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Trip: Palisades Mountain - From Hidden Lake Trip Date: 07/25/2025 Trip Report: Dwayner and I continue our "minor peaks" quest inside MRNP. Got a little off route on the way up from Green Pass, but found traces of a long-ago boot path during our descent. My first time in this area. The lakes and meadows are the best in the park! Flowers are out. And so are the mosquitoes. Gear Notes: . Approach Notes: .

uh. DAMN. You basically compressed most of my north cascades 25 year career into one trip. I should take up knitting.

Trip: Baker to Glacier Peak: - 17 days across the North Cascades Trip Date: 07/20/2025 Trip Report: The result of years of imagination and separate efforts. Perhaps it started after exploring the Ptarmigan Traverse, but wanting more. We started gradually exploring the areas to the north and south. Many of us have noted, with some surprise, that there was not a defined “High Route” for this area, unlike some other spectacular ranges of the American West. A few years ago some mountain runners established a “North Cascades High Route”, starting from Silver Creek and ending along the flanks of Agnes mountain. This was an impressive and inspiring feat. Nevertheless we felt it incomplete and starkly contrasted with the style in which we experience these mountains. Although in the end, our route would include much of the same terrain traversing the heart of the National Park and Cascade Crest. But as we played with the possibilities of this terrain it was hard to ignore the striking aesthetics of the volcanos near each end of the range. With both Baker and Glacier Peak being slightly higher than the peaks of the crest, they act as natural waypoints to assess exactly where one is in the vast sea of Cascade summits. It would be impossible to include every spectacular basin, cirque and summit into a single high route but starting and ending with the volcanos gave us a framework to operate in. The route we eventually completed is actually composed of many different shorter routes, linked together by various less visited terrain. Within reason, our goal was to 1) stay above tree line, 2) avoid trails and 3) keep it only lightly technical. We suspect that climbers with the required stamina, skillsets and schedules will likely choose other exploits in the range, or beyond. Nevertheless we present here some basics of our North Cascades high route. Mount Baker Our route up and down the Park Glacier had some obvious benefits. Most significant was that we could change out proper mountaineering gear for more of a hybrid backpacking kit upon return to the TH (Artist Point). The route itself is pleasant, with a scenic approach and lovely high camp. The day we climbed it the snow was soft enough not to require any belay or rappel applications, though in more firm snow that would not be the case. The upper part of the glacier was fairly broken up considering it was early July. We managed an improbable line between a series of large cracks. This line may not have been viable even a week later in the season. We stood on the summit late morning of July 5th. Shuksan Navigating this terrain presented a few obvious and a few not-so-obvioius options. Perhaps at first glance one would think Fischer Chimneys…and then descending from the Crystal Glacier onto the Nooksack. Unfortunately the bergschrund separating the two was gaping by early July and would have required a substantial amount of extra gear that would become dead weight for the week to follow. Additionally the prospect of immediately starting this traverse by hiking on trail through the forest did not match the criteria we set forth. Looking instead to the North side we scouted various lines contouring high above the deep, alder filled basins. There were definitely viable lines through the majority of the terrain, but we determined them to be too complicated and conditions dependent. The biggest concern being that the time involved would be hard to predict. It could take a few hours, or a few days. Additionally there was a good deal of objective hazard traversing high in this terrain. Ultimately we chose a safer and surer, albeit less appealing line. Hiking the ridge above Chair 8 and eventually descending to meet with the White Salmon approach, we faced our first bushwhack in the hottest part of a very warm day. Once escaping the alder hell we climbed to a ridge above and contoured forest down towards Price Lake. We crossed the outflow and traveled along the approach for the Price Glacier route for a while. There would be some fuckery along the base of Nooksack tower getting down to the glacier. But once down there we continued on part of the Nooksack Traverse until Ruth Mountain. Mineral High Route On a map this looks like comparatively straightforward terrain. We did not have a pre-scouting trip for this zone. And we definitely underestimated it. The bushwhacking before and after Chiliwack pass was steep and complicated. Before we escaped tree line onto Mineral mountain there were a series of steep and improbable gullies that took us far longer to complete than what we imagined. In hindsight I think we started out in the wrong gully and paid the price. Eventually we reached “the route” but by then we really weren’t sure if the terrain would go. Finding some clearing among the multitute of brush-gulleys. Above the forest travel cleared again. Although we soon found an abandoned, and completely full backpack. A startling sight this far into remote territory, we searched around for signs of remains but found none. The pack was probably out there for at least one winter, possibly more. We noted its location and passed a message to the park service before continuing our quest. Mount Challenger via Easy Ridge This terrain was fairly straightforward, although the day we did it was very un-summerlike. With no chance of shortcutting the impasse in these conditions we continued the sog and slog down to the lower bypass. Climbing out above the crossing was fairly sketchy. It is very eroded, hard packed and water running along the surface definitely made it attention worthy. Some of the steeper scrambling between there and Perfect Pass was also potentially consequential in heavy rain. Nevertheless we made it to the pass, but soaking wet and in high winds plus white out conditions. Crossing the Challenger glacier in near hypothermic conditions was very….engaging, to say the least. We were all very relieved to step back to “dry” land an hour later. Northern Pickets Descending into the basin is fairly straightforward, albeit somewhat tedious and extended side hilling. The climb back out through Luna Lake and to the Fury shoulder is pleasant, scenic and fun. Especially given that this day the sun had returned. The lower part of the Fury glacier develops some pretty sketchy moats early in the summer and may require walking on exposed glacier ice around 30 degrees. Rather than spend time with that we found a bypass to the north, which lines up with one of the ways parties may choose to climb Fury. We skipped the summit and instead climbed Outrigger along the way. From the col we ascended a 50 foot 5.0 pitch, followed by some rightward traversing 3rd class terrain to the south ridge. Looking back, there was a way to avoid the initial low 5th entirely by starting a bit further west in the col. Descending Outrigger was one of the highlights of the trip. Easy hiking, with the Southern Picket skyline so close you can almost touch it. There was a 15m rappel, which could certainly be bypassed by down climbing 4th class terrain slightly east of the anchor. A short but exciting and exposed bit led to continued easy hiking. Southern Pickets Getting from Picket Pass to the bottom of the basin was pretty fucked. There is some 4th-ish slab downclimb that some parties have rappelled. Beyond that, some of the beta out there is pretty snow dependent. Our planned line was not viable and it took some time to find another way down. Two of us independently destroyed a trekking pole in this zone. Once at the bottom there is some unavoidable alder to contend with. You ever get through one of these, look back from a higher vantage point and realize oh wow, I could not have possibly taken a worse line. That’s what happened here. We should have stayed closer to the cliff along the SW side of the shwack. Oh well. Climbing out to the east of the McMillan spires was fairly straightforward. We managed to avoid brush entirely. Other than a few deep gullies it was a breeze, and an incredible position. From McMillans to Highway 20 Choose your own adventure, depending on legality. Once the Sourdough trail re opens you can traverse east towards elephant butte and then south along Stettattle ridge. Until then, a legal option would be to find Goodell Creek trail/approach and take that to the highway. I cant remember which of these we took… Highway 20 provides the only on route resupply. You could probably utilize Cascade Pass, or even a trip to Holden. But we did not. Isolation Traverse- much has been written on this. Its awesome Looking back to the Pickets, Redoubt from the Mccallister glacier Eldorado to Cascade Pass- decent travel along a nice ridge and basins. Nothing too complicated. Sahale arm trail for a mile or so is a nice reprieve. If you wanted to add some major style points throw in the Torment-Forbidden Traverse through here, although its likely to add some gear complications. Ptarmigan Traverse- MUCH has been written on this. Its awesome Classic White Rock Lakes shot Dome peak area- leaving the Ptarmigan and finding the Dana then Dome glaciers. We scouted a route along the south side of Dome. It probably would go but on the trip we ultimately took the Chikamin glacier around past the gunsights and onto Kaiwhat Pass Doin’ the bull dance. Feelin’ the flow. Workin’ it. Workin’ it To Canyon Lake- The terrain eases here and may involve some bushwhacking but nothing crazy. We abandoned our map, and rationality…instead navigating on vibes alone. Our line to Totem pass was awesome and on paper probably shouldn’t have worked. Between the pass and Canyon Lake there may be a way to avoid significant brush but we did not find it. Still it went quick (downhill) Canyon Lake trail- Seems decomissioned. It’s overgrown and washed out in different places, but still a comparatively decent 5 miles. Image Lake to Lyman Lakes- We looked hard how to avoid such an extended on trail section but there really weren’t any viable alpine options. When we came to this section we were exhausted and very calorie deficient. The easy miles were welcomed. The trail itself is well maintained and incredibly scenic (cloudy pass in particular). Just a hop, skip and a “fuck!” away... Lyman Lakes and beyond- We climbed over Chiwawa mountain without much difficulty. Although the last few hundred feet were steep, slimy, scree covered slab when approached from a direct north line. Pretty gross. It would be better to find the main ridge further east and continue to the summit from there. It started to rain when we were on the summit, so we schemed a bypass for the exposed scrambling awaiting on Fortress. We found a line of weakness that allowed us to bypass to the south. It didn’t take long from there to find the pass no pass trail and follow it towards High Pass (another really scenic on trail moment). Bypassing Fortress For Napeequa we took a path of least resistance well south of the summit, descended to another saddle and then back up and around Hoof. Eventually we had to traverse below the north side of Ten Peak. It took a while but overall it was straightforward. The Honeycomb and Suiattle glaciers brought us to Glacier Gap, along the standard walk up for GP. We were greeted by friends with treats. The next morning we jaunted up the last couple miles. It was a busy weekend on the peak. Spirits were high, despite the suicide gestures Standing on the summit felt surreal. It wasn’t necessarily a positive emotion. Spending the last few summers obsessed and the past few weeks starving made this moment feel like a weird dream. The hike out from there is long, but we crushed it in hopes of making it to Olive Garden in time. Which we did. All the pasta…dipping donuts in wine…it was finally over… By the numbers: 17 days 175.2 miles (73% off trail) 86k vertical gain (86% off trail), 88k lost Average vertical change per mile: 993 feet Average time from camp to camp each day: 14 hours Average calories/day ~3800 Body weight lost- 18lbs (9.6% total lost) Pizza consumed- nowhere near enough Gear Notes: a picket, 2 screws, 3 cams, 4 nuts Approach Notes: the whole thing was an approach...

Hello everybody, I’m looking to see if any team, or somebody, summiting Mount Rainer, Preferably on July 30-31, is looking for a plus one. A little about me and my climbing history is that I come from sea level and haven’t got the most opportunities to do glaciated peaks. I’ve been hiking mountains for years now on separate trips and I do a ton of cardio during my daily life. This past week while on vacation I’ve been gaining a lot of experience, as I hiked high up the Athabasca glacier in Jasper until the crevasses became very narrow (photo below). This gave me a lot of experience with crevasse travel and ice axe and crampon use. Then today I did Mount Baker, solo, from trailhead, using the Coleman Deming Glacier route, even after doing 4 days of intense cardio prior on other trails while on my trip. I’m confident in my fitness ability to make the trip up the summit of Mount Rainer after resting, and am looking for someone who could be a good leader with experience. I’m fairly confident in my glaciated travel technique however not so much with roping and crevasses rescue as I’ve only ever done solo travel, so an experienced partner/s would help. Thank you, and I’ve you have any recommendations please lmk.

I did this climb a few weeks ago and my friend did a write up that I thought I’d post here (source https://www.peakbagger.com/climber/ascent.aspx?aid=2902617). There wasn’t a ton of information on it, but overall a fun way to get up the mountain. Jack Mountain (East Ridge) & Crater Mountain Team: Damon, Jon, Chris Dates: July 11-13, 2025 Short Version: A successful 3-day trip to the seldom-climbed East Ridge of Jack Mountain with Jon. The three of us climb Crater Mountain on the way out. Jack's East Ridge is a long, serious, and committing route with sustained exposure and multiple pitches of 5th-class climbing. It should not be taken lightly. Crater Mountain provided one of the most spectacular summit panoramas in the state, a perfect reward for the intensity of Jack and a supremely appealing scramble objective by itself. Statistics: Total Mileage: ~25 miles Total Elevation Gain: ~12,500 ft Day 1 (Approach to Jerry Lakes Basin): 9 miles, +5400' / -1400', 7h 30m Day 2 (Jack Mtn): 5.8 miles, +/- 4660', 13h 08m Day 3 (Crater Mtn & Exit): 9.7 miles, +2390' / -6420' Full Report Day 1: The Approach Our trip began at the Canyon Creek Trailhead. A quarter-mile in, we hit the ford of Canyon Creek. I was glad to have brought Crocs, which I cached on the far side. From there, the trail winds its way up and up. We left trail at 6400' to ascend towards the 7200' col. We made steady progress under warm skies. After crossing the pass, we descended snow below the Jerry glacier into the beautiful Jerry Lakes basin. We camped near the outlet of the biggest lake, opting to bivy to enjoy the clear night. The area was scenic but quite buggy. Day 2: Jack Mountain - The East Ridge Jon and I set off for Jack early, moving by 4:30, climbing a goat path to exit the Jerry Lakes basin. As we reached the col, we saw Jack partially shrouded in a high cloud around 8,000 ft. From there, our route involved descending 800 feet into the adjacent basin before beginning the ascent up the SE arm of Jack. We then traversed over to the snowfield below the glacier, which led to a few hundred feet of scrambling to gain the East Ridge proper at 7,200 ft. The East Ridge itself is a magnificent and fiercely serious undertaking. This is not a casual scramble. The route involved three distinct pitches of 5th-class climbing: one up a gully early on, a memorable and wildly exposed 5.0 crux in the middle of the ridge, and another section to gain the summit. Jon, whose extensive experience was essential to our success, led these pitches and found ok placements. The true character of the ridge, however, lies in the terrain between the technical pitches. We spent hours moving together on exposed Class 3 and 4 rock, requiring sustained concentration. The summit, while somewhat cloudy, still offered stellar views of Baker, Shuksan, the Pickets, Ross Lake, Hozomeen, and the massive Nohokomeen Glacier sprawling below. We also took a moment to look down at the upper part of the South Face route; it looked unappealing, reinforcing our choice of the East Ridge. The descent was a mirror of the ascent: a long, mentally taxing exercise in precision. For the 5.0 crux, Jon employed a protected downclimbing system, providing a crucial safety margin. The opening move where I had to blindly face-in downclimb over a bulge to find footholds to enter a solid crack system, with 1000' of air down to snow far below, was totally insane even with a few pieces of protection that Jon placed below me. We made one rappel lower down off an established tat anchor. We were so happy to be off the East Ridge, but proud that we made it work. We tried to stay on snow to cross the glacial basin. As we walked over, a 20-foot snow finger near the glacier toe collapsed in front of us onto the rock. It was a powerful reminder of objective hazards and the unknowable elements of alpinism that defy simple analysis. We turned and went back the scramble way The 13-hour day was a testament to the route's length and complexity. We made it to camp by late afternoon. The East Ridge is a route for self-reliant parties with a deep well of experience in technical rock, rope systems, and managing risk in a remote, high-consequence environment. Day 3: Crater Mountain & The Exit We awoke to a beautiful morning with interesting cloud formations. All three of us made the climb up Crater Mountain. The route involved fun Class 3 scrambling with some light exposure and a single, unexposed Class 4 move. The rock was loose in places, so I was happy to have a helmet. The summit of Crater Mountain is, without exaggeration, one of the finest viewpoints in Washington State—perhaps even better than Jack's. The 360-degree panorama under clear skies was staggering. It offered the same incredible views of the major Cascade peaks, but with the added bonus of a stunning perspective of Jack's massive South Face and the beautiful Jerry Lakes basin below. After soaking in the views for an hour, we descended and began the long hike out. The descent went quickly as we talked about Star Wars and the Matterhorn. The river crossing was downright enjoyable in the heat. A challenging, humbling, and ultimately magnificent trip to a wild corner of the Cascades.

Thanks for posting up!

One of my team members is sick and can no longer go. We are climbing the DC route July 27-29 and need a third member ASAP! We already have a permit for July 27-31 at Camp Muir and climbed Baker and Adams the last two weekends. Please message me if you are interested!

Nice work getting up and down safely, great write-up. Her first volcano climb? That's RAD!!! I guess she's now either completely hooked (most likely I bet) or swearing it off for awhile? It sounds like you two had a full alpine adventure, complete with the sustained winds and whiteout. That ice tool transfer system is a good tip/strategy...but leading/simuling 10m of blue ice with just one tool (the last section), hmm.. 🤔 This route has been on my list for many years. It seems a little too spicy for my solo risk tolerance.... so if someone (experienced) reading this is interested in it for later in the season (this or next or next-next year), send me a message!

If anyone sees this and is looking for West Ridge Terror beta, here's what the couloir looked like last Saturday 7/19: There is a bail rap station near a moat not too far up on climber's left You'll see it as soon as you get up a little bit. Getting down into Crescent Creek Basin and making the traverse was pretty chill: Snow was in EXCELLENT climbing conditions, even for aluminum pons on Altras! The left-side snow finger at the Y in the gully felt exposed with the moats, but the step into the dry gully was chill. Crossing Terror Creek was very chill. There is a thimbleberry bush that offered us an abundance of amazingly perfect thimble berries. Last, there was a family of goats (mom, auntie, other auntie, and BABY) at the bivy which is very important beta. If you're as lucky as I was, you'll see a baby goat and a pika hanging out -- at the same time!! No, we didn't summit.

Some updates on Rapunzel. Last year (6/20/24) I attempted the route and ended up having to bail at the top of pitch 3 as my partner was not feeling it. However, last weekend (7/18/25) my wife and I went back out and followed the trail of bolts up to the summit! This is a very under appreciated route up a gnarly/chossy formation! Here is a trip report with some beta spray if anyone is digging for more information. TR 7/18/25: My wife and I tackled this for my 40th birthday over 2 days big wall style (haul bag and portaledge). Took our time and just tried to enjoy our time on the wall. Gear that we used: 14 quickdraws (only used them all on a couple pitches), 2 Petzl Regelette hooks, Kong Panic draw (helpful for shorter climbers), and a 5' cheat stick (came in handy a few times). Dropped off bikes at the end of the 1 mile trail down from the summit, just stashed in the woods. Drove back down and set up a bivy near the approach trail. Arrived at about 5PM on 7/18/24. Hiked up a load of water/gear and fixed the first two pitches before heading back down for the night. 1 70m rope will reach the ground from the top of the 2nd pitch. Cleaned up the approach trail a bit on the way back down. Hiked up the rest of the supplies the next morning at 6AM and started jugging and hauling. Pitch 1: low angle moss ‘n’ choss. There are a couple of hook moves but they can easily be bypassed with a 4-5’ cheat stick. Monica didn’t want to get on any hooks. Some mossy free climbing toward the top but it’s easy. Hauling this pitch is tough due to the extra friction and ledges. Somebody needs to babysit the bag while jugging. Nice belay ledge up top. Pitch 2: really fun pitch down low with some massive top step moves! Many hooks as the topo says. If you can’t find any of the drilled holes just top step as high as you can and feel around, you should find them. There are never more than 2 hook moves in a row. Toward the top, there is some very sketchy free climbing that with your aid ladders in the way, mossy rock and no climbing shoes, feels like 5.9+ for a couple moves. Full on half pad crimp a good distance over your pro while your feet are on moss. Pretty spooky! Hauling is pretty straight forward on this pitch. A little bit of low angle grass coming up to the anchor but with some yanking on the rope, you can clear it. Another nice belay ledge. Pitch 3: this is a long and very fun pitch! Vertical to slightly overhanging and your first glimpse of exposure on this rock. Lots of top step moves and hook moves. One hook move was never found, had to break out the cheat stick. Hanging belay. Makes a really nice bivy spot with a portaledge (set up here on last year’s failed attempt) hauling is nice and easy for this pitch. Pitch 4: one of the money pitches! Super fun and wildly exposed traverse. Just 1 hook move that leaves you hanging in space under the hook. Very big moves as others have mentioned. Monica forgot her lower-out tat in the haul bag and made for a very difficult follow. Especially at the hook move. You definitely want something to leave behind to lower yourself off of if you are not 6ft tall. Even re-aiding it was very tough for her. Hauling is easy with a big lower out, bag is free hanging. Might be an okay bivy spot but not as good as pitch 3. Pitch 5: another long vertical pitch with a lot of big moves and hooks. Similar to pitch 3, lots of fun. Hauling is straight forward but you do need to lower out the bag to the left. Pitch 6: pretty easy with good bolt spacing. Only one large move that requires a super top step while using natural features. Short traverse up top is easy. There is even a quickdraw left on the first bolt of the traverse for the follower to lower out from, thank you to whomever left that, it is still there. Hauling is not bad here with a ~15’ lower out. Anchor is on a sloping ledge (mossy) but is pretty great to stand on after so much time hanging. We set up ledge here and fixed pitch 7. Extended the ledge down with 120cm slings to get the portaledge down below the natural ledge. Super dirty/mossy place to camp! We did a lot of gardening to make this a better place to camp. Amazing views and cool position! Haul bag docked just above us on the natural ledge. Set up camp around 4PM and relaxed for the rest of the evening. Pitch 7: pretty easy but definitely a quirky pitch. Bolt spacing was great, be prepared to cover your belayer in moss! Not a particularly fun pitch to haul on but not terrible. Follower had to clear the bag of obstacles all the way up. Nothing too crazy though. It’s best for the follower to jug just above the height of the haul bag so they don’t get showered in moss and chose. Pitch 8: very lackluster pitch, mostly low angle moss wrangling. This whole pitch is just work you have to get through in order to make it to the next pitch. Basically a scramble to move the belay. Hauling is just dragging your bag across all kinds of moss and choss. Pitch 9: this pitch really is kinda scary when thinking about the size of rocks that could possibly come down. Climbing is challenging as well compared to the rest of the route or maybe it was just mental since we were on such high alert. We trundled a few loose rocks that were in the bolt line. At the belay for this pitch, there is a big rock you can hide behind which protects you from possible massive rocks coming down. Monica led this pitch while I hid behind the belay rock. Since the pitch is overhanging, the bags are mostly free hanging so she hauled the bag up to the point where it comes to a roof just below the anchor while I remained sheltered at the bottom. Once bags were at that point, I re-aided the pitch as to not disturb the rock as much as possible. Once I was above the haul bag, I then pulled the bag over the roof while staying above it. Not too bad if you are careful but you definitely want to take extra care on this pitch. Pitch 10+11 linked: I don’t know that I would link these two pitches next time just due to the path of the haul bag. Pitch 10 goes up and left around a corner, then pitch 11 goes up and right around the back side of the formation. This makes the hauling incredibly high friction (your quads will be burning). Anyway, the climbing is straight forward. Bolt spacing at the beginning of pitch 10 is pretty close together then about 1/4 way up turns into evenly spaced top steps. Once you get the rhythm, this pitch is a cruiser. Pitch 10 anchor is in a kind of awkward spot but I kept climbing past it. Pitch 11 is short and has one tough move early on. One bolt was very far away and required a big free move to reach. A cheat stick could used here to bypass this move. Anchor up top is on a pretty nice ledge which made that gnarly haul at least somewhat comfortable. This belay is on lower angle terrain but would be a reasonable option for setting up a bivy with a portaledge. Pitch 12: This pitch is super fun and very steep! Comfortable bolt spacing and wild exposure! Would be much easier for the follower if you didn’t clip any of the bolts but I was not that bold. Jugging this pitch will require some lower out tat or something as this wall is crazy steep. We left some 550 paracord loops on a few of the bolts to lower out from. Hauling is simple as the bag hangs free the whole way until just below the anchor where you can manage it from the top. Pitch 12.5 (moving the belay across the short traverse): Fixed line is in really bad shape. All bolts have biners holding the fixed line. There is a figure 8 on the fixed line clipped to the first bolt and the rope is hanging but a couple core strands. I used the line very gently to aid in reaching each bolt. Follower re-aided this to get across as well. This can be a little spooky as this slab that you traverse across is covered in moss and steeper than you would want to comfortable walk across. Doing a big lower out would be scary as you would go under a roof where the rock quality is unknown. Your rope could dislodge some huge rocks; best to stay up at the bolt line. This is the crux of the hauling. While it is only about a 30-40’ traverse, you don’t want the bag to go down below the ledge. Belayer needs to lower out the bag while the leader hauls to keep tension on the haul line. This keeps the bag moving laterally and not going down below where who knows what would happen to the rock, rope, bags. We spent a fair amount of time getting this right. Pitch 13+14 linked: From here you can see the top! Linking these two shorter pitches is the way to go. Pitch 13 finishes to the right then pitch 14 finishes back over to the left making it a straight shot to the top. Climbing is straight forward but be mindful of what bolts you clip on the way up to prevent rope drag and make a nice straight jug for the follower. The anchor for pitch 14 is a tree just on the edge of the summit. There is a pretty old nylon sling around this tree but the tree is dead. I’m sure it’s fine but to be safe, we made our own tree anchor and backed it up to the last bolts. Fixed lead line to the bolts and hauled off of the tree. Nice easy haul. The final trick of the route is getting your bag up onto the summit proper since the tree anchor is right at the edge, your bags are hanging just over the edge here. We had one person just grab the rope and pull onto the summit while the other wrestled the bag up over the edge. Nothing too wild here. We reached the summit at 5PM. While organizing gear, I noticed that I didn’t have my headlamp. Oops, I left it in one of the pockets of the portaledge! Not about to unpack that now to get it, surely there is plenty of daylight left, right? The fun isn’t over yet though! Now the task was to get all of our gear down the 1 mile trail to where we stashed our bikes. I say down the trail but really, it’s up the trail. This trail goes steeply down for about 1/10th of a mile then steeply up about 600’ from there. For me, this was the crux of the whole adventure while carrying the haul bag. Eventually we made it to our bikes and dropped all of the weight off there. Rode our bikes about 5 miles down the forest road to the main road and back around to the road going up to the bivy by the approach trail. By time we got down there it was getting dark and to save time, we ended up dropping our bikes just before that road starts going up the hill and bushwhacked straight up the hill. This is the shortest line back to the bivy but in the dark (with only one headlamp) and the density of the forest, this was gnarly! There was even a 20’ wall we had to scramble up using trees and ferns haha. Eventually, we popped out right by the truck and drove back around and up to where we stashed the gear. By time we had everything loaded up in the truck it was now 11:30 PM and we bivied near the trail where the gear was stashed. Ate dinner and slept like the dead! No major issues overall and things went very smoothly, 10/10 would do it again. Such an adventure! This is a worthy objective for anyone getting into big walling but certainly not one to be taken lightly as it is tough and will work you mentally and physically. Huge thank you to Ivan, Bill, Geoff and anyone else that may have worked on this for all the work you put in on this under appreciated route up this huge choss pile! The amount of effort put into taking this line to the top is incredible. Yes, some of the bolts are quite far apart and can be really tough for a shorter climber but really, that adds to the adventure in my opinion, yes it is a bolt ladder but it’s not easy! That’s a good thing. If this line were more desirable, someone would get hurt. Climbing this while there is another party on the wall would be gnarly. For now, get out here and get on it!

I am the buddy and I do not own a drone. buttshots only, this is real alpinism.

Big fomo, big stoke. Stuff like you and Tuckers work on Sloan is defining the ethos of Alpinism for this era in the NW. Can't wait to go develop some rapport with Sloan. Great work and great report.

I believe John Plotz blew an anchor while skiing TC.

Funny how that works! I thought the chimney was super fun. I've done a good bit of 5.mud in my day but that one got to me.

Always great to see a report like this! That’s one hell of an adventure and I think it was smart to not force the weather issue. You guys covered more ground quicker than anybody else I’ve seen on it as well! Nice work.

Nice work! I'm the opposite sort of soft to you. Was fine with the mud scramble to get onto the forbidden glacier, but HATED that loose chimney pitch!

Wow! Dirigo, indeed.

Eric and I did do something up there a couple years ago. I added a very rough photo of where I think we went. Kind of a blur though. We found some nice cracks and a lot of moss. Observed tat all over the place on various trees. I do remember we descended via the le petit cheval gully.

This past Saturday, Trey and I made an 18hr C2C ascent of the NW face (ridge). Neither of us had been to the area before and were keen to check it out. Here's a little write up about two rock climbers going glacier walking and getting gripped. We left the car at 3:30am, enjoying good trail and crisp morning air. Passing several nice groups of folks on their way to climb Sahale (apparently the route of the weekend but we missed the memo). We soon arrived to Boston Basin and made our way up to Sharkfin col. Here we made a route finding error, assuming it would be the obvious snow gully to notch with a beaten in path. Both of us glazed over this part in researching the route. Whoops. Eventually realizing we were too far east, we descended to the correct gully. (Boston Glacier view from the wrong notch) Two raps brought us onto the snow. We snacked and rested for a bit, soaking in the enormity of the Boston glacier & Mt. Logan across the valley. We roped up and set off. As I led us through the maze of the glacier I came to accept two things: 1) I will fall into a bottomless pit at any moment, without warning. 2) I will never understand why people like glacier travel. (Boston Glacier - Sharkfin Col directly above Trey) We arrived at the North ridge notch and started up. I am really soft and this was one of the most fucked up bits of climbing I have ever done. It's quite steep dirt, but has too much gravel in it to create steps or just slam a crampon into. It just crumbles away as your try to make a step, also providing nearly nothing you can hold onto. So to climb it you are more or less kicking in an insecure feeling front-point into the muddy gravel with no hands, then standing up onto this single point, trusting your life to it. Rinse and repeat. I would suggest future parties climbing this in mid july climb over rock a bit further south on the N ridge and do a rap or two on the other side to the glacier. It would at least be protectable. Walking down the forbidden glacier to the toe of the NW face was very pleasant and served up incredible views. (Starting up what would be the Crux of the day. Looking back at N ridge notch) We took a lunch break at a nice flat spot and sized up the steepest bit of glacier yet to access to rock. It was quite a lot more broken up, with more ice exposed than expected. Armed with approach shoes, aluminum 'pons, an ultralight axe and no snow/ice pro this last section proved to be the most daunting. (Looking up at NW face. Route access from the right) I led us up, finding a narrow sliver of passable snow between the ice and crevasses to level with the access at ~7200ft. It was a mess of glacial chunder. Looking up, we spotted a ramp of snow at ~7500ft that would potentially provide access and we committed to continuing up. At several points there was only an inch of snow over ice which provided some quite puckering travel. Eventually we reached the snow ramp. It turned out to be at most 4 inches thick so we did a traversing lower off a bollard and finally onto the rock. A wave of relief came over us once on the rock. Back to my happy place. After hanging out on a ledge for a while, we headed up. The rock was much better than expected and provided excellent ridge climbing. We solo'd the route in 2 hours & downclimbed the West Ridge + cat scratch in another 2 hours, stopping at the bottom of the ridge to chat with some kind people who attempted the West ridge. (NW Face) "You can tell we're at the top because of the views" -Trey (Downclimbing the W ridge) Once down & off the snow, we rested on some nice slabs then chatted at high camp with some folks about their climbs the next day before leisurely hiked out of Boston basin in incredible evening light. While not quite on par with the CNR of Stu, The NW face + W ridge is a very high quality & fun ridge outing. If not for the price of admission, this would be one of the most popular climbs in the state. Don't be like us and sandbag yourself in late July on a low snow year. I'll do anything to not wear boots but having light boots and proper crampons would have made things much faster & more safe. Gear: We brought singles 0.2-#2 & some nuts (didn't use it but it was nice insurance), 7.8mm 60m rope, approach shoes, aluminum crampons, UL axe, some glacier kit.

You could also approach via Stehekin and avoid the Chickamin monsters.

There is some mighty fine looking rock up there!

My hands are still cold! https://spokalpine.com/2025/07/21/dakobed-glacier-peak-frostbite-ridge-ii-ai2/

A classy traverse in even classier style. You spared yourself the worst choss by skipping Frenzelspitz.

I look forward to hearing about your anniversary climbs! Then & Now pictures!

Interesting trip report. I’ve read another trip report in that the team bailed (Vince who wrote the Black Cun guide). Is the route just a piece of shit? Warren and I had a fun time doing it in 1996, but maybe that’s cos all we were doing back then is climbing lots and lots. Anyway, thanks for sharing this. Cam