dkemp

Climb: Mt R-Emmons Glacier Date of Climb: 7/17/2004 Trip Report: Hiked up Emmons Glacier to the summit on Saturday 7/17/04. Lots of cracks but no problema . Went around the bergschrund - a long traverse and its kinda sketchy with crevasses below but it goes just fine. Actually for us the crux crack was between Schurman and Emmons Flats!! Met lots of nice people at Camp Schurman and it wasn't very crowded. Fun sitting-glissade down Inter Glacier . See attached photo of a distant rope team end-running the bergschrund. Photo taken by my friend on our descent. Gear Notes: basic glacier stuff including crampons Approach Notes: No snow until Rope Up Rock (base of Inter Glacier)

Saturday - hiked up Emmons Glacier to top of Mt R. Sunday - pizza at Enumclaw Pizza Hut See cool attached photo of Schurman ranger hut - photo taken by my friend. Dox

Nice, way to go man!

Wow! Summit from Schurman in 4 hours - impressive indeed. I think my fastest time up from Schurman is like 7 hours - 'course I'm not the fastest hiker around. Yeah those bike racers have impressive aerobic engines. Doxey

Wow, four hours from White River to Camp Schurman is pretty good time. I think most people will take longer than that. Dox

Nice trip I love that area. Way to go getting above the clouds - that musta felt great.

Yeah we were there by 10am - cool breeze, no-one else around - perfect. Then getting ready I realized I had left my harness in the car - Wha? AW GEEZ! No way! But I - I - but - but - Aarrgh! Hiked down the car, retrieved my harness and back to the base of the climb, round trip = 1 hour ten minutes. Oh man, sometimes I drive myself crazy.

Climbed Givlers Dome this weekend with my buddy Seth. He let me lead the second pitch - good stuff! I dont think I would've led the first pitch - those first moves are awkward - yikes! Boy I can see how this climb is so popular - that second pitch is fun! Odd enough though, it wasnt crowded on Sunday. We saw some folks nearby but no-one else was on Givlers. Doxey

Damnation - way to go man. Dox

Climb: Mt Baker-Squak Glacier/Roman Wall Date of Climb: 6/26/2004 Trip Report: Bushwhacker Climbing Club, Section 2, to the top! Squak Glacier route then up the Roman Wall. Uhg, snow conditions were not so great - postholing up, didnt get to use crampons at all. At least the descent wasnt bad, the glacier cooled by cloud cover. Crevasse rescue day was fun - six students in the hole and six rescued. The students used map & compass and kept me from getting lost - but I tried... Again the Bushwhackers failed to make a sacrifice to the volcano. We chose an appropriate victim and attempted to throw her into the bubbling cauldron of magma, but she fought us off with her ice axe. We then appealed to her to take one for the team but she steadfastly refused. We're not certain how the mountain will react to this lack of respect but I sure ain't goin' back up there. Doxey

Climb: Mt Baker-Squak Glacier/Roman Wall Date of Climb: 6/19/2004 Trip Report: First Bushwhacker Climbing Club course climb! This is the big climax of the class, and everything went great. Six students, two assistants and one instructor (thats me). The nine of us practiced crevasse rescue on Friday. Nice crack - not as wide as I'd like but plenty deep enough to make the point that you dont wanna fall in there. They also learned how difficult it can be to communicate in the wind. Beautiful day for climbing on Saturday. We kicked steps up to about 8k, then cramponed nicely to the summit. On the descent of the Roman Wall a student in the middle of the third rope team misstepped into a crack. She shouted falling! and went down to her thighs. I dont think it was wide enough for her to really go down in there, but anyway the student at the rear pounced into team arrest while the student below moved downhill to make the rope more taut. Way to go! On the way down from camp we had clear skies, which made it kind of hard to confuse them with navigational challenges. Nevertheless, I got "lost" lots of times and they successfully used map & compass to get me down the hill to the car. For the students, lots of "firsts". First time on a glacier, first time on crampons, first time blue-bagging, first time lighting a camp stove, ... Section 1 up and down - Section 2 comin' up next week! Course is a wrap on Tuesday evening June 29. Dang, we're almost done! Doxey Gear Notes: used crampons going up, wish we had snowshoes for the way down.

Took the students up Mt Baker. Had fun on crevasse rescue practice day, then bluebird skies on summit of Mt B! Dox

After years in the Kaukulators I got a pair of the Ballet Golds from our friends at Feathered Friends. I love the Ballet Golds, man, they're great. I wont give up my old Kaukulators though! I got 'em resoled and I'll still use 'em every once in awhile. They were always a bit too big but I loved them nevertheless. Good luck in your search - I understand!

Oh yeah, Quinault rainforest is gorgeous. Enchanted Valley earns its name - meadows with waterfalls and peaks. Meadows higher, yeah. We were above the valley, on the way up to Anderson Pass, when we stopped to eat lunch. We saw momma bear come out of the woods, about 2-300 yards away and downhill from us. She walked in a little circle, then dropped her head to graze. As soon as she dropped her head, two cubs came out of the forest. They bounded over logs, wrestling each other. Just the cutest goddam thing I ever saw. I got pictures but you cant really tell, know what I mean? They're just kinda dots in the photo. I know if I scan it it wont come out good. I might have pics of the climb but its a cryin' shame how disorganized my photos are - I doubt I could easily put my hands on them.

Yeah, the first time I clumb Mt A the High Bridge over the Dose was out. So we approached via Enchanted Valley. Beautiful forest, and we saw bears on the way up to Anderson Pass. We were there in August - no other summit registers for that year when we were there. Could see Kingdome easy. The three of us did the hike out in one day - uh, not sure why we did that - long day, 19 miles? Had dinner at Dennys in Aberdeen at midnight. After the meal my pal ordered a whole pie with three forks. The waitress was stunned and hesitated, but he insisted "A pie with three forks!" We finished that pie... it was harder than climbing Mt A! Doxey

Thanks. I met Chelle and Chalkball and they got me fixed up with retired ropes. Dox

Re class 2 routes, yeah me and my pals came down that way. We climbed up via flypaper pass/eel glacier to summit, then hiked down via class 2 routes on the, uh, south side (I dont have my maps with me here.) We did this simply to make a loop 'cause we like loops. Yeah, it goes but if I remember right it had some class 3, using-your-hands type stuff. If I remember right I would not have called it class 2. Dox

Oh man, really bad.

Dang! Well be sure to put it on your list for another time. I climbed it in sunshine many years ago - we could see the Kingdome from the summit! Its a nice climb actually, and more wildflowers above Anderson Pass than I've ever seen anywhere. Seems like they just replaced the high bridge a couple years ago. Its too high be damaged by a flood, right? What could have happened to it?

Because I'm a lazy, er, fuk. And because I like making connections with people, like on this board. Good stuff folks, thanks!

Still looking for old climbing ropes to be used in our climbing course practice drills. Anybody got an old rope they can part with? Doxey

I'm giving a mountain weather lecture in a few weeks. Trouble is, all my cloud photos are lousy. I'm looking for photos of clouds, but especially photos taken by local climbers in the mountains of Washington state. Thanks in advance, Doxey

The Bushwhacker Climbing Club basic course is underway - and going great! We have a Roped Travel Skills outing in a couple weeks where we will need some retired ropes for practice. Any retired ropes out there? I have one that I am donating but we still need three more. Doxey

I took WFR in April from an outfit called Rescue Specialists in Leavenworth - recommended!

A daring rescue for sure. Kudos to the pilot and crew of the chopper, and the MRNP climbing rangers too. Doxey