Toast

Friends tried this route and missed the start by 50'. This pic is from this weekend and show the correct start - route to LEFT in BLUE under current conditions. Note white slabs peeking out of the snow.

Find a friend with a jointer, get a bag of dope, and make some really cool furniture.

Nice :tup:

The snow's melting fast. I doubt the snow bridge across the schrund will be there in two weeks time. The summit block will still be doable, just more work... scary work. Many many thanks to the folks who provided beta. With the exception of the boat and a slight misjudgement of which descent gully into Access creek, all went off like clockwork.

Yeah, cuz as it's currently described, things don't jive.

Nice, now bring on them tasty pix

Cool, now you can drink and drive again

Um, sell it? If you're not that greedy, I'll take half a dozen good sized poles for my garden.

Bummer, sorry this happened

A happy one to you and your better half

We saw you guys coming down. We were the silly one's who stuck it out the night and summited the next day. From the tarn, we went up to the left to gain the ridge. Storms loomed, and we got snowed on as we made it to the summit. This is a great non technical climb and a good option if weather is looking lame on the westside. :tup:

This log jam is there as of July 4, 2007. From the trail, drop down just past the streams just north of Luna Camp. From the Access Creek side, there is a single half submerged log 10 or 20 minutes up stream. The log jam is a safer crossing. If you find a red Suunto Vector lying around here, I'd appreciate it if you'd haul it back for me.

I'm waiting for D to whittle down the shots to a reasonable number to select from. We had one camera, but he shot enough for all three of us If you go up that way, I dropped a red Suunto Vector somewhere around the Big Beaver crossing, prob crossing the logs or on the bushwhack up to the trail. I took it off my wrist for a swim and attached it to my shoulder strap. In hindsight, I don't think I secured it very well and noticed it missing when I was back on trail.

Nice pix, nice job!

Trip: Mt Challenger - Big Beaver - Luna Cirque Traverse Date: 6/30/2007 Trip Report: Four years ago, my friends Dustin, Ken and I tried Mt Challenger over a Fourth of July weekend via Easy Ridge. We passed a guy we'd seen the night before in the parking lot who had just summited and would make it out car to car solo in a day. After seeing this guy, we figured how tough could it be? We got as far as Perfect Pass. Granted, we only given ourselves a one day summit window and it rained on us with no visibility that day. We tucked our tails between our legs and hiked out. This time, we came in via Ross Lake, did the Eiley Wiley high traverse, tagged Challenger, descended into Luna Cirque and were awed by the greatness all around us. Unfortunately, we forgot to take the cell phone up to Luna summit, so we didn't have arrangements for a return boat the following day. We assumed there’d be several boats in to drop off hikers. There were, we just missed them all. We ended up being castaways at Pumpin Mountain campground for a day, managed to Yogi a couple rounds of breakfast buritos the next morning from a GRCC environmental studies class, and played with signaling mirrors flashing every boat on the lake till one was lured in to investigate. They passed word back to the resort, and we were on a boat back home in time for pizza at Annie’s in concrete by 5:00. In hind sight, we should have made the boat arrangement ahead of time, and I should have brought full gaiters. My feet were soaked after the snow went isothermal from the recent heatwave. Some things we did right were careful research and verifying the Big Beaver crossing on our way in. As of this writing, there is a single log across Big Beaver that would have been dicier to have taken, but there's a log jam a twenty minute bushwack down stream that's a lot safer. No bee stings on the way in, a perfectly reasonable brush bash up to Eiley Wiley ridge, one amazing alpine sunset, incredible alpine views of all peaks around us, and two really great friends made this one of my best climbs to date. On the boat dock July 4th, I felt totally beat up, scraped and bruised… but in a good kinda way. Gear Notes: Handful of nuts (not needed,) Pickets (handy for descending the wrong gully into access creek,) Full Gaiters (I wish I'd brought) Approach Notes: From Beaver Pass, descend just past campsite marker and aim for the wide gap between drainages. Head directly uphill skirting cliffs. Trending to the right, find bench at ~ 5700’. Follow ridgeline up and follow along south side to Eiley Lake. You will need to skirt around Eiley lake clockwise. Nice camp in rocks above Wiley Lake with spectacular ampetheter seating to view sunsets. From Challenger Summit, descend NW ridgeline trending to the right as you enter Luna Cirque. Corkscrew downwards staying as high as practical around Luna cirque till Lousy Lake is due East before heading straight down. Anything short of that will get cliffed out. From Luna Pass bivy site, descend bowl aiming for the far side of the minor peak that extends off Luna’s east side. There are three points to drop into Access Creek from that point. We rapped the first gulley which was very narrow and steep. In hindsight, I’d take the second if it has snow. It’s less steep and more forgiving. There is a third point to drop in from further down that would go. From head of Access Creek, follow right hand side of creek till boulders run out. We saw a small cairn and took it as a sign to cross to the north side into trees. We found mostly light brush but ran into a few bad patches of slide alder around dry creek beds. Once it leveled out we crossed Access Creek to find a log jam across Big Beaver – approximately at the “v” in Beaver marked on the USGS quad. The creek draining down from the trailside is just north of Luna Camp. If you should come upon a red Suunto Vector laying in the rocks at the creek, it's probably mine.

Nice job guys

Kick ass! Nice pix

So, who was that masked man?

it's low cal

Well your Honor, I'll take a spanking and lick your boots

I beg to differ... moist! As Dryad would call 'em, sexy scrapes and bruises

Thanks!

Any recent info on whether the log crossing is still intact after last fall's weather?

Anybody done it? We came in via Easy Ridge four years ago. We bypassed the Imperfect Impasse given packs and sketch factor. If you were to compare and contrast, what are the slabs beneath Whatcom Peak like, difficulty, length, exposure...?

Billy Zane's character in the Deal Calm. You can't kill that motherf#cker.