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Trip: Mount Hunter - West Ridge Trip Date: 05/31/2022 Trip Report: I climbed the west ridge of Mount Hunter from May 29 - June 1 just last week with a summit on May 31st. The route has changed drastically from the days of old, here is a good beta overview of the ridge if anyone is interested. We took 3 days on route with two nights at the 10650 col for a big 4k foot summit day. Weather has been fantastic in Alaska this season making for a carefree, worry free ascent (mostly lol). I'll get to writing a detailed trip report on my website soon...just figured I'd share these route notes for now. Conditions were mostly good, but afternoons on the lower ridge started getting scary when the stepp snow softened considerably in the hot sun. Summit temps were in the mid teens with very little wind. Photos at the link below. Photo Gallery Gear Notes: Two 7.3mm twin ropes, 4 cams 0.5 - 2, set of DMM nuts, 5 UL screws, 3 pickets, 20 degree sleeping bag, 6 single slings and 1 double. Extra TAT Approach Notes: Snowshoed to base of ridge from landing - 1.5 hours.

Trip: The Tetons! - Complete Exum, CMC, Teewinot Trip Date: 07/21/2021 Trip Report: I broke my thumb last weekend mountain biking with my boys, so I may as well add a TR to the database while I wait to meet with a surgeon. Keep your wheels on the ground people, and don't believe your kids if they say "Don't think Dad, just send it!" But I digress from the telling of the 2021 summer climbing road trip to the Tetons.... Frequent visitors to this site will know that I have been going on week long climbing trips with @Trent for about 15 years. The last few years our friends John and @cfire have joined us, and last year was no exception. John has a sweet van and so we piled in for the loooooong drive to Jackson Hole, stopping for some free roadside camping along the Snake enroute: The next day we finished the drive and sussed out the permit situation in the park that week (not bad for walk-ups, much better than NCNP in high summer). We had car camping reservations in the park for those days that we weren't on the mountain, which helped to limit the shenanigans before and after climbs. We just got those from people dropping out the week before on recreation.gov. Then it was to bed early for a proper alpine start for the classic scramble route on Teewinot. And what a great route! Direct, solid, and scenic- we were beginning to see why the Tetons were so hyped. And also surprisingly quiet. I think we only saw two other parties all day. For how jammed the roads are in the park, the climbing crowds are pretty mellow. I would highly recommend the Tweewinot scramble as a good warm up/ acclimatization for early in the trip: And then it was back to the van, after locating a couple canoes for the next day's approach to Mount Moran's CMC route. This route was a first for me, since I had never used a canoe to approach a mountain, nor even portaged once in my life. And the CMC camp was really in a great spot, with airplane wing views across the Jackson environs. Just don't expect it to be a casual 5.6 route, we were pleasantly surprised by the challenging route finding and scrambling. As with many Cascades routes, the crux isn't always when you have the rope on. Oh, and we had the mountain and camp to ourselves, in July! The Grand: The dramatic East and West Horns on Moran: one of the best 5.6 pitches anywhere, high on the CMC: The Beast that is Moran. CMC right up the middle: And then we took a rest day in some dispersed camping outside the park, preparing for the main event- The Complete Exum on the Grand Teton. I was a little nervous with actual climbing at altitude, but I had the three rope guns of @Trent, @cfire, and John do do the heavy lifting. I just needed to make sure that I didn't miss the shot. We opted for the civilized approach of hiking to the Lower Saddle on day 1 (upper saddle was full), then an alpine start to climb and descend on day 2. We saw more people in these two days, but it was still pretty chill and totally reasonable once on route. And what a route! It is absolutely classic start to finish and deserving of it's "50 Classics" status. Completely solid, long, with a great position and straightforward descent. I won't be able to add anything that hasn't already been said of the route (plus, broken thumb, remember?) and so I will leave it to the photos..... I have no idea: Descent via impressive rap down O-S route: Which way? The end. Thanks much to @Trent, @cfire, and John-the older I get the more I value my climbing partners. The mountains are just an excuse to spend time with these solid dudes! Gear Notes: Approach shoes and climbing gear. Not much snow or ice to get to these routes in high summer Approach Notes: Follow the masses

There were no new road slides or other road-bed damage from this winter. However, much was deposited on the road! Many alders and a few small firs have come across the road. A chainsaw will take care of them. But there is a stopper: a boulder the size of a VW beetle slid onto the middle of the road. The location is about a mile below the old, wide, parking lot. This is about a half-mile above the good, narrower, parking spot below that newest road cave-in from three years ago. This is where one should park when visiting. There is no good turn-around at the stopper rock, nor pullouts for parking.

Yesterday I cut away most of the downed trees that would cause a bike rider to dismount. My saw ran out of gas with three left. Next trip, I'll bring an axe for those... This winter, the road was blocked by large boulders below the old parking lot. Don't drive to the rocks as there is no easy turn-around. The best parking option is the grassy lot about 100 yards below the recent road cave-in. About 3/4 mile below the old parking lot, it holds 4-6 vehicles and the derelict trailer is gone! Before: After: Many singles like this: The Main Wall from the road:

Climbing Ranger Blog from here: https://mountrainierclimbing.blogspot.com/2022/06/upper-mountain-skiing-and-snowboarding.html?fbclid=IwAR0oypputNf8ec71zX-XZTzJnz-3NImMlJJvIGXT2eXatgfSddz9IFwlsw4 While it's not in the forecast yet, there will be an end to the persistent series of 'wet season-like' storms that have been pasting the mountain with snow. When the weather does stabilize we expect to see an influx of skiers looking to take advantage of what could be very good conditions. Please keep the following things in mind, though, before rushing to the mountain. 1) Give the snowpack time to stabilize 2) Just because you're on skis it doesn't make you safer. 3) Climbing with ski/snowboard gear takes more effort and is slower. 4) Timing is everything. A ski/snowboard descent of Mt Rainier can be a wonderful and exhilarating experience. It can also be terrifying and extremely dangerous. It should never be taken lightly and for mountaineers with very little climbing and skiing/snowboarding experience it may not be at all appropriate in many conditions.

Trip: Mount Torment - Moraine Lake Couloir, NW Glacier Trip Date: 04/16/2022 Trip Report: Me and the boys (@Albuquerque Fred, @thedylan, @MGraw) had a great time in the sun for the chilly weekend of April 16-17 on Mount Torment. We skied the Moraine Lake Couloir and most of the NW Glacier on Mount Torment. We were able to drive to .5 miles past the gate at the park boundary on Cascade River Road before we hit snow. We booted for about a half mile past that, then skinned to the Eldorado Trailhead. We again booted to the boulderfield at 4k as per usual, then we skinned up, crossing the ridge into Torment Basin, and to Torment Col (west of Torment). The skiing down from there was good but I was too interested in what was to come to really think much about it. The plan was to climb Torment, then ski the couloir to Moraine Lake and camp. When we got to the entrance to the couloir though the exit onto the glacier looked tough. Dylan gamely started to lead with only pickets for pro, 1 aluminum axe, and aluminum crampons, plus skis and overnight gear on his back. Just out of the belay we realized we would never have time to climb all this and make camp at a reasonable hour so Mike suggested a new plan , we would fix the line and finish the route tomorrow. Dylan got the rope up, rapped, and we skied the AMAZING couloir down to the lake. As in most features like this, the snow being good wasn't the most important part. The setting, the purity of the line, the adventure was made it rock. But the skiing was also good. Making camp at like 4pm in April was full on cushy, plenty of time to build a monster wall around the tent, drink whisky, and lounge. The next morning we booted the couloir, climbed the fixed line, and ascended the NW Glacier on Torment. We had limited beta on this but Tom Sjolseth's report said "we skinned to within 50' of the summit", easy right. Well, not so much. We ran into another short rock step, which, though easy would involve another two transitions to get past. We figured it would be after 10pm by the time we got to the car, so we bailed at 7300'. The ski was epic. Top 5 ski runs ever for sure. We will be back for the summit. The crew: Thanks for the shot Mike: Dylan scouted the scary roll over: Dylan rapping after the lead: I'm sure Fred didn't just fall: Mike and Dylan working the lower couloir: The whole thing: Dylan slays it, even in camp: If you have to boot it might as well be into the sunshine: Mike following the fixed rope: Topping out: This sucked: We should have lapped this one. Classic Cascdes: Gear Notes: 1 axe, crampons, glacier gear, avy gear, camping gear. not enough. Approach Notes: Eldo worked well, I've done Torment Basin and didn't want to do it with skis on my back.

Trip: Mesahchie Tour - JGAP LLC Trip Date: 05/21/2022 Trip Report: One of the things I enjoy most about rambling around in the hills is figuring out the "best" way or time of year to do trips. This often takes repeated visits to a route or area, in several seasons, and maybe over as long as 10 years or more. Of course "best" is entirely subjective, but it typically means (for me) when/how the outing the the most "fun" (or, TBH, easiest). I'm not getting any younger, so I need to use all the tricks I can. It also helps to bring strong, competent, younger partners along. @geosean ably fit that role on the Mesahchie Tour yesterday and helped it all click. In the case of this tour, it took three times and ignoring some of the advice you'll find online or in a guidebook. But despite my stubborness, we were rewarded with fun turns, spectacular views, and solitude. We also had the full mix of weather, from spring to winter and back again in the span of a few hours. And the full mix of snow conditions as well, including some of the stickiest snow either of us has had the "pleasure" of skiing. But we had a great time overall, with minimal shenanigans. But just remember, "best" is in the eye of the beholder. You might hate the way we went so I'll let you figure it out for yourself. That is the part of the allure of the North Cascades, no matter the weather or season. Oh, and if you were the one who stole the catalytic converter from my '91 Civic while it was parked for a few hours at the Easy Pass TH (in broad daylight!), I hope you really needed that hit of meth. Sheesh. NF of Graybeard: Golden Horn and Hardy: Hardy: NF of Arches: The one and only @geosean Look at that, a nice path through the cornice! How civilized: My favorite view of the trip, NF of Goode: Glamour shotz by JGAP: North side of Ragged Ridge: Probably the best turns of the day, fast and smooth and in the sun: NF of Katsuk: NF of Mesahchie: Then we had some winter: Minimal shenanigans getting over Granite creek on a nice jam: Look at that footwork!: Gear Notes: leave the snowshoes at home! Approach Notes: Follow Volken or your own nose. There are options

I've done a fair bit of free and aid rope soloing with the grigri+microtrax setup and really like it. I actually wrote a TR about soloing Beyond Redlining on here a little while back which sorta shows my system and I explain it in the comments. Re: backup knots, I personally only tie releasable slipknots on pitches I think I might fall on, otherwise the rope is either stacked in a bag at the anchor, on a ledge or dangling free below me. My standard protocol for long free routes is below. Aid is pretty similar but usually involves hauling. 1.)Build ground anchor using the rope 2.)Climb the pitch. Try not to fall 3.)Build anchor and fix line with enough slack to rap the pitch 4.)Pull up remaining tail and stack it at the anchor 5.)Rap pitch while cleaning all but necessary directionals. 6.)Clean bottom anchor. 7.)TR solo (or jug) back up the pitch. 8.)Reset system and start at #1 Happy to answer any more specific questions!

nice! that is great to hear. And I survived. back at home and on drugs. 3 pins, beer is helping as well.

Trip: Mt Hood - Reid Headwall Right Variation Trip Date: 05/24/2022 Trip Report: Coming down onto the Reid from Illumination Saddle wasn't horrible but the ice crust at the top wasn't great. Pretty easy to get over the bergschrund. About to head through the gap. Stayed to the right to avoid the ice fall. Getting some elevation, starting to punch through the ice crust - some hollow sounds. I should have gone up the green line initially instead of trying to go right from the location the picture was shot. Going right here takes one to a flat-ish spot on top of Castle Crags. I did eventually go up the green line but the standard route is one gully left from it. Route was consistently steep. The slightly less steep parts had more ice fall too. After descending and traversing climber's left to the gully with the green line shown before. Whew, I'm going to make it out of here, I think. The ice crust wasn't great on much of the climb and a couple of times I could feel vibrations in my left foot through the crust when kicking in with my right foot. Shot of Castle Crags before heading up any further. Previously I was climbing toward the sunlit middle part of the ridge. Fun climbing. Upper part of Castle Crags. Made it to the West Crater Rim, nice. Looking East. Looking down route. Very cool. Wow. 1 O'clock couloir needed some love. Used teeth to keep umbilicals from getting caught on rime feather on the center fin. Barely fit through with the pack on. Had the summit to myself. Headed down the right Pearly Gate. Gear Notes: 2 tools, crampons, helmet, feet - no skis. Approach Notes: Followed cat tracks.

Much of the large overhang near the junction of the upper ramp of the Improbable Traverse & the variations above Lunch Ledge fell off in late November, 2021. Most of the ramp near this junction is missing & has perched blocks, the roof variation above Lunch Ledge looks like it is now talus, there appear to be scars near the traverse itself, & the entire lower face is covered in loose rocks. Apologies if you have already been fed this on #outofmyfuckingfacetwitgram.

On another visit this week, on Tuesday, I chopped out the last of the road obstacles. The road is now free of anything new that would cause a bike rider to dismount. I do like a long, smooth downhill ride! The first two were located just before the first culvert. First one, before: After: Second one was the worst obstacle. I dropped it onto this skid log and pushed the cut log off the road. Almost there: After: The last two were above the first culvert. This was the biggest of all: After: Fourth and last was a double alder: Phase two: After: During celebration ride:

I hope Instagram dies a swift and fiery death..... Until then, you all will be subject to my obsession with publicly posting images. Sorry! Kulshan last Saturday afternoon:

Yep! Hiked our last section, from Shi Shi to Ozette, including a repeat of the section from Cape Alava to Sand Point. Good times as always!

That was nice day, ha!

Trip: Mt. Jefferson - Southwest Ridge Trip Date: 05/22/2022 Trip Report: This past weekend we went out to climb the southwest ridge of Jefferson. We hiked in Saturday afternoon and camped above the avalanche path above Pamelia lake. We could not have asked for better weather and the road was open to the trailhead. We were hoping to make it to the summit but from the lake you could see that the rock portion of the route was covered in snow. We made it up to the saddle before the traverse, climbed out to take a peek at the traverse and turned around. There were some folks from Seattle on route that I got some photos of. If any of you see this, PM me and I'll send you some photos. Gear Notes: 2 quarks, crampons and splitboard Approach Notes: Pamelia TH, to PCT to avalanche path

I'm looking for partners primarily for glacier ski routes - routes like Easton on Baker, various things in the North Cascades such as Eldorado, Sahale, possibly Shuksan, Adams, and hopefully Rainier via the Emmons in a month or so if conditions still allow. I'd like to do as many of these as possible in the next month-ish while snow/glacier conditions are at their best. I can usually be free Thursday-Sunday so open to weekday options as well as weekends. I've climbed & skied a fair number of non-technical routes on cascade peaks like Shasta, Hood, Middle & South Sisters, Helens, etc. I've taken a crevasse rescue course, AIARE 1, and have been backcountry skiing & leading trad on rock for ~6 years. Looking to continue my journey into more technical glacier routes so let me know if you have any interest in partnering up for something like that!

I heard Colin Haley talk about it in an interview. Basically you put in an anchor that can hold upward and downward forces and put yourself on rappel, but climb up, feeding the rope through as you ascend, placing pro as needed. When you run out of rope, pull one end through just like rappelling. Unless you want to abandon your pro, you need to descend the same way to retrieve it. Colin may log on here occasionally and maybe he could chime in or correct me, but I think I got the gist. I think Strassman or Middendorf talk about the clove hitch method in their books. It's simple and bombproof.

Buy the book “Hooking Up” by PTPP, Pass the Pitons Pete, Pete Zabrok. It’s an absolute masterpiece with more useful aid climbing information than any normal person could possibly assimilate. There’s a whole section on solo climbing. Pete has climbed El Cap by 65 different routes and has spent 850 nights on the wall. Yes, 850. Hard to fathom (he likes to take his time). I’ve been aid climbing for over 50 years and there are things in the book that blew my mind: soloing, hauling, how to jug traverses, lowering out bags, haulbag management, head placement, belay management, rapelling with bags etc. The list goes on. Here’s his email: passthepitonspete@hotmail.com He’s in Yosemite right now and has 300 copies of his book with him. He may not respond right away as he’s working on another El Cap project in his usual shit-show manner but I don’t think he’s heading up for good for 3 or 4 days so he may get back to you. Tell him Don sent you his way BTW-the book is 670 pages with lots of pictures and illustrations

Reasonably inexpensive source for eva foam: https://www.foambymail.com/minicel-type-t-foam.html I just received a sheet of T200. It appears identical to the yellow hardman pad of yore.

I’ll tip one back for your thumb

Glacier Creek Road is closed about a half-mile upstream of the bridge for the foreseeable future. The north side of Mt Baker (Heliotrope Ridge, Colman Glacier, the North Ridge) are now 5.5 miles further away from the car.

Thanks man, I am bummed to not be able to climb with you this spring @kmfoerster! We had a plan, now @Trent is going to use your skillz to finish the difficult 10 before me!

Awesome Jason! I needed these summer scenes on this rainy spring day. Hope your thumb heals up fast!

The NF of Terror should be on your list:

Please please kill me now

The CMC route on Mt. Moran has some great views out over the environs of Jackson:

So I went up to the infamed north fork crag yesterday and am PSYCHED OUT OF MY FUCKING MIND. Long story short - bushwhacked through swamp, crossed the river too far north, bushwhacked up to some random cliff, chilled in the woods, gave up, went back to river, spotted the actual crag, found the trail, went up, saw routes, screamed with ecstacy, bushwhacked back in the dark swamp. (For those who don't know it's a huge cave/amphitheater, 25 ish bolted routes all 11 through 13, stays dry in the rain, 15 miles up the north fork county road out of north bend.) So if anyone is psyched about this, please join me in trying to beat a new trail in between the road and the river. The crossing is chill this time of year but the swamp creek crossings are irritating. From what I've read in old threads the creeks just mush everything up pre river so it'll need a solid effort to squish one in. The road is plenty driveable, bolts are in great shape, there's a few modern permas, the routes are stunning and it's total choss. My cave stoked friends and I are gonna be out there doing this mo matter what, this crag is too good to be true (ain't climbed hardly anything yet but it looks better than World Wall in my _humble_ opinion). But it'd be more fun with more people. If you have more info about the crag pls post and such.

It was great getting out with you Jason. Thanks for all the awesome pics of me. Here are some cell phone snapshots of you.

Trip: Mount Stuart - Stuart Glacier Couloir Trip Date: 04/24/2022 Trip Report: http://gorobets.com/TRs/Stuart_Glacier_Couloir_2022_04_24.htm Gear Notes: 1 single ropes 60 m A pair of ice tools each 2 short screws on ice steps 2 pickets to belay 1st ice step Single rock rack from #.3 to #3 Carried pitons, nuts, smaller cams, but not used Approach Notes: Used snowshoes

It may have been possible to skin through the step but it didn't look probable. I suspect the step is a victim of glacial recession. Here is May 2011 when Tom was there: And April 2022:

Trip: North Cascades - Sloan Peak - Superalpine (WI3-4, 1000') 04/17/2022 Trip Date: 04/17/2022 Trip Report: Fabien and I climbed Superalpine this past Sunday and topped out on Sloan peak. History: This route was attempted on 02/28/2020 by Kyle and Porter and on 03/15/2020 by Porter and Tavish We left Saturday afternoon, got the car to about 2000ft on FS 4096 just before the snow became continuous. We skinned in with overnight gear and setup camp near a small accessible stream feeding Bedal Creek at 3600ft. Sunday we woke up at 4:00 a.m. and we're breaking trail soon after. We found an easy crossing across the creek at 3950ft and stayed climber's right of the moraine to avoid being in an avy path until we were forced back in the forest. We started seeing the route peeking through the trees and reached the large snow field below the West face of Sloan peak. We approached up to the base of a left leading couloir and stashed the skis there (A). Route: We booted up the couloir, encountered a small step (B) and roped up at (C). (C-D) Short WI4 followed by easier climbing. Careful with rope drag on the rock if the belayer is in the sheltered area before the ice. (D-E) Short ice steps separated by snow. Setup an anchor on the right side at (E) (E-F) Left leaning ice staircase in what looks like a dihedral. (F-G) Snow up to a belay stance in a 5ft step. (G-H) Small ice step then snow up to belay in thin ice. (H-I) Mostly snow with some good ice screw placements. Belayed off a snow anchor. (I-J) 30ft of Easy mixed climbing. Placed cams 0.5 to 1 and made a snow anchor on a wind hardened snow fin: (J-K) Snow bowl. This can have a lot of sluffing and is dangerous if the snow is unstable. We were able to follow a path up that had already sluffed away. It was mostly the top 2in of snow that had fallen the previous night. (K-L) Snow bowl up to a notch on the ridge slightly climbers right (L-M) About 200ft of ridge traverse to the summit. Descent: (J-N) We decided to go down the snow ramp on the other side of the mountain that the corksrew follows for a bit. We aimed for a gendarme (Below the N). From there we did one 30M rappel off and traversed under the gendarme to the corkscrew route (O). By then the East side of Sloan Peak was in the shade and we found good snow to front-point sideways and down a ramp for almost 1000ft. (650ft elevation loss) There was a moat at the bottom which we negotiated skier's right. We had brought two poles up for the next section that involved wallowing across the bottom of the SE face to reach the South ridge of Sloan at 6750ft. (P) From there, we headed back to the W ridge near where the route starts (Q). It doesn't look like it can be traversed easily a first but there's a passage around 6100ft. At this point, we could see our skis and felt like it was in the bag. The chute skied amazingly well but once we reached the snow field, the snow had started to crust making it quite hard to turn. We arrived back at camp at dark pretty tired. Since we both had engagements on Monday, we slept until 4:00 a.m then skied most of the way back and made it home by 11:00 a.m. Overall, this is a fun route when the conditions are there. The snow bowl at the top is probably the most dangerous part of the route when the snow is unstable. It may be possible to bypass by staying on the ridge (Probably from J). Strava GPX Enjoy! Gear Notes: Gear: 11 ice screws (Used all) 8 draws 2 pre-rigged quads 0.3 - 2" cams 1 picket (2 would be better) Small Nuts (Unused) Approach Notes: Drive from Darrington while Bedal pass is closed. High clearance vehicle recommended for FS 4096

Oh yeah, beta photos for the Forbidden Tour. The Forbidden glacier looked good down the gut: The exit was looking a bit thin already, but very doable:

Thanks for the validation @psathyrella. Just for that, you get another today! Jailhouse Rock in Capitol Reef NP (discerning viewers may notice that I am not afraid of posting exact locations on cc.com):

You thought I was joking? EVERY DAY! Here is White Chuck, Sloan, and the Monte Cristo Group from Sauk:

Yah, it was pretty cool. We didn't see anyone the whole trip. We'd just come from Washington Pass after doing Liberty Crack. The Washington Pass road was under construction and still a dirt road at the time. We had to skirt a gate to get up to the pass. THAT was cool. There wasn't anyone anywhere. I'd love to have gone up there when it was still a trail and you had to hike ten miles to get there. Now THAT would have been wild.

Donn Heller and Dave Anderson on Amphitheater Peak 1971. Long hike in. No people seen anywhere. Beautiful setting. Incredible cracks. Lots of lichen.

Donn Heller, 1971 on Amphitheater Peak.