Picketeer

Access Creek does have its attractions . I do strongly recommend that the north side bushwhack be chosen. It is not the full grovel through thornberry and devil's club that is the south side whack.

Beautiful pics! In July, '06 climbing Pigeon we saw a huge avi crash down the se face of Howser Tower you can see in your photo.

Since many newbies are reading this thread and reading about climbing Hood routes, I just wanted to echo a couple good points. CLS is quite correct in that Sunshine is a more technical route than Cooper Spur, mainly due to the less direct approach and crevasses in route. When I have climbed Sunshine, I have descended by Cooper Spur. I would not recommend descent of Sunshine. Ryland is right on in his discussion of the perils of descending Cooper Spur. If in a difficult situation (time, energy, conditions), definitely descend the South Side route. If climbing Hood (or anywhere in the Western US), I suggest going to the NOAA website (there is a link on the skihood.com website) and obtaining a pinpoint forecast. Blessings to all on the mountain: climbers, rescuers, family. Mitakye Onsin

I agree with k.rose. I was at Indian Creek in March and climbed in Donelly Canyon and on Supercrack Buttress. Incredible Handcrack is a great climb but just gobbles gear (save some for the crux near where the crack curls back right). Also, Donnelly Canyon faces southward and the stone was baking by noon (in mid March!) and so we worked lines on Supercrack Buttress in the afternoon (this seemed a fairly popular scheme) since the lines near Incredible Hand Crack get some early afternoon shade. Be sure to check out the Yellow Submarine and Tortoise rock formations just before the turn-off for Indian Creek. Awesome, particularly in the twilight--one of those fine road trip sights.

Last Saturday, Bush told us while visiting Riga, Latvia last week that: "We will not repeat the mistakes of other generations — appeasing or excusing tyranny, and sacrificing freedom in the vain pursuit of stability." He must have just skipped over the "Except Uzbekistan and Pakistan" part.

Well, how many routes are there at Smith these days? Ten years ago there were about ~1000. I guess there are 1200+.

Climb: Ingalls North Peak-South Ridge Date of Climb: 7/14/2004 Trip Report: Packed in from the Teanaway Road trailhead to one of great campsites on the slabs below Ingalls Pass on Monday, 7/12 afternoon. Fantastic view of Mt Stuart and of upper meadows of Headlight Creek from camp. Planned to climb on the 7/13. But thunderstorms dissuaded us from leaving camp in the morning. Showered intermittently throughout the morning of 7/13. Cleared off in the afternoon and we set off for Ingalls Lake for a quick reconnoiter. Still continuous snow around the lake. The slabs leading up to the gully descending from the S. Peak-N. Peak col are mostly snow-free, still plenty of snow in the upper gully. Met a couple of guys taking a break at the lake on their way to Mt. Stuart. They said they were planning to climb the North Ridge. My climbing partner Eric wished them luck, having done the climb twenty-five years ago, recalling for the captive audience tales of his bivouac on the summit with no water and food and arduous descent down Cascadian and then back over Goat Pass to make it back to his camp and food. The North Ridge climbers-to-be casually took this in. One of them mentioned he had previously climbed the North Ridge four times. We wished them luck. I was stoked to go at first light on Wednesday and surprised Eric by arising and motivating him for a proper "alpine start". The weather was ideal--nearly cloudless conditions. We got trudging at about 5:30 am. Made it to the base of the climb beneath the dogtooths at 7:00 am after much fun cruising up the slabs. Snow conditions in the gully were great--just an axe for easy progress up the snow. We climbed on one 60 m 9mm doubled rope. No problems reaching an anchor in any ~ 30 m pitch. There is one very dubious anchor slung around a killer block that can be avoided by climbing up to the next anchor (two beefy Metolius bolts). Cimbed the route in my hikers(hooked my rock shoes to my harness--but never needed them). Eric climbed in his Sketchers (are those like real tennis shoes??) We detected perhaps one 5.6 move (as indicated on the variation shown in Beckey's topo), else rest is easy class 5 or easier. The roped climbing concludes at the top of the dark horns (we did not avail ourselves of the "belay cove" shown in Beckey's topo) and is a quick scramble to the summit (actually two summits, the more eastward has a cairn atop it and is clearly higher than the westward summit). We summited a little after 9:00 am Raps are from good stations. We avoided the manky block anchor by doing a full 60 m rap (with our one and only rope) from the 2nd rap/belay station (1st rap from station atop the dark horns) and doing a short easy downclimb (10-15 ft) to the next station (webbing slung around huge block on large ledge). We put a couple pieces in a convienient crack and belayed down this short downclimb just to be on the safe side. Two ropes would eliminate the need to downclimb or else use the manky block anchor. From this point to the deck was straight forward two short raps with some class 3 or 4 downclimbing. We saw two more parties nearing the top of the gully after we reached the deck at the start of the climb. A fun climb with great views of Stuart and Lake Ingalls. I was particularly struck by the beauty of the upper Jack Creek drainage. The rock quality is good and route takes a natural line. The exposures of polished serpentine rock along the route (and also coming up from Lake Ingalls to the col) are stunning (and very polished, glad not to have to friction up some of that on sketchy pro!). One question: what is the major mountain massif that one sees to the west (20 miles?) from Ingalls Peak?

Any idea of the type of rock or its quality? Looks like a good number of single pitch climbs might be available on these crags.

Put something in that will last awhile--3/8" bolts. The "missing bolts" are not referring to the bolts on the Pioneer Route aid pitch, which are 5/8". Putting new 1/4" in Smith Tuff will just swiss cheese the stone when they inevitably work loose and have to be replaced. I was climbing Ancient Art in the Fisher Towers outside Moab in March (conglomerated mud/sandstone-stuff has granite and quartz cobbles embedded in it) and the belay placements were pincushioned with crummy bolts, manky 1/4" bolts and old holes. Let's try to avoid this at Smith!

That road is killer! "Instead, we decided to go to 3 O'Clock Rock and sample the fine Darrington granite we had heard about . . . Of course, the drive up was a piece of work. When we got down to the car, back rear tire was flat. We decided to camp and limp into Darrington the following day on the pseudo-bike tire spare. There we became aquainted with the fine staff of "The Station". Decent folks."

Great job on E. Ridge! I also have been fouled up at that 2nd stream crossing. It took us a quite a bit of hunting around before we figured out that we needed to head up the creek several hundred feet where we finally found some cairns and tread. I remember that once we exited the creekbed we passed a rocky bench area with some old fire rings and then over a small ridge before heading out on the long heather traverse up to the notch/col heading down into Terror Basin.

The Camp IV area in Yosemite Valley has an awesome collection of boulder, many with multiple V-rated routes. Smith Rock also has good bouldering. Check out Alan Watts "Climber's Guide to Smith Rock". He has about twelve pages devoted to bouldering.

Thanks for the directions Jopa!

Did the route a number of years ago on a summer solstice weekend. Took the right hand side of the glacier up, then made the schrund crossing and reached the ridge near the large pinnacle (Mohler's Tooth?) that is prominent on the right ridge skyline above the schrund. The route from there is a pretty straightforward ridge traverse to make it over to the summit pinnacle, where one has to make a very steep (to me) traverse to gain the scramble routes to the summit. I would go very soon since the schrund crossing will get sketchier (and the rockfall more intense from the headwalls) as more days go by. Also, I might recommend camping at around 7000' near the glacier snout above Jeff Park. Good luck!

Despite the Dome glacier broiler, it was great to have sun rather than rain on summit day! The views are outstanding.

What idiots chop bolts at Rock Butte? Vandals? Crack addicts? Not any sane climbers (although that is a bit of a questionable combination of words). Its in the middle of the megapolis! Not in some wild area.

Nice TR! Never thought of skiing down the Finger. Made for a great glissade descent when we did the route some years ago.

Middle Index never made it onto my tick list. It is Most Impressive and a rockfall nirvana!

How do you get to the Giant Green Buttress? Keeping going on the same road past the trailhead to 3 O'Clock Rock? Or?

Left Portland last Monday morning, aiming for a first trip into Boston Basin and then up Forbidden. It started raining as soon as we hit Kelso. My climbing partner Eric said upon seeing the first drops, "you know what they say about weather in the North Cascades: if it's not raining, it soon will be." He then suggested we turn around and go climb Stein's Pillar east of Smith Rocks. Instead, we decided to go to 3 O'Clock Rock and sample the fine Darrington granite we had heard about but never climbed upon and see if the weather would turn in our favor for a North Cascades alpine adventure. We made it up to the trailhead in the early afternoon and sampled the Kone, Under the Boredwalk, and some other nameless (to us route) to the left of the Boredwalk. We liked the rough granite (much rougher than the Yosemite aprons we are used to, makes for bomber friction climbing). A fine afternoon, no slips, just cruiser slabwork. Nice backyard, Darrington! Of course, the drive up was a piece of work. When we got down to the car, back rear tire was flat. We decided to camp and limp into Darrington the following day on the pseudo-bike tire spare. There we became aquainted with the fine staff of "The Station". Decent folks. So Tuesday we learn from the Darrington R.S. staff that the weather is s'posed to change for the better on Wednesday. Good enuf for us. But we have changed our mind regarding objectives and decide that we are off to Domeville, figuring we still have four or five days before we have to motor south to the homelands. We make it to the Downey Creek trailhead in the early afternoon, pack, cache, and go. We trudge with our "kitchen sink lite" loads up to what we think is Bachelor Creek, but after groping uselessly in the duff and timber above our campsite for hint of a trail, we realize we are idiots and have camped at the last major creek below Bachelor Creek. No matter, we decide and conk out. We arise for what we realize (having previous experience schlepping in the range--Goodell Creek, Access Creek, etc.) that we are in for a fine day of self-induced trauma. We make it to the Bachelor Creek trail shortly and begin the ascent up the good trail. At this point, I will just mention that Mr. Skoog's topo is basically correct on the position of deadfall, slide alder, and the massive zone of deadfall. All who go this way are referred to his topo (do a search on Dome Peak, posted in June '02). It is a hefty journey. I seem to remember reading a post by Terrible Ted, where he mused that he was not likely to head this way again. I grok that. Since we are old and slow, middle-aged types with the "kitchen sink-lite" loads, it took us all day to make it to Cub Lake. The Sun showed little mercy and blazed throughout the afternoon once we entered the slide areas. We gave thanks that we were in the Cascades and hence crossed many rivelets and so forth and did not want for the H20. A couple of Bachelor Creek trail notes: we crossed the stream at about 4000'. There is a track that stays on the northside of the stream and which is rumored to allow for a traipse through the fabled "open timber" until you can rejoin the main trail around 5400' (Hidden valley land) above the massive region of downfall. Can't tell you about that--looks burly, but suspect it goes. Instead we followed the old tread through the "hopelessly tangled overgrown slide alder". This was not so bad, just hot. Really didn't lose the track but for a few steps here and there. The slide alder region is exited near where Beckey says is good camping (around 4400', about the 3.7 mile mark, along the creek in some nice open timber). After a short distance, the jumbo massive downfall region is observed. It is impressive and it roughly tracked where the trail switchbacked up to the "Hidden Valley" below Cub Pass. We followed the trail until smothered by downfall, and then kept in the timber to the right (as ascending) as far as we could until a small rock cliff turned us back right near the 5000-5200' level. From there we ascended as directly up the slope as possible and once we reached the Hidden Valley we quickly recovered the trail above the downfall area. This was a somewhat grueling but straightforward route to circumvent the downfall region. On Thursday, we left our Cub Lake campsite (we wondered why people camp on Itswoot Ridge, being another hour slog from the lake--yeah, I'm sure the alpenglow can make it quite pretty) at 6:30 am and summited around 2:30 pm. We encountered a duo of self-described "bushwhackers" camped just below the north arm of the Dome glacier (6400' level) who had carried over from the Chickamin, having wrapped the Chickamin having approached from the Hanging Gardens (reported to be not quite a garden yet, but close). The route was straightforward with a couple snow bridge crossings and one scrund/moat crossing on a rapidly melting snowbridge. Conditions were firm (am) to most sloppy (above the schrund/moat coming down the steep finger from the col in the pm). Mostly we just were baked mercilessly on the Dome Glacier. We got sunwhacked. Used all the Banana Boat SPF30. Our times were 8 hr up from Cub Lake; 4 hrs down. On the way out, we took 11 hours (Cub Lake to road), some of which was lolligag time by various nice streamsides, etc. A note on descending the jumbo slide: we followed the trail from Hidden Valley as far as we could into the slide and then contoured towards the timber across the slide and then followed it down to where the slide ran out near the 4600' level. A great alpine environment, remote with gem lakes, fine forests, and beautiful peaks. I am glad we made the journey. Particularly, now that brews are more ready to hand Last week we noted at least nine ascents (our party, the bushwhacker duo, and a party of five--I am assuming they all made it, some did). When we descended from Cub Lake, nobody was on their way up (Friday). Bug level was uncommonly low. I applied Deet only once or twice in four days. Not that the bugs weren't irksome, just not the usual massive blizzards of them I had grown accustomed to enduring on my recent North Cascade trips.

Hi: This is copied from a previous post I made a couple of years ago. Check out the website listed below and follow link to Picket Range 1999. Should help. See a trip report at http://antares.sc.suu.edu/climbing/ Follow the link to The Picket Range 1999. Access Creek is a wild approach route to the range. I can remember only seeing one sign of previous human visitation on the way up to the cirque (a tiny scrap of plastic). The keys to this approach are finding a log across the Big Beaver (note the photos of the broken log crossing on the day in and the "good" log on the way out in the trip report) and ascending through timber to the north side of Access Creek. This is correctly noted in some guidebooks (Nelson, Mt Fury route, Selected Climbs, Vol. II) but not in certain other guides (I am recalling Nelson, Luna Peak route, Selected Climbs, Vol. I). The Beckey route description in the current edition adequately describes the preferred route up Access Creek (which is the route we descended). As described in the trip report, we made the cardinal error of ascending up the south side of Access Creek. NOT RECOMMENDED! Enjoy the wildness of this place. There is plenty to marvel at as you make the journey!

Most impressive slog and crag fest!

A few suggestions (and yes, T-Meadows, is awesome if it is too hot in the Valley). Arrive very early to get in line for a camp site at Camp IV. You can stay a week, $5/day. Free coffee (usually) on Sunday mornings when the climbing ranger gives an update and local climbers rant about various issues (too many new chicken bolts on the Nose, etc.) The Cathedral Rock apron climbs are a great way to escape the heat. Prepare to be schooled on friction! Awesome climbs to escape the crowds include the Cathedral Spires (Higher and Lower). The exposure at the top of Higher is memorable (1000-2000+ at your heels). Braille Book is a solid multi-pitch climb in the same vicinity. Yes, it's crowded on the Valley floor, but remember everything several hundred feet off the floor is designated wilderness and most of it is marked with cairn trails, if that. Yosemite has beautiful groves of Bay trees, Incense cedars, huge Doug fir and pondos. If you need an off day (to let your hands scab over from all the jams you will be doing), visit the UPPER Mariposa grove of Sequoias, go very early to escape the crowds. An excellent place to crag and escape the heat is to visit the Devil's Bathtubs on the cliffs above the Awahnee Hotel. Beautiful waterfall strands pour into pools perfect for soaking. Either class 4 or climb Peruvian Flake (5.9). The cragging at the base of El Cap is great. Just beware the sun And if you are into long free routes, Freeblast (1st day up Salathe) is stellar (start at sunrise, be prepared to rapel down the fixed lines at twilight, depending on all things). Gives my regards to the stone nation.

The President and Vice President (yes, these are the actual peak names!) in Yoho National Park are decent two day hike-in and climb peaks with good alpine scenery. Close to Banff.

Since I live near sea level, I prefer to slog (lite bivy gear) to around 9000' and acclimate. It makes summit day less of a skull cracker.