Stefan

I have to disagree with some of you. I think it will be gorgeous out there both days. http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/wrhq/TotalForecast.csh?TotalForecast+WR+WA+018+033+MAPCOORDS^83^57

They changed the website: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/northcascades/pass/default.htm In addition. The road is NOW OPEN FROM NEWHALEM TO THE NORMAL CLOSURE AT ROSS LAKE TO ALL DRIVERS!

Don't just stick to hiking. Also use your mountainbike. Pushing that thing up logging roads is a great workout. Then coming down is a blast and it saves your knees. Here are my suggestions for mountain biking on logging roads: Bessemer Roads north of Lake Hancock/South of Calligan Lake west slopes of Rattlesnake

This is an excellent trip report. You told your feelings. You told your weaknesses. You told your doubts. Not many people are willing to write like this for fear of retribution or appearing feebile in a realm of chestbeating on cc.com. Here are the phrases I liked in your trip report. I hope you write more trip reports.

Climb: Razorback / The Whale (Peak 6559) / Boulder - Date of Climb: 3/13/2004 Trip Report: This weekend found Greg K., Dave C., and myself up Boulder Creek jus SE of Marblemount for an extraordianarilly unusual spring-like Saturday and Sunday typical winter weather like day. The three of us went to Hamilton and picked up the gate key for the Boulder Creek gate at 6:00a.m. Here is the info on how to get the gate keys for the Crown Pacific gates from Hamilton all the way to Marblemount: Drive Highway 20 until just before mile post 77--also just before you cross under the road trestle--and take a left. Then take a slight right on to the road coming off of the road trestle and keep heading north (Scott Paper road) for about 1/2 mile until you come to a little shack and gate. This is the guard that holds all the keys to all those gates. The guard is there from 6:00a.m. until 10:00p.m. every day. The guard will give you a key for your location for a $20 cash deposit, upon which you will receive the $20 when you return the key. It appears they have 6 different keys and each for a different area, so you better know specifically which gate you want access to. The guard has laminated maps but are general overall maps so it is a good idea you bring your map to make sure your map and the guard maps have the same road detailed information. They do not give access to all gates--not even the one up Howard Creek that gives access to the Twin Sisters range. As we were opening up the gate key for Boulder Creek along came Mike T., and Matt B. and we let them in with us. We drove to 1100 feet on the road until we were stopped by a freshly (this past summer) made berm. Mike T. had brought a motorcycle becuase the last time we were up this road it was mountainbikable/motorcycleable up until the Boulder Creek crossing. Well it now turns out there are 26, yes, 26 brand new berms on this road in less than 1 mile in distance--all made from this past summer or fall. Greg, Dave, and I were able to walk faster than Mike and Matt were able to use the motorcycle and so we never saw them again until the end of the day. The three of us headed up the road all the way until the stream crossing coming out of Lake No. 1 at about 4100. We put down all of our overnight gear and headed up for Razorback--also thinking that Mike and Matt would follow us. We decided to do Razorback and The Whale (Peak 6559) first becuase we knew weather was going to deteriorate for Sunday and we wanted to do a shorter ascent day for Sunday, AND we thought Mike's and Matt's goal for the day was to do Razorback. The snow conditions were EXCELLENT! Snow was soft in the trees warranting snowshoes but otherwise in open areas you stayed ON TOP of the snow which made for easy ascending. We made the summit of Razorback wondering where Mike and Matt were???? We left shortly and made a ridge traverse to The Whale staying on the north side of point 5995, descended to lake 5564, going up the SW ridge of The Whale at 5840+, and then traversed directly west ascending a short cliff band. From there it was ascending on excellent snow to the heathery summit of The Whale. We kept looking over at the Razorback for the two other guys and we never saw them--we figured they turned around. We left The Whale and through a series of glissades, snowshoeing in the trees, walking across Lower Granite Lake, we made it back to our campsite on the snow covered road around 4:15. At this exact time Mike and Matt pop out of the woods to tell us they made it to the summit of Boulder! Soon they were on their way down and we made camp for the night. Next morning it was snowing and we left camp at 7:30 following the footsteps of Mike and Matt for about 1/2 way up until we lost their footprints due to the amount of snow and the semi windy summit--it was a semi blizzard. This felt like winter conditions. Sometimes we put on snowshoes, sometimes we did without due to the hardness of the snow underneath. The last section of Boulder required a traverse on steep snow--but the very last section was the trickiest. Due to the amount of snow all the rock was slippery and the very last 4 feet required an aid move--we "hooked" the actual summit block with our ice axe and then shimmied on our bellies to the actual summit to touch the summit. Kind of tricky with snow blowing in your face. We soon were down back to camp by 11:00 and were down to the car by 2:30. We then drove over to the Lake Tyee area (north of Concrete) where Greg and I then walked up peak 1567 (447'P) on the Grandy Lake quad. As we were leaving the area the summits of Boulder and Jordan peaks could be seen becuase the weather had improved. Here are some pictures of Mike and Matt's trip up Boulder Peak: http://www.mtnmike.com/pics04/BoulderPk/ Saturday was excellent! If you were not out, then you missed out!

Marblemount. Rains a lot. But access is sweet. Other than that, if somebody paid for my home....I think it would be Whistler.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/northcascades/pass/spring04.htm

Mark Twight talked about a cold / hot shower cycle to flush something out of the muscless when you train. I don't remember if this is true. I believe it is the same function that some Olympic athletes do.....but I am not sure....

I know the road is plowed to just before Chilliwack Lake during the winter.... But in your opinion is the road driveable by a standard 2WD vehicle to the end right now?

Geordie told me last year that less than 5 days out of the whole year before July 10 was the quota reached for the maximum amount of people in Boston Basin. If you ever go during the week I don't think you will ever have a problem. The road does not usually open up until July 4th. Sometimes it is a pain to walk the road for a couple of miles--I recommend taking a bike if you decide to go in June which I think is the best time because of the amount of snow and less rock hopping. Although traditionally after July 4th the weather is more reliabale.

Northern Washington seems to have normal average snowpack amounts. However, southern Washington and Mt. Hood have higher than average snowpack. Here is the data: http://www.seawfo.noaa.gov/products/CLISNO

Nice. Very nice.

We did not hit snow until the very end of the road when we did it--when you leave the road to do Damnation. I also remember we did some other peak 400' prominent peak near Damnation....

You must have a higher level of tolerance for brush than me!

Hey Michael Layton thanks for your time putting this together. I enjoyed it. It adds to the quality of the site.

I don't put up flagging....but I sure like to see flagging when I am out in the bush -- It makes me feel good to see that some other stupid fool was in the same damned god forsaken place as I was.

I was out at Winthrop this past weekend. I found normal snow levels out there....but what was weird was the snowpack which I haven't experienced before. The snowpack was about 2-3 feet where I was with a crusty layer on top. But below the crusty layer was absolutely no level of consolidation--it was all powder to the ground. They will probably plow the road from the east side this year without any plowing starting from the west. The west side crews will probably devote their time to the two major repairs that need to be done to the roads. The road will be finished plowing well before they finish the repairs. Just my guess.

The people who I would take up the Tahoma Glacier are in pretty good physical condition. They have never done any mountaineering though. I really wanted to know how difficult the angle was between 10,500 and 12,000 as Beckey describes in the book and if this is "too scary" for a newbie.

I have not been on the route and only have read Beckeys route description. Would you take a newbie / friend on the Tahoma Glacier route?

In my opinion....forget Rainier altogether. Go to the North Cascades. Do Dome, Forbidden, Logan, or Spickard.

Nice pictures. I do like them. If somebody does not really care, then why do they spend the time to post? Thanks for sharing Scott.

thanks for the info!

Wow. Going up the Barrier along that ridge from Terror creek in snowshoes. That must have been some kind of workout for about 1600 feet. Congrats.

Looking for times. How long on the approach to the lake from the trailhead? How long to the gap from the lake? Did you use snowshoes, skis, or decide to posthole it? Thanks for the info!

You are a bad ass. Wow. Colin, about where did you have to start wearing the snowshoes?