Tom_Sjolseth

Yes, it's worth climbing for the views and position alone. If you're comfortable on steep, loose class 4 (contrary to what I said previously, it IS protectable, but probably more dangerous than to just solo it like we did due to rockfall hazard), then you won't have much of a problem. It's not technically difficult by any stretch of the imagination, but the climbing felt dangerous to me, and I consider myself fairly experienced on chossy piles. We went directly up the center of the W Face, bypassing the 5.6 route over to climber's left. If I had to do it all over again, I would have done the 5.6 pitch instead. Reports are that it is reasonably solid. You might have better luck on one of the ridges (NW?). The SE Face actually looks solid, but it's steep and there aren't a whole lot of obvious lines (to me). YMMV.

I got some rehab place. They sounded confused and asked me if you were a patient. Will they give you a furlough? Are you sure that's your #?

It usually isn't, but I've been doing more of it lately.

Matt, if you don't find a partner I'd be interested..

You know, you're actually OK Offwhite. Nice TR.

If you plan on placing any pro (like deadman anchors), it is helpful to have an adze. It can also be helpful to have a hammer to pound things in (like a piton or a picket placed vertically in hard snow). For this reason, it's best to go with a hammer and adze on moderate alpine routes. I usually bring a mountaineering axe if I have a long glacier slog to get to the route. If there isn't a long snow approach (or glacier travel), and I'm climbing steep (50+ degree) snow/ice straight from the start, then I bring two tools.

Trip: Southern Pickets - Mt. Terror - North Buttress Date: 7/29/2009 Trip Report: 4 days of Terror on the “Wild” Side Silas Wild approached me about possibly climbing the N Buttress of Mt. Terror in the Southern Pickets. Silas had taken 22 trips into the Pickets over the years, climbing every peak in there (including Terror). At 61 years old, Silas hadn’t been roped up for seven years, so he was a bit apprehensive about the whole idea. Nevertheless, the idea was his, and I thought it would be a good plan to try and make it happen. Besides, there was some gear that got left behind by a rescued climber several weeks back, and we planned to retrieve it. The N Buttress is a route I have wanted to climb for a long time, and going in there with a veteran Picket explorer made it all the more attractive. Back in 1961, a friend of my Dad’s, Mike Swayne, made the first ascent along with Ed Cooper, and Charles Bell. In wool and boots, these hardmen ventured off into the unknown and conquered a very serious alpine objective. There were no Beckey guides to tell them where to go, or how to approach. There were no route topos highlighting the approximate route. There were no rock shoes to aid their ascent like we have now. They used hemp rope and primitive protection. It is unbelievable what these guys did. On the morning of July 26, Silas and I set off for our approach up Terror Creek. For those of you who haven’t ventured into this area, Terror Creek is one of the toughest, steepest approaches in the North Cascades. 5 miles of overgrown trail is followed by a heinously steep climb up the Barrier followed by a traverse of two huge basins. With a starting point of a mere 800’ above sea level, we climbed to a camp in Crescent Creek Basin at 6400’. By the time it was all said and done, we had gained more than 6000’ in hot conditions with heavy packs. OK, it was just me who carried the heavy pack. Silas took full advantage of the fact that there was food, a sleeping bag, two sleeping pads, a tent, and a full climbing rack awaiting us in Crescent Creek Basin camp. It was only fair that I let the “old man” carry the lighter load. 10 hours after leaving the car, we arrived in a hot Crescent Creek Basin. We were not alone, however. Three climbers arrived shortly before sunset after their own climb of the North Buttress. We spoke with them about the route before retiring early for the night. Interesting cloud formations from camp. More cloud formations. Triumph, Despair, and North Despair from camp. Day 2 began with a 5AM wakeup call. Silas was itching to get moving given the forecasted upper-90 degree valley temperatures. We set out from camp around 5:40, traversing the Crescent Creek Basin to the base of the Himmelhorn-Ottohorn Col. From here, it is a 1200’, 40 degree climb to the Col, topped off by some class 3-4 rock. Views to the surrounding peaks were amazing. Classic Pickets material. The traverse to the base of Himmelhorn-Ottohorn Col. Silas climbing up the gully beneath the Himmel-Otto Col. The views from the col. Silas climbing rock at the head of the col. Fury and Luna from the col. From the top of the Himmel-Otto Col, we descended about 1600’ on the Mustard Glacier. The glacier was only moderately broken, and featured bulletproof ice in places. We passed by the recently climbed “Thread of Ice” leading up to the summit of E Twin Needle. This is a route I’d like to come back for next season. The view down the Mustard Glacier from the Himmel-Otto Col. Steep snow below the col. Silas crossing a snow bridge on the way down the Mustard Glacier. Me with Picket Pass beyond. From the base of the hanging glacier, we traversed towards the toe of Terror’s N Buttress. Most of the traverse was on firm snow, with the last 100 meters of the traverse on completely bulletproof alpine ice. Our aluminum crampons sunk in a matter of millimeters in the hard ice. With no snow or ice protection, this traverse was a bit tense. Silas traversing steep, bulletproof snow on the way to the base of the N Buttress. At the moat, we hopped across to the rock on the lower buttress. From here, class 3-4 slabs led up to the hanging snowpatch where I filled up my Drom bag with 6 liters of water. I knew there was a chance we would be bivvying on route, and from what we could see this would be our last water source for 2500’. A look ahead to our route. We continued to climb on exposed class 3-4, attempting to find the start of the Stoddard Buttress route. After climbing a low fifth, leftward trending ramp, we found a ledge leading to some rotten rock that would allow us to gain the ridgecrest. Silas was not comfortable with the prospect of climbing on the rotten rock, and so we retreated, downclimbing back to the start of the N Buttress proper. Looking over to the Twin Needles from low on the route. From here, we decided to belay the class 3-4 pitches, even though the protection was sparse. One might argue that a better strategy would be to simul-solo this portion of the route for safety, but nonetheless, we decided I would climb a rope length trailing the rope behind me, then toprope Silas up. This worked out fine, since we were not under any time constraints. I was carrying a sleeping bag and sleeping pad, and knew that our chances of bivvying on route were good, so I felt perfectly comfortable taking our time. Silas climbing low on Terror’s N Buttress. Somewhere on route. The climbing on the middle buttress was never harder than 5.6, and mainly firm. On the upper buttress, however, the climbing became a bit harder, and the rock became more licheny and looser. We kicked and prodded every hold before relying on it. Soon, the rock became steeper, and a licheny pitch led us directly up the crest onto a knob. We read reports of this being 5.8+, but we found it to be around 5.7, but dramatically exposed and licheny to boot. This was some of the most exhilarating climbing on the route. Silas climbing on the middle of the N Buttress. Silas, all smiles. Silas waving from the belay. The Mt. Fury massif. More smiles from Silas. Me leading a steep pitch below the knob. From the top of the knob, we remained entirely on the ridgecrest. Dramatic exposure and amazing views continued to impress us. Soon, we found a ledge to bivvy on, about 700’ below the summit. We settled in around 8:30 under perfectly clear skies and watched the most beautiful sunset unfold. Definitely one of the best moments I’ve ever had in the mountains. Beautiful ridge climbing on the upper buttress. Mt. Fury at dusk. Luna Peak. Sunset over the Northern Pickets. Silas enjoying a beautiful sunset from our bivy ledge. Moonrise over the Southern Pickets. Sunset from my sleeping bag. Day 3 dawned, and we knew we needed to get an early start to beat the heat. Even so, we didn’t wind up moving until 8AM. We just didn’t want to leave our little slice of heaven. From our bivvy, we followed the ridge up to where the N Buttress meets the Stoddard route. We traversed a ledge to climber’s left, with great views to McMillan Spires and Degenhardt. From here, a mid-fifth class pitch led us back to the ridgecrest. Once on the ridge, we found some terribly rotten rock, up to 5.7 or 5.8. It took some prodding to find solid rock, but we eventually did. After this pitch, we found the most exposed pitch on the entire route. A perfectly solid ridgecrest climb at about 5.5 or 5.6. It looked improbable from below, but actually turned out to be the best pitch of climbing on the N Buttress. The exposure was incredible! The upper buttress and Mt. Terror’s true summit. Sweeping views from the upper N Buttress. Silas on the ledge leading to the last 2 pitches. Silas approaching the final pitches. The dramatically exposed final pitch. From the top of this pitch, we traversed climber’s right of the false summit on class 2 terrain, then downclimbed some class 3 to get to the standard W Ridge route. From here, we scrambled up onto the true summit. Again, the views were incredible. Silas traversing the false summit. Views to Degenhardt, Inspiration, and the MacMillan Spires from the summit. Looking along the crest of the Southern Pickets from the summit of Mt. Terror. Being that there was no summit register, we spend little time on the scorching-hot summit, and began our descent. 5 rappels (3 in a cruddy gully) led us back to camp. Rappelling the dirty gully on the way back to camp. When we got back to camp, the deer flies were out in droves, and the temperatures were the hottest I’ve ever experienced in the mountains – bar none. My altimeter watch with weather station read 104 degrees!! This at 6400’! WOW. We sought shelter in the talus jungle, but shade was a rare commodity. Silas eventually found a big boulder that offered some shade, but little relief from the blazing temperatures. 104 degrees?! Once the temps cooled down (around 8PM), we laid down to go to sleep. I wasn’t able to get to sleep until about midnight, before which I watched meteorites, shooting stars, and dry lightning all around us. Day 4 had us up at 5AM to begin our descent. The temperatures and bugs were not a problem until we got down to the Barrier, at which time the deer flies came out in droves and the temperatures skyrocketed. We made it back to the car amid blazing heat, thankful for another great trip into the North Cascades. I’d like to thank Silas for tagging along with me on this trip, I learned a lot from him. He is truly one of the Pickets pioneers.

LePiston, Yes great scenery and fairly good climbing for all the work getting there. As for the hardman points, the Wayne Wallaces and Mike Laytons deserve all those.

For some reason, I can't get this to load using FF 3.0.12 for Vista. It stops about 3/4 through. It loads all the way through with Internet Exploder, however. Thanks for the tweak anyway, Porter. Wayne - I figured you just avoided the last bit to the true summit to get out of there. You already did the hard part. The route you soloed is truly amazing, we were in awe.

Trip: Northern Pickets - Access Creek to Eiley Wiley Date: 7/21/2009 Trip Report: Northern Pickets Traverse – Access Creek to Eiley Wiley July 14-21, 2009 INTERNET EXPLORER RECOMMENDED. FIREFOX WILL NOT LOAD IT ALL Crew: Fay Pullen, Tom Sjolseth After having several partners cancel due to various reasons, including a medical emergency, I sent out a desperate e-mail to my distribution group to entice willing participants to accompany me on a long Pickets Traverse. I was intending to leave immediately, since the weather outlook was great for the forseeable future. Initially, I thought it would be impossible to find anyone to accept my invitation on such short notice, and so I was prepared to go it alone. But to my surprise (and delight), Fay Pullen responded with sincere interest. Day 1 – Seattle to Luna Camp Fay picked me up at 7AM in Seattle, and we were on our way. We stopped at the Marblemount Ranger Station to get our permit, and then headed to Ross Lake TH where we descended 500’ to get to the Resort phone. We placed a call to the Ross Lake Resort, and the boat arrived shortly thereafter. On my last Pickets Traverse, Sean and I were too cheap to afford the $100 fare for the Ross Lake Water Taxi, so we walked the 7.2 miles from Beaver Landing back to HWY 20. This time, however, I was amazed that this 7.2 mile walk was reduced to a 5 minute cruise! We arrived at Beaver Landing at 11:15 and immediately started hiking up the Big Beaver Trail. 4 hours later, we were at Luna Camp. Fay and I at Luna Camp. We hit the hay early that night, with a big day up Access Creek in front of us. Day 2 – Luna Camp to Luna-Fury Col Access Creek is one of those approaches you only hear bad things about. This is partially justified. Yes, it’s a grunt and there is a lot of brush around the creek crossings, but I thought the whole route would be brushy. To my surprise, it was not. For the most part, as long as you can locate the logjam over Big Beaver Creek, and you know to cross Access Creek twice enroute (once at 2800’, then again at 3900’), you are good to go. Really, the routefinding is not that difficult, as you can see major swaths of brush and the corresponding patches of relatively open forest you travel through to avoid them. But, it’s still steep, and it’s still mosquito-infested, and it is a long way to go cross-country (4 miles, 4800’ gain). Fields of Slide Alder in Access Creek. Day 3 – Luna Fury Col to Mt. Fury’s East summit Our camp at Luna-Fury Col. Mt. Fury as seen from Luna-Fury Col. Our plans on this trip included summits of East and West Fury. Although most people climb to the East summit of Mt Fury, the West summit is actually the highest (true) summit. Fred Beckey’s description in the Cascade Alpine Guide says, “Fury’s West Peak is a unique rugged alpine problem; all routes are long, serious, and complex”. And from an excerpt in the Northwest Mountaineering Journal, Issue 4, “The West Peak of Mount Fury was considered the Last Great Problem of the North Cascades at the time of its first ascent. Attempts to reach the summit by traversing from the East Peak failed repeatedly due to the length and complexity of the route.” With this info, and very little else, Fay and I were prepared to spend a great deal of time traversing to and from W Fury from E Fury. Because of this, we thought it was essential to give ourselves ample time by starting from a bivy on the summit of E Fury. Not only would this give us the maximum amount of daylight, we would also be able to do something neither of us had ever done before.. bivy atop a summit. We decided ahead of time, given the splendid forecast, to bring minimal gear. We left the tent at Luna-Fury Col, and only brought pads and sleeping bags. We also brought my pocket rocket stove so we could melt snow for water if needed. And with that, we headed over to Mt Fury’s E Summit. The route to the summit of E Fury is rather tedious, with a lot of up and down along the ridge crest, but the views to the surrounding Picket Range made up for it. I had no beta for the ridge route, other than the knowledge that people stay mainly on the crest. Routefinding wasn’t an issue after we found the right entrance gully. There is an improbable ledge that also apparently works to gain the ridge, but we found the gully to work just fine. Improbable ledge accessing the ridge between Luna and Fury. At one point along the ridge, there is a series of steep prominences separating you from Fury’s upper slopes. Apparently, and this knowledge was only gained after the fact, most people drop off the ridge here and traverse a basin that takes you to the lower SE Glacier. But we saw a headwall that appeared to work, and we went for it. It turned out to be loose class 3-4, but it was a lot more direct, and in a great position with great views. Southern Pickets from the ridge. Mt Fury as seen from the ridge. Our route up the headwall can be seen at left-center. Fay on the ridge. Climbing the crest. Fay climbing on the headwall. From the top of the headwall, easy glacier slopes led us to Fury’s E summit. The views from here are astounding. We signed the register, noting familiar names, before scrambling down about 40 feet to find two perfect bivy sites which would be our home for the night. Fury’s upper SE Glacier. Outrigger Peak and the Southern Pickets. Familiar names. Fay’s bivy spot just below the summit of E Fury. Sunset from my bivy on E Fury. The end of another find day in the North Cascades. Day 4 – E Fury to W Fury and back to Luna-Fury Col This was a big day for me. It was big for both of us. W Fury had been on my radar for quite a while, and although the route looked long and tedious from our vantage point, we had the cards stacked in our favor. We left our summit bivys around 7AM, headed for W Fury. We descended the W side of E Fury’s summit block on class 4 rock, then descended a snowfield to gain easy access to the first pinnacle along the ridge. Fay descending steep snow to access rock slabs leading to the first pinnacle. From the first pinnacle, it was anyone’s guess where to go. The ridge is convoluted, with numerous steep and improbable gendarmes to routefind our way across. Ultimately we were able to pick our way through using ledges, aretes, and slabs. We did it all unroped, and felt safe doing so. There were two low fifth-class sections, but they were solid and the holds were outstanding. The remainder of it was [very] loose class 3 and 4. A rope would only help to bring loose rocks down on us. There was one section of ridge that we had to rappel on the way there, and one that we had to rappel on the way back. Both were very steep and exposed. Fay somewhere on the ridge between E and W Fury. A steep section of the route. Our route went up the far left cleft. Looking down the North Face to Lousy Lake. Fay climbing on one of the steeper gendarmes. Fay on the ridge. After much interesting climbing among stellar views, we reached the summit 3.5 hours after we left our bivys. We were surprised to find out we were only the 16th ascent party on W Fury. The original summit register, left by Warren Spickard, Duke Watson and party in 1958, was still there as it should be. Most surprising to us was the fact that the last 5 ascents were made by the late (and great) Roger Jung. All solo! And the greatest surprise of all was that one of them was in Winter up Goodell Creek. And he summitted on the second day after snowshoeing all the way up Goodell Creek on Day 1. Absolutely astonishing. W Fury’s Summit Register. First ascent notes. Second ascend notes. R.I.P. Roger Jung. After reading the summit register and admiring the views, it was time to head back to our bivy spots. Reversing the route was faster, and we made it back to the E Summit in 3 hours and 15 minutes. We made three raps on the way back, two were out of laziness (we didn’t want to drop down 300 feet to access easier 3rd class terrain). Fay rappelling one of the towers on our way back to the E summit. After picking up our bivy gear, we retraced our route back to Luna-Fury Col, but instead of downclimbing the headwall, we followed footprints back down around the base of the buttress bordering the lower SE Glacier (the traditional route). We got back to camp around 5PM to find two climbers wrapping up their own weeklong trip into the range. They had basically done the reverse of our route, except they didn’t go over to W Fury. They knew Fay’s name from her countless summit register entries, and were happy to meet her. We exchanged beta, and then went to bed to get ready for another big day ahead. Downclimbing steep snow below the summit of E Fury on our way back to Luna-Fury Col. Day 5 – Luna-Fury Col to Challenger Camp (with summit of Luna Peak) In my quest to finish the Top 100 x P400 list, I had 2 peaks to finish, Luna Peak and Castle Peak. Since Fay had already climbed Luna, I was forced to do it myself on the morning of our busy fifth day. Luna was fairly straightforward, but required some careful climbing between the false summit and true summit. Luna is very loose, and the ridge crest is coated in lichen. The stacked blocks comprising the summit ridge are seemingly teetering on edges. Because of this, I decided to take the easier route on ledges along the upper E face. I wound up overshooting the true summit to find easier terrain, then climbed back to it on class 4 rock. The summit register that Fay placed in 2006 is no longer there. Luna Peak as seen from our camp at Luna-Fury Col. Views to the Northern Pickets as seen from the summit of Luna Peak. The view along the summit ridge of Luna Peak. I returned to camp in a little less than 2 hours after I set out. Fay was getting her things packed, and I joined in the fun. Soon we found ourselves booting down snowslopes towards Luna Lake, and the uninviting abyss beyond. We weren’t happy to be losing so much elevation, but were excited about going over to Challenger, which is one of the most beautiful places around. Wild flowers on display below Luna-Fury Col. Luna Peak as seen from our route down to Luna Lake. Luna Lake. Luna Lake too. The towering Northern Pickets as viewed from below. Fay on our route over to Challenger Arm. I wonder why they call this Lousy Lake? Luna Creek – not an advisable escape route. Fay posing below Challenger Arm. A waterfall on our climb up to Challenger Arm. We dropped ~3200 feet, almost to Lousy Lake, before traversing tedious moraine slopes below the Picket fence. The map is wrong here, and it appears as if you can stay higher on the traverse, but apparently glacial recession has changed the topography and, thus, route possibilities. The route up the other side puts you in harms way of looming glacial ice below Challenger. We made quick time through here just in case, even though passing clouds made for cool temperatures. It would certainly be spookier on a hot day. We gained 2800’ below the E face of Challenger before stopping to make camp on some beautiful slabs (now out of harms way). Our camp just west of Pt 6246 below the E Face of Challenger. Day 6 – Challenger Camp to Challenger summit, and down to Eiley/Wiley Ridge We awoke, again, to clear skies. Knowing the day would be hot, and that we had a lot of glacier travel to do, we decided to get an early start. We gained 1300’ from camp to the NE Ridge of Challenger on the Challenger Glacier. The snow was firm, making for quick and easy progress. From here, a prominent snow arete led us to the summit block, Climbing glacial slopes below the E face of Mt. Challenger. The views from Challenger Glacier. A trigger finger spire on the way to Challenger. Fay gaining Challenger Arm. Fay approaching the summit block of Mt. Challenger. Although I had already climbed Mt. Challenger last year, the summit block felt more.. challenging this time. After some antics, I managed to figure out the move again and belayed Fay up. For Fay, this was sweet victory. This was a mountain she thought she’d never climb, and she was delighted to be relishing the views. Fay, all smiles, just below the summit of Mt. Challenger. Fay making the final move onto the summit of Mt. Challenger. Views along Challenger’s summit ridge. The view to W Challenger from the summit. I’ll have to come back for this one. Our initial itinerary called for a climb of the W summit of Challenger as well, but complacency and laziness took over and we decided to call it a trip. We had such a great trip already, and the mountain isn’t going anywhere. Plus, it’ll give me an excuse to return yet again. We rapped back down to the snow arete, and made our way down to Eiley/Wiley Ridge. Along the way, we had a great glissade, and even greater views. Fay rappelling down from Challenger’s summit block. A fine glissade. Gorgeous views from Challenger Glacier. Whatcom Peak. Interesting geology. We set up camp on Eiley/Wiley Ridge, just below Pt 6230. We sat around, talking, reliving the last 6 days, and dreaming about future trips. The views from camp were excellent, and when I die, I’d like to be in that spot. Heaven? Day 7 – Eiley/Wiley Ridge to Luna Camp The descent down Eiley/Wiley Ridge went smoother this time, thanks to a) having already done it and b) staying on the crest. Last time I descended this route I stayed below the crest, and I found it tedious and undulating. This time, we were able to avoid brush and bugs by staying high on the crest, and at the same time reap the rewards of the stellar views. Hiking along Eiley/Wiley Ridge. We made it to Luna Camp with sore feet, but a sense of great satisfaction. We accomplished a lot on this trip, and had a great time. After the blisters and mosquito bites heal, we will undoubtedly forget about the pain and suffering ensued at the expense of stellar views and pristine alpine meadows. And soon thereafter, we’ll likely be planning another trip into this little slice of heaven we call the Northern Pickets. On Day 8, we hiked the last 10.5 miles of trail back to Beaver Landing to catch the water taxi. They seemed to have added onto this trail while we were gone, but we eventually made it back in high spirits, despite the blisters and voracious insects. The only thing we wanted was food, and although Good Food was closed due to a “food shortage” (WTF?), we finally connected with hamburger and fries at Clark’s Eatery. Thanks Fay, for a wonderful trip. I already can’t wait for the next one.

Nice work! Thanks for the great TR.

TR and more photos added.

I'm hoping that the injured party makes a full and speedy recovery.

Nice work. You gotta love that butter brush and grease rock traverse (the basin in which you took your deer photo). Slippery when dry!

Your first picture with the moon over larches is fantastic! Nice TR.

Nooksack Tower – Beckey/Schmidtke – July 3, 2009 Scroll down for photos. Having failed 2 weeks ago on this mountain due to rain, Don Beavon and I returned once again with diehard motivation to summit. We left town on July 2 with a bomber forecast.. three days of sun with pulsating golden globes (a now prerequisite of mine to visit the Mt. Shuksan area). We loaded our heavy packs into Don's little Honda and proceeded Northward, to the North Fork Nooksack River Road. Unlike on our previous attempt, the road would be closed this time due to construction on the Hannegan Pass avalanche. This would add 4.4 miles RT to our approach. We got a permit at the Glacier Ranger Station before unloading at the “Trailhead”. There was construction activity on FS32, prior to the turnoff to Hannegan Pass. The gate is locked at night until August, and no vehicle traffic is allowed, although we did see quite a few pedestrians and even a guy on a bike with skis on his pack. We walked the 2.2 miles of road with great views to Mt Shuksan and Price Glacier Cirque. FS32 ends at Ruth Creek, where the road was washed out long ago. From the end of FS32, it is another 3 miles of nice trail to get to the climber’s path that heads down to the river crossing. The river crossing is quite precarious, and consists of a 12” diameter log 10’ above the river (sans bark). We elected to shimmy across with our heavy packs. Others might be more adventurous. After an uneventful log crossing, we tanked up for the steep 1000’ of gain to Price Lake. We found a wooden cross etched with “Rimas Gylys 1958-1984”. We didn’t see this cross the last time, and we were curious to find out the story behind it. It is smack dab in the middle of nowhere, just off the unofficial trail (when I got home I Googled the name, and sure enough, he died attempting to climb Nooksack Tower). Price Lake had melted out quite a bit in the past two weeks, and only a few ice remnants remained. From Price Lake, the bootpath ascends the moraine towards Price Glacier Cirque. From the end of the moraine, we peeled left up to the ridge where we found a nice goatpath that took us almost all the way to camp at 5900’. What a magnificent place! These are some of the most rugged views in the North Cascades. We got to camp around 3PM, so we had plenty of time to scout around and spy our route. We gained a highpoint above camp, with great views to the surrounding peaks, and checked out our route. The Tower is so steep, it is hard to really see the route from afar. We got to bed early, and set our alarms for 3AM. The next morning we awoke to clear skies and balmy temperatures. I’d guess the temps were in the upper-50s (T-Shirt weather). We dropped down to the Glacier and began a rising traverse towards the steep snow couloir that guards Nooksack Tower. I belayed Don over the hollow schrund, and he nearly punched through. We decided to swing wide and go around to the left before ascending the couloir, so as to miss the schrund entirely. The couloir starts out around 50 degrees, steepening to 60 at the top (with one 70 degree step at the transition to rock). We climbed unroped since we were both comfortable with steep snow, and we didn’t want to waste time placing deadmen (which would be the only thing that would hold a fall – maybe). Don, who made a recent trip to K2, was entirely comfortable climbing with one axe, while I used two. At the transition to rock, the route gets tricky. The Tower is obviously steep, and it has many rock ribs guarding the terrain that lies beyond. We pushed up the central gulley to try to gain one of these ribs, but we encountered impossible (for us), overhanging rock with an abundance of lichen. After giving it a try, I backed off and decided to find another way. We worked down and to the right, eventually crossing a minor rib, where we encountered a class 3-4 gulley. From here, we generally trended up and left, through several gullies, most of which was reasonably solid for Cascade standards. There were some tense moments on an airy, loose class 4 traverse, where every block we touched moved. We decided to rope up here, as we were about 3-4 pitches from the summit, and the terrain was getting steeper. From the loose traverse pitch to the summit was class 4-5 for the most part, with a dramatic drop to the glacier below. The views to the surrounding peaks were incredible. We tagged the summit around 2:30 after ~10 hours on the go. The Tower gets climbed about once per season on average, and it has a brass Mountaineers register on top. After taking some photos and remarking about the stellar views, we started the descent. The first rappel was seemingly off a stack of rocks from the summit block, and I was a little apprehensive. If you fell here, you’d wind up in Price Lake. Overall we did about ten 60m raps to the glacier below, including a rap off a deadman picket in the upper couloir. We downclimbed the rest of the couloir in the dark, and proceeded to navigate our way back to camp, returning 21 hours after we left. Definitely not the fastest time on Nooksack, but we sure did enjoy ourselves. And what better peak to spend so much time on?

As good of a time as can be had on a failed attempt. What an amazing place. Shannon, we were all remarking about what a silly route Price Glacier would be in the current conditions. Stuff was rumbling off the Price all day and night. I'm sure it would be a hoot in freezing conditions. Here's a pic in case you're still interested.

The drive is not much shorter coming in from the US. You need to drive to Tonasket then take Toats Coulee Road through Loomis. It's at least a 6 hour drive.

Nice photos, way to be persistent.

Not sure if you saw this TR, http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/816358/TR_10_days_from_Thornton_Ck_to

Bad ass.

I love the look of concentration on Tim's face on the downclimb. Also the log crossing during the bushwhack with harness still on. Classic. Nice TR, and way to get after it.

Sale pending.

I've got someone interested locally, but have not heard from them in a couple days. If they bail, I would ship it.

Reduced.