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Trip: Mt Cleator - Tubby Needs Cheese 5.8+, 9 pitches, 1,000'+ Trip Date: 09/01/2019 Trip Report: It's been a spell since my last report; I offer a tale of an ascetic and a hedonist climbing yet another irrelevant obscurity in their quest for entertainment and raw truth. The weather forecast pointed them east, and Mt Cleator appeared to fit the bill. After a pleasant trail tramp past Buck Mtn and establishing camp, the dialectic duo scouted and debated a number of lines available, and provisionally settled on the cleanest looking one. The line emanates from near the main summit (not the N tower), and is a NW jutting rib that appears to share the granitic character of the pluton on nearby Berge--very little schist encountered. (Other options abound on the N side of this peak up to the N tower, but even these impaired codgers reckoned unappealing the primarily grubby schist on these longer lines toeing down more directly to Buck Cr. They agreed to buy beer for any whippersnapper climbing one of these lines.) For the full Cascades sub-alpinism experience, approach directly from a camp near Buck Creek, where the trail passes close to the creek. Romp up pleasant alp slopes to a band of cliffy terrain, then bunk-jungle up steep alder to pass a waterfall. This approach grants access to the upper basin and the several lines available on the northwestern quadrant of the mountain. For the descent enjoy the scenic trail tour return via Buck Creek Pass. Lots of wildlife encountered--bear, coyotes calling at each other (probably about the bear), deer, etc. The climb's more-technical and mental challenges are concentrated in pitches 2, 3, 8 and 9. (Unfortunately, not many climbing pics taken.) Pitch 2: while the self-styled epicurean showered his pathetic self with sod digging for pro and holds, the wannabe stylite laughed derisively. Pitch 3: the ascetic got his come-uppance, "I wanna go home", but eventually pieced together a lead to the crest of the rib. The middle pitches were more scrambly, mostly mid-fifth and easier. Pitch 8: a sweet, relatively steep and juggy corner. Pitch 9: interspersed short splitters and varied climbing, beautiful and exposed ridge rambling with steeper steps. P1: P3: P6(?), climber low center: On average, the over-indulger and the self-depriver make for a balanced human. In an alternate universe the roles could be switched, and maybe the pair would climb splitter cracks on impeccable stone; but in this one, they reconcile themselves to seeking new lines on inconsistent rock with their mercifully impaired memories. On this climb, a somewhat dirty beginning becomes more enjoyable higher (and with distance). It's difficult to get a well-defined shot of the line. Here's a flavor: Tubby Needs Cheese begins to the left of the shaded red streak on far right, a few hundred ft below that tiny spot of sunshine on the ridge, and continues up to and then on the right skyline. Tubby tops out in the horizontal strip of sunshine, or perhaps just out of view behind the pyramidal feature to the left of it. (The sunlit tower is in the foreground relative to the main summit.) Beckey's CAG vol 2 (2nd ed.) has a good pic of it along with Buck on page 160, swooping down from the main summit clearly marked MT CLEATOR. And from the west, hiking toward Buck Pass: A shot on the way home on Labor Day, TNC in the shade on right toeing down just left of the snow in the basin: More pics (recommend click on 'info' to see descriptions for many): https://photos.app.goo.gl/P2U5SJgB8jU1eQBo8 Gear Notes: Double rack through 3, a 4, some nuts. We didn't use our pins, but some folk might want to. Approach Notes: Park at Trinity. Buck Creek trail, etc. -- see above.

If you want to find partners and go with them, you'll want to build up a lot of experience along the path. Do some reading, take a course, get out on snow and ice where you are and start learning. You can practice crevasse rescue techniques without being on a mountain with actual crevasses. You could find some equally passionate people willing to spend time w you to learn and practice the skills you all will need. In that scenario, Rainier will be a later objective in a long progression that may take several seasons. Or you could hire a guide and skip a lot of that progression ramp and get instruction, practice, safety, and a lot of friendly service at the same time.

The lessons and the good times are not lost. In fact, the good times keep getting gooder. And we teased each other, too. On one trip to the Olympics, Chuck was telling me how he was going to "teach" me the major differences in consideration between the Cascades and Olympics. He even sacrificed his "Favorite T-shirt" to demonstrate: it poured rain about 60% of the trip and was hot and humid for the remainder. One night when it wasn't raining, he spread that shirt out over some branches to try to dry the sweat some. You know where it ends ... inside some goats. I will never forget the look on his face in the morning when we figured out what happened. GumpyCat. OMG, I am laughing right now. So cathartic. And I fell down laughing then. GrumpyCat2 And then I was unconsciously humming Bill Grogan's goat on the trail back... GrumpyCat3 Eh, he had a hundred Favorite T-shirts. No biggee, there. He never let bad stuff get him down, at least not for more than an hour. I am working on figuring out how he did that. He was happy every day, shared a lot, and dreamed of retiring early to the mountains. He didn't suffer; that we know. It is just we who have to figure out how to fill them gap.

Seattle Times article on Chuck: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/obituaries/uw-scientist-who-died-in-climbing-accident-remembered-for-love-of-outdoors-research-impact/