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Trip: The Tooth and Pineapple pass - South face Trip Date: 07/14/2018 Trip Report: My friend Summer texted me asking if I wanted to ski over the weekend. She's been trying to get turns all year and I've been going along for the ride. She has also spent the last few months talking about climbing the Tooth and skiing Pineapple pass and suggested that as an objective. I was pretty skeptical there would be snow but figured "why not?" Arriving at the trailhead we prepared ourselves mentally for the onslaught of "are you really going skiing?" but mercifully we seemed to arrive after the early morning crowd but before the late morning crowd and the gasps of disbelief upon seeing a couple of people with skis were pretty minimal. Are you really going skiing? The hike and approach were fairly straight forward - there was minimal snow until we reached the bench ~700-800 feet below Pineapple pass. We put on skis and managed to skin most of the way up to the Tooth. Eventually we needed to traverse over some talus and took the skis off. I ended up falling into a hole in the snow. Unfortunately I didn't think to take a photo while I was underneath the snow, but managed to get a photo of the hole once I extracted myself: The snow ended at the notch and the approach gully to the Tooth was completely snow free: We swapped leads and made it to the summit fairly quickly. On the way down we met John (from Alaska) and Hank who were also descending. We ended up tying our ropes together so we could get down in two raps. I'm a Disney Princess It was time to ski! This was ~650 vertical feet later we reached the end of the snow. This was the most work I have ever done for the least amount of skiing I've ever done. But Summer was super stoked to finally climb and ski the Tooth and honestly it was a very enjoyable day in the mountains! Gear Notes: Single rack from .3 to 3, nuts, tricams, skis Approach Notes: Continuous snow started ~700 feet below the notch. It's almost certainly no longer continuous.

Trip: Mt Rainier - Kautz in a day Trip Date: 07/15/2018 Trip Report: A few days ago Jay and I made a single push climb of the Kautz Glacier. After an 11pm alarm in Ashford we left paradise at 12:30am, and stood atop the mountain by 8:30. We chose to each take 2 tools and a small glacier rack and rope but we ended up opting to solo the entirety of the route. For those looking at climbing the route soon there are moderately big cracks above the ice chutes before crossing the cleaver. Nothing show stopping but definitely big enough to make you think. That aside, the route is in excellent condition and I encourage anyone who's thinking about it to head up there! Here are a few pretty pictures... Jay always adheres to the 3 F's of mountaineering. Fashion, Fashion, and Fashion Gear Notes: Minimal, rope, harnesses, 2 screws, 2 pickets, glacier rack, didn't use any of it Approach Notes: Pretty straight forward

Trip: Enchantments - 7 Bulgers in a day Trip Date: 07/14/2018 Trip Report: Since moving to Seattle last September I haven't yet visited the Enchantments (except N Ridge Stuart), and I had just one day off this past weekend so I figured I should whip up something unreasonable. My initial plan was to thru-hike the Enchantments and tick the more accessible peaks (Mclellan, Prusik, Enchantment, Little Anna, Dragontail, Colchuck). But as things often go, one friend insisted I scamper on over to Cannon Mountain, and another friend posted a cool TR from Argonaut... I like hiking uphill and biking downhill, so starting at Snow Creek and ending at Stuart Lake was the obvious choice of direction. I stashed my road bike (I should really get a MTB) at the Stuart trailhead and started from snow Creek at 1:30am. The goal was to get up near Mclellan by sunrise, but I was a little late. Here's a GPX track of my trip: And here's a timeline of the peaks: It would seem silly to go through route conditions/beta on these uber-popular peaks. But I had an incredible time with this little challenge and am really curious what other similar or even bigger trips have been done. Some notes: - All in all: 31 miles, 16,800 ft gain, 20.5 hours - Averaged 1 bulger every 2.9 hours. I feel like this is a pretty difficult rate to attain even with a single mountain, what's the fastest bulger out there (c2c)? - I brought axe/crampons and only used them on the descent down Colchuck glacier (and they were much much needed on a section of bare ice). - West Ridge of Prusik was my first real free-solo (and down-solo). The slab bit definitely felt exciting, although at least downclimbing slab is about the same difficulty as upclimbing. I brought a harness, rappel device, and a beer just in case I freaked myself about the downclimb. I was thinking I could bribe another group with the beer to let me rappel with them. Nobody was on the route though, and the downclimb was fine. And I forgot about the beer until arrived back at my car. It exploded all over me after biking down the bumpy-ass road without suspension (or daylight). - The Southwest peak of Enchantment is awesome! Really cool summit block and some airy 4th class to get there. - Argonaut peak felt like an even headier solo than Prusik, but that was because I think I got a bit off route on the East face. I found a squeeze chimney to climb on the way down luckily (squeeze chimneys are the best when soloing!) After doing the Three Sisters + Broken-top traverse in Oregon the weekend before (holy choss-muffins!), I fell in love with the ease at which you can travel off-trail in the Enchantments. And once you suffer through the approach, all the peaks are so close together! I'm guessing others have completed similar trips, but I'd be psyched to hear what variations they did! I'm also interested in the possibility of doing all 9 Bulgers starting and ending at the Stuart Lake trailhead in 24 hours. I think it could be done (has it been done?) but the Stuart-Sherpa-Argonaut terrain looks pretty slowgoing. More pictures: Gear Notes: Axe/Crampons Approach Notes: Snow Creek to Stuart Lake Thru-hike

Several guide services are flying out all their shit on Denali, and have been for the last two seasons, at this point it may be all of them.

I realize guides bring adventure to people who would or could never do it on their own, but ever since seeing the bags of feces/food/litter being thrown in crevasses by large guided teams on Denali and the other damage done by classic guided routes (w.ridge forbidden, ect..) I wish guiding would not be allowed on Denali or anywhere else. If you cannot acsend/desend a mountain on your own or with a few others then learn, train and climb less peaks until your ready. I know its a radical view that will never happen. just as I wished rapp bolting never had been allowed. But since it is allowed I hope the rules get stricter and the guides follow them.

Trip: Mt Shuksan - No-Fo-O-Fo Ridge Trip Date: 07/14/2018 Trip Report: Ok maybe the name's just a personal joke. Call it the complete southeast spur of the mountain. With a day off and the desire to wander around in some alpine ambiance I was extremely fortunate to cross paths with Chris Martin (Cfire) who was amiable to my somewhat weird idea of climbing the entirety of the ridgeline separating the Sulphide and Crystal Glaciers. The finish of this feature is the frequently climbed southeast ridge of the summit pyramid. Access was a harrowing traverse underneath the terminus of the Sulphide Glacier. Seracs, debris piles, rushing water and thin fields of snow over downsloping slabs. We ran and Chris still managed to take a sizeable block of fortunately slow moving ice to the thigh. The ridge itself was a lot of fun. Generally good rock along some choss. Lots of 3rd and 4th class along with a stretch of very exposed 5th up an intimidating tower. Some down climbing, a rappel and a particularly incredible “a cheval” section. Of course the views down into the chaotic bases of the Crystal and Sulphide Glaciers were the highlight of the day, creaking, groaning with the occasional collapse both seen and unseen. Recommended for the incredible position as well as some pretty nice climbing on the lower and upper sections of the ridge. Looking down the crux pitch. Another view of the same with Sulphide Glacier in background. The amazing a cheval stretch. Photo doesn’t do it justice. Top of the second part. Description III 5.6 Start just right of the toe. Solid 4th class rock and a short bit of 5.0 choss is followed by a transition to grey shist(?) below a steep tower. Traverse to the base then follow a ramp back up left to the skyline, a short blocky bit leads to a decent belay ledge below the slabby headwall. Start on the left then traverse right (5.6?) to a hand crack then easier terrain. From the summit of the tower traverse an amazing a cheval section then downclimb a steep, featured 4th class slab to a notch by snow. Continue scrambling up the ridge line until a 40’ rappel drops onto the Crystal Glacier. Bypass a small nunataq then climb the second stretch of the ridge by its left skyline. Looks chossy but turns out to be reasonably nice 3rd class rock. From the tip of this feature a steep downclimb on snow leads to the broad bench below the summit pyramid. Follow the excellent SE ridge to the summit. Gear Notes: Small rack to 2”. A doubled up skinny 60m rope was adequate. Approach Notes: Traverse below Glacier will be slow and (more) dangerous once snow melts off rock slabs. Go early summer most years.

Trip: Cordillera Blanca - Various Trip Date: 07/10/2018 Trip Report: I had a great two week trip to the Cordillera Blanca from 6/29-7/13. I planned this trip intending to use it as a recon to aid in planning future trips. I was able to take detailed notes on logistics and make many great contacts in the area. We spent time in the Ishinca Valley climbing Urus Este and Ishinca, and attempting Tocllaraju. This trip was supported by the American Alpine Club's Live Your Dream Grant - thanks. I wrote up a few short trip reports, linked below: Urus Este Ishinca Tocllaraju attempt Gear Notes: Cheap pickets are available in Huaraz. Bring everything else. There are some rentals of old-school gear available if you forget anything. Approach Notes: Burros are cheap - make them haul your shit!

It was a great(long) day up there with Darin. The climbing was very enjoyable and would recommend it, but the run under the ice fall was full on alpine gauntlet.