Raoul

The trail was great up until the turnoff to go up to Terror Basin. From there it is rough with lots of downed trees, brush and rocks to go over but never too hard to find. The giant log at Terror Creek had water running over the top so some people were sitting on a smaller log 15 feet above the water and scooting across that. We went a couple hundred feet upstream and crossed in knee to thigh-deep water. The trail on the other side is right next to the log crossing. It is very steep but easy to find and follow. Here are a few photos: The Chopping block from camp Himmelhorn, Twin Spires, the Blob, Terror and Degenhardt from camp Nearing the top of the couloir Fun scrambling Nearing the summit

Trip: Mt Terror - West Ridge Date: 8/1/2010 Trip Report: Our group of three set out Friday morning on a four-day trip into the Southern Pickets with the goal to climb Mt Terror and maybe something else as well. I had seen my plans get paired down before up there by the tough approach but still put in 7 lbs of rock gear in hopes of climbing the NE ridge of the Chopping Block while there. There were two other groups up there climbing Terror on Saturday so we thought we would not crowd the mountain and go for the Chopping Block on Saturday. Our plans were dashed by rain so we all spent the day in the tent napping and listening to the rain and thunder. A rest day seemed pretty nice after all. One of the other groups bailed on their climb and the other group must have had an epic day on Terror’s East Ridge. We didn’t talk with them but saw them coming back across the basin in the early evening. The rain stopped Saturday night so we were all set to climb Terror on Sunday. We awoke to a wall of white fog on Sunday morning but felt that it would clear off as the sun came up. It stayed pretty foggy as we headed across the basin and we actually walked past the west ridge couloir but eventually found our way to the proper spot. The couloir is still full of snow which made the ascent pretty straight forward. It is steep (like a ladder in the steepest part) but the snow was good and we had no need to rope up. At the top, we went around the corner and into the moat, changed into rock shoes and climbed a short crack (5.5?). There was a fixed nut here so I figured it was the place to go. Up above, I continued past a rap anchor to a second anchor higher up to bring up the other two. From here, we were able to scramble the rest of the ridge to the summit and almost get out of the fog. We brought a rope up and belayed each of us 20 feet or so to the true summit (probably not really needed but it is pretty exposed up there). We spent an hour or so by the summit looking around and taking pictures before descending. We downclimbed the ridge and did one double-rope rappel from where I belayed earlier to get us down to the notch. From here we backed down the steep couloir and headed back to camp. We hiked out on Monday in clear weather. I’ll have to see if I can figure out how to post some photos. Gear Notes: Two 7.8mm x 60m ropes A few nuts and tri-cams Crampons and ice axe Approach Notes: The trail into Crescent Creek basin is better than I expected down low. We could follow it all the way up to the top of the Barrier at 3500 ft. I had hoped it would open up from there. On the Barrier ridge the trail came and went between bashing through the brush and crawling over downed logs but we really only had to stay on the ridge until we hit snow.

Trip: Prusik Peak - West Ridge 07/03/2009 Date: 7/3/2009 Trip Report: My partner Bonita and I went in to the Enchantments over the long Independence Day weekend and climbed the West Ridge of Prusik Peak. As usual, we thought we could maybe do some other climbs while we were back in there (High Priest and Mt Temple were my thoughts) but the approach and main climb pretty much wiped us both out. We stayed up late Wednesday night packing (I hate to pack and always put it off for far too long). We left Olympia early Thursday morning. After picking up our permit, we started at the trailhead at 10:30 which put us climbing up Aasgard Pass in the heat of the day – it was hot. By the time we reached the top we were ready to set up camp and decided to stay there instead of moving closer to the climb. We found a good camp site with beautiful sunset views. Friday morning we took the standard trail from camp to Prusik Pass where we found a great tree to hang our packs (away from the goats) and did the climb with only bum bags, a few extra clothes, first aid kit, water, etc. We left our boots in our packs as other recent trip reports let us know we didn’t need them for the traverse back. After scrambling over one hill and then up the next, we were at the balanced rock were we roped up. We climbed two pitches to the ridge, did a short pitch up the 5.7 slab, and set up a belay just around the exposed corner in the big wedge. I had done this climb several years ago and remember how bad the rope drag and communication was on this pitch when we stretched it out to a full rope length. The belay mid-way made things much easier. The crack, flake and chimney section to the top is some of the most fun and varied climbing I think I’ve ever done. We must have hung out on the summit for over an hour. It was such a nice warm day with so little wind. A few mosquitoes even followed us to the top. We met another couple that followed us up the route. They were very nice people and we decided to share our ropes so we could do double rope rappels. There are stations set up for single-rope raps if needed but the doubles saved time. It took us three rappels (the last one could have been a single-rope) to get down to the well worn traverse trail back to our stashed gear. On the traverse back, somehow, Bonita’s camera fell out and went sliding, then cart wheeling about 40 feet below the traverse trail. I saw where it landed and was amazed that I didn’t see parts of it flying off on the way down. It was pretty banged up but as I scrambled down to get it, I thought we could at least get the memory card with her photos. But hey, it still works! We are both sold on Canon cameras and now even more so. We took a high traverse back to camp (suggested by the other couple who were camped near us). This saved all the elevation loss and gain of the standard trail but Bonita and I got a little off route on the way so it didn’t really save us any time. We eventually got back to camp in time to eat dinner and catch the tail end of another great sunset and watch the moon rise over Little Annapurna. We packed up the next morning and had an uneventful hike back out to the trailhead. Our permit lasted another night but we decided to leave early so we didn’t have to sit in traffic on Sunday evening coming home. After dinner and beer in Leavenworth, we drove home and watched various fireworks along the nearly empty freeway on Saturday night. This trip had it all. A great climb with perfect weather and an even better partner. This has to be one of my favorite climbs ever so far. Gear Notes: Medium Rack Nuts Cams .5 to 3 No Ice Ax or crampons needed Approach Notes: Get an early start to camp and avoid climbing Aasgard in the heat of the day.

Climb: Burgundy Spire-North Face Date of Climb: 7/4/2004 Trip Report: Independence Day climbs are starting to look like a tradition for me -- to attempt a serious (for me) climb each year at this time. Last year we climbed Mt Triumph on the fourth of July and had a wonderful trip. This year we decided to try and find our way up Burgundy Spire. I had heard stories of difficult route finding and had looked at some different route descriptions that didn’t seem to correspond with each other. It would be a challenge. After the long drive from Olympia, we hiked on up to the bench below Burgundy Col and set up camp on Saturday. Other than the constant pestering by mosquitoes as soon as things cooled down for the evening, it was a great camp. It felt almost like a campground with a perfect level tent site and a running brook a short hike north of camp but not the usual crowds that one would find in a campground on this weekend. The climb went well though it seemed to have more difficult climbing than I expected – not harder than I expected – just more pitches that made me aware and take notice. Our group of two was the only party on Burgundy that day. After poking around some, we found what seemed like an often-traveled route up the summit block. It didn’t really look quite like what’s on Beckey’s topo but there was rock cleaned of lichen and that was enough to encourage us up the route. The view of the other spires from the summit alone is worth the climb. This was my first time using a twin rope system on a climb. I was apprehensive about rope management but it’s pretty smooth and it was really nice to have two ropes for the descent. We made 6 double rope rappels with 60-meter ropes to get off the spire. There are intermediate rap stations but it would take a long time to descend with one rope making twice that many rappels. After returning to camp, we decided to stay another night before the hike out to the car and the long drive home. Burgundy Spire was a great climb. Now I want to go back and climb some of the other Wine Spires! Gear Notes: twin 60-meter ropes #3 camelot used on every pitch

I think pit zips are much more effective. The Napolean pockets are easier (cheaper) to sew so they have become popular with the manufacturers but they don't really work IMHO.

Mt Jupiter is nice. Also check out Mt Townsend for a trail to the top. Mt Stone is a good rock scramble. You might also check out another route or variation on Mt Washington. All are one-day climbs with no technical difficulties this time of year. Hurry before the snow blocks easy access.

Here's another link. Press Here

I agree with Off_White. The bivy site on the ridge rocks and has this view of the Southern Pickets. You may need to haul some snow up from below for water this late in the season.

Alpinist Andrew, I believe you were at the start of the route. Sharkfin Col is north of the tower so you would not have seen the SE Face from there. Do not climb directly up to the rap slings. At the proper col, facing north, step up and around to your right on easy ledges. Then climb up to where you are at the same level as the rap slings only further north. You've already done the hardest part by climbing up that loose gully. Sharkfin Tower is a fun climb with awesome views. Hope this helps. -Raoul

We climbed FC two years ago in early July and bivied at the top of the chimneys below Winnie's Slide on snow. There was lots of room with a great sunset view if you don't mind hauling your overnight gear up that high.

We did an Independence Day climb of the NE Ridge of Mt Triumph last Friday. Early season snow made an easy glacier exit onto the rock. We bivied Thursday night one pitch up the ridge to shorten the summit day. It was a cool place with beautiful views into the Southern Pickets. We saw snow on the upper mountain so took ice axes and boots with us to the summit. We didn’t need either. The route is all clear. Met some nice folks from Portland on the route. The summit was in a cloud so we missed those views but had a great time anyway. Along the way up we also had views but they were more dream-like in an alpine foggy sort of way. After many rappels and much downclimbing we packed up our bivy gear, rapped two more times, and moved across the glacier to the standard bivy site. A fast party could walk all the way out but we were running out of both daylight and energy so it seemed nice to stop for the night with all of the technical part behind us. We woke up in a misty rain and walked out early Saturday morning on the brushy wet trail. Later that morning, I ate 2 breakfasts at Howie’s Diner. Although there was more loose rock than I expected on the route and it sometimes didn’t protect very well, it seemed solid when we really needed it. Mt Triumph rocks!

trask said: "You know it's funny, all joking aside, if someone could find the real source of those stats I posted, I'll bet you'd find them accurate." Not a verifyable source but a google search finds three hits. Here's one of them. Jokester's Homepage Hard to take any of it seriously but you've trolled out three pages of spray so far.

"I give my ex-jock friend crap 'cause he got beat to the top by a pomeranian. " Hey lemon, That was Roscoe, my pomeranian, that beat your friend to the crater rim. The dog has summit fever. He was pulling on the leash to get to the summit first. He can scramble up most any third class peak but is small enough (10 lbs) to fit in my pack when it gets tough. He must take about 10 times as many steps as we do. St Helens was his first volcano.

I also have a McHale SARC that I've used for about a year and I love it. I think that the harness system is the best feature of the pack. It feels better than any other pack I've carried. I use the McHale on nearly every trip I do so it's worth it for me to have something that fits, feels and works so well. On the other hand, a friend of mine says that for $500 he could hire an energetic high school kid to carry all of his gear for a whole season or two and that would feel even better on his back.