Drederek

Sounds like quite the undertaking, well done! I scouted the connection from Cub to the sawtooths last year, picking up 25 bee stings on my way back to Mildred TH. There is a trail of sorts atop the long curving ridge that connects Lincoln with the trail before the final descent to Mildred lakes. It appeared from Cub peak you could bushwhack straight down thru somewhat open country and get back up to the ridge. I have no idea what the creek looked like down there but it didn't sound too large early in September. Maybe Rose, Bear Camp, Copper, Cub and Lincoln for starters?

Capitol Forest, Porter creek loop. Up Iron creek down hell creek. Only twenty miles or so if I recollect correctly.

Looks like a fun hike, on a bonus day. Thx for the pics!

Well thats kind of what climbing is all about, finding the line that gets you there and just as importantly, back. I'm more than willing to sacrifice some speed for safety. Being willing to give up some ground if you spot a better way, accurately assessing rock quality, knowing your strengths and weaknesses. Trusting your gut and knowing when to over rule it. I believe having an onsight mentality rather than a sporto background is helpful.

Wow! And I thought my Mother in Law was prejudiced.

Nice job getting it first try, thats not so easy in the Olympics sometimes. Sounds like theres no snow till after the lake, I'll have to make my semi-annual pilgrimage up there soon.

I'm not!

Trip: Mt Ellinor - Rose to NW gully Trip Date: 05/27/2018 Trip Report: The first time I attempted this was almost 20 years ago, we made it up onto Mt Ellinor from the Mt Rose trail but were turned away by chest deep postholing. The route we took up and across the south face was awful, loose steep and no fun at all. However with no desire to retrace our steps we were forced to find another way down, which appeared to be a 14 mile hike down to the 24 and back to the Mt Rose trailhead. As the trail gained the ridge overlooking the lake the GPS said we were 1/2 mile from the car and the dirt slide of death descent was dicscovered! The second half of the puzzle was solved but it took a chance encounter with a Mt Rose trail crew member to figure out a better first half... We started up the Mt Rose trail about 8:30, not sure of our beta to search out a new trail and hopefully make it up the unillusive Mt Ellinor, the whore of the Olympics, ready for any and all comers. Sure enough we found the sign proclaiming Bear Camp was a mere .7 miles away. Kind of a neat destination in itself. After poking around a bit we headed westward on a trail as we knew we needed to gain the ridge or we'd end up where I did so many years ago. The trail got us quickly over to the ridge where we promptly lost it and did some serious Olympic bushwacking and log crawling with some slide alder/Devils club action to spice it up. But really not too bad as there was still snow covering a lot of it and the DC was just starting to sprout. After traversing under the ridge for an hour or so we stopped and looked at the map and wisely decided to cross the ridge before we followed it down to Mt Pershing, accomplishing this feat at the highest point on the ridge! We were rewarded with a new view of the summit we were after. Braver men might have stayed high and followed the SW Ridge? (right skyline) up but my fear of the south face and desire to ascend the steep snow of the NW gully won out, forcing us to descend about 500 feet and work our way around the left shoulder in the pic above and up 1000 feet of easily kicked in steps. Approaching the summit we could see the ess shaped route of our descent off the ridge and be content knowing we took 7 hours to climb what most people climb in an hour or two. Tagged the summit, slid down most of the the rapidly disintergrating winter chute and scampered down the trail to the head of the dirt slide of death. The dirt slide went pretty well but became overgrown about halfway down, necessitating, you guessed it, more schwacking! Moving slowly with tired legs on a never ending descent we finally hit the road just a couple hundred yards from the car. It was a great day and a challenging way to climb an old friend. Gear Notes: Axe, lightweight traction Approach Notes: A little schwacky here and there

Its definitely higher on known ground than onsight, the Eye felt like a hike while the west ridge of Constance felt like free soloing.

I can't be the only one who took some last week

haven't but id bet money on it

I respect the ratings more at Castle Rock as a general rule as well.

If Damnation = 5.9, OS = 5.8. On a par with Ski Tracks or The Bone. Definitely easier than Rogers Corner. What I surmised to be the broken flake is clearly visible in the above picture, it just starts a little further away from the corner now.

No need to worry, P3 is still Leavenworth 5.9. It appears that about a foot of the flake in question snapped off, not really a big deal. When the other 90% of that flake goes there may be an issue, although that does not seem imminent.

Not hard to take fantastic pictures there! Great list of climbs!