timmy_t

Wow thanks, super helpful! And glad you’re ok. Speaking of accidents, I have a friend in Vermont (who used to be a climbing partner of mine when he lived in Washington), and he called me earlier this week to say one of his Vermont friends was hiking the Bailey Range last week, and her dad slipped and fell to his death on the route. Have you heard news on this? I can’t find anything about it online.

So the word is that the normal rock route finish on Olympus (which I have climbed) is blocked by a 15’ wide, 40’ deep bergschrund as of a couple weeks ago already. ONP website says “Most parties are attempting Eastern Ledge Route to summit”, but I can’t find any good info on what this entails. Does anybody out there have any beta on this, or has anybody climbed it? What’s the descent like? Etc. I hope to head up there in a week... Thanks!

Thanks for posting, bro! I'll get on that route with you yet...

Going earlier in the season definitely makes for easier travel for almost the entire route (minus the Bachelor bushwhack). Part of the reason we went this late was so that White Rock Lakes would be mostly melted out, because the lakes are so much prettier when you can actually see them. Obviously this all depends on the snowpack for a given year, but June is a great month to ski the route, and late July is good for easier hiking snow travel.

JasonG, The peak list originally included Mixup, Magic, Hurry-Up, and Le Conte. The first three we skipped because of weather, and the last we skipped because of time (and/or general laziness). This was my fourth traverse but the other guys were all on their first. I had climbed all 4 peaks that we did on this trip before. Dome is a must-climb; German Helmet and Spire are the closest fun, easy alpine rock climbs on the route; and Old Guard is a much more fun scramble than Sentinel... that was the rationale. I'd really like to take a side trip of Hoch Joch Spitz and also climb Formidable on a future trip.

Trip: The Ptarmigan Traverse - North to South (with 4 summits) Date: 8/25/2017 Trip Report: A few friends and I hiked the Ptarmigan Traverse over six days (August 25-30), and we were able to climb Old Guard, German Helmet, Spire Point, and Dome Peak along the way. The first day to Kool Aid Lake was cloudy and windy; lots of traffic, of course, to Cascade Pass. We hiked up the Cache Glacier, and the route to Cache Col was on easy snow right up to the col (we stayed right, whereas I've usually gone all the way left to the wall). We slept in and waited until the clouds started to clear around Formidable. Since Magic and Hurry-Up Peaks were engulfed in clouds, we elected to skip the climbs and head south. The snow brought us easily into the moat, which we traversed a bit and then climbed dirty rock about 40' up to Red Ledge. Once we gained the ledge it was an easy trail across. The clouds continued to melt away as we hiked, and after the second morning we had perfect skies until smoke rolled in a bit on the fifth day. Here's Josh and the Middle Cascade Glacier under Formidable Cool lighting as we ascend the Middle Cascade Glacier Ascending the Middle Cascade Glacier; we elected to stay climber's left and do it unroped, and there were no snow bridges or noteworthy crevasses on this section. Brennan crosses the top of the Middle Cascade Glacier with Johannesburg looming in the background After a lunch stop we passed through Spider-Formidable Col; you can see Old Guard and Sentinel Peaks and the Le Conte Glacier (above Le Conte Lake) through the col Two Italian climbers we had met at Kool Aid Lake told us that the snow on the south side of the col was very hard and steep, but by the time we descended it was plenty soft. It is steeper than it looks in the photo though. We traversed around the basin underneath Formidable And dropped down to lovely Yang Yang Lakes, where we jumped in and camped for the night. The water was not warm. The next morning we located the shitty talus gully to bring us up under Le Conte (wear helmets, yikes!) Heading toward Le Conte Mountain Leo and Mt Formidable We dropped down under Le Conte and headed toward the impressive Le Conte Glacier More Le Conte cracks There were several rock bands to cross toward the bottom, which I'd never seen on my previous trips through this area. We finally roped up once past the last rock band, and there was a very icy section with some steep snow. Leo's crampon broke so we had an interesting improvisation with an axe and a whippet for about 50', but after that it was easy glacier travel up to the Sentinel saddle. Looking far down toward Le Conte Lake; it really is that color After lunch we headed up to climb Old Guard It's a fun scramble with a bit of loose rock down low (the usual snow finger start was melted away) There's a great view of Dome Peak from the summit of Old Guard Here it is again Brennan descends Old Guard, with the South Cascade Lake far below We dropped through the Sentinel Saddle to find nice little tidepools of water in the rocks; then we traversed on easy snow for a few minutes. You can see the Spire Point ridge on the horizon, which is more impressive in black and white. Then intermittent rock and snow for awhile Josh crosses the top of the South Cascade Glacier toward Lizard Pass Brennan and Leo checked out the giant stakes planted in the snow on the South Cascade Then we had an annoying downclimb on very loose rock to White Rock Lakes. The view of Dome Peak from the Lakes is always unbelievable. Tobiah improvises a jacket These were the only goats we saw on the trip, although we did see tracks a few feet below the summit of Dome Sunset on Gunsight Leo welcomes the day. We built in a free day on Day 4, as I had always wanted to stay an extra night at White Rock Lakes. (I forgot to switch from the "sunset" filter mode on my camera so the next two photos feature some very red skin...) Fortunately Brennan and Tobiah remembered to bring eclipse glasses so it was a great spot to watch the eclipse... for most of us. Tobiah is making a pinhole with his fist here, and you can see the little crescent eclipse moons in the shadow. After the eclipse, three of us headed up to climb German Helmet Rock shoes on On top of German Helmet. This is a fun little climb. White Rock Lakes from the top of German Helmet Agnes Mountain and the largest of the White Rock Lakes We took a dip before dinner Dome Peak The next morning we dropped down beneath the lakes, then gained the Spire Glacier to head up to Spire Col We climbed Spire Point Then went back to Spire Pass for lunch (photo by Josh) The plan was to traverse under the south side of the ridge to head up Dome Peak, but with most of the snow gone it didn't look very fun So we dropped down to Itswoot Ridge We hastily repacked full packs into daypacks and set out to climb Dome Peak in mid-afternoon On top of Dome Peak A view north toward the peaks around Cascade Pass, from whence we came Leo drops down toward the saddle beneath Dome's summit The dirty top of the Chickamin Glacier Headed back to camp, trying to beat the sunset We made it back to our Itswoot Ridge camp just before sunset I took these three photos of Glacier Peak at sunrise, about ten minutes apart The sixth day we headed out... but not before one last tough-guy pose from Leo Fireweed Blueberries aplenty on the way out made the bushwhack tolerable Cub Lake Wildlife! Frog on log. Brennan gets the shot One last alpine view along the Bachelor Creek trail before we dive into the bushes. Anybody know what peak this is? Log crossing above Bachelor Creek. All five of us got multiple yellow jacket stings on the hike out. The "trail". Bonus points for finding Brennan. Waterfall break just above the confluence with Downey Creek, about three hours from the car. Thanks for reading!

Trip: Black Peak - South Route (ski) Date: 5/12/2016 Trip Report: A couple friends and I took Thursday off to climb/ski Black Peak. 'Twas worth it. Early morning light as we cross Lake Anne; the snow was firm and good for skinning. The clouds kept the snow from slopping up on us. Brennan makes his way across Wing Lake North Cascades panorama Summit of Black Peak with the peaks of the Cascade Pass area on the horizon And now for the payoff... Brennan drops in from the saddle above Wing Lake Skiing through a bit of debris toward Wing Lake Black Peak Skiing back across Lake Anne, with the peaks of the Liberty Bell group on the horizon (I think...) The ski out from Lake Anne was ok, with a few combat turns in the trees, but we were able to keep skis on all the way back to the car at Rainy Pass. Approach Notes: All lakes are frozen, everything is snow except the last bit up from the saddle above Wing Lake which is 50/50 rock/snow.

Sent PM

I took an Olympus (ha!, of course) OM-D E-M5 and a few good prime lenses.

Trip: Olympic National Park - Bailey Range Traverse + Carrie, Pulitzer, Olympus Date: 7/28 - 8/3/2014 Trip Report: My brother and two friends and I hiked the Bailey Range traverse in Olympic National Park recently. We did a loop trip in 7 days, and we climbed Mts Carrie, Pulitzer, and all three summits of Olympus along the way. Instead of dropping a car at the Hoh River trailhead for the exit we climbed back up to the High Divide via the Hoh Lake trail, then hiked back to the Sol Duc trailhead to our car. This entailed an annoying 4200'+ of elevation gain on the last day but it was cool to make a loop out of the hike. Here's our approximate route (in yellow) and camping spots (the red dots) My wife and 6-month old son and my friend's wife hiked with us a bit beyond Sol Duc Falls to see us off. We camped the first night at Sol Duc Park, as there were (predictably) no spots available anywhere on the High Divide, and we didn't leave early enough to make it to Boston Charlie's. Here we're passing Heart Lake just below the High Divide on the morning of day 2 of the trip. Junction with the High Divide trail where it heads out toward the Bailey Range Descending the Catwalk. It's funny that it has such notoriety, because there are many sketchier sections of trail over the next day or two -- steep, loose, unsavory gully crossings on both sides of 11 Bull Basin, for example. We saw a couple mountain goats during our lunch break at Boston Charlie's Camp We missed the supposed way trail up Mt Carrie, but we dropped packs after traversing halfway around the peak and scrambled up to the summit. Here's the summit ridge, looking back toward the High Divide. Two of us followed the rocky ridge and two of us stayed low and crossed the snowfields. On the way down from the summit we saw a herd of mountain goats cooling off on a snow patch Much of the rest of the day was steep sidehilling through beautiful wildflower meadows Here's sunset from our campsite in Eleven Bull Basin (notice the silhouetted guy in the top right). We could see down the Hoh to the Pacific, very cool The third morning we had more steep sidehilling, more unfun gully crossings, and some steep downclimbing This was a tiring day. Even with maps, route descriptions, warnings, and GPS, we managed to drop into the Cream Lake Vortex. Next time we will definitely stay high, or possibly go around via the back side of Stephen Peak. We had lunch near the wide inflow to Cream Lake, and Kevin found these antlers near the lake We took a very quick dip in Cream Lake; it was COLD!, wow After skirting the lake and following a small stream we located the gully that led toward Ferry Basin and followed it up, then traversed right to a beautiful campsite near a waterfall that fed Lake Billy Everett. This was my second-favorite campsite of the trip (after the eventual Camp Pan). We saw a black bear near the lake, the second bear sighting of the trip. The mosquitoes at the lake were thick So the next morning we fled the Lake Billy Everett scene We climbed above the lake on easy benches toward Upper Ferry Basin. Here Brennan is hiking past a tarn beneath Mt Pulitzer. Just above this spot we ran into a party of two who were on a 12-day trip from Dosewallips to the Sol Duc, the only people we saw on the traverse besides a group camped at Boston Charlie's. We dropped packs and scrambled up Mt Pulitzer. Here's Ferry Basin from the top, with Stephen Peak (above Cream Lake) in the background and Mt Carrie on the left Near the Mt Pulitzer saddle, with Olympus in the background: we're trying to figure out where we came from, and where we should have gone, on the Cream Lake section Kevin surveys the Goldie River Valley area from Mt Pulitzer Most of day 4 was spent on easy up-and-down snow and rock travel along the spine of the Bailey Range, with amazing views in all directions We made camp below Bear Pass and above Dodwell-Rixon Pass that night The next morning, day 5, we dropped into the Queets Basin Once we started traversing beneath cliffs the route was very difficult to follow, and very bushwhacky. We were crawling on all fours beneath slide alder, then scrambling up a very steep wooded hillside trying to find our way to the Humes Glacier. I wonder if it's possible to stay low and follow the river up? At any rate, eventually we took a snack break in this "beautiful hidden basin" (guidebook description) before dropping to the headwall beneath the Humes We had lunch here, at the Humes Glacier terminus Then we climbed the right side of the Humes up to Blizzard Pass And dropped 600 feet down to the spectacularly-situated Camp Pan This is the Hoh Glacier from Camp Pan, and the headwaters of the Hoh River From Camp Pan Brennan looks up toward Mt Olympus with the Hoh Glacier below Hoh Glacier cracks These snowy ledges are the descent route from Camp Pan down to the Hoh Glacier The next morning (day 6) we woke up @4:30am to this Camp Pan sunrise The sunrise a few minutes later We roped up (finally) and headed out on the very gentle Hoh Glacier. After a little crevasse maze section we topped out on the Hoh Glacier near the Middle and East summits of Olympus We dropped packs and scrambled up the East Peak of Mt Olympus (Erik is singing Pat Benatar's "Heartbreaker": "Your love is like a tidal wave", in case you were wondering) From the East Peak summit we saw these two 3-person rope teams on the Snow Dome far below We hiked back down the loose rock and snow to our packs and made our way up and over the top of Mt Olympus' Middle Peak. The downclimb from this summit features very steep, very loose rock, and it was very unpleasant. We did it one at a time. We stopped to melt snow on the upper Blue Glacier, then headed toward the true summit, the West Peak. The other 2 parties had arrived shortly before us so we had to wait our turn on the summit rocks. Brennan, Kevin, Tim, and Erik on the summit of Mt Olympus We still had a long way to descend but we enjoyed the perfect weather on the summit, and Erik brought along a summit orange which he shared. Here's the Blue Glacier's icefall on our descent from the Snow Dome Crossing the Blue Glacier was strange, with moulins and noisy running water just beneath the surface of the ice Finally back on real trail, at the moraine trail above Glacier Meadows We dropped all the way to a small campsite on the Hoh River a couple miles above Lewis Meadow, reaching camp @8pm. The next morning (day 7) we turned right at the junction up to Hoh Lake, where Brennan hugged this tree. 4000' of climbing later we had lunch and a swim at Hoh Lake We crested the High Divide above Hoh Lake, then headed back into the forest and out to our car at the Sol Duc trailhead. The only casualty was Kev's hiking boot: the sole started separating from the boot on day 2, so we used some cord, sleeping pad repair glue, and duct tape to keep it together. Thanks for reading!

Yeahhh, Brennan! Thanks for the TR!

Free Kindle!

Same here. I happened to look up one day after getting back to the car from a trip in the Cascade Pass area and there it was, so obvious. And I'm looking forward to the coffee table book on this trip that Jason had better get around to publishing!

I just read this on Jason Hummel's FB page. Holy shit, what a trip. "Dream charging complete. Over 16 days, 60,000 vertical feet, 120 miles and a grand traverse of the Cascades is complete, something Cascade Mountains pioneer Lowell Skoog dubbed the 'American Alps Traverse'. A short story he wrote about his and others attempt to complete this adventure can be found here: http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=7640.0 For those familiar with the Cascade Mountains, Kyle Miller and I skied the Isolation Traverse, Ptarmigan Traverse, Extented Ptarmigan, Suiattle High Route into the Dakobeds and up and over Glacier Peak and out the Whitechuck River. I finished off the trip by running to the Mtn Loop Hwy and hitching rides back to my car. Much, much more to come."

Don't know if somebody posted this already, but I just saw this sad article online: Arizona Climber And His Dog Apparently Stung To Death By Bees PHOENIX | Wed May 8, 2013 4:12pm EDT (Reuters) - An Arizona climber has been found dead, dangling from a rope on a cliff face south of Tucson, after apparently being stung to death by bees, police said on Wednesday. Steven Wallace Johnson, 55, a counselor with some 30 years experience hiking and climbing, headed into the mountains south of Tucson on Friday, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada said. Johnson was reported missing on Monday by co-workers after he failed to show up for work. A Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office search and rescue team found his body that afternoon, Estrada said. "He had been stung repeatedly and he was dangling there," he said. "He was climbing the cliff and was about 70 feet up and still had about 80 feet to go, so he really didn't have anywhere to go when he was attacked by this swarm of bees," Estrada said. He said Johnson's dog had also been attacked by bees and was found dead nearby. The Pima County Medical Examiner's Office was conducting an autopsy to determine the cause of Johnson's death.