timmy_t

Trip: North Twin Sister (w/ ski descent) - Date: 1/22/2008 Trip Report: My friend Kev and I climbed and skied the North Twin on Tuesday. Kev had been skiing the Baker backcountry on Monday and he called me in the evening to demand I take the next day off to climb, so I did. Here's the Sisters from the car (MB Hwy) while driving to the climb. The gate was open, but we opted to park anyway, partly due to the fact that we were driving a Geo Metro. After a long, slow, long, slow approach up the logging road through the trees we were finally able to catch a glimpse of the mountain. And yes, the road is taking us AWAY from it. Kev is showing off the dryness of the snow here to demonstrate what Cascade Cement can look like for two or three days each winter. Still, skinning up the road was kind of peaceful and even purty, especially when you go through an area they forgot to clearcut. Here's some hoarfrost in the road, which Kev explained is basically snow sweat. In this photo you can see our route. I'm not sure what it's called (north bowl to northeast bowl?), but at any rate it was pretty obvious. We saw this ptarmigan at the flat spot where people often leave their bikes for the west ridge scramble (3700' ?). That feathery feet thing is a good trick. Finally out of the trees, we headed under the north face and banked left and around the buttress coming down from the summit. The snow was a bit crusty in here but we saw no sign of avalanches or rockfall anywhere on the mountain. Due to the angle and crusty top layer of snow we decided to kick steps for the final 1200'. Kev was the champion all the way up. The final 250' took awhile because it was too steep and soft under the crust to kick steps very well. We were basically wading up a knee-deep trough to the summit ridge. We were in the sun right at the summit ridge line. A short scramble took us to the summit... with clear views in all directions. The San Juans to the west... South Twin, Glacier Peak, and the infinite North Cascades to the south... and of course Baker dominating the skyline. We looked for skiers or tracks coming off the summit but didn't see anything. It was very mild on top. No wind. After taking a short break on top we realized that we were tired of looking at all these stupid snowy peaks, and we were tired of Nature in general. All we really wanted was to get the hell down off the mountain and back to civilization as soon as possible so we could enjoy fast food, watch reruns of Friends, and listen to the endless drivel of the political pundits. So we locked in and skied off the steep snow below the summit ridge. Here's Kev sidehilling down from the top. Once below the rocks it was considerably easier, and being a shitty skier I don't mind considerably easier skiing. Kev kicking up some chunks in the sunset glow... We got some good turns below the north face while the sun hit the upper mountain. Watched the sun set over the Olympics One final look at the mountain before crashing through the alder of FSR 9100 (a trail in the summer) brought us back to the main logging road, where we were able to ski for 10 or 15 minutes before we had to break out the headlamps. We had a fun, fast 5 mile ski down the road to the car in the dark, taking care not to impale ourselves on the few trees that had fallen across the road. Thanks for reading. Gear Notes: Skis. Wear them on your feet to make travel safe and enjoyable. Axe/crampons not needed this time around. Approach Notes: Gate open; 4x4 would make travel of another mile or two possible, but then you don't get to ski it. A couple of trees down across the road. The FSR 9100 sign is above the snow yet (this is the junction where you leave the main logging road to get to the base of the climb).

Totally true: don't move to Bham for the climbing or the climbing scene. In fact, everything you've heard about good climbing around Washington Pass, Leavenworth, N. Cascades, etc. is all bullshit. Cali's got the granite; Oregon has the super-fun linkup volcanoes; Colorado's got the elevation; Alaska's got the glaciers. Bham, and Washington state in general, is just full of a bunch of liberal caffeinated activist hippie grunge flakes.

nice nice nice. nice work guys. what's the crevasse situation below the saddle? you said skiable?

New to the area? You'll absolutely LOVE Jack Mountain off Hwy 20...(heh heh)...

Try this link for info on how to resize/post/link photos: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/602558/page/1#Post602558

Thought I'd post this link if anybody's interested in the best ski around, new, for $150. Only two sizes left (184cm & 161 cm). It's for real...I got mine in the mail yesterday...took about 10 days to get to me. With the oversize shipping charge the total comes to @ $180. http://gearx.com/product_info.php?products_id=1654 word.

Thanks Blake, my mistake. It's corrected now. You (and Sol) would know. It was a late night......

Trip: Mount Buckner - Southwest Route Date: 10/14/2007 Trip Report: My friend Kevin and I did a loop around Cascade Pass on Sunday, climbing Buckner on the way. We were trying to sneak a climb before the weather hit. The first bit of fun was finding the Cascade River Road gated at mile 20 (Eldorado trailhead), which added an unexpected 3 Free Bonus Miles on either end of the trip. There are two washouts half a mile up the road with foot bridges over both. This section washed out last winter, then was fixed in July, then washed out in the exact same spot already this fall. Anyway, we left the car @ 5:30am and were at Cascade Pass a bit after sunrise to catch this view of Eldorado. The trail was snowy on the traverse across the boulder field just below Cascade Pass and was solid above it. The fall colors were beautiful as we dropped in to Pelton Basin (the Triplets peaking above the ridge behind). Saw these deer making out in the forest near the ranger camp, just before we dropped 1800' to catch the junction to Horseshoe Basin. More fall colors on the traverse underneath the Doubtful Lake basin; the morning sun was making everything all glowy and purty. We hiked up to the Black Warrior Mine and spent half an hour exploring it. (Anybody here gone all the way back into the depths?) I don't know if anybody knows where the supposed climber's trail is that leads from the lower to the upper Horseshoe Basin, but I am 0 for 2 in locating it. We climbed around waterfalls, brush, and small trees to eventually gain the upper basin. Last October when I was here this entire area was a big scree pile. We were happy to have snow underfoot, but it turned out to be an ordeal as it was unconsolidated. We spent the next several hours routinely postholing, often crotch-deep, up, down, and then across the mountain. Here Kev is resting below the peaks of Ripsaw Ridge. Higher up the snow got deeper and post-holier; Buckner's summit is the high point directly above Kev's head. A view south toward the peaks of the Ptarmigan Traverse, with a weird god-light breaking the clouds... Fresh snow on Sahale Kev changing his shirt 50 feet below the summit with Mount Booker in the background Almost on top...the soft snow was interesting on the loose third-class summit rocks. We got a good look down the north face which looked like an amazing ski except for the Sarlacc Pit bergschrund yawning at the base. Kev on top, with Johannesburg, Sahale, and Boston in the background Glacier Peak, with Old Guard and Sentinel in foreground Forbidden, Eldorado, Baker Buckner's NE summit, Dipshit As it was already 3:30pm we stayed on top for only 15 minutes before heading down. We wanted to do a loop so we traversed underneath Ripsaw Ridge, then across the slabs below the Davenport Glacier to the base of the rock rib leading up to the Sahale Glacier. This miserable affair took two hours, one hour of which was spent just traversing the slabs (this took me 15 minutes in no-snow conditions last October). Here Kev is lifting up his boots to let the water pour out before the slab traverse. A short, steep climb in a narrow gully led us to the the notch whereby we would gain the rib leading up toward Sahale. This photo was taken from the notch, and it shows our ascent and descent/traverse route. This one, taken earlier in the day, shows the traverse across the slabs under the Davenport, then up the gully (steep); the dots are where we walked on top of the rib; the X is where one leaves the rock rib to diagonal up to the Sahale camp; the arrow shows approx. where the angle lessens and the camp is obvious. We had dropped back down to 6400' to the base of the rib, and we now had to climb another 1100' to the glacier campsites of Sahale. There is one tricky section on the rock rib, and that is getting on top of it from the the notch. Once this was accomplished we had a nice scramble on solid ground for a change, then up more soft snow to the moraine camp below Sahale, where this final photo was taken. We more or less followed a skin track down the talus/snow field to the Sahale Arm (where the trail is about 70 percent snow-covered), lost our way in the snow a couple of times, slopped down to Cascade Pass, trudged down the annoying switchbacks to the trailhead, then jogged in squishy boots much of the way down the road to make it to the car by 11pm. numbers: 9800' elevation gain (3200' car to Cascade Pass; 5500' Horseshoe Basin jct. to summit; 1100' slabs to Sahale camp) 20+ miles 17.5 hours (no off-the-hook speed ascent here!) 3 French Hens 2 Turtle Doves 1 Partridge in Pear Tree Gear Notes: pants (we wore them) Approach Notes: Cascade River Road is gated at mile 20 (Eldorado trailhead); two foot bridges in place; snow continuous above 5400'

You're right - I had not noticed the "Hike" drop-down before, even though it's next to the trip report type. I don't want anything removed; I just thought the site was more of a climbers resource. Your trip report was fine; the photos were nice; people obviously enjoyed reading it. Good. I don't recall saying/implying anything about being "badass". I love hiking. Don't project your insecurities on to me, snuggy-poo. Anyway, what does it mean that I'm "so badass that don't have time to read" something? If I don't want to read something I just don't read it. Are you so badass that you don't have time to read the morning paper? What the hell does that even mean? (If I'm wasting this much time writing my stupid post in response to your stupid post, well, obviously I'm not so badass with my time that I don't waste it.) The funny thing is that the whole badass comment was yours: "So what did YOU do this weekend?" Implying, I take it, that if I wasn't out doing a 13,000' hike I'm not as....badass....as you? Good Lord. Go take another badass hike and post a badass trip report with more badass self-portraits about how badass Colorado is. I'll be over here trying to think of what I can do to be as badass as you. Can't we all just get along? No.

In reference to the above Chad A. wristslap, "Not nice to spray on TRs", well, I wasn't exactly spraying on TR's...hence the "or no?" I was wondering (commenting on) what the purpose of this website is. The home page says this: Cascadeclimbers.com is your resource for climbing in the Pacific Northwest, including climbing in Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia...Look through the Trip Report Index to find current conditions on ice climbing or alpine routes, get beta for rock climbing routes or crags, or find first ascent information. Find information on backcountry ski routes or conditions in our Freshies forum. I'm not trying to be a dick, but I've noticed lots of posts on hiking trips lately (see 3 of the last 7 posts...the other two being on the Enchantments). There are lots of forums for posting hiking trip reports on other websites, be they in Colorado or Washington. I think the recent Enchantments posts are relevant to this site because new snow is a condition the climber would like to know about. I just don't think this should turn into a hiking forum, or a What Did You Do This Weekend In General forum. Do you want me to post a trip report for last weekend about my visit to Portland to see two rock (music) shows? Neither do I...although apparently snugtop does. If everybody disagrees I'll shut the hell up. Spray on that. love, tim

www.cascadeCLIMBERS.com ? or no?

You guys are the fucking champs. Sol, Kev T. says you are supposed to drag us up Gunsight next summer...

No 'schwacking until a ways up Bachelor Creek. There are a couple of sections where an impromptu trail goes into the woods right next to the road for a hundred feet, but that's it. You would have to be a complete idiot to get lost. To our credit, we only got lost twice (no, not really). The road goes all the way to where it is washed out just below the bridge at the Downey Creek Campground (see photo) where the trailhead is, something like mile 19.5, although I think our odometers said it was more. Incidentally, some dude who must have been 70 who was camped at the trailhead with some friends rode his ten-speed bike down this ramp.

Yep, you're right. I'm changing it so that now everybody will think I knew what I was talking about from the beginning. You're the Moss Champion.

Kev's hand is doing okay; it'll be fine. If there had been any tendon issues we would have bailed right away, but it was more a matter of soreness. And gaping-wound-ness that needed to be sewed-up-ness. He went to a bluegrass festival outside of Portland this past weekend and had the hippies in the medic tent do some free tender loving care on it ("Hey man, just sprinkle this weed on it, and shit...").

Neither bike was ours. One belonged to the farm kids in the second photo (I work for their dad); the second belonged to the friend in the blue jacket in the second-to-last photo. My dumb ass didn't find out about the washout until two days before we were supposed to leave. It's good to have good friends.

Trip: North Cascades - Ptarmigan Traverse (with 7 summits) Date: 7/27/2007 Trip Report: My brother and I hiked the Ptarmigan Traverse from July 27 - August 3. En route we climbed Dome Peak, Spire Point, Old Guard, Sentinel Peak, Point 7456 (Le Conte's middle summit), Magic Mountain, and S Mountain ("Hurry Up"). Due to a minor accident on Day 3 we had to abort the last half of our plans as well as some climbing during the traverse, but for what it's worth here's an account of our trip... We had been told that we would have to walk about 14 miles of road, but after breakfast in Darrington we were able to drive within about 8 miles of the Downey Creek trailhead. Being geniuses we packed two farm kids and two Honda Trail 90's in my Big Red Van. This ended up saving us miles of walking down the road with 7-day packs. Cheating? Kiss my ass. It's a road...you walk up it for your own damn traverse. Off we go.... The first of the Suiattle River Road washouts (there were several) The trail up to Downey Creek was in great shape, with lots of new boardwalks being built. The way up Bachelor Creek was fine until out of the trees. We just kind of let our feet find the low spot in the brush. Stayed right in bigger timber in the slide area, then up to a ridge and down to lovely Cub Lake for dinner and sunset on Glacier Peak. Next morning we hiked up to Itswoot Ridge, dropped into the basin, traversed underneath the Dome Glacier climbed up a bit of steepening snow, then levelled off and traversed the top of the Dome Glacier. moss campion at the col Once through the col we climbed a bit of steep snow on the top of the Chickamin then crossed the rock ridge and topped out. We were the first party to sign the summit register since August 2006. Kev crossing the summit ridge After spending nearly an hour on top in perfect weather, we dropped back down, passed back through the col, then traversed over the top of the Dome Glacier and dropped down the Dana Glacier to about 6550' to bypass a buttress, then climbed back up the Dana to the base of Spire Point. Had a fun climb while the clouds rolled in on this tiny summit. Two raps and a bit of dowmclimbing later, then through the Spire Col Took this shot a bit below the south side of the col... And this one looking up at the mountain. We dropped down to Itswoot Ridge, where Dome was just peaking throught he clouds, then back down to Cub Lake. The next morning we retraced our steps up to Itswoot, then up and over Spire Col, then down back down the Dana and around the big basin that feeds the Agnes where I scared up a group of baby grouse and a momma from the heather. While crossing the talus just below White Rock Lakes, Kev slipped and, in catching himself, pinned the adze of his ice axe between his left hand and a rock. Lots of blood on the rocks, and even some fun white meat hanging out a little bit. We bandaged the cut and made camp at the lakes, deciding to take it day by day to see how he felt. As it turns out his left hand (of course he's left-handed) wasn't able to take much pressure, so he did the rest of the traverse with a ski pole in the left hand and an axe in the right. This also meant nothing ice tooly (NF Buckner) or too rock-climby (Goode, Logan). We decided to turn the trip into a more relaxing hikey thing. Dome remained in the clouds from White Rock Lakes, but Gunsight was inviting in the sun. After a cold (37 degrees F) night, we watched sunrise on Dome the next morning before heading over the pass above the lakes and onto the head of the South Cascade Glacier. We went up to a col on Sentinel looking for a route up it, didn't find anything we liked, but took this shot looking back. Spire is the high point. German Helmet poking through the clouds Dropped our packs at the Le Conte/Sentinel Col and headed up Old Guard, a pleasant cilmb up a steeper-than-it-looks snow finger, then 300 feet of easy rock to the summit. Descending the snow finger on Old Guard Kev's hand two days later We decided to make camp at the col, so we spent all afternoon and evening relaxing and enjoying the views over the South Cascade Glacier. Sunset over the South Cascade Glacier from camp at the Le Conte/Sentinel Col Next morning I woke up well-rested, but Kev had slept like shit. He said a snafflehound had kept him up all night, and at one point had jumped onto his bivy. He had dreamed of having a gun and scoring a direct hit, watching it splatter against the rock wall......Well, as it turns out my good night of sleep was not for free. While Kev waited up with a rock in his hand, I was being ransacked by this little piece of shit. It made swiss cheese of a shirt, and of a sunglass case, and of my visor, and a shell jacket, and it big through the bite valve on my water bladder causing all the water to leak out at night. I spent the rest of the trip with a leaky athletic-taped water hose. Little bastard. After breakfast we decided to go back around and find the ramp on Sentinel that we couldn't see in the clouds the day before. We located it quickly, but in my opinion this is a shit climb. There was one short, delicate class 4 section getting from one ramp to another in which you don't trust any holds; then once around the ramp and onto the SE ridge there is a short class 5 section that is fine going up, but downclimbing was a pain in the neck. We didn't find a single thing we trusted to rap off of. My seal of approval. Still, pretty on top... Downclimbing Sentinel Once off Sentinel we returned to camp. Another party passed below us, the first people we had seen in five days. They were too far below us to talk, so we continued on after lunch Down the Le Conte Glacier, then up the other side toward Le Conte Pass. Before the pass we dropped packs and headed up Le Conte, climbing over scree and talus and heather to the top of Point 7456, the middle summit. Le Conte is in the background. The ridge connecting the two summits looked traversible, but we had had enough so we downclimbed, grabbed packs, and headed down the cilffs and over to Yang Yang Lakes. Saw smoke from a fire on the way down...toward Stehekin? One Yang and Le Conte Mountain The next morning we realized we were tired, and besides it was a sauna even at 8am. Being lazy we decided to skip Spider and Formidable, so we headed up over the col to an impressive view of the south side of Johannesburg. Suddenly we seemed so close to Cascade Pass. We came quickly down the Middle Cascade Glacier, then located a trail at about 6300' and sidehilled around shady snow, talus, and heather with Formidable looming behind us. Time for a quick flex before crossing Red Ledge. We had met one other party at Yang Yang Lakes, and had been told by them that there was a super-sketchy snow bridge leading up to the low side of the ledges. It turned out to be super-unsketchy, and more of a ramp than a bridge. Either way, if it did melt out one could just cross a little lower, climb into the moat, then up to the ledge. A few minutes after crossing the ledge we dropped slightly to reach Kool-Aid Lake and its wonderful f@#%ing horseflies. Took a quick plunge before lunch... a little chilly. Spent the remainder of the day brushing up on our horsefly-killing techniques. Kev liked the fact that when you swat one it writhes on the ground for awhile in seeming agony before dying. There is a morbid satisfaction in this. After seeing goat tracks minus the goat every day, including near the summits of most peaks we'd been on, one loner female finally smelled urine and came to pay us a visit. Here she is in front of Formidable. Another glowy sunset Next morning we headed up to the saddle between Magic and S Mountains. We started with Magic, a nice hike with a good ridge scramble to beautiful views, including this of Trapper Lake. We spent almost an hour on top with no breeze. Headed back down to the saddle, traversed over and up on snow toward S Mountain, then climbed into a chimney we'd seen from camp (obvious on the left, as seen from Kool-Aid). Snow extended steeply about 20 feet into the bottom of it, then shitty loose rock before it met up with the scramble route. A more fun approach, I think. Kev traversed back to the false summit (you can see him in front of Eldorado) for some more photos before we headed back to camp. After lunch we packed and headed up to Cache Col. Kev with Goode behind him, from Cache Col We camped with Reagan and Jeff, who were fresh out of the two bottles of whiskey they had brought for their trip. We were hoping to climb the East Face of Mixup the next day, but it was not to be. We woke up to thick clouds whipping over the col, soaking everything (including the rock). Disappointed, we decided to head down. Two momma goats with two babies had shown up for a healthy dose of morning piss. Kev got stage fright, claiming they were staring at his Johnson (or looking for it?)..... The clouds thinned as we dropped down the Cache Glacier. We had originally planned to resupply at Cascade Pass for another week. We were going to go up and over Sahale, over the NF Buckner, then over to Logan and Goode before coming out at Stehekin. Maybe next year. We met our friends Brandon and Kevin at Cascade Pass. We happened to show up just ten minutes after they did, and we settled for a morning beer before heading down with the week's worth of food and fuel they had graciously packed up for us. A wonderful trip with an out-of-focus ending. Gear Notes: Two pickets (used once); two ice screws (not used); small alpine rack (used once); second tool (helpful); 50m rope (2 raps on Spire); you know the rest Approach Notes: Shit approach. We used Honda Trail 90's to the Downey Creek trailhead. Have fun up Bachelor Creek -- we didn't.

Oops, one correction: On the summit pyramid we went RIGHT of center for maybe 200 feet, then traversed and went straight up. So there.

Climb: Mt. Shuksan-Sulphide Glacier Date of Climb: 4/23/2006 Trip Report: A friend and I climbed/skiied Shuksan this past Sunday. We were able to drive to within 2 miles of the trailhead; stopped because of downed trees, but at the road junction another half mile up the snows would be too deep to drive through anyway, even if the trees were cleared. It was possible to stay on skis for about 95 percent of the overgrown road section, but this is melting fast. We left the car about 5:45am; earlier would have been better, to avoid the slushy slop in the clearcut section on the way down. Good skinning all day, and perfect weather. On the summit pyramid we went left of center for maybe 200 feet, then traversed and went straight up. Final 20 feet was icy enough to require crampons, even in the warm afternoon temps. From the summit we made sure to wave to all the cars packed in at the Baker ski area...packt like sardines in a crushd tin box. We thought we had the mountain to ourselves until we saw ski tracks on our descent at about 6000 feet. Flat tire on the way out. Sorry, no photos...I don't own a digital camera just yet. Gear Notes: Rap off the summit advised for your partner. Then you get to downclimb.

...never met an exclamation point he didn't like !!!!

Okay, here are my questions: What peaks did the original Ptarmigan party climb in 1938? Which were first ascents, which were second, etc? And on which dates did they summit what? Maybe I'm a poor researcher, but I can't find detailed info, other than what I can piece together from the Beckey guide. The guy I called at Mountaineers Books suggested I shoot the question into space for all y'all to hear. He also said that Lowell Skoog knows everything. I am doing a little research project, and I would appreciate the help. thanks, tim

Climb: Mt. Baker-Coleman/Deming Glacier Date of Climb: 2/20/2005 Trip Report: A friend and I climbed/skiied Mt. Baker via the Coleman/Deming route last weekend. The Glacier Creek Road was quite snowy and there was a snow bank blocking the road at about five miles in, with maybe five cars parked there. We decided that our Jeep was kind of like a snowmobile and so we skirted it and were able to drive to within 200 yards of the trailhead without much difficulty. Started climbing at 5am. We were in skis right from the car, and did not have to take them off until at the saddle at 9000 feet. No crevasses are open on the slope above the hogsback, although amazingly there was no snow on the hogsback ridge, and all the rock walls for the bivi sites were uncovered. The giant crevasse at 8500 feet is wide open, as are a few more at this elevation (underneath Colfax Peak), but if you stay left (downhill) the crevasses are easy to skirt. Took off skis and carried them up the Deming Glacier, which was weird ice. There was a crust that was easy to kick steps in, but the surface of the crust was packed with golf-ball sized ice chunks all the way to the top of the glacier. No wind, no cold on top at 1:30pm. I walked off the top but my friend tried to ski the icy bumps...gave up about halfway to the saddle and carried skis down. Snow was lovely to the hogsback, a bit icy to the trees. A fun February early summer ascent.

Climb: Eldorado Peak-Eldorado Glacier/East Ridge Date of Climb: 2/27/2005 Trip Report: My brother and I climbed/skiied Eldorado this Sunday, 2/27. Cascade River Road is mostly snow-free until maybe 15 miles in, and there is continuous snow from mile 17 to the (closed) gate at 19.3 miles. It's an easy drive even on the snow (we had a minivan), but there are icy spots due to melt/freeze action. If you know where the trail starts then it's easy to find (obviously). The creek crossing is not bad. The lowest 400 vertical feet of the approach is pretty worked over (downed trees, brush, etc.), but is easy to follow, with ZERO snow. The lower boulder field is snowfree and marked well with flags and cairns. Once you go through the trail in the slide alder to the upper boulder field, the going gets a bit more annoying. The lower third is snowfree, but once you encounter snow there's lots of postholing to look forward to, unless you're in the early morning. You definitely have to carry skis almost all the way up to the big snow basin at 5500 feet. We camped here and left the next morning around sunrise. Even though the snow was frozen there was no problem setting a skin track, and other than the 150 foot descent just past the snow basin we stayed on our skis all the way to within 200 feet of the summit. There are no crevasses open anywhere on the Eldorado Glacier. There was one small crack open on the East Ridge at about 450 feet below the summit, but it is easily skirted. The bergschrund is filled in too, but it's probably wise to keep away! The final narrow, exposed snow arete is heavily corniced, but it is easy to stay just to the right on the way up. Infinite views of infinite peaks with way too little snow on them. Locked in to our skis around 8600 feet, and for our 10am descent the snow was sugary sweet all the way to the basin camp at 5500 feet. Packed up, skiied down through the trees for another 400 feet, then gave up and postholed down through the talus fields and trudged back to the car. I would say late June conditions up there.