jordansahls

Why not go somewhere away from the crowds? The Boulder/Park cleaver is an excellent route that sees a fraction of the traffic. I expect with the closure of Glacier creek road the Easton route is going to be very packed from here on out.

I think the same Snaffle chewed the snot out of my new pack on the T-F Traverse. They certainly are the largest Snaffles I have ever seen out in the Cascades.

I remember being locked in mortal combat with a big bastard all night on a bivy ledge while doing to Torment-Forbidden traverse. The damn thing kept trying to chew through my pack.

Nice work Donkey and Hoho!

Wow, what an amazing area! Its funny, I have been going over the old trip reports from that area (yours and a few others) and I will take this as a sign that I need to get out there soon.

[video:youtube]5yB3n9fu-rM I found this very interesting...thoughts?

I have only skied from camp Hazard. We had a storm come in so bailed. The second time up we didn't bring skis. Still worth it in my opinion.

OOOHS NOOOS!!! Does this mean I wont be able to return my REI ladderball set? That shits supposed to last at least a years worth of keggers.

+1 I'm amazed their return policy has survived this long.

Anyone been out that way? The ranger station is closed today (of course) and their automated updates are from April 19th. The website has more recent info from May 10th which says that the road is open until you hit the gravel. Is this still the case or can you get out to Trinity?

You know, I'm embarrassed to admit it, but this last week out was my first time going up Grouse Creek. I have done Baker many many times and after going up the creek this last weekend I'm hitting myself for not doing it earlier. It is so much faster, with way more enjoyable skiing. Live and learn, I guess.

Great report! I was just up there today, you can drive within a mile of the trail head, also Grouse creek is still good but the cover down low in the trees is thinning out quick.

The Trail was still closed on Sunday. I walked up from the parking lot to the Granite mountain trail turnoff and there was still tape blocking the path. It was the first time I had heard about the trail closure. The news said that SAR was planning on resuming the search Monday morning. Link

Awesome! I was up there 2 weekends ago, such a fun climb and ski. Is the tree skiing low down still in?

I left out the terms 'good' and 'bad' because I don't believe that stress is inherently one or the other. It's the specifics of the stress that determine if it will have a good or bad effect. I know that somewhat extreme levels of caloric restriction have been shown to prolong the life of rats and monkeys (not sure about the human studies). But, it's no great secret that caloric restriction to the point of starvation leads to organ catabolism and eventual death. In this case, I see it as being very harmful and by your definition it becomes a "stressor". Perhaps this is all a bit stupid on my part since I think, for the most part, we are in agreement. I think I'm just being a bit less flexible with my definition.

Instead of trying to interpret your definition of a stressor, maybe you could clarify for me? I would argue that both exercise and caloric restriction are physiological stressors. All animal physiology is basically a series of finely tuned feedback mechanisms. You have a sensor that monitors something in a range. Once that 'something' is outside of the range the body activates an effector to bring things back into homeostasis. In the simplest form a stressor, in my mind, is anything that significantly moves the body outside of homeostasis for a prolonged period of time such that chronic adaptations occur.

Caloric restriction is also a stressor, and taken to extremes is also not good for the body (starvation).

I completely agree, I was mostly being facetious w/the 90% thing. My point (which was poorly made) is in agreement with Jon's except for one thing, There is a lot of bad literature out there coming from bad research, but that applies to all fields, not just exercise science. It's true that many "exercise science" journals will except papers without much of a review process. On the other hand, many researchers in the exercise science field (Biomechanics, Neuromechanics, Motor control, ect) get their papers published in more of the "hard science" journals such as the ones I mentioned earlier, which have high standards and stringent review processes. I think the issue is that the term "exercise science" has come to encompass many disciplines, some of which are "softer" than others.

I don't see any problems in the Exercise science literature that you don't see in other fields. There are questionable journals, like the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (Which still has some very good articles) but also very reputable journals, such as the Journal of Physiology or the Journal of Biomechanics. The problem is that 90% of the literature is poorly done. The hard part is learning how to distinguish between the good and the bad, but you have to do that in all fields, not just Exercise science. Nutrition on the other hand...

I have been in via the Divide creek trail at the end of July, about 2 years age (Here is the TR) There was snow on the trail the entire way so I can't tell you anything about the actual trail. I really enjoyed the way in. It was straight forward and it starts a little bit higher than the Killen creek trail. The comments section of the TR has more info.

Dope! God, what a great weekend to get out.

I feel like I say this about most places in the Cascades, but this area was amazing. The North facing slopes skied will but the South/SE facing slopes were well cooked. Even still, I can't complain. It's hard to beat a week of solitude in the central cascades with near perfect weather. It's funny, I went out hoping to "purge" the outdoors from my mind for a while (Thanks to grad school). It appears my trip had the opposite effect. Instead of being focused for another quarter all I can think about is going back outside, Ha!

Trip: Dakobed Traverse (Glacier peak finish) - Date: 3/31/2013 Trip Report: It seems that every year, around this time, my friend Brian talks me into some sort of ski traverse. Last year it was a wandering trip from Holden to Tall Timbers ranch. On that trip I remember looking towards Clark and wondering if anyone had done a traverse of the long ridge system leading towards Glacier peak. Not long after I learned that there is a traverse and it's called the Dakobed traverse, Dakobed being an Indian word meaning "Great parent". I was hooked, and plans were set. Day 1-2, Tall Timbers ranch to Boulder pass: Brian and I got a late start Sunday. We hiked in the first 5 miles or so. Having not carried a pack weighing over 30lbs since the summer, my 50lb pack came as a bit of a shock so I didn't mind the leisurely start. The Next day to Boulder pass was a bit of a grind. The snow was wet and heavy. Looking up the White river Looking back down the Boulder valley The moon above Boulder pass Alpenglow at Boulder pass Day 3, Clark: Things went well on the traverse of Clark until we dropped down onto the Richardson glacier and got a look at the climb up over Luahna peak. The saddle was crowned by a massive cornice and the ledge system showed massive avalanche fracture lines. We decided to drop about 1500 feet and set up camp for the night. Low on the Clark glacier Getting closer Follow the skin track This is what we came for Luahna in the distance Day 4, Butterfly glacier to base of the Honeycomb glacier: After dropping low to around 5600 feet, we had to climb back up to cross the Butterfly glacier. We traversed a ledge system below the Pilz glacier and took a ridge to the Lower Butterfly. We quickly traveled across the Butterfly and dropped down into the head of the Napeequa valley and climbed back up to the lake on the North East side of Tenpeak. Traversing Tenpeak was way sketchier than I had expected. I have never seen avalanche chutes as large as those on Tenpeak. The whole North side drops massive amounts of snow down thousands of feet to the valley below. The ledge system was not in good form this early in the spring. We tried to traverse high but got turned around by hollow snow over ice. We eventually managed to down climb into one of the main avalanche chutes and very quickly descended to its outlet before cutting East over to the base of the Honeycomb glacier. Needless to say, we didn't get any pictures of the traverse proper. Climbing back up to the Butterfly glacier Crossing low on the Butterfly Looking towards the base of the Honeycomb glacier Glacier peak from camp Day 5, Honeycomb glacier to base of Glacier peak: With most of the major route finding problems behind us we were able to take an easy day traveling up the Honeycomb glacier to our base camp at 7300 feet between the White chuck and Suiattle glaciers. We had planned on setting up camp and than making a summit bid but the clouds rolled in so we decided to hang out and go for it the next day. Brian leading out Short down climb onto the Honeycomb Clouds start to roll in In the land of the giants Our camp before real weather moved in Day 6, Summit of Glacier peak to the base of the White river valley: The weather decided to cooperate with us and we awoke to crystal clear skies. We very quickly melted some snow for water and headed out for the summit. We couldn't have had a better day. The views were amazing and the ski down wasn't bad. After hitting the summit and skiing back down to our camp we rested for around an hour before packing up and traveling across the White chuck glacier towards White mountain. The sun was up high and we had some weird clouds that rendered our depth perception useless. I would look at a hill and I couldn't tell if it was 5 minutes or a couple of hours away. The sensory deprivation started to get to me. If I didn't focus on my skies I would start to get a little bit of vertigo. For these reasons we started to call the area "purgatory". I half expected to run into Death from the movie "The Seventh Seal", I'm a terrible chess player so it's probably good that we didn't. Anyway, we found a weakness in the ridge running East of white mountain and skied down into the White river valley. Leaving camp Heading up And up Up some more Almost there Heading up the summit pyramid Looking back to the South and our camp Brian on Top Enjoying our ski with incredible views Traveling through Purgatory At the ridge about to ski down into the White river valley The skiing down low Day 7, White river valley back to Tall timbers ranch Nothing too exciting on the last day. We skied the 15 or so miles out to our car at the ranch. Up high in the valley we followed fresh bear prints, they seem to be awaking from their slumber. Strolling Hibernation appears to be over This happened more than I like to admit Gear Notes: 7 days worth of food Skis Whiskey Approach Notes: Park at Tall Timbers ranch and walk the three miles of road to the start of the White river trail

Skiing under Dumbell mountain in the early Spring

Bugaboo spire, Kain route