Norman_Clyde

This no doubt qualifies as boring fare for all of you on steeper terrain this weekend, and I posted a similar report last fall, but I'm in a good mood and I feel like sharing. This weekend I was stuck working in Othello from 9 AM Sunday until 10:30 AM this morning. My late departure for Seattle gave me the added enjoyment of sitting on I-90 for an entire hour in bumper to bumper traffic this afternoon between Cle Elum and the pass, every 3rd car an RV returning to Puget Sound. I had originally planned to go up Si on my return, but the weather was so nice at the pass that I went for the Snow Lake trail instead. By the time I got there at 1:45 it was so warm I was comfortable shirtless in the parking lot. I headed up the trail in running shoes, running shorts, no shirt, a polypro top around my waist, ski poles, no pack, no water. The expected hordes were polite enough to step aside when I came up behind, and I got up to Source Lake in probably 20 minutes or so. The trail was packed slush, very slippery. Hikers without poles were having a time of it, but with poles I could keep at a slow run. At Source Lake I decided to head up toward the Tooth, which as expected had a well established boot track. The sun was blazing, and even shirtless I sweated like a Mountie.* I drew a lot of double takes from everyone decked out in Goretex. But it must have been 65 or 70 up there, no wind, what were they doing so overdressed? It took only another 15 minutes to reach the basin below the Tooth, and I got to Pineapple pass in just over an hour from the car. Several Mounties were just finishing their climb, all looking very pumped. I resisted the temptation to free solo in running shoes just to show them up.* Instead I put my shirt on for the descent and enjoyed a standing glissade down to the lower basin. From there I could move at a loping run in the soft forgiving snow down to the next gully, where I glissaded again down to the lake. I stopped to watch a couple of tele skiers cut some excellent turns down the slope from Chair Peak Basin. The soft layer was not too deep, so spring skiing conditions were actually very good. I had an easy jog back down the trail to the car. The traffic was much less bothersome for the last 50 miles back to town. (* = nod to mountie bashers; mandatory on all cc.com posts concerning the Tooth.) Hikes like this are less ambitious than big climbs, but sometimes they deliver a windfall of quality alpine experience. Today was one of those. On solo climbs I'm often very preoccupied with safety; on my usual fast hikes I'm often preoccupied with time. Today I had neither worry, and enjoyed one of the most carefree alpine afternoons in recent memory. Even though much of the Memorial Day weekend was taken up with work, I still got a couple of precious hours in the mountains.

WARNING: THREAD DRIFT Did you guys have a permit from way back in 2002? Or did you go for the lottery on the day you arrived? I have a few days free over 4th of July and might consider the Enchantments, but I did not reserve a weekend this year and probably have a snowball's chance in of getting an upper Enchantments spot on 4th of July weekend. (No, I'm not considering going bare, Caveman and the rest of you.) Who would care to speculate on the crowd at the Leavenworth ranger station on Saturday July 5th at 6 AM?

The snowline as of one week ago is in the woods just short of the first clearing. There was a little snow on the forested slope between the meadow and the upper creek bed, which made travel a little slippery. You could dig out a nice snow camp up high. The meadow has a very deep layer thanks to winter avalanches. It was convenient to hike to about the first clearing in trail shoes, then switch to boots. I don't really know what part of the couloir is called the Hourglass. Probably it should be the whole thing, because with a real hourglass that's what you call the whole item. When I climbed it first in Sept. 1994, I never even knew there was a narrow part, because the boot path went so far to the east of it.

Make it for 4th of July weekend and I can go. Also, the altitude should read 14,494 not 14,449.

River otters, a distinct species from Sea otters.

Climbed South Brother yesterday with Fairweather and Fairweather's buddy Dieter from New York. The weather being what it was, and with Dieter's needing to fly back on Sunday at noon, we bagged our Rainier plans and went on a day trip instead. I left Seattle at 3:20 AM, joined the party in Tacoma just after 4, and we headed up the trail at 6:50, delayed only slightly by waiting for the Hoodsport Kwik-E-Mart to open at 6. Weather was cooler than expected, upper 30s, but we were optimistic that the clouds would burn off (ha ha). We switched to boots above Lena Forks. Fairweather and I had opted not to bring crampons, figuring the snow would not be too hard in May on a summit under 7000 feet (ha ha). There is still a generous snowpack starting at the first meadow. Travel was easy up to the first right turn onto the primary ascent couloir. Several inches of fairly light new snow lay over a hard base layer; step kicking became increasingly difficult. I could find the buried boot track by feel only intermittently. We bypassed the hourglass in favor of the bench to the right, being uncertain about avalanche potential above (there were no slabs, as it turned out). A couple of times I had to resort to cutting steps on the steepest parts of the upper gully. Once below the summit, I took off up the first gully I found, despite Fairweather's suggestion that the closest rockpile was not quite as high as the next one. Sure enough, after traversing above a small cliff and cutting steps up the gully, I found that the block I stood on was not the summit. However, this gave me an excuse to approach the true summit from the north, involving a few invigorating yards of step-cutting while exposed to the generous drop down the north face. Fairweather, Dieter and two other guys we met on the way chose the correct gully the first time, and joined me shortly. From the summit we had a few all too brief views, then the clouds closed in and it began snowing in earnest. Ball-bearing graupel fell and did not stick, instead rolling down the mountain in a continuous flow. We heard thunder a few times. At one point we heard a series of terrified yelps, and looked down to see a guy we had passed at Lena Forks with his husky dog, the dog in a panic squeezed up against the rock, afraid to move. That is, the dog was the one yelping and afraid to move, his master doing his best to calm her down. (He eventually succeeded, and by the time we saw her down below she had got her good cheer back.) The descent made for good glissading. New snow had already buried our tracks, and continued to fall all the way down to about 2000 feet. Got back to the car at about 7:30.

Summitted yesterday with Fairweather and his pal Dieter. Lots of snow. Several inches accumulated through the day. I'll post a full TR later.

Heading up there tomorrow. Will report on return.

Hey Distel, if you're ever up for running the lake at 6:30 AM, send me a pm.

Do you mean the N. Face and/or cave routes? Or are we talking ice at this time of year? Never mind, I just saw RobertM's post.

You might try calling the ranger station at Glacier. Their hours are limited (weekends only or something like that) until summer. Based on general weather trends and snowpack this year, conditions ought to be very good at this point, unless you are there on a warm day which would increase the wet slide risk. Let me know if you find anything out.

I called this weekend, and the West Side road was still closed. The recording did not indicate when it might open, but considering its low elevation, it ought to be soon.

Got chips and salsa and I'll pick up soft drinks too.

I am not aware of any recent problems with aggressive bears in the Olympics. You see the usual notes on campground bulletin boards. I called the park dispatch that afternoon, but they couldn't tell me if Staircase had been having unusual bear problems. The only other time I saw one in the Olympics was on a backpacking trip into the Elwha with my kids. We camped in a big open field under a tree, and watched a small bear dig up insects in the grass, about 150 yards away, for about 2 hours. We even cooked our lunch while he was there, but he was so busy he never looked up. That was a much smaller bear, only about waist high.

Yeah, they suffered along with ruined joints that didn't function properly and never would. You got that right. They got by... miserably. In fact, they still do, lots of them. RobBob, if you really have a spot on your shoulder that is sore to the touch, it's probably your AC joint, which is a much lesser problem than the rotator cuff. The AC joint doesn't really move, at least it's not supposed to. A few very unlucky individuals end up with chronic pain here, and the solution is -- very simple, really-- to surgically remove the entire joint. People can get along without this one. Rotator cuff injuries usually do not hurt to the touch, because the injured tendons are beneath the bony structures (like the AC joint) and can't be touched from outside. But I agree that you need an exam to tell for sure. It would definitely be worth your while to find out what is wrong, just so you have a more precise prognosis and more specific exercise guidelines. If your shoulder hurts in front, not on top, it's more likely to be the biceps tendon, like DFA says. (Is he a genuine doctor or what?)

If it's "only" metatarsal fractures, those don't have a reputation as being the worst kind of foot fracture. (Just ask Allison or Stefan.) Breaking four of them is a pretty big injury, but if the rest of your foot has not been injured, you could maybe start back to basic activities in a couple of months, more strenuous activity in more like 3 months. One thing I'd ask your surgeon is if you might have a Lisfranc injury as well. This is where the ligaments tear between the bigger and the smaller bones of your foot, about halfway between ankle and toes. These kind are particularly nasty, because your foot ceases to be a stable platform and wants to give way in the middle. Not always easy to diagnose either. But it doesn't sound like this happened to you. Those foot jams and other odd torsional forces you may apply when climbing rocks are probably going to hurt for a while. But I would guess that once you're healed, they won't pose a risk for repeat injury. Just don't take any big whippers while you are still healing. Chin up, dude! You will get better!

Not only a good read, one of the better reads on this board. Haven't we all felt that way one time or another? But "failed" trips, in my opinion, usually provide memories which mean just as much to me in the long run.

OK, call me clueless... but what is Elvis Syndrome? We alpine folks are a little uninformed sometimes.

I realized too late that I should have lobbied for Thursday not Wednesday, because I'm on call and therefore not allowed to become intoxicated. But I may bring some of that Jamaican ginger beer.

I can't show up until about 8, but I can bring whatever is needed for people still hungry at that time.

I'm confused about your route. Isn't the Rabbit Ears to the north of the Sitkum, across the Scimitar Glacier? I came down the Sitkum once and that's what I remember. One more thing I'm curious about... if you could choose one word to describe the conditions on the route, what would that word be?

A black bear does not quite measure up to a grizzly, but since yesterday morning, I can relate.

Coming back down this morning from Flapjack Lakes, a mile from the parking lot, jogging down the trail at a pretty good clip, I came face to face with the biggest black bear I've ever encountered. We startled each other for sure. I felt myself jump a mile, and the bear did the same. However, he fled only a few steps, then turned around and stared at me. We sized each other up for a minute or two. He appeared to be about 5 feet at the shoulder while on all fours. Not at all skinny from the winter, looked like 350 to 400 pounds. I didn't shout and wave right away, because it seemed ridiculous that this would work. How could this bear find a creature like myself intimidating? But he didn't move. I took my pack off. Ski poles make pretty flimsy weapons, but maybe the pack would serve as a distraction. "Hey-yaah!" I shouted. He didn't move. I waited a minute and tried again, a little louder, at which point he leaped like a scared rabbit into the brush.

Oly National Park is ripe for outings like these. Let me know if you guys are planning anything.

It would take more than T3s to take you to Kublai Khan with that kind of injury. Percocet might get you part of the way. These meds usually have an expiration date a year after issue. They're no doubt good for longer than that, but I wouldn't rely on pills more than 2 years old, especially if they've been subjected to extremes of temperature, like in someone's pack.