timmy_t

to whoever's been up the sulphide lately, how far up the road can you drive? anything else noteworthy? thanks

I'm studying in Switzerland (near Villars) until mid-April, and I have my skis here, and I'm wondering if anybody will be around to ski the Haute Route (Chamonix to Zermatt) any time in April. If anybody's done it, or has any advice, that would be SWEEEET. PM me, or whatever. tim (from Mount Vernon when I'm not in Suisse...)

Represent. Congratlutions, thanks for posting.

Trip: Mount Buckner - Southwest Route loop Date: 10/27/2008 Trip Report: A sunny day on Monday meant it was time for my Third Annual October Bad Moustache / Mount Buckner Loop Climb Extravaganza. The Cascade River Road is gated for the season at Mile 20, so I pushed a bike 3 miles up the road to the trailhead...because I'm not in good enough shape to ride it that far. Snow patches are a regular occurance on the last few switchbacks below the pass, and snow is continuous on the trail from the final switchback to the pass, maybe a foot deep. I dropped into Pelton Basin, down the switchbacks below Doubtful Lake Basin, past beautiful fall colors along the trail and into Horseshoe Basin. Here's sunrise from Horseshoe Basin. More sunrise: One more...Sahale and Boston Peaks in the morning glow: And now for a fun game you can play, called Find The Ptarmigan: Once again I failed to locate the cable for the route to the upper basin, but I came closer than ever this time as I found the top of the cable. Maybe next time. The snow crusty at first, but it was good cramponing snow for the last 2000' of the climb. Here's a photo taken about 50' below the summit, looking toward Stehekin: And now for the Bad Moustache Summit Shot, in case you thought I was kidding: I love how Forbidden, Eldorado, and Baker stack up from Buckner's summit. Taking in these views never gets old... Rainier above the North Cascades (Spire Point on the left) And the crevasses of the Boston Glacier far below Sat on top for 45 minutes enjoying the perfect weather and perfect views. I had decided to do the loop by heading traversing above Horseshoe Basin and climbing up to the camp area below the Sahale Glacier. The snow had softened considerably by the time I left the top, and it was knee-deep postholing for much of the traverse to the gully that takes one up to the ridge leading to the camp area. Came across some old rusty mining detritus below Ripsaw Ridge: And a shadow wave from the little saddle above the gully, where I was wading in thigh-deep snow for much of the climb: A good look back at Buckner while climbing the rocky ridge underneath Sahale: Took a break at the Sahale camp area and met a solo climber coming down from a one-day ascent: Here's the Sahale Arm. About 90 percent of the trail was buried in snow. The light was so nice in Boston Basin that I had to stop several times to take photos. Here's Eldorado and Torment: And Torment and Forbidden above Boston Basin: And a last look at Sahale before dropping back down to Cascade Pass: And one more shot of Eldorado in the fading sunset light: Join me next October for another installment of Bad Moustache Adventures. Approach Notes: Approach your mailbox... Gear Notes: And DROP OFF YOUR BALLOT! Don't forget to vote, unless you are planning on voting Republican, in which case please forget to vote.

nice job again you guys; you win the prize. (what's the prize?)

I'm thinking about heading into the Olympics for 10 days, doing a giant loop (140 miles) and doing some of the scramble peaks along the way. Maybe solo, maybe you are in really good shape and are interested?

Nice work once again, Sol. What's your Megalodon partner up to this summer?

Mixup, thanks, duly noted. It wasn't exactly a bummer that we carried skis. Most of the time we were carrying them on snow, because the conditions (steepness, slop-ness) made it easier than skinning. And the downhill parts completely made it worth the weight. I would say it wasn't a bummer, but at the same time it would definitely be better earlier.

If marmots are using toilet paper and picking up rocks to hide their shit, then we have a whole new set of problems on the horizon in the North Cascades...

Trip: Ptarmigan Traverse (on skis, mostly) - north to south to north Date: 7/9/2008 Trip Report: My brother and two friends and I skied the Ptarmigan Traverse from July 5-9. We started from the Cascade River Road, went as far as White Rock Lakes, then doubled back to the car, the idea being more turns and less Bachelor Creek, which we fondly remembered bushwhacking up last year. Due to poor weather on day 2 we lost a day sitting around, so we had to scrap our plan to climb Dome Peak from White Rock Lakes, but we still had three perfect sunny days to mess around. Leaving from the gated road at mile 20, with 3 fun miles of road to get to the Cascade Pass trailhead. The road was driveable all the way to the snow patch blocking the last turn below the parking area, but there was debris and water in several places. By the time we hiked out four days later the entire road was clean. Here's Kev on the first dangerous ford. We headed up the soggy, foggy Mixup Arm. The easier way is to go straight ahead where the sign points right to the toilet, but we took the Toilet Route up the arm. A big wall of snow blocked Cache Col so we went climber's left up a dirty gully... to a cold wet camp above the col. We were in the clouds, with wind and rain hammering us all night. Next morning we skied down toward Kool-Aid Lake in 100-ft. visibility. The snow took us to the outflow about 150 feet below the lake, which we hiked up to and said hi to the two AAI climbers (guide and client) who were camped there. The lake was snow-free to the extent of about 10 by 15 feet. Switched to skins and set off in search of the Red Ledge. A steep snow finger led up to the ledge, which we could hardly see despite being directly underneath it. The ledge had sugary snow patches in two spots, making the crossing invigorating. We traversed to within about 300 feet of the Middle Cascade Glacier. We were on route without knowing it but we couldn't see a thing, so we retraced our steps back to a heather patch where we spent the entire day waiting for a break in the weather, eating, napping, and telling sheep jokes... And attending to personal hygiene. The clouds lifted around dinner time, and we spied a nice camp 500 feet below. Had a fun quick ski down to camp where we were finally able to see our way for the next day. Our plan had been to make it to White Rock Lakes this night, then to climb Dome the next day, so we had to scrap the climb. As a way to boost morale Kev and Anthony helped each other with some "stretching exercises." Ahem. Watched a beautiful sunset... and had this view north to Johannesburg's silhouette. By the next morning the clouds had cleared and we could see Formidable's entire bulk. Several icefalls had rumbled down the face the day before, obscured by the clouds. Broke camp early and retraced our steps back along the basin Up the Middle Cascade Glacier past the camp of the two AAI climbers, silhouetted here against the Formidable Glacier traversed across the top of the Middle Cascade Glacier to Spider-Formidable Col and a spectacular view into Flat Creek Basin and across to the Le Conte Glacier and Old Guard/Sentinel Peaks. Anthony skiing down from the col in style Then we began the hot traverse underneath Formidable, across the Flat Creek basin. Lots and lots of soft snow. We only had to take our skis off once to cross a rock band, then we skied down to a couple of hundred feet above Yang Yang Lakes. One lake was mostly snowfree. Found a nice gully to take us up toward Le Conte then took a lunch break at this snowmelt tarn just underneath the mountain. After lunch we skinned up to Le Conte then skied down and around the lowest rock rib where we skinned up again until it got steep. Roped up in a shady patch, mainly because we brought the damn rope and felt the need to justify carrying it. (Also because this is where the most open crevasses lurked last year.) Old Guard and Sentinel and Slackers Taking A Break After climbing up to the Le Conte-Sentinel saddle and posing badly we traversed under Sentinel, crossed a small rock band, then skied down a fun pitch to Lizard Pass and the phenomenal view of Dome Peak. A quick ski down to White Rock Lakes afforded us up-close and personal contact with Actual Nature in its Actual Environs. Like this ptarmigan and this marmot. One of these little guys tried running off with the Megamid in its mouth when we left it out to dry for a few seconds. Peanut butter at camp; Lizard Pass behind. We skied down, then right (skiers left) above the rocks, then all the way down to camp without having to dismount. Explored the lakes a bit. Here's Travis and Spire Point Gunsight, Sinister, and Dome above heather flowers Some asshole [literally?] had taken a shit in camp! (see arrow for fecal location), then covered it and the TP with a rock. No attempt to dig a hole or to move, say, even 20 feet away. You have got to be kidding me. We disposed of it but it still smelled for a couple of hours. Whoever you are, that is some super-classy awesomeness. We'd like to formally thank you. After some salmon cream cheese, meat sticks, and other, less-appealing food, we had a warm night's sleep. Left at 6am, back up to Lizard Pass to retrace our route and get some more turns and views... Crossed the head of the gentle giant South Cascade Glacier, Beatles' Abbey Road-style back up to the Le Conte-Sentinel saddle from which we had a great ski down. Left these signatures. Back across and below Le Conte to the gully down to Yang Yang Lakes, which Anthony is nailing here, as not seen on TV. Then to the unfun, slippery, hot traverse above Flat Creek basin. See Travis' face for details. Back up to Spider-Formidable Col. Three of us climbed, but Travis skinned up the entire thing. Once again the Great Champion. On the way up to the col I glanced back and got this shot of the two AAI climbers on the summit of Le Conte. Locked in for a great ski down the Middle Cascade Glacier to a lunch spot on a rocky bench with an amazing view to the Middle Cascade's icefall, and across to towering Formidable. After lunch we skied down more, then traversed back toward the ledges with this view of Mixup Peak Kev and Hydration and Icefall Snow on the ledges was softer and less trustworthy, so we set a quick belay. Proper belay technique Down the steep snow... Still going down the steep snow...to our camp at Kool-Aid Lake. Being intelligent, we had cached our dinner/breakfast up at Cache Col, then decided against camping up there. I drew the short straw and went up to get it, but for a consolation prize I got the ski run on the way back down. A continuous shot except for one ten-foot rocky gap. While taking this photo of us at camp, Travis noticed an interesting snow feature on Johannesburg, just above and right of my head (me being the middle guy)... A skull and crossbones! Beware! If you are planning on climbing this mountain, consider yourself warned. Another lovely sunset Back up toward Cache Col, under the watchful eye of this mountain goat Then started the ski down underneath Mixup after a fun drop off the skier's-left side of the snow wall at the col. Looking back up at the col, with our up and down spots, plus Free Bonus Skier in center right Skiing down to the Mixup Arm trail to Cascade Pass. From the talus field it looked like the ski down from the pass to the road would go. Since we were sad we didn't get to bushwhack down Bachelor Creek, we made sure to do a bit on the north side of the traverse. Down through a break in the cliffs... Determined not to take off the skis, Kev demonstrates his patented Ass-Spin move while Travis demonstrates how to ski all the way down from Cache Col to the Cascade River Road with one pole (The other one broke on the way up to the col in the morning). As we hadn't summited anything, Kev got his climbing fix by free soloing this Totally Extreme Icefall, complete with skis on his back, up to the road... which was actually the debris from the snowplow clearing the road while we were away. Back down the 3 miles of road...chatting with a member of the road crew, who informed us that the road would be blocked on the way out, at mile 12 (the bridge washout people were concerned with this spring). Interesting. Considering we stopped in at the Ranger Station in Marblemount on day 1, it would have been nice to have heard about this...As it turned out, we only waited for 40 minutes at the bridge. They were drilling a hole to see what it was resting on, and having determined that it was on rock the county is going to repair the bridge (which is driveable now anyway) instead of replacing it. Almost at the car. Notice Anthony's footwear (but try not to notice his pants-wear. See previous closeup crotch shot on day 2). Time to buy new liners? This is what we had been thinking about for the past 4.75 days... The reward. Marblemount Good Food's olive burger. The one group shot, taken by the AAI guide at the Le Conte tarn. Anthony, Kev, the apparently 6' 5" (or levitating) Travis, and Tim. One more thing... Originally, our friend Kevin LaFleur was supposed to go on this trip with us. Kevin and I had talked this past March about skiing the Ptarmigan Traverse in June, but Kev disappeared on a solo climb of Mt. Baker in April. We were thinking about him during the trip, knowing how much he would have loved it. We miss Kevin a lot, and we took his spirit with us into the mountains. Here are a couple of photos of Kev to honor his memory. We will continue to climb Baker to look for him this summer, and we ask anybody else who is climbing it to keep an eye out for any sign of him, particularly along the Coleman-Deming route (he was last seen on the upper Deming Glacier at the end of April, just before a big snow storm). Kev LaFleur on the Sulphide Glacier Kev jumping in the Baker backcountry Kev in Yosemite Thanks for reading. Thanks to Kev T., Anthony, and Travis for everything else. Gear Notes: meat sticks salmon cream cheese SKIS Approach Notes: Cascade River Road gated at mile 20; probably open by now?

My friend Anthony left a pair of skis near the bottom of the Grouse Creek gully on the way up during our climb of the Coleman-Deming route on Mt. Baker this past Saturday night/Sunday morning (June 29). When we returned several hours later they were gone. There were no visible tracks on the route besides ours (everybody else was going up the normal trail to Heliotrope), but there wasn't really anywhere they would slide to that we wouldn't be able to find them. I don't know the exact make/model, but the skis are sort of a fake wood grain color, and they had the old (blue) Fritschi Titanal bindings. They were around 5100' elevation, stuck upright in the snow on the left side of the gully (if you're heading up) before they magically vanished. If you "found" these skis please send me a PM, or call Anthony at (360) 815-0853.

Check it: pics 2 and 3 from last year... http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Main/53359/Number/711995#Post711995 Or we might just go as far as White Rock Lakes, climb Dome, and retrace the route. Hopefully that means more skiing, less swearing.

I should have said, is the Ptarmigan Traverse still skiable. I didn't mean "skiable yet" as in, is the traverse ready to be skied. I meant, is there enough snow on the sections I mentioned. Obviously it was skiable a long time ago. I did the traverse last year, though a month later than now. We're planning on heading up thursday; just hoping for a little bonus beta...thanks for your thoughts/advice, JoshK. I agree that the traverse is definitely worth any extra effort.

Has anybody been in/around the Ptarmigan Traverse peaks recently? In your professional opinion, does the route appear skiable all the way yet? Like, from Cache Col down to Kool Aid Lake? Red Ledges section? Where does the snow start on the super-fun Bachelor Creek bushwhack area? Etc. Photos? thanks, tim

Just a quick update for those who are following the search for Kevin... Myself, my brother, and two friends spent all day Sunday and most of Monday looking for more evidence higher on the mountain. On Sunday we talked to 12 skiers (in 2 parties) who had made the summit that day. They were the first parties to reach the top since Kev disappeared last Saturday, and they reported seeing no evidence of any kind. On Monday we searched the avy debris under Colfax, then made it to 9250' before high winds and another whiteout forced us to head back to camp. At this point I don't know what else to do. We had many people searching all around the summer trail again on Sunday, as well as many skiers helping to ferry gear and food to our camp. For now we are waiting until better weather to make another summit bid, but it may be awhile. Just to clear up the rumors, this is what we know: Kev made a phone call to a friend at 10am on Saturday, saying he was "in the snow heading toward Baker." He was spotted by two skiers (who did NOT talk to him) at 10:45am on Saturday, confirming that he was high enough to be in cell phone range at 10am. (They were NOT coworkers.) They estimated he was 1:30 to 2 hours from the 9100' saddle area, and about an hour or more in front of them, putting him at around 7300', just starting to head up the rolling area underneath the Black Buttes, just below the crevasse fields. They had been following his skin track up Grouse Creek, and his was obviously the first track of the day, confirming that he was alone and that nobody was higher on the mountain at that time. They turned around because it was warming up quickly, and they were concerned that the upper Deming might become unstable. That's it. The one piece of information at this point that would be useful is if any of the other parties on Saturday or Sunday made it higher than 7300', and if so, did they see a skin track? And if any other parties did make it higher and didn't see a skin track, did they see or hear an avy off Colfax or the upper Deming? And at what time on Sunday did the weather move in to the extent that it would cover up the previous day's tracks? Etc. Thank you everybody for following the thread, for volunteering info, for searching, and for your words of concern. If anybody has any of the aforementioned info, please feel free to call me. Also, if anybody is planning on making a summit bid (from any route), please feel free to call me as I have an additional request if you make it to the top.... Tim Terpstra (360) 424-5238

The missing climber is Kevin LaFleur, one of my best friends and one of my two main climbing partners. He called a friend around 10am on Saturday to say hi, but we're not sure if he was high enough on the mountain for cell reception or if he was still driving there. Either way, he would have been on the CD/Roman Wall area way after John Scurlock was flying by, hence no tracks. If anybody who was skiing off Glacier Creek Rd. has any info whatsoever on any solo climbers they saw or talked to that were planning on skinning above 7000 feet it would be very helpful. He was using Atomic Kongur skis (black with the blue splotchy marks) with Fritschi bindings; probably a red/orange jacket; probably a blue golite ski pack. He has reddish brown hair,is of average height (5'8" or so), has a stocky athletic build, and often wears a white sweatband when skinning up. He is an excellent skier and a fast climber. Below are links to two trip reports I've posted in the past six months that he's been on with me. The face shots on the second report are better, but they both give a sense of his gear and build. http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Main/57230/Number/764011#Post764011 http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Main/55012/Number/733042#Post733042 We've spent the past two days searching but the weather has been really bad, and all tracks are now completely covered over. Thanks for reading...

Check it... here's the motorcycle idea in action on the way to the south start of the Ptarmigan Traverse (Suiattle Rd.); we're planning on doing the same thing this summer for the Cascade River Road. The catch is, you need farm kids with time on their hands, and these two are starting to want to come with us...

Thanks for the responses. Looking through the guidebook/map for the past two days it looks like the best way to get from Low Divide to Anderson Pass is to go up Leitha Creek from Camp Wilder, climbing Norton and Crystal on the way to the Eel Glacier. Has anybody been this way?

When planning for a climb I generally include summiting in my plan.... Anyway, who is it that allows us to summit? (Since you're playing semantics with a new climber) Have fun planning to summit, DBBattig!

And then we advise you to let us know the exciting conclusion....

I need beta on climbing Olympus as part of the Bailey Range traverse, the idea being to backtrack to camp so I can still head down into the Elwha. Has anybody done this lately? Any favorite side peaks along the traverse that I shouldn't miss? Here's another one: how feasible is it to get from Low Divide (or thereabouts, once coming down from the Baileys) to Chimney Peak, West Peak, or Enchanted Valley without going all the way around to Hayden Pass (to Anderson Pass). Good clean fun for the whole family? thanks

Good clean fun. The Google Earth route tour was a great way to visualize the route. I would also highly recommend attending this presentation, if for no other reason than to see the video of ski equipment and touring in the Baker backcountry in 1937. Jason, here's a photo especially for you.

We were thinking you could snomo all the way to the spot where you take the FR9100 junction to the base of the climb. There are a number of downed trees across the road, but you may be able to bypass them through the forest. Here's the link to the photo I took of the gated area where we started skinning: http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showphoto.php?photo=34726&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=6400 Given the amount it's snowed in the past week, by now there is probably a ton more snow on the road than when we went. Last week there were some spots just above the first gate that were partially bare road, maybe four inches deep, but I would guess that by now you'd be fine.

Not very steep/difficult at all except the top 250 feet or so from the summit. And being in the shade most of the day made for a nice hard little crust to skid around on. For me it was attention-getting. The main thing is Don't Fall. Anyway, you could always face in and downclimb, as long as you don't have a partner who is egging you on....

Not to sound rude, but do you have any TRs you want to post on this site of your hardman adventures or do you just use cascadeclimbers as your commercial website? Not to continue the post, but the answer to the above question is NO... 114 of 118 listed posts are Yard Sale or Gear Critic. But hey, who's counting?