Mark_L

It is, along with the Conrad, Meade, McCall and Ives "glaciers". They're more like stagnant ice patches now, although the Tieton Glacier has a real bergschrund at the top. The Tieton glacier was quite large at one time judging by the huge moraine along the valley beneath it.

I did it last year at this time and it wasn't bad. If the LeConte glacier looks impassible you can circle around the North side of LeConte mountain to South Cascade Lake and reach the South Cascade Glacier that way. Its quite scenic. This is a good time to do the traverse because the masses have already passed through. We had excellent weather last year and didn't see anyone else until Dome Peak.

Yeah Gary, I noticed that too. It was rather surprising that .75 quality gave close to half the file size of .90. I also realized that if you use the "save" comand in GIMP it remembers the quality setting that was used in previous sessions. Got to be careful about that when working with the original files.

Thanks for your reply Gary. The main point that I was trying to make is that you can reduce your file sizes by reducing the density without losing display quality. Here is one of your pictures that you posted on your "thumbnails" page: It has a file size of about 100 kb. I took this image and reduced the density to 72 dpi using Gimp: The file size is now about 26 Kb. If you like to batch process you can also use the "convert -density 72 [in file] [out file]" command in Image Magick, but it doesn't seem to give as small file sizes as I got with Gimp, (probably something to do with the jpeg compression settings that I have for Gimp).

The pictures that I was able to get loaded until I lost patience do look very good, but when the file size is about a quarter mB for each picture, those of us with dialup don't have the time or patience to wait for all of them to load. Perhaps you could provide links to your pictures in all of their printable glory, and post the 72 dpi versions for your trip report. The dimensional size of your pictures is fine, but a computer display does not distinguish any density greater than 72 dpi anyways.

Climb: Goat Rocks-E. Side Traverse Date of Climb: 7/31/2006 - 8/5/2006 Trip Report: On the week of July 31 to August 5, my wife Margo and dog Zeke left the horse ghetto at Conrad Meadows with the intention of doing a tour of the entire Goat Rocks. One could do a very scenic hike which circles the entire Goat Rocks but unfortunately, this requires crossing into the Yakima Indian Reservation, which is forbidden and posted with many signs reminding one of this. We hiked up to Surprise Lake in cold, windy and sprinkly weather, which was a good alternative to the hot, dusty and horsefly infested conditions that one would encounter in warm weather. After undergoing interrogation by a ranger who was coming down the trail and reassuring him that we were not going to do anything illegal like camp near any water bodies, let the dog off of the leash or trespass on the reservation, we finished our hike to Surprise lake and wondered how we were going to do a loop trip. The next day the weather looked much improved and we hiked to unmarked trail that leads to meadows under Mt. Curtis Gilbert. Here is the area below the Meade Glacier on Gilbert. The following day we traversed into the head of Conrad Creek. There is a lake below the Conrad Glacier. The Beckey Guide shows the glacier flowing into the lake but not any more. We climbed above the lake to the divide between the Conrad Glacier and the Tieton Glacier beneath the Goat Horns. The Goat Horns actually look like they could be good climbing, with massive jointing and crack systems. We descended the lower part of the Tieton Glacier and descended a glacial valley until we could cross to the next drainage which came off the McCall Glacier beneath Ives Peak. We had a nice camp on a moraine. The next morning we climbed this valley to the col between Ives Peak and Old Snowy. The descent from this col was horrible shale, dinner plates that slid out from under you when stepped on, but we made it down unscathed and descended to the PCT. Our route now followed the PCT across the top of the Packwood Glacier to where the trail is literally blasted into the Goat Rocks Crest. After this, our route descended to the North Fork Tieton River trailhead. The next morning we ascended the seldom traveled (by humans) trail to Bear Creek Mountain. We camped in the basin beneath the summit and the next morning we climbed to the top and viewed our entire route that we had done over the last 7 days. All that was left was the horrendous, dusty descent to the horse ghetto. The Goat Rocks provides some excellent, scenic, easy alpine wandering, especially once you leave the horse trails. Gear Notes: ice axe

Actually Bill, I have no complaints about the loading time for your photos, its those people who post those 2460x2048 pictures straight from the flashcard in their camera. As for the technical quality complaints from other posters, having played in garage bands myself, I understand the difference between content and technical quality. Your content was great on the photos and they were definitely worth posting. Given your propensity for dropping cameras on big climbs , perhaps disposable cameras are the best bet for you.

That's what I meant, a 60m rope doubled to 30m. It actually worked quite well, since any sections that we wanted a real belay on were quite short and we generally did running belays almost the entire length of the ridge. In hindsight, you could reasonably just solo the whole midsection, but there is always that uncertainty if you are on it for the first time.

According to the forest service literature its spruce budworm. I believe that pine beetle attacks the bark. Pine beetle seems to be prevalent in the Rockies. (Both US and Canada) If you want to see what pine beetle did, drive highway 93 through Kootenay National Park between Radium Hot Springs and Vermillion Pass.

The correct approach to the West Ridge of Sherpa is to do an angling ascent of the rib next to the basin underneath Sherpa until you can traverse into the basin proper. Then climb straight up to the Sherpa Stuart col. This makes the approach considerably shorter and way more pleasant than climbing up the Cascadian Coulior. (The climb is quite reasonably done in a day from the parking lot.)

Some of us out there still use dialup. Its a pain in the butt having to wait 10 minutes for a TR to load a bunch of pictures that won't even fit on a 17" monitor without scrolling. Its not just disk space, think about bandwidth too. I would imagine that it also slows down the cc.com server if there are a lot of people viewing.

Good job Bill! Good to see you're sticking with your aid climbing. The pictures look great! If you like free photo software like Irfanview you'll love "Gimp". Its like having photoshop for free only you don't have to pirate it. Its also available for windoze. Try setting your density to 72 dpi. Anything higher than that makes no difference on a computer monitor. My Mt. Goode pictures were sized at 640x480 and I was able to get file sizes of about 70kb.

Climb: Mt. Goode-NE Buttress Date of Climb: 7/7/2006 Trip Report: On July 5, David Nicholson and I hiked down the Bridge Creek trail and took a right up the N. Fork trail. The crossing of Grizzly Creek was routine, thanks to a logjam. There will be plenty more of these in years to come thanks to the massive infestations of Spruce Budworm. Here's what they do to the new growth on trees. They also attack pine trees in addition to spruce trees. There were lots of interesting clouds and rumbling sounds throughout the day and when we reached the area where we thought we were to ford Bridge Creek, it started spitting. We decided to wait a few minutes to see what it was going to do before committing ourselves to a wet bushwack/slab climb. It rained just enough to soak the brush and persuade us to go back to a comfortable camp at Grizzly Creek. The following day we moved up to the Goode Bivy. The ford of Bridge Creek was routine, the water was considerably lower than the previous afternoon. We climbed up the slabs just to the right of the prominent waterfall. It was exposed but easy. (As long as it is dry!) We arrived at the bivy site by mid afternoon, which gave us plenty of time to relax, take in the view and get a good night's sleep for the next day's climb. We left camp at about 5:30 in the morning and climbed onto the glacier to the left of the bivy site. The crevasses were well bridged, but crossing the bergschrund of the NE gully was getting a bit thin. The transition from snow to rock was simple, you could step right onto a nice ledge from the snow. The climbing was just like everyone describes, thousands of feet of easy rock climbing, getting steeper and a little more difficult at the top. We summited at about 3:00 and after a short stay we started down the long descent. After rappelling to the ledge that leads to the notch and doing a little more downclimbing, we located the rappell anchor that took us into the descent gully which was mostly filled with snow. We descended the gully on the rock to the (skier's) right of the snow and found a solid, black dike formation which was basically a staircase down the gully. Eventually you must exit the gully on the left side (skier's left that is). We circled around to the Goode - Storm King col and did a rather thrilling freehanging rappell over some very sharp loose rock to the glacier between Goode and Storm King. Fortunately, we had a 60m rope. The glacier descent was fairly straightforward, although the 'schrund seemed to be rather thinly bridged. We belayed across that. The glacier descent is a reasonable way to avoid having to do a carry over on the climb. We were glad to have light packs for the climb. Dave's superior night vision got us across the basin and back to camp and we were glad to be able to finally relax. The hike back to the car the following day was long and hot, but it is much easier to do with a summit under your belt. The Bridge Creek forests are being ravaged by spruce budworm, just like the rest of the East Slope of the Cascades. Gear Notes: ice axe, aluminum crampons, light rock rack. The #3 camalot was especially useful, cams were more useful than nuts because of the straight sided, flaring cracks. A 60m double rope is adequate, although it limits the length of any belayed pitches. Blue bags are handy for keeping things dry. Approach Notes: Watch out for the fecal smear that someone left right next to the creek by the bivy site. The mice are also very active at the bivy site.

No, I think he reloaded his mp3 player. He was using "Mental Cruelty" to ward off the bears when we were hiking up Bridge Creek.

Climb: 3 Fingers N. Peak-West Route (standard) Date of Climb: 6/27/2006 Trip Report: On Tuesday, June 27, Chuck S. and I drove the Tupso Pass road, having gotten a rather late start due to various familial obligations. We arrived at the trailhead at 10AM. The hike in was pleasant but long, we lost a little time where the trail disappeared into the snow, but soon we were back on track and arrived shortly at Goat Flats. It was very hot and I was feeling the effects of the heat as I arrived at Tin Can Gap with Chuck zoning out on his mp3 player muttering "Here's a quarter, go put it in a washing machine." We descended to the glacier and as we were traversing to the coulior between the North and Central peaks, I heard a rumble and looked up to see a bunch of snow blocks being released directly above us. I ordered Chuck to reverse and he promptly complied, nearly pulling me over because I had gotten the rope wrapped around my ankles. We ran out of the path of the slide and watched a large block slide down and hit another large block like a billiard ball and send it sliding, in slow motion across our path that we were headed on. After a little hemming and hawing, Chuck finally managed to bully me into continuing on, so we took a deep breath and raced across the path of the slide. We were in the path of the slide for all of about 3 minutes. After this little bit of excitement, we slogged up the coulior and exited onto the lower slabs of the North Peak. The route looked rather steep and exposed for a 4th class route, so we carried the rope and a few nuts. It turned out that the climbing really was quite pleasant and easy, with incut holds everywhere, especially on the steep parts. We climbed an easy chimney for a few hundred feet and when it got more difficult, Chuck attacked it head on while I looked for an easier way. I moved across a ledge and found another chimney which was easy and solid too. We rejoined on the final knife edge ridge, where we did some thrilling ridge straddling before we reached a broad green ridge that took us to the summit. Here is a view of the fire lookout from the summit. We downclimbed back to the edge of the snow, grabbed our axes and roped for the glacier and headed back down. The slide path that had given us pause remained silent, but as we headed into the lower basin, another chunk of hanging snowpatch cut loose and sent a few small chunks across our path that we were headed to. We put our heads down and finished off the slog back up to Tin Can Gap, where we relaxed a bit and admired the views before the long slog back to the car. We managed to make it to Saddle Lake by dusk, and we relaxed, thinking that the rest of the trail would be a no-brainer in the dark, but one more avalanche blowdown gave us a little more trouble as we fumbled around in the dark trying to find where the trail went. I finally came up with the brilliant idea of getting out my headlamp and immediately spotted the big wad of TP that someone had draped across a tree branch to mark the trail. We arrived back at the car a little after 11PM. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day capped off by the ice cold brews that Chuck had brought along and left in the back of the truck. Gear Notes: ice axe, crampons (later in the season), rope for glacier. Rock gear not necessary if you don't mind climbing 4th class unroped. The holds are all incut and the rock is generally solid, although there is a lot of gravel. Bring a headlamp if you get a late start. Approach Notes: Tupso Pass road is open to the trail. We did have to clear a rotten log at one point. Lots of potholes in the beginning. Snow on the trail past Saddle Lake.

Quote: "A pretty cool looking little climb. I have been on Mount Catherine before and I didn't know anything like that was back there. "

Its the line drawn on the third picture. I don't know whether it was a first ascent. I have a feeling that given the easy access, there were probably people who came before us. All these reports did bring back some fond memories though. That year there was even a climb formed up (fat) on the S side of I - 90 where the cliffs come close to the westbound lanes near exit 38. The most harrowing part of that particular climb was the mile or so that we had to hike along the freeway to get to it because we didn't (for some strange reason) think of just parking at exit 38 and hiking eastbound. I've never seen it formed as fat since. It needed a combination of a cold snap and cloudy weather given the southern exposure. Mark_L

Since there seems to be so much interest in the Annette Lake cirque, I guess I'll show what Marty Sorensen, Tom Boucher, Bill (Otto) Enger and I did back in February 1984 on the North Face of Abiel. It was a winter that started out with a cold snap, then a January thaw, followed by weeks of clear inversion weather. Getting into Annette Lake was a snap, the snow was frozen hard. There was about a pitch and a half of ice before the gully broadened and turned into a snow slope. There were lots of trees to tie off while climbing the upper snow slopes to the summit. It was a pleasant, sunny day on the summit and we basked in the sun before descending back to the cirque. Mark_L Here is Tom Boucher on the first belayed pitch. Marty is in the lead. Looking down from where we stopped belaying. The North Face of Abiel Peak.

Actually I misspelled it, should be "firnspiegel". I also took lots of German in school, but one thing that all of my German courses were lacking in was mountaineering terminology. You should be able to recognize the roots however, firn means "old snow" and spiegel means "mirror" (I'm disregarding the gender here.) "Der Spiegel" is also the name of a widely circulated news magazine in Germany, the equivalent to "Time" or "Newsweek" over here. Anyway, "firnspiegel" is the layer of ice that forms on the surface of old snow. (See "Climbing Ice" by Yvon Chouinard, p. 61.) It can be thick enough for good tool placements or handholds and footholds, or it can be thin enough to make steep unconsolidated snow slopes a total nightmare. The firnspiegel that I encountered was the former. Hope that helps. Mark

That's what happens when they don't offer German in most public schools anymore. Funny thing is, all of the German exchange students that I've had over the years speak perfect English.

Climb: Observation Rock-N. Face Date of Climb: 8/16/2005 Trip Report: After spending all of July in SE Alaska, waiting for climbable weather,(It never came.) and then spending the first part of August on a never ending home improvement project, an opportunity presented itself when my wife headed off to Vegas with my mother-in-law and the weather cooled down slightly. I left Seattle at 5 AM and headed to Mowich Lake, with hopes that the winter that never was would leave the N face of Observation Rock melted off early this year. After several nervous moments with South King County commuters, (they start early down there) as well as the drizzle in Buckley, I was on the trail to Spray Park under blue skies, leaving the fog and commuters behind. Arriving at Spray Park, I could see that the face was not blue, but it did look slightly dirty, which kept my hopes up. Alas, when I got on the face, all I had was hard snow, with a couple of areas of firnspiegl. It was still quite pleasant snow climbing, with hard snow that got firmer as it got steeper. I arrived at the summit in time for lunch, lounging and gawking at Ptarmigan Ridge, but the clouds boiling up the N. Mowich Glacier eventually persuaded me to leave the summit and find my way down the remnants of the glacier under Echo Rock. Rather than face the afternoon commute, I used the rest of the day wandering over to Knapsack Pass for some meadow sniffing, effectively avoiding the interminable trail back to Mowich Lake. I'll have to come back in the Fall. Gear Notes: ice ax crampons second tool optional for now Approach Notes: Objective Hazard: South King County Commuters who don't understand the workings of clover leaf interchanges.

Since Mt. Lyell is only about 3500 meters it wouldn't be of any interest to your average armchair alpinist.

Whoops, Excuse the double negative in that last post, I meant to say "You have just disproven your claim that closing the last 8 miles of the mfr will make it inaccessable to weekenders." Mark

Well just to prove to you that I am not an ALPS zealot, your idea of riding your mountain bike up the trail sounds fine to me, if you are doing it for the purpose of traveling more efficiently rather than trying to antagonize your percieved enemies. (It would be a good idea to stash your bike in an inconspicuous place when you finally surrender yourself to foot travel in case there are any ALPSketeers around. They'll just start hollering for more enforcement.) You have just disproven your claim that closing the mfr will not make it inaccessable to weekenders. Given the condition of the road and the forest service being unwilling or unable to spend the money to keep it open, the road won't last much longer anyway. In another part of the Cascades, the washing out of the Monte Cristo road was the best thing that could have happened to that area, it is still easily accessible for 1 day trips and it gets very little traffic because your average schmoe doesn't have enough ingenuity to bring a bike along. You're not one of those "wise use" zealots by any chance are you? Cheers, Mark

FW, The Washington Cascades are one of the most accessible alpine mountain ranges anywhere in the world for weekenders. Perhaps it is a little pretentious to assume that every scenic spot should be accessible by a 1 day hike from the road. Even with the road closure this area can be accessed quite easily by good trail and/ or easy x-country travel from several directions. I visited this area this summer with Dave and we started from the end of the Cle Elum river road. It was a delightful and quite easy multi-day hike. The Dutch Miller Gap area is one of the most fragile areas in the Washington Cascades and one sure-fire way to keep it from being trashed is to require a several day hike to get into it. (There seems to be a correlation between laziness and thoughtlessness.) The other option that the FS seems to like to use is to put the area on a quota system and then charge up the butt for permits. (Like the Enchantment Lakes area.) Mark