the leader of a climb was referred to as the “mother trucker.” Almost every September, we would take a cross country route across the Olympics, following ridges as much as possible, and climbing any peaks, we ran into along the way. If you’d like to know more, you can email me (Dave) at sciguy300@gmail.com Nice pictures, and nice to see the register is still there after all this time Thanks for the memory.

Yes. Bring it. Man so different from my last time there. Now all the good free camping is just up the road where I used to go 4x4ing in my Honda Accord to find firewood. And the “campground “ is closed (not sure if shutdown related).

I WILL fight you, just so I can listen to Live instead of Counting Crows. The angel opens her eyes!

I may have missed other ascent reports on CC or elsewhere. Don't think I'll plan for a repeat. I've never climbed and only skied lower slopes on the Fuhrer finger. Going back to either climb and or ski the whole route might be fun. Just skiing the lower slopes there is fun.