bremerton_john

We'll have to plan something Stewart - there's plenty of obscure Olympic rock out there.

Trip: Mount Fitzhenry - Standard Route via Lake Mills Paddle Date: 1/23/2010 Trip Report: Saturday - Sunday, January 23-24, 2010 Animal and I took advantage of the good weather Saturday to climb Mt. Fitzhenry. We decided to take the kayaks and paddle Lake Mills for the approach. This may be one of the last opportunities we get to paddle this lake before the dam starts coming down. The paddle down to the south end of the lake was nice. The map of the lake is deceiving though. So much sediment has filled in the south end of the lake you can't get to Cat Creek. We had to stop about halfway between Boulder and Cat Creek and set out on foot from there. We kept our water shoes on for crossing Cat Creek, then hung these from a tree on the south bank. From there it was a relatively easy forest ascent up the ridge between Fitzhenry and Cat Creek, basically following the route description. Lots of elk trails, no signs of human ones. Didn't hit snow until 4,000 feet. The ridge was fairly easy traveling with the occasional plunge-hole in the wind-drift, and rock step to negotiate. With the short day we ran out of daylight so bivied on a snow bench below the false summit. The bluebird weather did not hold for Sunday unfortunately. But we packed light and went over the false summit, down the saddle over piles off frozen, sharp scree, and up to the main summit, bypassing some cornices as the snow and wind picked up intensity. We didn't linger, touching the top and returning back to our bivy spot, packing up and heading back down to the lake for a nice return paddle to the boat launch, arriving at 3:30 in the afternoon. John Some photos. Looking south down Lake Mills with Fitzhenry's false (5948ft) and main (ca. 6050 ft) summits visible ahead. Yes, this is really January. But we had to get over 4,000 feet to find evidence of winter. False summit at left, main summit at right. Lake Mills behind Animal Animal on false summit, main summit at right - Fairchild just visible in background. Gear Notes: Kayak Approach Notes: Kayaks are sure handy, and definitely better than taking the Boulder creek trail. But this option won't last long!

As of this morning it is still passable to the lower Ellinor trailhead for most vehicles. Some can push on further.

I saw the article in the paper the week the town Darrington celebrated the 30 year anniversary a couple months ago. So a few of us drove over there and joined the town in watching the film in the local Grange Hall. Free brownies and juice for all while we watched along with several of the extras from the film who came to the event. They had a bunch of photos and other memorabilia on display from the making of the movie. There was even an "Intermission" while they fast-forwarded past the nude love scene to spare the young eyes in the audience. John

Great work guys! I see you enjoyed Destroyer as much as we did a couple years ago. Not sure what happened to the register on Enigma. It was there when we did it (see pictures from my TR). Maybe somebody has been up there since? Oh, and I second the compliment on that rappel photo off Destroyer. John

The 3rd class route to the summit ridge is easier. However, it isn't easy to spot when you are in the snow basin, as it kind of blends in with the wall. We've found the 4th class route, while slightly longer and slightly harder, offers a fun ridge walk to the summit. You can avoid the vegetated slabs below the snow basin by going downhill (skier's) left, across a boulder field and then down some green slopes that circles back to the 4300 ft basin below the vegetated slabs. This route also works going up, but isn't as direct. John

Nice job Off, and thanks for the annotated photos. It sounded like for the most part you were in agreement with the guidebook description. As I recall the 2nd class portion after the first rappel required you to poke around just a bit to the left (west) and find an easy ramp. I think this is one of the best alpine routes in the range. A touch of the loose stuff here and there, but hey, its the Olympics. I'd be interested in any other comments for future GB revisions.

Indeed. Great day out guys. John

Love that basin. Nice TR. John

Nice TR and pics Terry. Finally got around to reading it!

I sent you a PM. John

Another good shot Reilly. Thanks for sharing. You still active up in them hills? John

That's pretty good detail retention for 30 years! Nice description and thanks for the photos Reilly. I'm glad this one and the 23rd Party Congress route made it into the latest edition. I recall you working with Rich O on this. Any photos of Point Smith from the Congress climb? John

Looking forward to those slides Reilly. Have you got any of Wandering Minstrel? Story? There was talk of there being a second ascent by a party in the late 80's or early 90's. Would like to hear more about that one. The west face of Cruiser is striking. Great to see some posts here from you. John

Just for the record, that 2005 "rumor/fiasco" originated from a mountaineer website posting http://www.xsorbit6.com/users/stevefirebaugh/index.cgi?board=Beta&action=display&num=1118224349, which made frequent, but erroneous attributions to Olympic Mountain Rescue. The poster (Stephen McKim) was clearly referring to the (now out of business) Port Angeles outdoor retailer and sometime guide service Olympic Mountaineering. He even lists their phone number on that same posting. John

The guidebook chairman is Keith Spencer. If you need to ask him questions I can forward anything to him. I was on the guidebook committee on the latest edition. To address a few of the comments made here: "...was told they would not be recorded because, as I understand it, Olympic Mountain Rescue didn't want to promote irresponsible behavior in the mountains. " I can't speak for the motivation used in previous editions, but I can tell you in full confidence this was NOT a factor during discussions in the recent edition. OMR is certainly dedicated to promoting safe activities in the mountains. However, as it pertains to recording first ascents, this was not a part of it. "...they should keep those records public and more importantly accurate. " First, OMR isn't hiding anything from the public. The committee solicited input from the climbing community for several years before the recent publication, including several postings on this web-site. OMR's website also maintains a request for any new route info to be sent to them. (Lowell also makes the great suggestion of publishing new reports in the NWMJ.) All information received was reviewed and given careful consideration prior to inclusion to make sure it was as accurate as possible. In a few cases (and I can't remember specifics, because there may have only been 1 or 2) FA claims were not published because of questionable sources (not the case here - see below). "...there was no internet forum to go report the accomplishment." I'll agree there are a number of peaks and spires that see very infrequent ascents. I've been on a few of them myself and found the most recent signatures to be 5, 10 or sometimes 20 years old. Times passes, trip reports get lost, people die, or forget, so the information is lost. By all means, send in those reports. There are those of us on the committee who do monitor this site as well as others. Before the 4th edition we contacted a number of posters here for follow up information. The book is only as current as the information the committee has to work with. We went on numerous climbs to verify and fact-find, but inevitably there are going to be errors and omissions. That's why this forum is of such value to us all. Now to the main topic of this thread, "In early 2005, I sent this information to members of Olympic Mountain Rescue for inclusion in the guidebook. Hopefully it will make it into a future edition." First, thanks again Lowell for your help in this and the other work you've shared with us over the years. Next, I'll concede I may have to consult with a few others who were present during the discussions to check their memory, but as I recall we did not include the first winter ascent of Olympus possibly because (1) it wasn't certain that Hawkins was the first (see Lowell's references), (2) there had been reports of earlier ascents in winter-like conditions in early spring, (3) the committee decided to keep the book's focus on route descriptions and not on the history of various ascents, information that can be attained elsewhere, and (4) there was concern from some about starting the precedent of listing first winter ascents in addition to first ascents. We've already heard a few complaints about the size of the book increasing from previous editions. In the book there is the brief discussion on the first ascent of Olympus, notably because it is the highest and most predominant peak in the range, and it was felt there was some interest in including this background. The inclusion of first winter ascent accounts could certainly be re-considered for future editions and everyone's input here on this topic is most welcome. John Myers

Great TR Porter, We were working our way up the Enchanted Valley on Sunday, and in fact spent an hour or so in the Chalet's shelter watching the lightening show. We remarked that it was the most thunder and lightening we'd ever seen in the Olympics before. One bolt even started a small fire on the steep ridge at the terminus of the Anderson glacier. It smoldered for a day before Tuesday's deluge put an end to that. John

Trip: Anderson's Thumb - N Ridge Date: 8/18/2008 Trip Report: Due to the Augustuary weather the last few days we cut short some plans we had for travelling further afield in the Olympics, but found ourselves with a weather window to climb Anderson's Thumb. The rock on this short spire is quite solid by Olympic standards and very enjoyable to climb. Difficulty is low 5th somewhere. You need pro for sure (boy, pins come in handy), and two raps are needed to get down. John Some pics of the rock: The Enchanted Valley below: We found taterred webbing near the top and a film canister with the following register in it: We also found this little item below the Thumb on a high bench near where we camped. Belong to anyone? We bailed on out the next morning (Tuesday) when the weather really turned to crap. Saw a cougar cross the trail in front of us about a mile below Enchanted Valley. He was gone just as fast as he appeared. Also, the snow finger up Flypaper Pass was in pretty good shape, unlike the rest of the Anderson Glacier. John Gear Notes: A couple pitons were used along with few mid-sized nuts and a single #1 cam. Bring a pencil for the summit register. Approach Notes: E. Fork trail is in great shape. Park has done a good job on it. The road unfortunately has a couple of bad spots that forced them to close it off 4.5 miles before Graves Creek campground. But frankly the scenery along this stretch of river is real nice to view at a slow pace (MIND YOU, I'd still rather have had a mountain bike for this section!)

We got ticketed at the parking lot on Chinook Pass this weekend. There was an elderly Forest Service gal who was trying to be quite nice about it and said she was letting us off easy by giving her $5 instead of the $75 fee. Apparently I could have parked 1/4 mile on the west side of the pass (in the National Park) for free. Shame on me I guess.

Great TR and Photos PVD. When we did Martin we traversed the ridge north of it from the Incisor. I recall Martin being a nice, fun, easy scramble at the top. I also remember descending what was probably your up-route, and finding (mid-August) a long, long, scree chute down to the bottom. John

Randy, your TR did a nice job informing us what "transpired" up there last Thursday. Indeed, the dust has been cleared off another obscure Olympic summit. Excellent work on the crumbly stuff fellas. Nice photo of Sawtooth Ridge Terry. And thanks too, another 25 years can pass until someone else should feel any need to climb Tran again! John

Way to go Ben! That's an awesome traverse, eh? Did you guys take time to climb any of the Valhalla peaks? Good to see you're getting out. John

Yeah, you can either skirt your way up those slabs (the worst bit is just the first 50 feet or so, then it gets somewhat easier as you get higher - green belays abound), OR you can go right (north) from this position where you took your photo up another drainage that roughly seperates Pershing and Jefferson (Thorson). Climb this a couple hundred feet and cut left and it goes fairly smoothly to the upper bowl below the summit ridge. I've grumbled about the flagging in the woods before too. I've pulled some out, but I think it is biological flagging and mutliplies on its own, maybe some form of flourescent moss. But yeah, once you've discovered the correct up-route it can go rather quickly. John

Good write-up and photos Kevin. Here's a couple more.

Looks like a great time Wayne and David. We were up on Snowfield and Colonial wondering if anyone else was enjoying the sunshine in the North Cascades this weekend.