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Climb: Bear's Breast Mountain-traverse Date of Climb: 8/21/2005 Trip Report: Short Version: I summited Bear's Breast via many of the pointy things that make up the massif. I descended the standard route (SE face). Long(winded) version: Four AM, driving on I-90 toward Mt. Stuart a news "story" comes on the radio about the high price of gas. I change my plan to an objective with a shorter drive, Bears Breast Mtn via the Middle Fork Snoqualmie Road. A couple years back, hiking up the Dutch Miller Gap trail, I noticed that it looked like a pretty easy scramble up to the most western of the many spikes that make up the Bear's Breast massif. Today I needed to be back home by 8pm, so I figured I could head up the west side and tag as many breasts as I could before my turnaround time. I set my alarm for noon, and was hiking at 6. The Dutch Miller Gap trail is beautiful and beautifully maintained (probably easier hiking than the Middle Fork Road would be!). I took the Williams Lake turnoff and followed it until it opened to a clearing below talus and cliffs leading up toward the first objective. After much zigzagging through obstacles I was confronted with some more difficult climbing to reach summit blob. Switching to rock shoes I made a somewhat harrowing solo (lots of loose rock) to the first goal ~9:30. The next summit looked quite precipitous, and the main summit a long way off. This was pretty disheartening, but I figured just stick with the plan and poke along. One bright side was the presence of an easy gulley down to the north which would allow me to avoid reversing much of the recent climbing. The next summit, though quite improbable looking, turned out to be a fun exposed scramble up a precipitous ridge to probably the first of the 4 major spikes mentioned in Beckey. Still plenty of time left, I continued East. Climbing along the ridge, popping over, traversing, repeat, I knocked off a couple more minor spikes. Whenever it appeared I was going to be hung up I'd peer around a corner to find another convienent ledge or crumbly rock bridge to extend my outing. Heading toward the next two major spikes I rounded a corner and realized that I was just a short bit of downclimbing to some ramp and ledges that lead to what looked like must be the standard ascent gulley, above which was the main summit! I checked my watch, 11am. I had an hour, so I bypassed the next two summits and headed for the goods. It was a long traverse, but I made it to the ascent gulley as evidenced by a cairn. Here the rock was way better. Fun scrambling on solid white rock, and summit fever helped to reenergize me, but time was getting short. I popped over a notch, breathless, and there was the summit block, looking just like the Beckey sketch. Quite surprisingly, I also saw a bunch of packs strewn about. A team of four climbers were ascending the route. I greeted a pair waiting at the base and prepared for the final obstacle. I changed back into my rock shoes, put on my harness and downsized my pack to carry only the rap setup and summit necessities. I was jazzed that I might actually summit the main peak. I worked my way up to the lowest climber, who was now alone belaying, and asked politely if I could pass. He wasn't up-front enough to actually use the word "no"; but, he hemmed around, looked pained, and said he'd be real quick. This got across the message that he was refusing my request. I was a bit perturbed, but when I took hold of a giant piece of rock which surprised me by sliding down the mountain a foot, I could at least understand his point of view. A couple of missles dislodged by the three climbers above emphasized the point, and also had helmetless soloer me thinking that maybe this was all for the better. I did some standing around, listening to the comic interaction between this guy and those above. belayer: "TWENTY FEEEEET!!" from above "what?" belayer: "TWENNNNN-TEEEEEE FEEEEET! YOU"RE ALMOST OUT OF ROPE" from above: mwom mwama muhbbbbmayttt belayer: "WHAT WAS THAT? (to me) Did you understand that? above: mwa mway mwomj mawywyy blubbub fwaaahuuuh. belayer: "I CAN'T UNDERSTAND YOU. YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO KEEP IT SHORT SO THAT I CAN UNDERSTAND. BECAUSE I CANT TELL WHAT YOU ARE SAYING. THERE IS TOO MUCH WIND AND ECHOES FOR ME TO UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SAYING" (stage direction: no movement of rope) from above: --off be_ay -- belayer: "WAS THAT YOU JACK?!" from above: mwa mwu maa maaa.... So anyway, you get the picture...this would have been pretty amusing, but at that moment my watch alarm went off. I was going to miss this summit because I picked the one day in 700 where I'd run across another party up here, and I timed it perfectly!! Quickly rationalizing that I now had a much easier descent route than the way I came up, I decided I had a bit of time to burn. I began scouting an alternate route. I eventually found something out to the right. I believe it's the alternate mentioned in Beckey. It was a nice slab, then some steep cracks which would have turned me back had there not been bomber constricting handjams at the length of each reach. Above the steep cracks I was able to traverse out right over an exposed bulge (with perfect stairstep footholds but no hands) to easier ground. Interesting summit register contents: First, there were not many entries dating back over many years. Second, two entries from parties (LW(2), BB, JM; well-known NW climbers) who climbed the mythical East slabs of BB mountain. Both entries were quite positive about the route. They described it as "mega slab, 3000 feet sustained 4th class, one bit of 5.4". Summit festivities and time to go. I was hoping to rap the established route (I lugged a damn rope all this way), but the fourth climber had still not arrived. After a bit of waiting and not much movement I backtracked and downclimbed the summit block via my ascent route without incident. The standard route was good, but a bit hard on my now weary knees. It was very clean and solid, but quite exposed. I now understood why the climbers up top had been pondering alternate descent possibilities. More than a few nervous downclimbing sections, one involving a succession of long dead trees as holds, got me to the relatively flat base near 3 pm. Crashing some bush and avoiding some cliffs got me to Lake Ivanhoe, a good trail and WATER!!! Made it home at 8:10pm (late, but within limit of acceptability). Gear Notes: hiking shoes rock shoes rope (didn't use) harness + a few doodads (didn't use) Good climbing approach shoes would have been much better as I burned much time switching shoes 3 or 4 times, and also ended up climbing more technical stuff than I'd have liked with my hiking shoes. Also should have brought a camera. Approach Notes: Middle Fork Road quite rough after Dingford Creek TH. High clearance probably required. 4wd advised.

I just drove up the Middle Fork Road yesterday, so have a bit more beta. First, the road is pretty rough past Dingford Creek. I was glad to have a 4X4. You could get up it without maybe but it would be quite slow. High clearance is definitely recommended. ~ 2hrs to end of MF road from Seattle. Second, to locate place where overgrown approach road used to reach the Middle Fork Road, there is an obvious unmistakable indicator. There is a HUGE fallen log (about 8-10' in diameter) just right of the road. The road is slightly diverted around it. That log marks the slide mentioned in my post above. Park there if you want or continue up the road about 100 yds to a large pullout complete with firepit.

what Whitehorse Mtn looks like RIGHT NOW!

I have! I have! There's a good trail up to Hardscrabble Lakes from the MF road. Park about 1/4 mile from the end of the MF road. Should be an open flat spot large enough for several vehicles on right and a big slide on the left back down the MF road about 100 yards. A logging road used to come down to the MF road where the slide is. It diagonaled up and right. Look for the overgrown road on the right edge of the slide 50-100 feet up. The correct slide is marked by a giant fallen log (8-10' in diameter) just downhill, but basically on, the road. Once you find the overgrown approach road you'll know you're on the right path if you find the abandoned logging crane with a giant log smashed across the cab (revenge of the forest?! ). The trail is pretty good, but easy to lose when it enters and exits a large talus field (if you lose it search down right toward the creek). Have fun! Might be the last year you can drive up the MF road to the end.

Very cool! Bigger pictures please That descent on the loose rock is way scary, but the rest of the climb is fun. Someone oughta go up there some (week)day and see if that part can be improved through some intensive trundling. re: berries, I've never seen more berries than are currently out there! It's amazing.

What a cynical interpretation of the unconditional love of a parent for his/her children. What Minx said.

Yeah, I'm sure the marketing of fear has a lot to do with it. That was the premise of "Bowling for Columbine" until it imploded about halfway through.

I am convinced (or at least, my latest theory is) that a major contributor to the childhood obesity epidemic is because of this fear you speak of. Kids aren't getting exercise because they just aren't allowed to roam the neighborhoods like we used to do when we were kids, for fear of pedophiles. I seriously doubt that rates of child attacks have increased, it's just people are more fixated on them (or aware perhaps). This, in turn, is an analogy to what this fear is doing to all of us. By trying to save ourselves from the unlikely spectacular dangers we are succumbing slowly but surely to the maladies associated with our self-imposed bubbles/cells.

Here is the promised pic. I also edited in some glacier pics to the trip report. I don't think that bridge that Justin pointed out is there anymore. More like a big hole of bare rock there.

They're doing some work on I-90 lately, and the Sultan stoplight ALWAYS bungs things up (in the time window Matt describes). Note the signs in Sultan re: contacting your legislator. Could the WCC build Sultan an overpass? Also of note, there is some major work going on on 530 West of Darrington. We got stopped for about 1/2 hour on our way back from NCNP. Hwy 20 might be the way to go for NCNP until this job is done.

Basically, to get off of the glacier, we traversed almost level from the SW buttress to the West. There was a path between parallel crevasses. I got some glacier pics, but I don't think I took any of it from up above. But maybe can trace it from some of the long-view photos. I'll check when I get home (and post 'em if I do).

Sounds like a great trip. Why would starting from the North lighten your packs?

Climb: Inspiration Peak-South Face Date of Climb: 8/10/2005 Trip Report: Inspiration Peak (highest pictured) with lightning-bolt "Gash" up South Face Last week Jeff and I hiked up to Terror Basin and climbed the SF of Inspiration Peak. We left the TH ~10am with packs heavier than I wanted. Heavy ice axe and rock shoes added since I just realized my sticky rubber approach shoes were losing their souls. The four miles on the overgrown road is easy and a perfect grade. The trail up the forest was really difficult for some reason (steep! with a big pack). We surfaced from the trees and saw Terror Basin waaaaaaay over there. Sheesh, we gotta long way to go still. Once the steepness was over though, the hike was quite pleasant, well, except for the nasty "400 foot gulley" after the notch. The approach the next morning went fairly well. Rolling alpine terrain over domes and meadows then the Terror Glacier. We went straight up through the heart of it, climbing up through crevasses and such. Sorta scary, but quick! below the difficulties up through the glacier After an end run around a couple huge crevasses we found a tongue of snow that dropped us onto the rock. We'd heard that one can rap right back to the packs, so we left most of our stuff there and started climbing. The first pitch or two were harder than we'd anticipated (not "scrambling") but after the initial wall we got to the scrambling and a big ramp angling up across the lower face. We simuled up the blinding white ramp adorned with many nice flowers and quite the exposure until the base of the "Gash", a chimney angling back left up the steep face. We pitched out the Gash in three pitches. Interesting climbing, flaky crumbly shale-like rock on the right, bomber featured granite on the left. On my pitch I got one especially nice chimney that was between a huge granite chockstone and the granite side (thus nice rock on both sides of me). looking down from inside the "Gash" Most of our climb was undertaken under a cloud of dread. We passed no rap slings so weren't really too sure how we were going to find our way back to our packs (and boots, axes and crampons). We had only one (60m) rope. Raps down the West Ridge went well. Someone with gray slingage did us right. We came to a very steep rap over the South Face. We crossed our fingers and headed down. We needed to set up only one rap station ourselves on the steep wall, and then were back to prebuilt rap stations. We rapped onto the glacier a different way than we came up (down the W facing wall). It looks like a great way to start the climb. One long 60m lead up featured, fairly easy granite would get you to the ledge (and the moat crossing appeared fairly easy too). From above we had scoped a crevasse-free route back to terra-firma, which we now took back with no problems. Problems came as we descended back down into Terror Basin and the fog rose up to meet us. Those open alpslopes with intervening domes are a lot harder to navigate with limited visibility! We wandered about for a couple hours, then it got dark which further limited our vis. Using a compass and altimeter we finally found a creek that we crossed right before our camp, and finally located our bivy ~ 10pm. I pulled out the margarita fixins from food bag and the glacier snow I'd carred back from the climb and fixed myself a big ol' TERRROR MARGARITA, served in a pre-used cup o'noodles container. Best drink I've had in a long time. Gear Notes: one 60m rope fairly large rack (doubles of .75-2 camalot) crampons ice axe Approach Notes: nice trail the whole way through the forest (does not get lost as Kearney indicates).

We were up climbing Inspiration Peak that day. You probably came across our bivy gear. You must be the guys who tied a plastic bag with a trail-mix box in the tree hanging over the trail. It didn't really look too heavy. What was the story with that?

We used a single 60m. We pitched out a lot of stuff so a doubled skinny would've been a pain. Others might simul more, but the rock seemed loose enough frequently enough that we didn't simul much. We both had approach shoes (Cinder Cones) no rock shoes. Rock shoes would have been no fun on the majority of the terrain.

Ooops sorry for the misinformation. You could probably even consider Total Soul to be 7 pitches if you dispatch the first pitchlet via soloing or simuling.

The total approach times for either Online or Total Soul are about the same ~2.5 hours (maybe 15 min less for Total Soul). I think either will be OK in the morning. They start getting pretty unbearable by afternoon. Total Soul is twice as long as Online, so could put a crimp in your getting back in Seattle by 4 pm plan, but you can rap from anywhere on the route. If you go to Static using Washington Rock beware the approach instructions, they are wrong. Do not go directly up the wash. Find the beached culvert with the cairn, look to your left and find a trail up through the forest (just after the wash). If you go to Total Soul, all the info you need is at Darrington Web Page

That's a problem with solo hikes/climbs, you don't have anybody to moderate your pace. It's easy to hit a wall. In your conversation with the ranger, were you able to get a defined boundary over which you could go to legally sleep without an enchantments permit?

Oh but please know we really do appreciate what you do for us!

That Colchuck Lake place is a pretty cool place to camp. That windy ass trail around the endless lake is pretty frustrating when you're trying to get somewhere (like home and bed).

If you've got anything that you don't use very frequently, then it can probably stay home. If it's some sort of gear that you have for "just in case", figure how terrible it would be if you didn't have it when you needed it. Also, estimate the the probability that you'll need it. Multiply those two factors to get your expected misery factor. Leave stuff at home with relatively low expected misery values. For example, if you only use that big heavy synth jacket when unexpected storms hit (low probability w.r.t. forecast) and all that will happen if you are caught without it, is you'll have one miserable cold night; then you should consider leaving the bulky item at home. On the other hand, if you are going to be three days from the car, then the probability of getting caught in a storm is bigger, AND you may have to endure multiple days of misery (or death), then maybe you oughta bring that jacket along. Too many people have specific gear for every conceivable situation and fail to think about the probability of actually needing it. Here's a thread that discussed this topic previously

Well, I think if you're worried about weight, then I really think a good place to start is replacing the bottles with cans.

Is beer "canned food"? If so, I say, "Dru, you are wrong as usual!"

Yeah Jack Mountain would probably be cool (maybe go over Crater Mountain, then out via Little Jack). Stuart West Ridge is great fun. Tacking on others would be a good time out I'll bet. And NOLse, the first pass from Stuart Lake TH is Goat Pass. West Ridge does not begin there. It's the next pass (Stuart Pass). However, you could head up the NW Buttress perhaps (which you can attain at or before Goat Pass), I think Beckey calls it 4th class (? or in the low 5th range for sure) before it links up with the coolest climbing on the West Ridge route.

Climb: Mount Index-Index Traverse Date of Climb: 7/23/2005 Trip Report: Prologue: (Skip over this part if you just want the climbing action stuff. Or hell, if you're so damn strapped for time just glance over the damn pictures, sheesh!) Early in July Otto had so much fun watching me tumble and scrape at Index Town Wall that we decided we should make a date to climb for the whole weekend (!) sometime in late July. The date came nearer and Otto confessed a "mania" (no, I am not making this up) for the Index Peak Traverse. He had previously summited the North Peak, and I had previously attempted the East (descent) route, so together, we had the climb bracketed. How difficult could all that stuff in the middle possibly be? A drive up Hwy 2 (my sister, with LA roots, calls it "the Two"), the week before indicated an absence of handy snowpatches for water en route. A short but violent thundershower or two the day before our scheduled departure, combined with the Beckey words of, "slabs, may be problematic if wet", were enough to start thinking "backup plan". But enough of this pre-climb jitters nonsense...(I mean, none of you really care about this part do you?) Mt. Index from the 2 The actual climbing part: We arrived at the base of the N Ridge around 8ish Saturday morning with our carefully thought out mini-minimal bivy gear supplemented with around 6 lbs. (3 liters) of water. The day, so far, was quite foggy and overcast, and we crossed paths in the bush with a pair retreating due to their disdain for the wetness . The air was wet, but the rock fairly dry, as we scrambled up a few hundred feet on solid red rock to a nest of rap slings on old pitons where we roped up. Three pitches of rock, the last of which got sorta sketchy past a bunch of old pitons, got us to a point where we declared ourselves off route (probably Beckey's "longer" alternate up the face of the rock bowl). Luckily we found a wonderful brush-covered catwalk which transported us right back on route to the wonderful brush-covered N Face bowl. Two more brush-lovely sideways rope drags got us to the North Rib. North Rib = cool, one pitch especially so. Sorta airy, pretty solid rock, just a bit o bush. I think the especially fun pitch is pictured below, behind the smiling Otto. North Rib of North Peak North Peak was attained and we made those silly "one finger" things while sticking our tongues out to indicate bagging the first peak of the traverse. Then we ate lunch. Getting down from the North Peak into the notch was probably the sketchiest part of the traverse. Downclimb mossy steep chossy gulley, rappel off detached block, scramble across exposed dirty ledge, rap again, repeat. Exposed ledges getting over to North-Middle peak notch View of North Peak from the South Once down in the notch of committment, we had a bit of doubt as to the correct route to continue. Our first guess worked. We climbed steeply up chimneys and such with a bunch of loose looking things (but not very many actually were loose), which brought us to a majorly cool exposed ridge. Many pitches on this thing brought us to the Middle Peak summit about 8ish. Silly two finger, stick tongue out thing. Otto leading on ridge Otto following on ridge Ridge without Otto (taken from Middle Peak) We bivied down on the SE shoulder of the Middle Peak. We found no snow or water, but because of the nice cool temps in the morning, we each still had about 2 liters of water. Also, a snowpatch was spied down in the Middle/main peak notch, so we knew we'd have water in the morning. Thus, we could party down. Otto got blotto (well, not really, but I had to write that somewhere). Otto shivered miserably that night with his bivy bag-space blanket combo, while I was supremely comfortable with my newly-purchased fancy-pancy ultralightweight sleeping bag ( click me ). Day two found us melting some snow with my newly-purchased fancy-pancy ultralightweight stove then trying to figure out what the hell a damn "wedge gendarme" is. Well, we found it, and it added a bit more exposed ridge climbing. Then scary steep heather mixed with scary steep loose gulley traverse, a bit more of the hateful hateful brush then topside! One PM. Three fingers, wag tongue. Walk down was cool. We came across these idyllic little tarns a bit like Tank Lakes or the Enchantments even, where we did some easy bouldering. Tarns on the backside of Index Great frictiony rock for easy bouldering We located Beckey's obvious gulley (go left from idyllic little tarns). It is completely melted out. Fun scrambling on surprisingly clean steep rock got us down. At one giant overhang we utilized a fixed rope to make a 50' free rapell (possibly could have downclimbed on skiers right). After this the descent pretty much sucked. Steep talus, the kind that's usually covered with snow, so is now precariously perched, sucked. Then the bushy steep ridge was minorly sucky. Then finding ourselves lost in impenetrable brush, worse than any on the climb so far, added a final stab and scrape of suckiness (lot's of berries though!). Finally, we stumbled past Lake Serene, then trudged down superhighway trail to car. Fun! Epilogue: I have heard a few people recommend this as a good climb to do...once. Gear Notes: Medium rack (single cams + stoppers) One 60m rope Approach shoes Extra water Approach Notes: Snow for water currently in Middle-Main peak notch