Gaston

Trip: Stuart Range - Ski Traverse Date: 3/27/2009 Trip Report: Starting Friday, March 27th, JW and I spent several nights ski touring through the Stuart Range. I don't have the ability to post photos right now, but I will try to cover all the salient observations we made. Day 1: Ski up eight mile road and into the basin under the Sherpa Glacier. Day 2: Ski up the Sherpa, up the SE shoulder up to the False summit. Ski down. Day 3: Ski east into the basin under Argonaut. Cross a non-technical col and descend into the Porcupine Creek drainage. Ascend to top of Colchuck Glacier, ski up Colchuck, then ski all the way down to Colchuck lake. Day 4: Ski back to Icicle Creek road. Snow coverage is fairly thin up to 5500', then decent above (schrunds on Sherpa gl. were not fully closed up). The NE face of Stuart is beautiful right now, but probably in poor climbing shape, with delaminated ice streaks over the lower slabs. What little we could see of the NW flank of the mountain looked a little bettter; the NW face couloir might just be in. Dragontail looks pretty dry. The runnels on TC do not appear to be formed at all, and the N Face looked like snow and rock. The NE couloir on Colchuck looked fine for climbing, but bony for skiing. In general, the mixed routes looked like like they were in good shape maybe a week before we showed up, or just before the last warming/rain event. Temps came down toward the end of our trip, with a low of -11 C on sunday afternoon; maybe the ice will reform during April? It's still reasonable to do a ski tour in the range, with little or no booting on roads or trails. Big couloirs seem a little thin right now, however. North facing, open runs (Sherpa, Ice Cliff, Stuart Glacier, Colchuck Glacier) still have some good snow hanging on. Hope this helps someone! Let me know if I can provide any other specifics. Cheers

Trip: Courtney Peak - North Face, FA? Date: 7/2/2008 Trip Report: On July 2nd of this year, Tasha MacIlveen and I climbed a new route on the north face of Courtney Peak in the Oval Lakes Wilderness. Courtney is part of a group of high peaks between the Twisp River Road and Lake Chelan, and the north face overlooks Middle Oval Lake. The face may or may not have been climbed before—please drop me a line if you have any information about the history. I knew of the face from having worked in the area with Outward Bound for a number of years. There’s a good deal of salt-and-pepper granitic rock around Oval, Star, and Courtney peaks, and the shape of the face sort of recalls Dragontail in the Stuart range. A pure, continuously steep line was clearly not in the cards; the big snow ramps cutting across the wall suggested moderate terrain. It looked like fun, and I will admit that I was a little driven by the notion that it might be a first ascent. We schlepped up the long trail from the Twisp river, hiding out in the afternoon from a thunderstorm. This part of the east slope can get into a regular daily cycle of electrical storms. Why go to the Rockies when you can be terrified right here in the Cascades? Our packs were big; we brought enough supplies to make a couple of attempts. The last half mile or so saw us wandering across the lingering snow toward a camp on the moraines below the face. The forecast called for more scattered thunder showers, and we knew that our late start might cut the day short as a simple reconaissance. We set out with a comfortably large rack, a single rope, one ice hammer, and a handfull of pins. After some himming and hawing over the line to take, we chose the lowest toe of rock on the face. Several fun-looking arretes appeared as we got close, and it was essentially a coin-toss that decided us. The compact first pitch was a nice 5.7 warmup, a little run-out but fun. Tasha lead out and pulled some thin, 5.10 moves well above a green Alien. I arrived at a complex web of tiny gear she had managed to garden into the granite. We wondered out loud if this was really going to work, and thought of the ramp we should be hitting in a few pitches; it should offer an easy escape downward. I did a dirty mantle right off the belay, yarding shamelessly on a cam. Tasha followed it and called it 5.10, which made me feel like a big chicken. Another 5.8 pitch brought us to an impasse; upward looked hard and unprotectable. We tried left, no luck. Then rightward, we discovered a third-class ledge skirting away under a little mossy waterfall. I brought Tasha up onto the ramp we had been anticipating. Exhilerated by the lower pitches, we looked anxiously at the sky. The clouds certainly had that look, and I knew we could count on some rain, thunder and lightning. But glancing at a picture of the face on the camera, we could see how far we had come. We agreed to continue, keeping in mind that if we could regain our present location, a quick scramble down a fourth class ramp would have us down on the sow. We jogged up the ramp and I lead out up a beautiful piece of white granite, just to the right of a steep gully. Some wandering amongst dodgey flakes brought me onto lower angle terrain—easy but very compact and without the possibility of gear. I stretched the rope all the way out, barely reaching a decent belay terrace and a few thin cracks. The sky flashed as I clipped the first pin, and I could feel the rain coming as I drove the second. By the time Tasha reached me, the wind had picked up and Oval Peak lit up with purple forks of lightning. In retrospect, turning around would have been prudent, but the necessary discussion did not take place. Tasha scrambled up easy ground, then began searching for a way across a big bulge of compact rock. After much climbing, downclimbing, and backseat climbing from me, she found a delicate traverse leftward. This gained her a rib of lovely, greenish rock paralleling a snow gully to the left. I watched her climb smoothly and calmly while the sky above her exploded with bolt after bolt of lightning. The summit ridge of Courtney was getting hammered. She continued up the rib, climbing wet 5.8 moves with no pro for 100’ until the rope got tight. I hollered and began simul-climbing. By the time I reached her belay, I was pretty wet. I whipped on coils of rope and we climbed together through steps of fourth and fifth, toward a little overhang I had spied from below. The storm reached its full, ridiculous strength while we huddled, clipped to a couple cams, under a half-hearted roof of granite. We tossed on the space blanket, nibbled sandwiches, and laughed. Stupid, stubborn climbers. When the hail and rain was done, and when the lightning seemed to have moved along, we started up again. Simul-climbing up through a sea of loose blocks, winding up through depressions toward the summit ridge. Tasha glowed with sunlight against the black clouds in the distance. A short scamper up the blocky ridge yielded the summit. We sauntered back to camp down the west ridge, delighted with our adventure in the wild Cascades. North Face of Courtney Peak, III, 5.10, 1,200’

Looking for ski touring and climbing partners in Chamonix this winter. PM if you're going to be around.

I'm looking for a place to live on Mt Hood from January to April. Government camp would be ideal, but anywhere from the town of Mt. Hood on the east side over to Welches would be okay.The more rustic the better, since it will just be me and my scant possessions. I'm open to apartments, cabins, shacks, yurts, caretaking gigs, or whatever else comes along. I'm a mild-mannered mountain guide in need of professional development, ie time on my skis; I can provide references. Any leads you might have would be appreciated. Thanks, Gaston

Trip: Alpental Valley - NY Gully, Chair Peak NE Buttress Date: 12/5/2006 Trip Report: On Dec 5th my partner and I bailed off of the second traversing pitch of NY Gully. The snow ramps of these pitches were pedestrian when I climbed the route in March four years ago, but I found them to be thinly covered choss this time. It was tedious, slow scraping up low angle terrain. I turned back at a step of slabby rock, all thinly snowed, with no opportunities for protection. I am not a brilliant drytooler, and did not feel ready to go for it on the first winter climb of the year. As consolation, we followed easy gullys and short steps up the Phantom Gully, and eventually topped out right where NY Gully tops out. Ski tracks in the slot couloir (I think that's what it's called) made it look like a great ski right now. The next day I went in to Chair with another friend. The final notch accessing the north side was thin snow with a weak ice layer underneath, making for some technical wallowing at the top. Once below the north face, we became increasingly doubtful about the stability of the slope--it was awfully wind loaded, and that weak ice layer we had already encountered was likely still present on the north aspect. We turned back before getting a glimpse of the regular NF start. The rest of the face looked thinly iced and poorly bonded. Intent on exhausting the possibilities, we tried the NE Buttress. As I led up the initial access gully, the ice layer--here utterly hollow--reared its head once more. Finally it cracked halfway up the gully, and the whole thing slid into my lap. What was left was powdery snow on rock. When the climbing route collapses and falls into my lap, I'm usually done, so that was the end of that. I'm convinced that the remainder of the route would have yielded similarly dissapointing conditions--ice that was either poorly bonded to the rock, or worse, hollow and ready to just fall apart. Gear Notes: Didn't see any ice, anywhere, that would have taken screws. Pins and cams were all I placed. Transceivers would be pretty smart. Approach Notes: The first thousand feet or so above the parking lot gave humid snow (lots of fog lately, I guess), but above that things improved. I did both approaches on snow shoes, but found myself wishing for skis the second day. A decent ski track leads up both approaches.

Hey "Goatboy," I think the NR consistently gives you some options, with the ice step getting bigger and steeper to climber's right (this conflicts with what genepires says above). Following the ridge proper yielded a few pitches of moderate (AI 3) ice when I did it in June of 2004 (after a low snow winter). What made it most interesting was the varied nature of the climbing: steep neve followed by steep glacier ice followed by a snow covered shield of ice followed by deep snow. Plenty of cleaning rotten snow off of ice, then bashing granulated ice away for screws. I recall that one pitch featured both ice screw AND t-slotted picket placements! Hope this helps.

Super light, super cool, bought in August (current model).Color is "Molten", ie bright red. It's been worn twice, pretty much perfect. It sells for 299, and I will send it to YOU for 150. PM me if interested

A week would be great. I've got a German friend who will probably be showing up the 26th or so; if your week is before that, awesome! If it overlaps, that's fine too, as long as you are okay climbing as a group of three.

The Rebuffat-Terray on the Pelerins, Supercouloir, N Face Charmoz, NE Buttress of Les Droites, Lagarde Couloir, Nant Blanc Face on the Verte, something on the Brenva face. Hope to get on two or three of these. Stuff is in shape, so with decent weather there should be good climbing.

Looking for partners for some of the winter classics this christmas. PM me if you're interested.

Looking to scrape up something in the French or Swiss alps over the holiday break. Also, weekend trips to the Pyrenees (Gavarnie) during the winter.

Climb: Mt. Hood-North Face-R. Hand Couloir Date of Climb: 2/24/2005 Trip Report: On Wednesday I climbed the N Face via the right-hand couloir, then descended Cooper Spur. Conditions on the approach, climb, and descent were excellent. I left the car at 2 AM and snowshoed up the Tilly Jane ski trail. It's snow most of the way, with some short stretches of dirt and ice. Up on the morraine I left the snowshoes and booted onward until a continuous snow ramp allowed me to drop onto the Elliott. (In retrospect, I'd have lost less elevation if I had taken the morraine further up, to where those little ice climbs form on the spur. There's a perfect, short snow slope there.) Sticking to the flat part of the glacier, I avoided as much crevasse territory as I could. The snow was wind-blown here, and alternated between firm neve and 8-inch deep windpack. The sun rose while I was nearing the bergshrund, a little earlier than I'd planned, but still within reason. I crossed the shrund on the far left side at 7:20. Any crossing looked involved, but this looked like the most straight forward and secure. It was here that I first found the perfect neve and alpine ice that would characterize the entire climb; my sense of security rose dramatically. Traversing below the start of the left-hand couloir, I was impressed by its initial steep step, and equally impressed by the 50 degree sheild I was on. The right hand start looked slightly shorter, and I made quick work of it. Above, I discovered the couloir to be a consistent 50 degrees, and very firm. Only for a few brief stretches was I able to use my tools as daggers, shoving them into the snow at waist height. Ninety percent of the climb demanded full swings to penetrate and to give me the soloist's "belay." My french technique is fairly good, but I found that, at best, I could manage to keep one foot flat only intermittently. This made for a strenuous climb, particularly for my calves. The further ice steps proved to be of equal quality to the first. Very fun, aesthetic climbing, with spindrift that was minimal enough to be decorative. Occasional volleys of ice chunks came down, but nothing big. I do believe an earlier start (and a colder day) would have alleviated some of my worry; what did whiz by me was going VERY fast because of the steepness of the face. The final ice step was shorter than it looks from below, and I was soon negotiating the final steep slopes and gullies up to the summit. At this point my calves were really burning, and I chopped a few small ledges to rest them (and to enjoy the surroundings). In a few places, the ice was disconcertingly hollow around rocks, but I had no trouble finding firmer ground. It felt funny to flop onto the flat summit and suddenly be able to walk around normally. It was 10:20. I've never climbed Cooper Spur, and so I felt a little dubious finding it from the summit. With a little figuring, however, just aimed for the moraine I'd hiked up that moring and started down. Conditions on the spur mimmicked those on the NF. Hard, hard neve. For security's sake, I frontpointed down nearly the whole face, although I was able to use my tools in dagger position. (I noticed that my calves hardly felt strained at all, and wondered if maybe front-pointed and flat-footed the last slope down to flat ground. It was a car-to-car trip of 14 hours, that maybe should have begun at midnight rather than 2. Amazingly, I was in good enough shape after the climb to switch out a blown tire for a spare in about 8 minutes on the drive back home. I don't have any pictures, because my camera broke (The little cover that slides to the side to reveal the lense on my little Olympus Zoom 80. It's also the on/off switch, so it's kind of a pain). Gear Notes: 2 tools, crampons.

Yes, that red oval is exactly where we were.

Climb: Stuart Range - Date of Climb: 1/28/2005 Trip Report: Wednesday I hiked with S in to the meadow below Sherpa glacier. By the time we got there, we were pretty sure no climbing would take place. This is because the approach took 9 (!) hours. We booted it up the road on reasonable snow. But things deteriorated as we rose (has there been an inversion in Leavenworth lately?) The thin snow pack combined with the recent warm temps combined for a posthole epic. From the junction with the Colchuck lake trail, the way consisted of strenuous postholing and deadfall acrobatics. Further up, the boulder field was down right dangerous (we made it worse by heading uphill too early and then traversing through bonus boulders). Neither of us are in bad shape; the conditions are simply horendous at the moment. Snowshoes might have helped, but would have been annoying while negotiating deadfalls and boulders. As for climbing, the look of the northeast aspect we could see in the morning gave us little hope that we would find anything around the corner on the Northwest face. To be precise, it wasn't worth negotiating the moraine slope up to the Stuart glacier. It snowed a couple of inches during the night, which made the mountain nice to look at. Also, on a promising note, the temperature dropped a lot and the snowpack firmed up a bit. On the way out, we had good views of Dragontail. No ice appears to be be formed there--even the runnels on Triple Couloir seem to be absent. Also, Asgard pass looked hellish. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

The OHM (high mountain office), mentioned above, is located at Place de l'Eglise, across from the tourism office (also mentioned above). Make sure to look a ways back in the cahier des messages (message book) for "partners wanted" ads. An ideal match for you might be someone who is living in the valley and preparing for their guide's exams. They are typically well motivated, skilled, and out to do some really cool routes. Plus, they come in all different nationalities. Enjoy your trip, and post a TR!

I have done the Frendo Spur. The Stuart Range in winter does resemble Chamonix in some respects. Happily, it lacks the crowds and falling dead guys.

I'd like to do something big, or maybe a couple of routes. Stuart: NW Face couloir, NE face, N Ridge. DTail: Gerber/Sink, Beebie, Backbone. PM me if you're interested.

Check your PMs.

Looking to do something on the N or NW faces of Dragontail, or the NE face or NW face couloir on Stuart. I could probably reach the TH on Sat evening. PM me if you're interested.

It's a grandiose route for a short variation on South Side. What I climbed is just left of the line marked 1C in Oregon High. I found a gully full of EXCELLENT water ice, alpine ice, and neve. It was enclosed at times by ribs of rime on either side, with occasional open sections which gave a sense of exposure. I climbed about two pitches of mostyly 50 degree stuff, with little steeper steps that were barely body-length. The only insecure part of the climb is topping out on a little spur ridge adorned with basketball-sized chunks of ice cemented together by rime. From there it's a short slog to the top. A highly enjoyable winter alternative to the hogsback and pearly gates, and a good consolation when you get shut down by west-side conditions. I had two tools, which I suppose aren't necessary. One could get screws in here and there, and probably a decent belay for the top-out.

I would like a partner for a west-side or north-side climb. PM me if you are interested.

The weather looks okay, and the routes seem to be in good nick. I'd be interested in either one of the NE gullies or the "NE Face Direct" those guys climbed a few days ago. You can call me at 971-275-0704. Thanks.

Check your PMs.

Check your PMs.

I`m looking for a partner for something in the Stuart Range during some or all of wed/thur/fri/sat. I`d like to get look at the N sides of Dragontail and Stuart. Maybe something is formed up. PM me if interested. Gaston