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Nice, Otto. In that first pic it reminds me of a bird with its beak pointing to the sky. There are even marks on the stone for an eye and the suggestion of a folded wing.

wow that is purty. After getting my ass handed to me in the Chehalis this past weekend I am dreaming of climbing that involves more actual climbing and less walking/slogging/schwacking/hauling yourself hand-over-hand up tree branches.

My partner at one point observed, "I think this is our first trip where our combined age exceeds 100." hah. Which sadly means we haven't climbed together since before the pandemic, when we we already damn close. I try to keep in mind those wise words of Dave Whitelaw: "Every day is a gift."

Oh Lord no, it took us 12 hours bivy to bivy just to do the two Nesakwatch spires and the NW Face of Rexford, not that we were rushing. If I was ever that fast I'm not anymore. We were talking en route about how badass Kobus and John and Emily were back in the day to do all that as an FA.

Trip: Nesakwatch Spires - Ensawkwatch Enchainment Trip Date: 07/27/2024 Trip Report: Posting this mostly just to say that if you wanna get after this, there are still snow patches in the basin for water, and as of last weekend the bugs were not even remotely bad. Driving past the parking spot for Slesse now highly inadvisable. We went a bit further and managed to retreat without getting a flat tire, but we were lucky rather than smart in that regard. North Ridge of South Nesakwatch Spire from summit of north spire: Edited to add: Also, the pocket glacier has not slid yet. Gear Notes: Light rack to modern (grey) #4 Camalot, tricams handy Approach Notes: Steep but such a nice well-trodden trail!

Particularly impressive prediction given that Mo and Emilio were probably like 12 years old when you made it!

Oh you and Rolf, whatever, you purists! I like the BETA OVERLOAD because I got sick and tired of coming home having accomplished nothing except beating myself to a pulp. (Hence the "Hey, got a GPS point for that creek crossing?" emails -- thanks, by the way!)

Me too! Really liked the Dōgen poem.

That is a stellar slogan for the catfood (though I can't help but feel that eating like Fred Becky *must* include many tiny packets of ketchup). Maybe I should get a dehydrator and start experimenting. I recently discovered that freeze dried meals have improved drastically since the 90s, but damn they are expensive (and usually at least a third more than I can eat anyway).

I find it hilarious and humbling that you consider yourself to be "well rested" after that alpine wedding trip! Also, I am so intrigued by Chad's Backcountry Catfood: is this a proprietary thing or are you willing to share what's in it?

Finding my way from the upper Mustard area to the ridge leading to Frenzel camp was surprisingly complex. I feel like you could sub in any two place names in the above statement and it would describe every Pickets experience I've ever had! Glad we could be of assistance in your exit; and thanks for the stellar write up and photos; I'm always impressed by how much detail you all remember and put into these reports. Before we even got back to Big Beaver I was already asking Gordy, "How long did it take us to get from Luna camp to Luna col again?"

No kidding. Kudos to you guys; I'm amazed at what you get done on your vacations!

You guys are amazing; still trying to wrap my mind around covering that much ground that fast. I'm only through the itinerary so far, but looks like we just missed each other; it was probably your voices we heard on the summit of East Fury on Saturday.

Ah ha! Just saw your signatures in the Luna Peak register on Friday and thought, "Isn't it about time for another trip report from those guys?!!?" Also, now I'm pretty sure I know who "the party that repeated Mongo Ridge" was that another Picketeer told us about on the boat ride out yesterday. Congrats on your wedding, may you have a long and happy life together. Thanks for posting this, and I hope Emilio writes up Mongo Ridge.

Glad to see you're still getting after it, and that is an impressive dedication to skiing! I decided after a failed trip to ski Glacier a few years ago that I am just not up for more than a couple of hours of carrying skis and boots on a overnight pack; ouch.

Nice! I did that back in 2017 with Chuck (RIP) along with True Grit on Vesper after another party just beat us to the base of Mile High Club. Quite enjoyable as I recall. More brushy and less snowy for us though. It certainly looks like you had more snow than R and I found in the Tatoosh on Saturday. Here's to more coverage soon!

Not in her immediate future, but an option for the future instead of lead, fix, rap, TR solo would be if you could enlist a friend -- I once happily led all the pitches on Das Toof while my buddy Ken and his 10-year old followed on doubles so he could climb beside her the whole time. It was a fun day out. Also, this guy has some hilarious kiddie trip reports: https://jimherson.com/climbing/tr.html

In a successful attempt to find solitude at Frenchman Coulee, went out to Running Gear Death Wall this weekend and found some new moderate bolted/mixed bolted and gear routes just to the south of the routes listed in the Yoder book. A quick look at Mountain Project didn't reveal anything; anyone have any info on these?

Well next time be all internet stalker-y! It would have been great to actually meet you finally. If you ever put your own photo in your reports maybe we would have recognized you.

Rat's more typical alpine meadow exercise:

Hey! If only I'd known. V and I ran into you as we were on the way down. We debated biking but biking that road on a road bike (my only option) with an overnight pack sounded not that fun. We did not summit as it turns out my summer of moving my mother into memory care and getting zero exercise and V's summer of mountain biking instead of hiking uphill with a pack resulted in us wisely choosing to forego the summit in favor of chilling out and reading while sitting on a rock, camping with a stellar view, picking a whole lot of huckleberries, and swimming in Silver Lake, topped off with delicious potato tacos in Lake Stevens. I can't regret it.

Dang, a snowball fight AND goats AND a bear is pretty stellar. Looks like a great training outing. Beautiful area. Last time I was up on Sahale we did it in the opposite direction and once we dropped into Boston Basin we couldn't see a thing. We did have some freaking adorable baby goats at camp though.

Found a nut tool on the Ingalls descent on Thursday, if it's yours and you want it back ping me with the brand etc. and it's yours again.

Found a pair of pretty new rock shoes here on Sunday; ping me with the make model color size etc. and we can figure out how to get them back to you.

Love that ptarmigan shot. I need to take a few leisurely trips instead of always trying to cram as much in as possible.