Blake

Where in the state park exactly is that? I'm only familiar with the one-pitch sport route next to the boat launch, but i'd like to check out the other climbing down there.

It is a single rich ecentric dude.

I had a window of almost 48 free hours this weekend, during a period of good weather. This hasn't happened in months, so I was stoked to get out and do something in the mountains. A friend was eager for some alpine time as well, so we set our sight on the North Twin Sister SW of Baker. We left Bellingham about 12:00 on Saturday morning and hit the gate over the Nooksack river about an hour later. We were a little unsure of what conditions to expect for the approach and climb, but decided on a small rock rack, a few pickets, ice axes, and crampons. I brought Randonee gear (my only footware), and my partner had snowshoes, although he never broke them out. The snow starts right at the gate, and is continuous form 1.5 miles in. The story here was a thin sun-crust on southern exposures, and totally unconsolidated fluff on the northern aspects. All of the creek crossings were easy, and the streams mostly frozen over. The top layer of snow near water courses was a thorough covering of flakey frost crystals. Skinning up was very nice, and the clear skies and hot sun made it comfortable t-shirt weather... things would get consideraly colder that night. We camped at the top of the clearcut on the end of the ridge, enjoyed our view, melted snow, and tried to keep our water bottles from freezing. The next morning we made an early alpine start of 8:30, and were soon climbed through bits of class 4 rock interspersed with loose powder. We were moving slowly, and taking our time in the sun, but my partner was not feeling very well, and we decided to stop at about 11AM. We did not rope up for any of this. We were both climbing in boots, which made the constant transitions from powder to rock slabs a little tricky. We made it to the second big gendarme on the ridge, before turning back. Just below the first gendarme we were able to find a snow gulley where we could single-rap down onto the loose snow of the north face. (Next person up there should booty my $10 mammut sling from the ridge crest). From here it was an enjoyable plunge-step decent down powder, and back to our camp. The afternoon ski back to the car was fun, and made the trip out quick as well. Overall it was a fairly tame, yet really enjoyable weekend in the mountains. Bright and clear weather definitely contributed to a relaxed atmosphere. Gear Notes: Used - Skinny Rope, slings, Randonee Gear. Did Not Need - Pickets, crampons. Thanks to Steddy and Frosty_the_tradman for route beta.

yeah, but what happened to that little template that used to be there to make it easy?

I can't find the "post a TR" link in the various forums. Anyone else see the link?

What routes?

It's easy to feel inside the webbing to tell how much of the tail end there is.

what was the road condition like? how far up the pass did you get, and did you ski/snowshoe etc?

I've seen them come screaming through the gap Between Suiattle and Cloudy pass at a very low level as well. I felt like i could spit on the thing.

http://www.badvoodoo.com/chatter don't forget, it's back and running

Anyone from the Bellingham area want to head down to Mt. Erie for a sunny day climbing tomorrow?

Bolted Maybe they should have replaced the manky and freely-spinning bolts on "Intimidator" - Powerline Wall before adding new ones. Anyone (especially from Bellingham with a car) want to climb @ Erie this Thursday?

good one dru... he kinda walked into that one.

http://www.patagonia.com/store/specials/index.shtml?seepromo=home Big sale at Patagonia. If you are looking for a down jacket and you don't need it to be ultra-light, the Patagonia one is 1/2 off.

incorporate a load-bearing climbing harness as the waist strap for the pack, or at least some kind of weight/mess saving 'clip-on' option to elimintate two waist belts.

Not sure if this is mentioned in any of the CAGs, but Stehekin means "the way through" not "Rough Water" as stated in "Challenge of the North Cascades"

Where did you go? Anyone happen to know the conditions on the Cascade River Road, or on Sahale for a ski ascent? I've got about 40hours starting at 11AM saturday and I'm looking for an alpine objective from Bellingham. Any other thoughts for places to check out?

Yeah, but I probably caught it a few times first. I believe Tuckaway is one of the state's highest lakes with a healthy fish population.

We always just call it "cup of coffee with a shot in it."

Tex, just the biggest Trango MAxcam when they come out. 60-120mm range, and lighter!

The routes/bolts are not very well planned out, but it has got good views and the climbs are within a few minutes of the road, and it is frequently dry. I'm not justifying all the bolts, but I do like Erie. (for what it is)

Could you re-explain this one please?

Am I the only guy who thinks David Carradine looks like Fred Beckey?

Sure was. I was camped a few miles north in the Fish Creek drainage, but I made a "Klenke-esqe" day of summit bagging, and visited Gray, Courtney, Buttermilk, and Oval, staying as high as possible along the way. I then looped down across the Oval Lakes and back up the shoulder of Gray Peak and down to the summit trail, then north to my camp. I later learned that I had been in a closed-off area while on the Twisp River side of the drainage. There are spots up there where you can see all but one of Washington's "niners".

I was wondering when you'd show up. You forgot a few on the left side, including one that blends in with Buckner. Extra Credit: What is the relative date and location of the fire, based upon smoke concentration?