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Trip: Mt McLoughlin - Through rock in North bowl Trip Date: 03/03/2021 Trip Report: Somehow I stumbled across this image of Mt McLoughlin and decided the route in red would be fun. Is this covered in any guide books? https://image.shutterstock.com/shutterstock/photos/1105471811/display_1500/stock-photo-mount-mcloughlin-oregon-1105471811.jpg For the past couple of months mountain-forecast showed a good weather window a week or more out but every time the forecast changed and spoiled the party. I tried once before, https://imgur.com/gallery/uB410zr, but gave up en route since conditions weren’t suitable. This time looked good and after a storm cycle that ended on Sat - Sun, three clear days in a row were forecast. Headed down to Summit Snow Park after work on Tuesday and caught a nap before heading out. Arrived too early at the saddle between the North and NE bowls so hung around for the sunrise. Should have brought a long ice axe and a stubby but had two ice tools. There was 0.5 inch crust with no too consolidated snow underneath. Easy to kick in but not solid. A few more pictures here https://imgur.com/a/H4XqwZC Gear Notes: Snow shoes, helmet, crampons, two ice tools - should have brought axes. Approach Notes: From Summit Snow Park headed down FS 3650 and up the normal hiker route. Off trail traverse wasn't too bad with just a bit of side hill action. See attached GPX for the route.

Trip: Middle Sister - Emde/Ablao Trip Date: 03/06/2021 Trip Report: Probable second ascent of the Emde/Ablao with Adrien Costa. This is the ice smears and columns to the L of the Direct NE Face route from Oregon High. Perhaps some other people know of someone who has climbed it? Steep snow above the schrund (currently covered) leads to a varied and engaging 60m pitch (difficult to protect) with a couple overhanging bulges. Above this we traversed L on snow to join the E Rib. AI4/4+ R/X seems about right. Me approaching the route, NE Face Direct's couloir is to the R. Photos of me by Adrien (obvs). Me starting the crux. Approaching the crux bulge. Adrien topping out the crux pitch. Adrien leading easier terrain above between spindrift pulses. Coming up the E rib. Adrien approaching the summit. The thing you do when you top out. North Sister with sun setting. Still got a few miles back to the car. Road conditions beta. Gear Notes: screws, cams, pins, nuts Approach Notes: long skin from before Pole Creek TH (17 miles and 4k' round trip from where we got the truck stuck)

Trip: Morning Star Peak - Beyond Redlining (Rope Solo) Trip Date: 08/04/2020 Trip Report: Preface: I just got back from a long weekend at Smith to escape the hot pow and persistent weak layer. Drytooling is fun and all, but I wanted to remind everyone how much more fun summer rock climbing is than winter climbing. Anyways, on to the long overdue TR. I like to climb a lot. With a 4 days on, 3 days off work schedule, I have a lot of time to do so. I also like to spend some time alone in the mountains moving at my pace and enjoying the little things. Over the last several years I have dabbled and somewhat perfected my rope soloing system. It all really started with a sketchy half belayed, half solo ascent of a seeping Ground Hog Day out in Leavenworth in 2017. After numerous other climbs, I finally came up with a system that worked for me, and in early April 2019 I rope soloed Outer Space in just around 4 hours base to top. Pitching everything out and reclimbing every pitch on TR solo. Two months later I came back and soloed everything except the crux pitch and the 3 other 15ft insecure cruxes which I pitched out. That hand crack pitch without a rope is an incredible experience. Jump forward to last August and I am as driven as ever. The thought of another lockdown pushing me to eek every ounce of adventure out of my days off. Then the news came out about a new 11 pitch 10+ alpine sport route. It seemed like the perfect route to test myself on. On August 4th I grabbed a stupid number of draws and loose krabs and drove up to the Sunrise Mine trail. The approach was nice, but brushy and wet from the morning dew. As I passed a few parties of hikers in the upper basin, it was looking as if I was going to have the route, if not the whole wall to myself! Once near the base of the wall, I was very glad to discover that the spring at the base of MHC was still running. For weights sake I had brought a total of 0 ounces of water for the hike up, fully relying on a recent report that the spring was alive and well. The route was easy to find from the spring, I simply walked back along the wall keeping my eye out for some shiny new bolts marking the start of the route. The first pitch was fun! A long 55ish meters of engaging varied climbing that gets you on your toes right off the bat. By the end of that pitch, I was feeling rusty and my feet already hurt. This was going to be a great day. Blurry picture of P1 In an effort to move efficiently I had decided to try and link as many pitches as possible. For some reason at the time 35m+40m=65m, meaning I would have just enough rope to link pitches two and three. As it turns out it actually equals 75 meters, and Rad’s pitch lengths are spot on. This left me tugging at my rope a couple feet above the last bolt, trying to pull every last bit of rope stretch the rope would give me. To no avail, I backed off and downclimbed back to the final bolt. I then proceeded to assess and bounce test the fuck out of that bolt. The rock is good, and the bolt is well placed. I decided to call it my belay and continue as normal, rapping down to clean the pitch. The next two pitches linked without issue, and honestly while writing this several months later I can’t remember anything about them. Now below the first crux pitch with the cobwebs dusted off I was feeling good and moving fast. Following the most obvious bolt line took me up to a steep corner system. While trying to suss out the moves from below I happened to glance over and notice a couple bolts far to my left. Much to my annoyance I had inadvertently started up the 11+ unfinished direct line. Luckily I was still at a point where I could downclimb back on route and finish the correct pitch. It went off without a hitch. This was the first pitch that I did not clean “cleanly”. I did not jug any of the pitches, instead I would repeat the pitch on TR solo, pulling on the rope or draws to use as little energy as possible. It seemed to work well, and was by far the fastest option. The headwall pitches now loomed above, a long line of bolts weaving their way through corners, roofs and overall blocky complex looking terrain. I somehow managed to link both pitches together cleanly, making for a single mega 65m pitch through the headwall. By the time I reached the crux corner of pitch 8 I was already pretty pumped, but discovered a tricky stem/drop knee right in the middle that allowed me to rest, figure out the moves and futz with my grigri. The climbing is 3 stars, but the position is all time! Looking down the headwall pitches, the rope showing the way. The routes crux IMO Looking back up the pitch(s) One more time looking down the headwall to show steepness. The next two pitches offered some more excellent climbing, but also some of the worst. There comes a spot on P10 where the rock gets incredibly dirty and friable, with the next bolt just out of view above a bulge. I damn near pitched off this section trying to figure out if I was on route or not. I was, and it all worked out just fine. At the base of pitch 11 I finally took a real “shoes off” break and sat on a really nice flat ledge in a desperate attempt to depump. Having taken no real breaks up to that point, the constant climb-rap-reclimb had started to take its toll. Too antsy to get to the top, I saddled up and kept climbing. Much to my relief, the final crux was an awkward slab move! No forearms required. It took a bit of ups and downs, but my sore toes stayed where I wanted them, and it was all over in a move or two. The hardest part of the day was by far leaving the summit to clean and reclimb that last pitch. It’s over! JK no it’s not. Now at the summit I ran into a sneaky team who had just topped MHC. They were very confused how I got up there. I filled out the register, high fived myself for a good climb and started over to the raps. It was at this point that I realized I had forgotten both my ATC, and the rap beta. Having climbed MHC ~4 years ago I had assumed I’d remember. A couple raps, one damn near stuck carabiner block, and some totally botched routefinding later I was safe and sound on the ground. I then hiked out and blah blah blah it's pretty up there. Overall I really enjoyed this route. It had a little bit of new route funk, but was really quite clean for how long it is. Good looking mountain! I’m sure someday I’ll whip, my grigri will explode and I will fall to my death. Will someone please sell me a Silent Partner for a reasonable price? I’m a poor gear shop employee that doesn’t want to die. Gear Notes: I brought something like 15 draws and 10 loose carabiners. Normal people not linking pitches should bring 17 draws. Beal Escaper just in case, 70m rope. I now own an 80m rope for stuff like this. Approach Notes: It's pretty obvious. If you have any questions check out the MP listing

Trip: Barometer Mountain, Baroclinic Zone - S Ridge Up, N Ridge Down Trip Date: 02/27/2021 Trip Report: Me, @thedylan and @MGraw skied Barometer Mountain last saturday with the goal of skiing out down what has been called the Baroclinic Zone. I don't know if this is a well-accepted name but we found it on Caltopo. We dropped a car at the Salmon Ridge Snopark at the Nooksack bridge, then got a buddy to give us a ride to Heather Meadows. Thanks Dave! We skinned over Herman Saddle and Galena Butte getting great light powder turns, then followed some guys up the south ridge of Barometer. They set a great skin track and I was glad I told them so when we later found out they are CC poobahs, great meeting you guys! The skiing off the summit was great, then a short skin up to the 5500' point on the north ridge of Barometer. From here we had a great time skiing 3300' down to Anderson Creek Road and out to the car. There were some tight trees and some brush but it was great (we called it mini ski mountaineering to adjust the mental picture of what is acceptable fun). The snow coverage was good all the way to the car where we had chips and beer. A great time was had by all! Me and Dylan nearing point 5500': Great tree powder: Photos by Mike, scouting trip 3 days prior by Mike and Dylan, nice work! Gear Notes: Skis Approach Notes: Car shuttle was clutch!

Yes, for sure! Glad to hear that it went off without a hitch, relatively. What a day out there.....