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It seemed like fate. The guy seated next to me at my WFR class casually mentioned that his goal for the summer was also to climb Cathedral Peak. Ever since a failed attempt on Goode, I'd been wanting to climb something big with a long approach, and Cathedral had been at the top of the list for a while. I like the planning required for alpine climbing. Is this a backpacking trip or a climbing trip? Yes. Do I need approach shoes or would they be too heavy? Yes. Jacob and I decided on a 4 day trip. We left Seattle for Thirtymile Trailhead on Monday morning and hit the Chewuch Trail by 11:00 AM. The first 8 miles until the intersection with the Tungsten Trail are quite exposed from the various wildfires that have ripped through the gorge over the years. It's a busy horse trail, so it was in good shape with only a couple of blowdowns and very gradual, almost unnoticeable elevation gain. Also, perfectly ripe raspberries that the bears hadn't gotten to yet: We found a small campsite after 15 miles and slept soundly for the night. The next morning, we banged out the last 5 miles to Upper Cathedral Lake and thought we'd snag Pilgrimage to Mecca in the afternoon. A late summer snowstorm doused that plan. It blew in quickly right as we were roping up at the base, so at least we didn't epic and were able to get back to the tent, where we spent the rest of the day staring at the ceiling trying to stay warm. The next morning, we asked the inReach for a forecast. It said partly cloudy and high 40s with gusts up to 15 mph. At least with no more precipitation in the forecast, we decided to make a go for it and were climbing by 8:30. The forecast turned out to be exactly correct. I wasn't exactly freezing, but the wind was sucking the life blood out of my fingers and toes. When I arrived at the first belay, Jacob awarded me official Trad Dad status for wearing wool socks under my climbing shoes. By mid morning, the sun had come out and the wind had died down. In the chockstone chimney on pitch 2, I ripped off a toaster sized flake which luckily missed both Jacob and the rope. For a remote alpine route, the SE Buttress is surprisingly clean with only a few No Touchy blocks. Still, we doubled down on being careful and finished the route in good style in just under 7 hours. After we got down, we packed up camp and made it 5 miles to the horse camp near Apex Pass before resting for the night. The next morning, we finished the loop on the Tungsten Trail. The Tungsten Trail is slightly rockier and steeper in sections than the Chewuch Trail, but I think hiking in either direction would be fine. Water is plentiful along both trails, although stopping to filter water every few miles gives your body more time to express its resentment toward you. On our way out, we met some goatpackers who were training their herd to carry their stuff for them. We felt like such suckers for not thinking of this obvious life hack. This trip was an amazing experience. I liked that it required a ton of different skills to pull off successfully: trip planning, backpacking, climbing, risk management. And serendipity! Finding the right partner at the right time to achieve a shared goal.

Haven’t seen many TRs here for this route in the last few years, so I’ll chip in. Hitting the trail at 3am worked well for us (after heading down the spur to nowhere for a few minutes before correcting course). This time of year that meant arriving at the propeller cairn just in time for the darkness to begin lifting for the scramble down to the slabs. We filled up before that scramble (4L for my partner, 3.5L for me) but could have done so a little later. There was plenty flowing from ice blocks on the shelf at the end of the slabs right before you gain the ridge. We also ended up finishing the technical part of the day just before dark. Along with all the water and a little extra food we had enough stuff to ride out a bivy if needed, but intended on a c2c. We planned to simul most of the route but ended up pitching out almost all but the section of 4th above the largest bivy ledge. Including that simul block I think it was 14 pitches for us: 3 to the notch where we opted for the bypass, 3 along the bypass, 1 to gain the bivy ledge, 1 simul on the 4th class stretch, and 6 pitches up the final headwall to the summit. From where we began pitching it out it took 9.5 hours to the summit. It had rained a lot (maybe even snowed according to some forecasts) two day prior. Before the climb I had worried about this but it wasn’t terrible. It was slick enough in spots to discourage us from simuling, especially in the mossy bypass section. The climbing on this route is super fun. The rock quality is never great, but it’s usually plenty good. Finger locks and hand jams galore, interspersed with interesting face climbing too. In some of the dirtier sections there are little solid rock islands (often polished white) in the choss that lead the way, keeping the difficulty lower than you’d expect from a glance. We each had a couple minor slips on wet sections but no holds broke the entire climb. We roped up at around 5900’, expecting to simul. But my partner led into a tricky traverse so we pitched this one out to a ledge. From there, slabby moves to the left looked just a little too committing and devoid of pro, and I found a fun blocky way to the right, stopping at a slung tree. From here my partner led us to the junction with the bypass (there might have been a little simuling on that pitch). After one lead in the mossy damp bypass my partner declared his distaste for it and so I led two more pitches to join back to the crest (the second of which was 4th class, I didn’t bother with pro). At this point our beta mentioned a 5.8 layback, but I didn’t see any reason to climb it that way. It was more like 5.7 with fist on right and stemming and positive holds on left. The only real difficulty was some wet rock, but the feet were secure so it was good. Almost new moon shot, zoom in. Somewhere in the bypass section. The big bivy ledge was one of only two times we were in the sun during the ascent, aside from the first couple pitches gaining the ridge. I led up the fun scramble to the next sunny bivy ledge, below the final headwall. It seemed like our pace was reasonable enough to this point, but the summit looked quite a ways off from here. Just left of the crest a left facing corner fist crack on granite looked like an inviting start but the beta described starting right of the crest so that’s what we did instead. Starting up the final headwall. Rock was generally good going up the headwall, with lots of finger, hand, and face climbing as mentioned earlier. I took the second pitch. My partner led the third pitch (5.9) which was the crux and the best climbing on the route. As an extra bonus, the crux was the wettest spot on the route. Fun traverse right on steep rock that looks harder than it is. I led the fourth pitch, which might have been runner up funnest climbing. There was a delicate traverse through some of the more obviously loose choss on the route near the end of the pitch. The view from the top of this one down the ridge is pretty wild. Another party was finishing the 4th class section at this time but I didn’t see them again. Climbing on a Thursday worked great. No one else was at the trailhead when we arrived Wednesday night. My partner said there were two parties of 2 behind us. I imagine today (Saturday) it’s a lot more crowded. From here it was probably 5.6 maybe 5.7 to the summit. We could have simuled but were in the rhythm of swapping so kept that going for two more to the summit. Didn’t check out the final bypass to the left. Staying on the crest was fun and easy, I’d recommend it. The rock suddenly transitioned back to clean granite just before the summit, icing on the cake. Amid a big insect orgy on the summit we briefly savored the views of Jack’s Nohokomeen, Luna, Challenger and Shuksan. Baker, Larrabee, and the border peaks kept us company as we descended by a crazy prominent tower. Above a classic obvious gully I saw a trail heading down a slope and mindlessly charged toward it. Fortunately I lost only 200’ vertical before realizing this was the wrong way (carryover). Back up to the correct notch we did more traversing over variable terrain as the climb we just completed came in and out of view. The descent is really long and I wasn’t up to speed on the rockfall induced changes to the standard descent. Fortunately my partner had paid more attention in his research. After a couple of raps to Crossover pass he corrected me after I blew past the start of the crack of noon descent. There was yellow flagging marking the route, and bolted rap anchors all the way down. Trying to be efficient I down climbed in parallel with my partner rapping, occasionally joining onto the rap for damp and needly sections. Most of the route is less than 5th class. We touched down and packed up the climbing gear just in time for headlamp hour. I had a random gpx from a decade ago for reference. We headed down blocky talus which was fine enough. Gradually we reached a vegetated area. The track I had made a big diversion here. It was only about 300’ wide so I decided to just follow an approximately straight line here, thrashing as needed. My partner was unimpressed but it really wasn’t very long or so bad, plus there were berries With the groans, thrashing and berry munching we might have been mistaken in the dark for bears. Finally our reference track popped out on an obvious trail. We could have used a better reference. With all the flagging, blazes, and traffic, there’s got to be a much better way that we just couldn’t see. Once on the right trail we sailed down the increasingly dank trail. Saw some of the largest mushrooms I’ve ever encountered, plus some cool deep violet ones. We arrived back at the car a little over 20 hours after we left it. The trailhead still wasn’t crowded. Given the hour we opted to spend another night here. A couple years ago my partner and I climbed the north ridge of Stuart c2c, which took longer than this one, partly due to waiting out a squall on and after the 3rd pitch. That’s a useful baseline when contemplating long routes - seems long but hey, shorter than N ridge of Stuart, so let’s do it We agreed that Slesse NEB was a real good time and that we are probably satiated on epic days for the summer, though I might try to squeeze one more in.

Trip: Baffin Island - Auyuittuq Trip Date: 08/02/2024 Trip Report: Prologue If a memory cannot be refuted by evidence than it must be the truth so I present this memory as such even if I have some misgivings whether it is in fact the case. I entered Western Washington University in 1991 and as a freshman living on campus I would frequently find myself in the Wilson Library thumbing through what already felt like an antiquated copy of Doug Scott’s “Big Wall Climbing”. Published in 1974 it was only seventeen years old but felt a world apart from the climbing culture and techniques of the early 1990’s. Within a chapter entitled “The Development of Big Wall Climbing in Remote Regions” the author had written a detailed description of his recent expeditions to Baffin Island. And I would claim it was here I first became aware of Mount Asgard. Asgard, a tremendous granite turret with an ice-covered summit plateau rearing 3,000 vertical feet out of an endless labyrinth of glacier ice. The “Scott Route”, a 4,000 foot-long free climb following a beautifully sculpted pillar of exquisite granite. This was clearly a route I wanted to climb. In fact it was The Route I wanted to climb and for over thirty years it always remained as such. A fantasy at the top of my bucket list exceeding the ability, vision or time I had available at different stages of my life. A transcription of our logbook entry at the Thor Emergency Shelter written on July 28th, 2024 We arrived in Pangnirtung on July 3rd. A healthy snowpack and a cool spring had left the mountains still draped in snow and the head of the fjord still covered in ice. A fortunate warm and windy day broke up the ice and on July 5th we entered the park, arriving here on the 6th under cold, leaden skies in a stiff wind Establishing basecamp, we were then unknowingly blessed with largely cool dry days that alternated between overcast and windy or quiet and partly cloudy. The ice slowly melted from the river, the snow on the peaks melting even slower. The first wildflowers bloomed and the days grew perceptibly warmer, Via both success and failure we developed our understanding of these mountains. Huge approaches, difficult climbing, long descents. On our second attempt we climbing the southwest ridge of Mount Menhir, the looming monolith just west of the hut. We were also fortunate to establish two first ascents on impeccable rock with relatively easy access and quick descents. On the large slab wall approximately 40 minutes up valley we linked beautiful splitters into a ten pitch 5.9 we called “Pang Ten”. Later we climbed it again and added sturdy rap anchors. With a twenty minute approach from the trail and no summit it’s a crag climb on Baffin! Above “Pang Ten” we eyed the beautiful flowing east buttress of the East Tower of Northumbria. From the hut here it’s the right skyline of the rightmost peak of the Northumbria group. With binoculars you can pick out the extensive splitters we climbed just this side of the skyline. Eight pitches of moderate 5.8-5.9 climbing on the most perfect rock. Just pure fun and now setup with solid rap stations. The link up of these two routes would make for an amazing Grade V climb without the extensive approaches or difficult descents of other long routes. Highly recommended! July 19th through the 22nd brought the stable, clear weather climbers dream of on Baffin. A long casual approach with a nice siesta at Summit Lake took us to a high bivi on a thankfully melted out Caribou Glacier. Starting at 1 am on the 20th we approached the fabled Scott Route on the North Summit of Asgard. 1200 meters of climbing over 23 pitches took us to the summit at 10 pm. Witness to a spectacular sunset, an endless sea of jagged peaks like diamonds in the periwinkle glow of the midnight sun. Being on that summit is as “out there” as we’ve ever been. The descent was long and tenuous with terrible snow conditions. We returned to our high camp 30 hours after leaving it. Since then the weather has deteriorated into more typical Baffin conditions, lots of rain, snow in the mountains and strong winds. Thoughts turn to home and family as our remaining days here melt into one another. Yesterday we hauled our first load out to Schartzenbach Falls, tomorrow on the 29th we leave for good. Our stay here has been perfect. So many memories. The intensity and beauty of the high peaks balanced by many wonderful rest days here around the hut, mending clothes, doing laundry, cooking, reading and soaking in the views. The world is vast and we may never return to this location again but our memories will always be of much contentment here, we wanted for nothing. Darin Berdinka (Bellingham, WA) & Owen Lunz (Lafayette, CO) 7/6/24-7/29/24 View up fjord upon arrival in Pang Starting the approach in inclement weather Basecamped next to and occasionally in the Thor Emergency Shelter. Mount Menhir in background. Left skyline is SW Ridge V 5.9. Starting up the southwest ridge of Menhir. Twelve pitches. Possibly 3rd ascent based on archeological assessment of rappel tat. Supernatural alpine beauty Pano from basecamp. Menhir on left, multiple summits of Northumbria on right. Looking up the Active Recovery Wall. Forty minutes up valley of the Thor Hut. Surprised to find no evidence of prior passage. Pitch 5 or so, climbing perfect splitters. Enjoyable corners high on the slab. Thor in background. Top of the slab. A few days later we'd climb the clean 1200' buttress just right of Owen. Approaching the East Tower of Northumbria. Pulling through a roof on perfect locks and crimps. Most of the climbing was in lovely splitters on the best imaginable rock. Summit views out over largely untrodden peaks. View out over Weasel River Valley with Thor across the way once again. View down valley from Summit Lake Emergency Nap in the Emergency Adirondack Chairs at the Summit Lake Emergency Shelter. Looking out over the Parade Glacier at 3 am. Asgard on left. Frigga on right. Another party was establishing a new A5 route on the left most pillar of Frigga that day. Asgard. Route started along right side of square snowpatch. 2nd pitch. Runout slabs. I look stupid in this photo but it does provide an excellent view of the upper pillar. Abandoned equipment high on the route. What epic unfolded here? 2nd to last pitch. Wet, wide and exhausting. Sunset view from just below summit. The artic gloaming. Loki in foreground. Epilogue So on a lovely day in the summer of 2024, several weeks after having climbed Asgard via the Scott Route I returned to the Wilson Library to see if I could track down the book. The library and its grounds felt little changed and somewhat surprisingly the book was still there, biding its time on a dusty shelf. Despite now being three times older than when I first perused it the book felt no more antiquated then it once had. And despite the passage of thirty-three years since those august days of youth I pleasantly realized that, on this day at least, I didn’t feel significantly different either. Other Images The incomparable Breidalblik Peak. Sun/shade line climbed in 1971 at V 5.9 A1. On the wrong side of the river for easy access. Bivi on the Caribou Glacier. Mount Tyr and Mount Walle in background. West Face of Mount Thor Signs of life below Mount Sif. Gear Notes: standard rack Approach Notes: Fly to Pangnirtung. Boat twenty miles up fjord. Hike 25 miles to Asgard. Supplies can be hauled in by sled in winter. Contact Peter Kilabuk.

F yeah! Congratulations! Great writeup and wow those purple mushrooms are beautiful!

Wow awesome picture (and TR). Thank you!

Trip: Mount Watson- West Peak - North Arete Trip Date: 07/16/2024 Trip Report: I want to thank @dberdinka for turning @Trent and myself on to this interesting and highly scenic climb on Mount Watson. I am sure I wouldn't have known about it otherwise and details on it are scarce. Actually details from @dberdinka were scarce too, but that's the way we like it. I knew how to get there and the rest would sort itself out, right? As expected, the approach to the north side of Watson was short and quick. It is a rather complex mountain with multiple summits and ridges, but we identified the only feature we felt @dberdinka would want to climb (a striking and clean buttress that sweeps up to the westerly summit), stepped off the snow, and did some solid scrambling to a ledge. @Trent took the first lead on easy fifth and slightly runout sold slabby rock to a wide ledge. I took the next lead up the steepening buttress, wandering to the right side to find gear and stretching the rope a full 60m to find some cracks I could garden for gear. Fun climbing to mid fifth on generally sound and slabby rock. This brought us to the slightly lower west summit of Watson. But, like many obscure routes in the North Cascades it isn't a gimme and we chuckled as we scratched our heads on the west summit for an "easy" way off. Ultimately, we did some very exposed scrambling down towards the col with the true summit. The col was a gash, and we did a short rap into it off of a block slung with cord. We changed back into boots and did some brush bashing and branch aiding to the true summit. Looking back at the route and West summit of Watson, we could see why @dberdinka had recommended it (it was fun too). Look at it! You can walk off the true summit of Watson and a bit of snow travel brings you around and down to the climber's path and the Anderson/Watson trail. A fun and short day out in the North Cascades! Gear Notes: Ice axe, crampons, light rack to 3". 60m rope was handy to reach ledges. Rock shoes are nice for the slabby rock Approach Notes: Anderson/Watson trail to climber's path that heads to Watson (or the Bacon Hagan Blum traverse). Find the obvious buttress on the west peak of Watson and step off the snow.