KaskadskyjKozak

Trip: Dakobed Slam - Sheepherder Trail Approach Date: 9/11/2017 Trip Report: My friend Meredith and I climbed Luahna this weekend. I have a longish history with this peak. I attempted it twice already: once in June 2014 and once in June of this year. The first time we encountered more difficult conditions than we expected and burned out by the time we summitted Clark (via the Walrus glacier). Luahna looked so far away that we opted to be satisified with one peak. The second time we got to just below point 7970 before we hit our turnaround time (also via the Walrus Glacier). On that trip we got back to the cars at 12:40 am. Uggh. We headed out of town at 6 am and started up the trail at just after 9. We were happy that the long washed-out last bit of road has been fixed and we got all the way to the White River trailhead. We made short work of the first 9 miles. The plan was to get as high up as we could with plenty of daylight, so, after a quick lunch we headed up the "sheep herder" trail out of the basin below Boulder Pass. We got to the meadows at 5800' and it was still early and there was a lot of running water about so we continued up. At 6600' it was still early and we decided to get up to the notch on the S ridge below point 8360 and see if there appeared to be water (snow patches) and flattish spots to camp. If not, we could drop back 800 feet. That proved unnecessary and we headed down the gully beyond the notch and found reasonable spots on heather benches with running water. It was early (4:45) but we opted to make this camp rather than keep pushing on. Traversing to notch below point 8360: View back down from notch: View from notch to Clark: This gave me plenty of time to drink whisky and watch the sun set. Damn! That was a luxury I've become unaccustomed to - and quite welcome. Technicolor treat: We got up at 5:30 and started up soon thereafter as dawn lit up the terrain. At the notch at 8000' I took a look over the other side. I don't know if this is technically the W face or is more like SW face. The terrain seemed doable but required a long traverse to skiers right to get over the S ridge proper and beyond. We went for it. Although it was unsavory in spots, it went just fine and we were soon under the W face of Clark proper. Some spice is nice: From here we contoured between 7500 and 7600 feet below point 7970 and under the S face of Luahna. We then ascended scree and talus and got undernewath the SW face. From here we followed our nose and found the landmarks we were looking for: a black rock step with a white line through it (to scramble up) and then a "vertical slab/rabbit ears" with a hidden gully Soon we were on the summit. Second half of the long traverse to Luahna: Way up to the Rabbit Ears: Blurry pic of the Rabbit Ears: KK on the summit of Luahna: Clark from Luahna: MM enjoying the views: View towards Glacier Peak from Luahna: After a long break we started down and retraced out steps. Looking up at the W face of Clark it seemed there was a less circuitous route up but we opted to go with the Devil we knew. We traversed even more on the ascent to climber's right and topped the spur ridge at 7800'. From here we ascended a climber's trail to the summit of Clark. Clark summit p0rn pano: After a shorter break we headed down. It took an hour to get to camp, 30 min to pack and 6 hours to hike out. My Stone IPA hit the spot at 9:45 pm and helped make the drive a bit more enjoyabe. Gear Notes: Helmet. Approach Notes: No bugs. No snow. Plenty of running water.

Wonderland trail in one push?

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire...

Abram you are a nut!!!! But, props, dude!

When I climbed Jack 3 years ago I thought it was great but all my partners thought the loose rock was atrocious. I may just tune it out. There were a few "widow makers" up there. I just looked for them and warned others...

Really? I didn't notice... felt it was about average. Perhaps I have become inured to choss? (I still feel like Martin was a total POS and hateful in every way, however)

Trip: Formidable - South Face Date: 8/27/2017 Trip Report: I climbed Formidable this past weekend with my friends Noel and Ed. At the TH we ran into a 3-person party that we knew who had to make a backup plan on the fly due to a new fire in the Thunder Creek area (they had planned on Logan). We ended up having a similar itinerary with them and shared the camp and parts of the climbing route. The hike in was uneventful, albeit increasingly hot from Kool Aid lake and onwards. Formidable from somewhere between Cache Col and Kool Aid lake: The Cache Glacier has a few cracks open and some icy bits but we opted to do it unroped. The Red Ledges were easily accessible by downclimbing 10 feet into a moat, skirting it a bit, then scrambling a class 3 gully. We camped in meadows just past the Red Ledges. Due to the heat and sun we retreated into our bivies for a nice siesta with extra clothing hanging from our shelters as extra shade. We enjoyed a spectacular sunset, partially thanks to the wildfires: On Sunday we got up pre-dawn, which is not that early these dog days of summer, and headed up to the Middle Cascade glacier. This one was crevassed enough to make us rope up, but other parties might be fine soloing it. The Spider-Formidable col was dry but had some steep, firm snow on the S side. I put on crampons and was glad to have done so. Descending steep snow: Views opening up from the col: After dropping a couple hundred feet we traversed snow and talus along the Ptarmigan Traverse trail until the saddle just below point 7285. From here we descended a shitty loose gully and then traversed mostly talus, with some snow then scrambled class 3 to just below a snow field. We climbed that (firm) and attained the ramps leading to the "ledges" option as described by Klenke on summit post. This was solid and easy. Then we traversed and scrambled fun class 3 to the summit. Typical scrambling on the S face: After a leisurely time enjoying the views and mutual company we headed down and got to camp by 6:30. Monday we retraced our steps from Saturday and got to the car by noon. This peak is a milestone for me: 75/100. Gear Notes: Ice axe, crampons, rope for Middle Cascade glacier. No need to belay anything or rappel. Approach Notes: One gully on the traverse along Mixup Arm is nasty to cross. Steep snow at Spider-Formidable col.

Damn fine work, Ian!

We went to the leftmost waterfall. Started up just right of it. I did not see any branches. Just rock

Congrats! We came a few days later and bailed. The heat slowed us down and we got at the N fork crossing at about 6:45pm. We got our permits later than you - arrived at 7:35 out at 8:10 That permit system sucks. In the end though we screwed up routefinding for the slabs. When we found them it was too late to go up. I'm not sure I would have wanted to anyways. The exposure on 4th class slabs with a full pack...

I was thinking about Goode for later this summer, what made you bail? class 4 slabs with a full pack. one slip - you die.

Well said!

They do teach that. They teach being conservative. To many here - TOO conservative. I'm not second-guessing anyone's decision (or mistake). This sport is dangerous and margin for error is low. This is a huge tragedy. It actually made me think twice this weekend and bail on a climb 15 miles in with class 4 slabs. Not worth my life, even to do a cool route like Goode.

OK, thanks. This is a sad event.

What is "the boulder move? I recall two or three rappels between the false summit and where the angle lessons and there is mellower (downclimbing) terrain back to the notch.

or do something car to car. no permit needed

What makes you think that? They seem to be in the business of removing anchors. They pulled the bolted descent route and cleaned all of the anchors from the West Ridge. Hard to imagine them adding anchors. Yep. Unless he meant they were up there climbing and having fun, taking up a Boston Basin permit for themselves in the process

Better weather down south this weekend

I descended the Bachelor Creek trail a couple weeks ago. It's not that bad or overgrown. There are a few downed trees which you must go over, under or around.

Don't forget about the Illuminati!

Oh, and the best part? No stopping at ANY RANGER STATION FOR A PERMIT. You show up and head up. The way it should be

Trip: Bonanza and Martin - Mary Green Glacier and W. Ridge Date: 7/15/2017 Trip Report: It seems more than a few of us have waited long enough to get into Holden with normal access. Like a dam ready to burst, once the remediation ended we are flooding to get some alpine goodness. I don't like crowds (or sloppy seconds for that matter), but in this case, I didn't care. It was worth a run in there to get some. And, in the end, it was not so crowded. My friends Alex and Andy met me early Friday morning and we drove to Field's Point Landing. We caught the Lady Dexu and then the school bus. I will not say much more about this ride or our "reception" and Village visit other than... umm, never mind. From Holden we hiked in to Holden Lake and then the pass. It was hot AF and the going was slow. I expected this to take just 4 hours but it took six. At the pass there were a few folks already and we scouted about to find a flatt-ish spot for our 2p tent and bivy. There were snow patches and we found a reasonable stream of running water out of one. Score! Alarms set: 3:40. We were up and moving within an hour. The way up from the pass was about 40% trail and 60% snow up until the infamous waterfall slabs. There was a steep snow patch right before the slabs that required about 30 feet of careful stepping (slick) and then we were at the base of those slabs. They were cruiser and caused no issues. We roped up above the slabs and headed up the Mary Green. She was cruiser as well. We stayed climber's right until just below cliff bands then cut left until the final slope leading to the bergschrund. There were a couple or three spots to transition from snow to rock and we picked the most tame one of them. We unroped and headed up. A second party of three caught up to us here. We chatted with them and decided to minimize rockfall by 1) climbing together and 2) avoiding rappels on the way out as much as possible. Approaching the waterfall slabs. I was underwhelmed: Looking up the Mary Green. Damn she got a purty mouth! Traversing high on the Mary Green: Transitioning from snow to rock at the 'schrund: The scrambling was easy and snow free. We had to do some zigging and zagging but ended up in the right spot just below the ridge. The final 4th class bit was fun and easy and very secure. Fun scrambline on Bonanza with great views down of the Mary Green: Topping out on Bonanza: After some summit lounging, we headed down. We downclimbed the whole route without rappelling. It was all chill. We rested back at camp for an hour. Since it was early (1pm) we discussed heading up Martin. One of my party opted to chill rather than go up Martin. One member of the other party we had met on Bonanza wanted to climb it, and so he joined us. We were all a bit tired, but probably I was most tired. The going was slow. And I was eating shit, but was determined to beat the sunset. What should take folks 3 hours took us more like 4. I have little to say about Martin other than she is a shit pile of epic proportions. I can't wait to climb that other notorious shit pile - Custer. From afar it just looks steep. But it is a chossy shitpile: Shit gully on Martin: Some nasty, steep scrambling near the summit of Martin: Summit p0rn from Martin: From the summit of Martin we retraced out steps. We rappeled the top 4th class step and downclimbed the rest unroped. 3 hours later we arrived at camp. It was 9:20, but no headlamps were required. I soothed my aching pains with a couple drams of Eagle Rare and crashed at midnight. The hike out Sunday was uneventful. The Lady was an hour late and my beer was lukewarm in the car. That kind of sucked, but it was better than climbing Martin. Even boiled beer would be better. Gear Notes: Ice axe, crampons, helmet, 40 m glacier rope. Approach Notes: Follow the trail around the lake and pay attention and you will avoid all but maybe 100 feet of schwacking through slide alder.

You're still not gonna get a permit to Boston Basin this weekend. :kisss: 6 permits, party size 1-12. Could be 6 people, could be 72. When will the NCNP have a *sane* Boston Basin permit policy -limiting # of people, not parties? And when will they stop giving guide services the ability to book permits in advance of the general public? Why does paying a franchise fee confer more access rights for public land?