KaskadskyjKozak

Thanks for the update Mr. Sunshine!

Trip: Klawatti, Austera, Primus - Inspiration-McAllister-Klawatti Traverse Date: 7/4/2014 - 7/6/2014 Trip Report: One thing I have learned in the past few years of climbing is not to let opportunities go by - both in terms of weather and motivated partners. Carpe diem, motherfucker! So I ate a lot and rehydrated after Little Tahoma on Wed and Thu morning, then packed my stuff and met one of my partners in Bellevue at 2 pm to head up to Marblemount and get a permit for the Klawatti zone. We knew other folks were headed up there and with it being 4th of July and all, wanted to ensure we could get out on our objective. We camped at Mineral Creek and got up at 4 am, had breakfast, drove up to the Eldorado TH and were off at 5:45. We made quick work of the familiar trail up to the boulder field, and continued to the waterfall where snow was still lingering. From here the rest of the approach was mostly snow, save the gully down below the base of the Eldorado glacier. We continued up to the E ridge of Eldorado, took a rest break, then roped up and traversed the Inspiration glacier to Klawatti col, arriving in camp just after 3 pm. Approaching Klawatti col: Klawatti: We set up camp, and, noticing the weather was changing from perfect blue-bird to ominous-looking weather opted to scout for a route up Klawatti. Yes we were tired, but, as I said before, carpe diem, motherfucker! We had met a party on the way in that said the standard route was a no-go, so we followed some beta we had from a previous year looking for a short pitch above the moderate snow ramp (45 degree) near camp (around the corner on the south), and found something promising. My partner, SA, led up a mid-length pitch to a nice ledge and set up a fixed line. My other two partners and I prusiked up (last on belay). I then started up looking for a scramble route to the summit with my partners just below. I mostly stayed on the ridge line (SW?) sometimes crossing right, sometimes left. The rock was quite loose and fractured... and shitty. It was mostly class 3 with some exposure. Eventually I got to class 2 terrain and a tedious boulder hop ensued to the summit. No register was found, and it began to sprinkle so we high-fived and headed down. We retraced our steps and rappeled the initial pitch and downclimbed the moderate snow. We boiled dinners and started melting water when the rain really started to kick in, soaking us all. We set our alarms hoping the best, but it rained most of the night and past our wake up time of 4 am. About an hour later the rain stopped and we crawled out and roped up. We left camp at 6:40 and headed for Austera. The skies looked significantly better and the weather improved as the morning went on. Carpe diem, motherfucker! We got to Austera's ridge quickly with just one obstacle - a short, mildly exposed downclimb onto the Klawatti glacier over a small moat against the rock ridge separating the Klawatti from McAllister glaciers. Notch downclimb from afar: Notch downclimb close-up. I'm on the left: We met two other parties at the summit ridge - so a total of 10 folks all hit Austera at the same time. However 3 folks opted to just hang out on the ridge, and the remainder of us tackled the final scramble/pitch via two routes. A party of 2 climbed the chock stone and let one of our team members prusik their line. I led up around the right side of the false summit (facing Primus), downclimbed 4-6 feet onto a snow ramp, crossed to the base of the summit block and made some easy moves to the summit. I set up a fixed line and my other two partners prusiked up alone with one party member from another team. We quickly cleared the summit doing one rappel down the chockstone pitch, with the party of 2 going first. 7 people got up and out of there pretty damn quickly - much quicker than I expected! Me preparing to lead. My partner, SA, on the right. Yes I have an excessive rack - it was intended for Dorado Needle and I just had it in my pack: Crowded Austera summit (photo courtesy CBarmon): KK rappeling down the chockstone (photo courtesy DMotes): At this point everyone but me wanted to continue on to Primus. I climbed it last year via the Borealis Glacier, so I bid adieu and solo'd the glacier and short scramble back to camp, where I drank water, baked in the sun and ate dinner. My party returned by about 5 pm and by then the weather had turned foul again. We melted water and prep'd for day 3 and it's objective: Dorado Needle. We crashed at about 8 and set alarms for 4. The rain never let up all night, and we slept in until 7 or 7:30. By this time precip was more of a mist and we were in a white-out. We hemmed and hawed about whether to make a go of it towards Dorado in case things improve en route, but in the end decided to count our blessings on getting three summits already (two for me), and headed back to the cars. The hike out was uneventful and quite easy. Gear Notes: Standard glacier travel gear; minimal alpine rack for the pitches on Klawatti and Austera. Approach Notes: Boulder field melted to the first waterfall.

Jason, there were gnarly cornices everywhere. I'm not sure the conditions were so usual this year...

Trip: Little Tahoma - Frying Pan/Whitman Glaciers Date: 7/1/2014 Trip Report: Little T is another peak I've had on my tick list for years but never attempted. It's been on the calendar, yeah, but always canceled for one reason or another. I have this week off from work so I decided to go for it with a great weather window that opened up and found some friends to join me. We made quick work of the hike to Summerland (2 hours). Lingering avy debris made for a quick hike up a stream bed instead of the usual switchbacks up to Summerland. However, on the way out the snow was noticably melted and this way up will not be really viable soon. Luxury accommodations! From Summerland we traversed too much than we needed but still got to the top of Meany Crest in 4+ hours. The bivy sites are all melted out. No running water. We woke up just befor 2 am and headed out onto the Frying Pan glacier. Alpine start: With the freezing level rising from 7K to 14K I was worried we'd have soft snow the whole way, but thanks to a very windy night and clear skies, we got perfect cramponing across the glacier to the notch before sunrise. As the day went out the snow did soften but we had to contend with it really only on the descent. The Whitman is still in good shape but crevasses are opening, including a large on up high. It will be in a while longer. Approaching the notch between Little T and Whitman Crest: Traversing from the notch across the Whitman Glacier: Great shot of Rainier from the Whitman: We had some routefinding shenanigans on the choss pile summit block. Basically we traversed left and up a lot before finding an obvious way up to the notch. From there I led out and set a fixed line for my partners. Steep snow transition to summit block (pic taken on descent): Shot from summit back to notch: Summit selfie: Summit p0rn: For the descent we rappeled from the base of the gully across the top of the steep snow. We had good plunging stepping down the Whitman Glacier, but the top layer of snow was sloughing off and entraining and we set off one microslide (2 inches deep maybe 10 feet wide). The Frying Pan glacier was easy to traverse with no postholing. Gear Notes: a couple runners, 1 nut and 1 cam for belaying to the summit. Approach Notes: Snow free until after the stream crossing. Snow approach from Summerland to Meany Crest.

Hey, Sobo... What time is it???

Trip: Clark Mountain - Walrus Glacier Date: 6/21/2014 Trip Report: I've never attempted Clark. I've had it on the calendar and bailed from the couch a couple times due to weather forecast. Finally, it happened. The plan was to hit Clark and Luahna in a 3 day trip. The approach went fine...the 10 miles and 4000 foot gain was not bad. Even the infamous Clark skeeters seemed overstated (bad in first 4 or 5 miles only). However 15 min out of camp at Boulder Pass we encountered unexpected shenanigans with steep downcliiming on bullet proof snow down from cornice remnants. Other salad-tossing shenanigans were encountered near the not-guite-melted-out summit block. Once we summitted and obtained an adequate vantage of the Richardson glacier and Luahna approach, we opted to bask in the sun for an extended break and return to camp early to relax and crash. A few pics from the climb. Usually I have to wait for a summit pic for summit p0rn: Walrus money shot. Coo-coo-ca-choo: Summit ridge: Team "ST" on the summit: Shot back up ridge on descent: Gear Notes: Standard. Approach Notes: No snow until around the creek crossing.

Yeah, some of our group had mountaineering boots only and it looked more dicey that way for sure (but they were on TR)

Trip: Big Snagtooth - Standard Date: 5/24/2014 Trip Report: Some friends and I climbed Big Snagtooth on Saturday as a consolation prize for Logan, which we backed out of due to weather concerns. We had great weather at WA pass and a wonderful time on this route off the beaten path. Some pics follow. We encountered no difficulties beyond some tedious postholing at the very end coming out and up to the highway. A suitable log crossing we found across the turgid waters of Early Winters Creek: A great day to be in the mountains! Some streams were encountered and crossed: Ascending moderate snow towards the final, longish ridge. Looking up towards Snagtooth Ridge: Nearing the summit block: I led the final moves to the summit. My partner spotted me while I made the awkward moves off the deck: Gear Notes: 2 small cams, 2 mid sized cams for the short class 4 pitch onto the summit block. The final summit block is unprotectable. Approach Notes: Patchy snow from close to the road, lots of postholing, with too much dirt to really ski. Snow is melting fast!

My friend climbed NBC on Colchuck and said the conditions were perfect. Go for it!

I have a wake every day

"Not a joke" Ummm, yes, this is a joke. Fucking A

Thanks for putting this together Porter, it was fun to come out and hang with you all for a bit!

On it.

Stay frosty.

Hey, you've got one thing in common with them.

I'll block it off on the calendar. :-)

Next week on Wed or thu?

LOL. WTF? I mean on the quantity of bacon. +1 on the food poisoning revelations on stomach structure.

See - He is most merciful. Even to you :-)

naw, it's just nice to see such a nasty guy get some payback while all the rest of the aholes of the world seem to live it up w/ no punishmnet.

just deserts ;-)

All I ask for is a good IPA to be available. Or three.

uggh! I can't do Thu this week! How about Tue or Wed???

Cool, set up another pubclub,and I'll show up for the exchange!

Sorry I missed this - I was drinking in Ballard on Wed night. I'll try to make the next one Porter. :-) BTW I'm too fat for my "L" cc.com t-shirt and would love to swap it for XL, or just give it to a more svelt member. The windshirt fits great though :-)