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Trip: Sloan Peak - Corkscrew Trip Date: 11/17/2018 Trip Report: Fred and I took a romp up Slan Peak on Saturday. It had been a while since I had summited anything so it was great to get on top, plus there was a bit of early season adversity that made it just hard enough to be sweet. We expected slogging through powder on the north side, but there was a nice rain crust above about 5300'. The east face traverse across the "heather ledges" was also better than anticipated with fairly good step kicking snow. Some rime ice on the scramble made it pleasantly spicy. Rain crust on the approach to the glacier, photo by Fred: Me in the rain crust, on the descent, photo by Fred: Fred on the traverse on the east face, on the descent: Fred near the summit: Fred looking smug on the summit: Me descending, photo by Fred: Gear Notes: Axe, crampons, glacier gear, snowshoes for training. Approach Notes: Bedal approach, it was a bit brushy, seems worse than the Sauk if the river crossings are OK.

Trip: Three O'Clock Rock - various Trip Date: 11/19/2018 Trip Report: Wanting to see some rock before the snows came, I went up to Three O'Clock Rock yesterday, Monday, Nov. 19. First light comes late in this season so I enjoyed the luxury of sleeping in until five, left Seattle at six. Still a very cold morning in Darrington, I pulled in to the Shell station for a pit stop to let the day warm up a bit. I didn't tarry long, however, as the old pre-climb excitement took hold, didn't even go in the store, and motored on up the Clear Creek Road. The road is in good shape, with a new coat of gravel on the lower section. Thanks to the "Darrington Collaborative" for that! Besides the fairly alarming tilt of the roadbed in a couple of places, one new hazard is apparent: The trail is in the best condition I've ever seen it. Thank you to the work party earlier this year. Especially appreciated is the ramp up off the old miner's road: Years ago we had to cross over this log on the steps provided: Full sun was pulling me out of the frost toward the North Buttress: But I had designs on some easy pitches on the South Buttress: I wanted to warm up with Under the Bored Walk: Dry and clean, the knobs accepted my passage: Pointy elbows in the sun: Rapping off: That was actually scary enough that I decided against staying there to do Charly Chan's Number One Suspect. I moved gear over to Cornucopia Flake. Stout trees are plentiful under the route: It was fun placing gear again, so late in the season: I had only planned to do single pitches, no multi-pitch, but this looked so good and had to pass it up: Obligatory Exfoliation Dome shot: Feeling better about friction moves with lots of rope out, I decided to do the first pitch of The Kone. I saved time by using the same anchor tree. It was 1:30 and the sun was already going around the corner! From near the top of the first pitch of The Kone: On each of these pitches, I fixed the lead rope, rapped, and jugged up with a second rope for rappel. Last rappel of the day, from The Kone: I felt lucky to be out there for a beautiful day in November. Gear Notes: Minimal rack of cams. Two 60m ropes. Approach Notes: Thanks to the Washington Climbers Coalition and the Darrington Collaborative for the road work, and for the recent trail work.

Trip: Buckhorn Mountain - High Traverse Trip Date: 11/18/2018 Trip Report: Sunday was summer-like t-shirt weather in the Olympics! I took advantage and did a high traverse over Buckhorn, NE Buckhorn, Iron, and Worthington from the Big Quilcene valley. The views were incredible and the terrain was engaging albeit a bit chossy. Surprisingly, despite the traverse being well above 6000' elevation, there was zero snow on the entire thing. The difference between the Olympics and Cascades right now is significant. Approximate route: Foreshortened view of Buckhorn(s) and Iron from the Big Q trail: Marmot Pass: Buckhorn from Marmot Pass. The main peak is an easy walkup on trail: Constance, Warrior, and Inner Constance from Buckhorn trail: Mystery, Fricaba, and Deception from Buckhorn trail: View of the traverse from the top of Buckhorn. NE peak in the middle, Worthington on the left. Iron is hidden behind the NE peak. The descent off NE Peak (pictured here) was easily the crux. In general, stay on the east side and pick your way down various chimney/groove/ledge systems. It's never more than 4th class, but a rope could be useful here. Choss lovers delight: Easy slopes up to Worthington: Looking back on the traverse from Worthington. Iron Mountain is middle left, NE Buckhorn middle right, and Buckhorn proper on the right. Big Q Valley from Worthington: After tagging Worthington I dropped down on the east side and traversed below cliffs back to ~4800' on the Big Q trail to avoid any bushwhacking. A staged bike and a continuation over Hawk, Welch and all the way to Townsend (pictured here) would be a great alternative exit: That'll do summer 2018, that'll do... Gear Notes: Helmet! Approach Notes: Nice trail

Trip: Lundin - Southeast Ridge Trip Date: 11/17/2018 Trip Report: Ahhhhhhh......... Smooting. Is there ever a better fall activity? Wait, don't answer that. Just look at the photos below and don't feel so sad that the ski season hasn't really started yet (have you bought your Smoot copy yet?). And get a warm fuzzy feeling knowing that @cfire, @genepires, @Kit, and myself all had a very nice friendship hike to the top of a snowy ridge. "Congratulations! it wasn't terrible."- @cfire #moderatealpinism Gear Notes: half rope, ice axe, crampons, helmet, light rack (this time of year). When the rock is dry you can probably scramble it all at a grade of exposed Cl. 4. Snow and ice made it a bit more exciting. Approach Notes: Commonwealth Basin trail to the end and then follow the ridge up.

Trip: Argonaut Peak - North East Couloir Trip Date: 11/17/2018 Trip Report: Yesterday Conrad and I climbed the North East Couloir of Argonaut. We found fun, and challenging conditions. We left Leavenworth around 3:20am and were headed up the trail by 4:00am. We moved quickly along the trail to the spot we had decided we would branch off and cross mountaineers creek. Upon crossing, we filtered more water and started our bushwhack as it became light. After a while in the trees we ended up in a small boulder field and found a string of cairns. Though headed more toward Stuart we opted to follow. This proved to be fruitful as they led us toward the tree finger that allows one to avoid the bushwack from hell in the slide alders. We followed the beta from Jens Holsten posted on a previous TR that said "Here is the beta: After crossing Mountaineers Creek, cross over a wooded rib or two and then head straight south through the woods. DO NOT enter the boulder field until you have literally walked out the end of the woods as far south as the trees extend. At this point you can hook back left on a talus finger that avoids all that nasty bush whacking." Posted on a TR from 2011. This beta proved to be key and accelerated the approach. We ascended the talus and frozen dirt and caught up to a group of three. We never were close enough to talk as we went futher left to climb some approach ice smears. Approach Ice Once in the Couloir we soloed up to the first rock step. This had a steep smear of ice and proved to be great fun. The ice filled the crack enough that I had to run it out on the smear but felt pretty secure. From here we unroped and continued booting up the snow with a few sections of easy rock mixed in. We passed the alternate route that Jens mentions and opted not to take it due to it appearing to not take any gear. (Thin ice line in right of photo, will definitely take if I climb this again) Above this there was another steep rock step which we climbed on its right and turned out to be a one move wonder, one hook over the top followed by lots of grunting to pull myself up the to top of it. Following this pitch we unroped and continued all the way to the notch looking south. Should have gone right to gain the snow slopes at some point but we ended up here and wrapped around on to the south face. We found what looked to be our easiest line up from there and Conrad led this feature up mostly rock with a snow dusting to the snow slopes (sorry, no photo, but it was very difficult and pretty heady, glad I didnt lead it). We booted up a nasty breakable crust to the summit ridge. This was exposed but fairly easy and we opted to solo everything. After a summit snack around noon (I think??) we retraced our steps and following one rap on tat we were in the col at the top of the couloir. (Photo climbing on to summit) Retracing our steps: We continued down the East ridge another 30ft to another tat anchor and rapped from here into the top of a snow gully leading south.We booted down this to the flatter southern slopes. We chose to descend the col between dragontail and colchuck peak to colchuck lake so we started our sunny slog to there. Once at the col we could tell light was starting to fade and we had long since finished out water so we didn't lollygag. We started down the Colchuck Glacier and quickly hit the bergshrund. There was a thin snow bridge that we chose not to trust and instead took the leap... We found lots of steepish exposed glacial ice and spent a lot more time on the front points as we climbed down toward the lake. Eventually we ran out of snow and ice and switched to approach shoes and started walking down the rocks (now covered in frost). We made it to the trail right about when we needed our lights and has a nice (read: long and tired) walk out, arriving back at the cars at 7:00. For future fall climbers, the thin ice line to the right in the third photo appears that it would be a very fun alternate route. This is a very fun fall alpine route! GPS Track, (disclaimer, we didn't follow the best route 100% of the time) http://www.movescount.com/moves/move254799988 Gear Notes: We took 3 screws and never placed one, but would still take one or two because ice was around. A few nuts and a few cams from fingers up to bd #2 proved to be most useful. Had pins but never placed any. Approach Notes: Follow the cairns if you find them and take the tree finger up as much of the talus slope as you can (stay further right than you'd expect).

Intermittent Fasting www.BrandonClimbs.com I am a "Self-Experimenter", that means I try all sorts of remedies, diets, sleep patterns etc. in the search for the most optimal and efficient solutions to every aspect of my life. Through out my experimentation, I have found that a lot of stuff is BS, other are near impossible to sustain for extended periods of time and that very few actually work and do provide benefits over traditional habits we might be used to. One of those is intermittent fasting. I’m not saying this is for everyone, this is solely my experience and my findings after sticking with this particular eating schedule over a period of 3 months. I have always been a relatively fit individual having exercised daily for the last 10 years. That being said, I’ve never struggled much with staying in shape. Obviously when the holidays come around I’m usually a few pounds heavier but I quickly shed any excess fat in the following months. None the less I’ve always been a clean eater. I’ve never been on an actual diet but I have avoided sweets, processed sugars, refined carbs and processed foods. The only issue is I usually eat A LOT of the foods I consider “healthy”. In an attempt to stay leaner through out the year I stumbled upon the new craze of intermittent fasting. To my surprise it has been surprisingly easy to keep up and my body as adapted quite well. I wake up with more energy than usual and I have gotten very lean without sacrificing muscle mass. At first I thought it was insane to starve yourself. Especially someone like me that’s always hungry, I couldn’t fathom having to restrain my self for a large portion of the day without eating and still maintain a healthy weight. But the more I researched the topic, the more sense it made to me. Most people are out there trying to eat this super clean diet that is practically unsustainable, after having spent the last 20 years of their life eating fast food and ice cream. The problem is, we live in a day and age where the media is constantly bombarding us with irresistible commercials of Dominoes’ new cheese stuffed crust, extra cheesy pizza with cheese on top. So when you are on your eleventh hour and you’ve spent the day eating a hand full of almonds, a dry rubber chicken breast and an apple, it becomes nearly impossible to to not give into the temptation of devouring that delicious and greasy pizza. So it makes total sense why most people can’t stick to a diet and why we are amongst the most obese countries in the world. I’m not saying intermittent fasting is the solution to all of this, but in my experience it’s a great tool to have and given the right circumstance can prove to be very beneficial for many individuals. So what is Intermittent fasting? Well it’s not a diet and its not starving yourself. Its basically limiting your eating to a specific time window... The average American eating schedule goes something like this: 7:00am Breakfast & Coffee 12:00pm Lunch 8:00pm Diner An intermittent fasting schedule looks something like this: 11:00am Lunch 3:00pm Snack 7:00pm Dinner The difference is that the normal schedule has you eating 13-14 hours of the day while the intermittent fasting schedule limits you to some certain hours a day (4-10). This on its own is big game changer. By just limiting the amount of hours you have to eat food in the day, you will automatically reduce the amount of calories you consume. Even if you stuff your face with food during an 8 hour eating window, studies have shown you will eat less than if you had your typical 3 meals of the day. This is important not only for weight loss but for for a variety of reason. Everything from low insulin levels in the blood to raised GH levels during your fast. How does it work? Step 1. You fast Step 2. Your insulin levels drop Step 3. Your body turns to burn stored energy in the form of first glucose then fat Simply put, when we eat we consume more energy than what we can use immediately. There fore our insulin levels rise while we eat which allow the liver to store glycogen but when the liver is topped off it will convert the extra glucose into stored fat. If we are eating through out the day our insulin levels are constantly high and our stores are constantly being topped off, giving no time for the body to burn the stored fat. By fasting we are allowing the body more time in the day to burn stored fat. What is the right way to do intermittent fasting? There is no right answer to this, since there are a variety of ways to fast. Its all about what works for you. Some of the most popular are: -16hr Fast / 8hr eating window (I follow this particular schedule) -14hr Fast / 10hr eating window -5/2 Eat normal 5 days of the week and fast (500-600 calories) for the other two days -6/1 Eat normal for 6 days and do one full 24hr fast a week -1/1 Fast 24hrs / Eat normal for 24hr Choosing what works for you is based on what is easier for you to sustain over a long period of time. Remember the reason most diets fail is because people can’t keep up with the demands and find it too hard to sustain. The goal with intermittent fasting is not to limit your self so much on the foods you eat but instead on the duration of time you eat in the day. My experience with intermittent fasting I’m a very active individual. I do Crossfit 5 days and I run 5-7 miles 3x/week. This means that I need a lot of calories and energy to get me through the week. When I first started adapting my self to this eating schedule I found it a bit difficult the first 2 days but by the third day my body was fully adapted and I was cruising through my 16 hour fast with out a hiccup. Not only was I adapted but in the mornings when I’m usually groggy, now I was full of energy. By the time lunch came around at 11am, I was excited to eat and would devour a big lunch. Around 5pm id go to Crossfit and kick ass. To my surprise I didn’t have the least bit of weakness I thought id experience. Finally, when I got home I would have my final meal of the day, usually a big plate full of a lean protein, potatoes and avocado. In those 3 months of following a time restricted eating schedule I’ve lost considerable body fat (not that I had much to begin with but now I’m very lean) and kept or even added a bit of muscle mass, I’ve gotten stronger with my lifts and I feel my endurance on long runs is much better. I’m not sure how much of this can be accredited to intermittent fasting, but I can tell you that I have felt overall better, lighter and with more energy since I started. I also indulge in more “cheat meals” than ever before with out any sense of guilt. This in itself is enough for me to make it part of my life style. As a climber I do have to modify the eating schedule as I approach a trip since a typical 2 or 3-day climb does require you to feed yourself every few hours to try and not fall into a calorie deficit. But for my day to day life, intermittent fasting has proved to be more efficient and convenient for me and will be something I will maintain going forward. You can read more of my articles at www.brandonclimbs.com

Nice shot!

That looks spicy!