Leaderboard

Trip: 20th Anniversary Enchantments Madness - Enchantment, Little Annapurna, Cannon (100/100 Smoot), McClellan, Edward's Plateau Trip Date: 10/07/2022 Trip Report: "I love it when a plan comes together" -Hannibal And boy did the plan come together the first week of October this year. Well, actually it started in the late winter of this year when I managed to score (after 12+ years of trying) a core zone permit for Golden Week. Then, I was able to convince my parents and in-laws to take turns harassing our boys so they could stay in school for 5 days while my wife and I went up in the hills to celebrate 20 years of insanity together. And, after all that, managing to convince everyone to stand firm with the plan as COVID made its way through our house in the weeks leading up to the trip. It was close. My wife was day 6 from the start of symptoms as we shouldered packs to begin the slog up Asgaard. Would I get it on the trip? No time to think of that, we had ground to cover. And cover it we did. I hauled nearly all the group gear and alcohol (20th anniversary!) as my wife gamely hacked and gritted her way up nearly 5k to our camp for 4 nights at the base of Little Annapurna. At the last minute we had ditched all technical gear in case we weren't able to overcome sickness. This turned out to be a good call as there was plenty in there to do without a rope. hiking in on a Tuesday, I was struck by how mellow it was -very few people on the trail and we were able to find a most excellent camp overlooking Crystal Lake not in sight or sound of anyone. The USFS does a great job of managing the insanity up there (plus, overnight permits get rock star parking!), considering the crush of humanity that is beating down the door of the Enchantments. Colchuck: Our home for 4 nights: The next morning I was up and away to McClellan while Kim rested in camp. The larches were prime as I traversed across the north slopes of the peak, marveling at the lack of people. Soon, I found myself at the top (some engaging and exposed 3rd), just a couple hours after leaving camp. It is just oh so civilized to launch from a base in the core zone! Summit of McClellan: I quickly jetted back to camp, had lunch, and grabbed Kim for the scenic ramble (class 2) up Little Annapurna in the late afternoon. We waited a couple minutes for two Canadians to have their own time on top before scampering up for our turn. The smoke below added an ethereal vibe to the scene. The Nightmare Needles below were especially cool. Little Annapurna summit: Nightmare Needles, including Flagpole: And then it was back to camp for our evening ritual of wine, appetizers, and watching the sun set on Prusik and Temple: Day 3 was a momentous one for me. I was able to scramble Enchantment (tiny bit of 4th at the top) and Cannon (Class 3, Smoot 100/100 for me) but also found out on the summit of Cannon that Kloke Peak had become official via a text from a reporter at the Skagit Valley Herald. Wow! Returning to camp in a daze it was warm enough that I was able to go for a quick swim in the tarn next to our camp. So many good things packed into one day! McClellan from slopes of Enchantment: Talisman and Rune lakes: Upper Rat Creek drainage, Edward's Plateau, Temple Ridge, Prusik from Enchantment: North sides of Dragontail, Colchuck, Argonaut, Sherpa, and Stuart (L-R) from Enchantment: WR of Prusik head on: You should climb the full north ridge of Stuart: Summit views towards Stuart from Cannon: Smoot 100, Cannon!: Tahoma and Colchuck. NEBC front and center, site of my closest call ever in the mountains: Upper WR of Prusik: How could you not want to explore this valley? Perfection Lake is aptly named: On day 4 Kim was feeling a bit more recovered from Covid (day 10 since start of it) and so we set off to explore Edward's Plateau and the lakes along the way. What an amazing valley! I had always wanted to spend a day in there during larch season and we were not disappointed. We saw fresh bear tracks but no people, wandering around the magical setting for hours, swimming, and scrambling up close to the Mole (It's on the list!). We delayed returning to camp as long as possible, just getting back for appetizers as the sun set on, you guessed it, Prusik. Inspiring reflections in Inspiration Lake: Little Annapurna: North side of Temple Ridge: South face of the Mole is on the list!: Mesa Lake: Lake Earle: Kim and Enchantment Peak: Cliche for a reason. Prusik and Gnome tarn: And just like that, it was down to our last night. Five days goes fast during Golden Week with perfect weather. We drank our last wine as the moon came up over McClellan, marveling at our luck the past few days. We had seen fewer than 75 people over the course of four days and had reveled in the scenery and solitude each day, not sharing a summit with anyone. Looking forward to 20 more years with this lady!: But that was all about to change. Waking up on Day 5 (a Saturday) we started to hear folks streaming by on the trail. By the time we got rolling at 0900 the wave was about to crest Asgaard. Between camp and Colchuck Lake we counted (conservatively) 512 people! And then another 273 people between the lake the the trailhead! While it was a bit entertaining at first, it was highly annoying by the end to hike down against the tide. Most of the people on the trail didn't really have a clue as to how to hike a climbers trail or pass people efficiently. Many were zombie-like, stumbling upward in a fog towards anyone who looked like they were on the "trail". Several times, I would step a few feet off the "trail" (trying to let people pass uphill) only to have someone hike directly up to me, stopping a foot away and staring. "Sorry...... I'm not moving, the trail is over there". But I digress. The Enchantments are deservedly popular, especially during larch season. But don't bother putting your name in the lottery, you'll be dead before you pull a permit. Oh, and I never got Covid. Gear Notes: Love is all you need Approach Notes: For the love of all things holy, please don't hike in or out on a Saturday.

Trip: Good and Storm King - NE Butt, SW Route Trip Date: 08/19/2022 Trip Report: Me, @MGraw and Dave did the NE buttress on Goode Mountain and the SW route on Storm King over four days from August 19 to 22. BTW, that’s “gud”, not “gu·dee”, I don’t know what mountain some of you are climbing. Its named for Richard U Goode of the USGS, and the mountain is pronounced like the name. I’m just writing a quick report to get the info out there. We used beta from Steph Abegg, Climber Kyle, and occasionally Fred Beckey and it went great, so I wont post too much of that. The route finding was generally very straight forward the whole trip. We started out at the permit line. It was waaaay better than in years past, but still long. Then we cheated and drove to the Bridge Creek Trailhead for the hike in. I used trail runners to the junction with North Fork Bridge Creek Trail to save my feet 20 mile of hiking in approach shoes… worth it! Trail after Grizzly Creek (short): The creek crossing of North Fork Bridge Creek was easy but cold, then straight up from there per Kyle worked amazing. Literally NO brush to get out of the valley bottom. Wow. Approach From North Fork, just go up: We took the wrong buttress up the last portion of the approach and missed the two established bivy spots. The “5400’” bivy at 5500’ or so was occupied, but I looked down and saw the 5700’ site from above. We made a new spot on a slab and gravel at 5970 on a different rib. For next time, you have to scramble up the obviously easiest rib two or three left of the prow that the path leads you up to. This was our only real route finding hiccup on the trip with somewhat minimal research. All of Goode is amazingly complicated sounding, but is really just follow your instinct from North Fork Bridge Creek to the summit. It took us 8.5 hours car to camp I think. Just up from camp: The next morning we walked like 100’ up to the glacier were we easily walked on on low angle firm snow. We had only snow the whole way, no proper ice. The glacier was pretty easy to navigate from there, one big zig zag to get above the cracks at 6700’. The feared moat was just a couple of steps down on blocks to 3rd class rock. We got lucky hear I guess. I think this wat at 6730’. On route: We scrambled a 3rd class ramp to near the crest, then started simul climbing. Mike lead out and lead a 1200’ simul pitch to a 5th class step where Dave took over. Dave missed a move to the right of the ridge and lead up a tough 5.7 spot with no pro (except our now fixed nut above the difficulty). Stout lead in hiking boots dude! Me and Mike followed in approach shoes, wondering the whole way why he didn’t move off the ridge crest, it was aesthetic though. As much as its tempting to lead the crest, any time it gets tough you can break off. The climbing was great the whole way, never hard (except that one spot) but interesting always, all the way to the summit. I clipped my last sling to the summit rap station to finish my simul block. It was hazy so we didn’t stay too long. 3 raps to some shenanigans to the notch (I’m not sure if there is a good way to do the last rap, but it involved a quick belay for us from the bottom of the rap). Then 2 more raps in the gulley. Skiers right side of the gulley was much better than down the gut, not bad at all. Soon we were in camp on an awesome slab amongst heather at 7600’ just left of the rib. I highly recommend this spot, the slab was perfect for victory lounging. 10ish hours this day. Camp: Brief shower in the evening: The next day we traversed to Storm King and followed the standard beta to the notch. Scree slog, up the gulley to the right of the one with the obvious horn. The one with the horn had a rope that appeared to be fixed for a rap. I’m not sure why you would do this unless you just didn’t want to carry it out. Please don’t do this, it’s just trash now that no one want to take out. Descend your ascent route and take everything home with you. I really hope there was some extenuating circumstance here, but I can’t think of what. We scramble traversed the obvious ledge from the notch for 200’ – 300’ horizontal then scrambled up 3rd -4th class to the summit. The beta here was complicated but the route very simple. Ledge: Reversing the traverse to Storm King, Goode behind: Then down, down, down. There is a path from the little 7440’ knob just SW of Goode leading down the rib to the valley bottom, it comes in and out, but just stick on the crest next to the creek. We hiked out to Park Creek Camp for about 9 hours on the move. Up very early the next morning to beat the heat for 6ish hours to cover the 15 miles to the car and beer that was still as cold as the Rockies! Wow! An amazing trip with way more down time than I am used to. Glad I had good friends to share it with! A classic for sure, though not enough brush for it to be truly a Cascade classic in my book. Nor enough loose rock. OK, so not so quick a report, but it was a really great trip. Gear Notes: 2 30m rope, aluminum snow gear, approach shoes, single rack 0 metolius to #2 C4, like 15 slings Approach Notes: Long but easy. The trail was brushed out except for a little bit after Grizzly Creek.

It's the only way to survive 20 years of marriage to someone like me.

Holy crap you have a tough wife. that third from last pic 😂😂😂

Trip: Mt Stuart - West Ridge Trip Date: 08/20/2022 Trip Report: What a classic route, total type 1 fun climbing at its best. My wife and I climbed it over two relaxing days last weekend. Beta is plentiful, so here’s pics. Headlight basin, one of my favorite approaches in the Cascades. Ingalls Lake, last flowing water until the next day. We’re going here! Starting up the super fun 3rd/4th class Staircase. Looking across to Long John’s Tower. Intimidating to look at, easy to scramble up on the right. Settled in for a high bivy above LJT notch. The alpenglow from the setting sun was incredible. We stayed up late enjoying the ambiance and watched the stars and Milky Way come out. Then the weirdest thing, a long string of lights moving steadily across the night sky then disappearing made us question our reality. UFO? Turns out it was the same thing Oly saw over on the peninsula: https://westseattleblog.com/2022/08/heres-what-that-bright-streak-in-the-sky-was/ Lazy start in the morning. Snow available for water near the West Ridge Notch. Somewhere on the summit block, maybe pitch 3? It all seemed pretty mellow follow-your-nose easy 5th climbing. Summit! Saw several folks up top, one soloist who started from the car about the time we were waking up (an impressive 4 hours up the WR), two guys attempting the Stuart Range Traverse to Asguard in a day, and several scramblers up & down the Cascadian. The descent was less enjoyable, Katie's first time experiencing the Cascadian and she said she wants to downclimb the WR next time. Finally the slog up to Longs Pass gave us a parting view of Stuart and the route. Back at the truck, tired but mentally refreshed as always. Gear Notes: Rope and minimal rack. No axe or crampons necessary. Approach Notes: This field is required?