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Trip: Cutthroat Peak - West Ridge with North Ridge finish Trip Date: 09/13/2020 Trip Report: After a couple disappointing attempts into Depot Creek I settled for a rock climb this weekend with my son. The smoke made multiple days seem unappealing but I figured a one day climb would be a reasonable compromise. My son and I headed out to WA pass mid-afternoon on Saturday, stopping in Marblemount to retrieve some items we had stashed in bear lockers on a previous trip that the maintenance crew took. We then proceeded to Lone Fir Campground for a relaxing evening before an early morning start. Alarms went off at 5:20 (damn it's dark now at that time!), and we drove to the pullout below Cutthroat. The smoke seemed to have worsened from the previous day, despite what we were expecting from reading forecasts. Oh well, we were there. View up in the morning: We made quick work of the approach to the base of the route around 7500'. We opted for the start just right of the prominent dihedral (with a wide crack) on the S side. The climbing started at class three then got harder and more exposed. I never saw any fixed pitons (I expected two) and ended up climbing to rap chains in one long 60m pitch. Later we found that this is the middle set of chains for the descent from the ridge crest. From here I led a shorter pitch to the crest and the top chains. This had a few rock moves mixed with scrambling. We then unroped and moved the belay as far as we were comfortable. There is one section of the ridge that becomes exposed on both side and requires moves around small micro-gendarmes that we didn't want to solo. So we backed down a few feet, built an anchor and simul-climbed the exposed section to a flat spot. View to the summit block from the exposed ridge: My son at the end of the exposed section: From here we opted to traverse the ledge to a notch in the upper N ridge. We simulclimbed that as well, but realized it didn't really require it (much less exposed than what we had just done). Ledge leading to the N ridge as seen from the N ridge notch: From the notch on the N ridge, I led a fun pitch up 4th and low 5th class rock until the terrain moderated to a scramble that led to the summit. Summit views S (very smoky): Summit views North (clearing some): After enjoying the summit for a while and fueling up, we began our raps down to the W ridge. We were expecting two 30m raps off of chains, but the 2nd rap dumped me on sketchy class 4 terrain, so I climbed back to the rope, attached a prusik, and climbed back to a 3rd rappel station (not chains, but quite elaborate set of round webbing/cordelettes). Me on upper rappel: We then simul-climbed the short exposed ridge section, downclimbed to the bolt anchors on the lower ridge and did 3 30m raps back to the base. Lower rappel. Note improved air quality by later afternoon The hike out was pleasant and we got to the truck just after 6:30, making it a 12 hour day. Gear Notes: Alpine rack up to 2" Approach Notes: Zero snow. Compared to other trips this summer, not too chossy

This was clearly the work of someone with strong beliefs that the gondola should not exist in Squamish. Clearly it should relocated to Cascade River Road to deliver climbers to a big alpine hut in Boston Basin.

Great job Stephan! Less smoke than Seattle anyways, so great decision to go out there...

That photo reminds me of an art installation a student in college made. It was called 'Why Do I Have So Many Shoes?" The installation consisted of 20 pairs of shoes with a note attached to each one explaining why the student had purchased the shoes and what event she had worn them to.

@kmfoerster I personally just cannot hike in approach shoes. I know some people can. I wish I could! Then approach shoes would be great for me. I also think that you're a little more technical climber and thus can tackle most alpine rock routes in them, whereas I know I have to bring rock shoes anyways for anything 5.6 and harder. Also, I try to run more, and you definitely cannot run in them. Our styles are different, so approach shoes are more valuable to you.

Good article Kyle. I'm more or less on board with what you said. I almost always do the approach in trail runners or skis. The exception being that I've spent a lot of time/miles in approach shoes this season and have found them useful and not terrible to hike in. Obviously their usefulness depends on the objective and whether or not someone finds them good to hike long distances has too many factors to mention. I used to think they are a silly addition to a footwear quiver and that most people bought them to wear them around town. I've been reconsidering and appreciate the extra room in my pack or ability to use a smaller pack for carry over style climbs. Or even objectives that would require a bunch of change overs between footwear, i.e. circuits or link ups. They're way more grippy than any trail runner I use and allow me to move over slabby approaches quickly and confidently. I do still agree they are more so a jack of all trades and don't do one thing well, but I've found good use of them for me lately. I've been using the Scarpa Crux (normally a Sportiva guy). Good durability to weight ratio I think and not too bulky. Can usually find them dirt cheap every now and then too.

Sweet article! For a while I would try getting gear, shoes included, that I thought could be more well rounded so that I'd end up buying less gear. I would now agree with you that a shoe is good at one thing or nothing at all. Maybe thats a bit absolute as the lines can be blurred but there is definitely truth to it. Theres a good reason to have specialized equipment! I was happy to see the bit about using the Dart crampon front section with other Petzl dyneema crampons. I've got the Irvis which I'm sure would climb ice just fine but having vertical points would be preferred.

now i can see what you were describing on the top of sahale! that crazy rainbow halo thing. i've never heard of that before. fun reading your TR and seeing the pics!

Foiled again: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/sea-to-sky-gondola-vandalism-2020-1.5723042

Love this TR and how you typically include all the beautiful details of sunlight and darkness and weather and little details ☺️ could you have seen a marten? I saw what I'm pretty sure was a pine marten on section J in 2014. Two of my all-time favorite photos...(it's so damned cute):

I have a lower quality Showa knock-off. They're durable but moisture builds up inside and kills the warmth too quickly for long days. I save them for wet leads. I've typically climbed alpine routes in the OR Arete which is good but less durable than I'd really like. I bought a variety of gloves off steepandcheap (you get what you pay for) the other year to try. Two were OR and they both wet out and then fail to dry... pretty terrible. One was BD, not super durable but stayed dry longer and dried out sooner. I would really like to support OR over BD but BD does seem to be doing a better job on the gloves right now. Cowolter I'll be trying those soloists and looking into the new Showas.

Yep from what I remember, went up Ice Cliff glacier,up gully to notch on N ridge to gendarme then left up NE face. Everything was plastered with snice, the cruxes were the ridge snow covered rock and the top of NE face digging thru the cornice. The coolest part of the climb for me was when I was leading on the ridge deeply engrossed in little if any pro and huge shadow came over me, looking up I was staring at the largest and very close golden eagle, I could look right in those eyes don't know who was more surprised thought I was gonna get nailed by big chunk of rock or ice.

Trip: Mt. Goode - NE Buttress Trip Date: 07/18/2020 Trip Report: Climbed the NE Buttress with Steve July 18-20. The trail from Highway 20 was largely brush free until Grizzly Creek, which we crossed easily on a log. From there, it was a brushy caterpillar orgy. The direct approach, climbing just right of the leftmost waterfall, was easy and fast. Glacier navigation was simple, although we did cross some blue ice and bridges. We were able to gain the buttress just below the red ledges via a collapsed snow moat. Climb was great! Plenty of snow patches on the route to fill our bottles with. From the summit we scrambled NW to the next notch and found a huge patch of snow which we melted for abundant water. Descent was a long day but not too bad. Once down at the 7400 ft heather benches, keep traversing skier's right until reaching the burned ridge that divides the drainages between Storm King and Goode, take that down to the Park Creek Trail. https://climberkyle.com/2020/07/18/mt-goode-ne-buttress-5-5/ On a side note, it appears from the summit logs that quite a few parties have climbed Megalodon Ridge. Most mentioned that they never found the 5.10 pitches, so perhaps it is easier than 5.10 or these difficulties are simple to circumvent. Goode Glacier and NE Buttress. On lower route. Le Conte and Sloan. Forbidden, Eldo, and the Twin Sisters. Sahale and the sound. Silver Star. Douglas Glacier on Logan. Rapping down. Gear Notes: Trail runners, aluminum crampons, and ice ax for the approach. Climbing/approach shoes on route. 60 m 8mm rope. Cams .4-2, 9 slings, tricams, nuts. Oh, and 10 lbs of camera gear (including a full sized tripod) for Steve. Approach Notes: When you reach the open valley beneath Goode, ford the river, ascend up easy boulders/snow. Climb the 4th class slabs just right of the leftmost waterfall. Continue upwards through the magical alder tunnel. Eventually you'll emerge into wildflower meadows and then the camps atop the lateral moraines.