JDRodgers

Ed, may you climb peaks and take pictures forever in peace.

Missing some gear? Where: Downey Creek Trail. When: Weekend of Aug. 4-6, 2006 If this is your stuff, 'pm' myself with the proper description of the pro and we will figure out how to reunite you with it, or you can call PK @ (Two-zero-six)four-six-five-six-three-four-five -J

May a long and wonderful union begin for the both of you!

There's poo and tp all over that place it seems. There was even some in that little gully/ trail you have to descend to access the glacier. On the way up it its only natural to put ones hands down since it is steep and if you weren't paying attention... Only 10 feet lower and off to the side would have been more appropriate, if thats what you think you have to do.

Summitseeker and Tom- Thanks! It was my partners camera that he so graciously let me use. Unfortunatly, my camera rattles when shaken, I should probably throw it away now that I am thinking about it. Time to get a new one.

Thanks. Here is a picture of Red if you're going up the south slope- After leaving the trail, there is not much snow left.

Climb: Chiwawa and Fortress-South route from Chiwawa basin Date of Climb: 7/9/2006 Trip Report: Hearing that the road to Trinity was finaly drivable,I decided that this was a pefect time to get in there and tuck away two more top 100 peaks while there was still some snow left making for easy travel and before the bugs descended upon the area. Meeting up with Ed M at the p&r on Saturday morning, we drove over the pass and arrived at the parking area for Buck creek pass/ Chiwawa valley. We geared up and were on the move by 9:00 a.m. Going though the formalities Hiking up the wide, flat, and boring Chiwawa river trail (road) had me daydreaming about riding mountain bikes or driving the jeep further than the trail head to make it interesting. Oh well, looking across the valley at Buck Mountain and wondering when that climb will come helped pass the time. At the trail junction for Red Mtn, we took the left, going down hill slightly untill we came to the East fork of the Chiwawa river which we had to ford. This was a nice break from walking in the heat. My feet enjoyed the soak and rock massage during the quick crossing. Shortly there after we arrived in the basin at 4900'and saw that there had been a recent slide and its pile of broken trees from this spring that had peeled off from Peak 7534'. There were some folks skulking around the basin looking like they were actualy enjoying the mid-day heat. We could see our objectives from here and a possible spot for a bivi, so We pressed on and up wanting to camp high, preferrably on top of the ridge seperating the basin where it joined the south slope below the Chiwawa col. Walking along the open basin we headed up ( climbers right) before the brush started and into the forest. Here we gained about 200' before coming upon a game trail on a forested ridge. We turned left onto the path,( west) and followed this to a open flat area below some water falls. It looked like it is possible to gain the col from here, but we elected to head for the aformentioned ridge via a snow gully to the left of some cliffs. This brought us to the ridge proper and easy travel took us high to the snow line. Here we decided to make our camp, organize gear, and rest. There was running water for us as well to help in the rehydration process. After resting we decided to take snow slopes and rock slabs towards Chiwawa and finished the climb on talus arriving at the summit by 6:00p.m. Bonanza and Lyman lake from Chiwawa A couple standing and sitting glissades delievered us back to camp and a much wanted dinner and rest. Boot ski Early Sunday morning had us traversing over to Fortress under cloudy skies and a reprive from the heat. Fortress Booting up the gully,we exited from the snow onto some loose rock, real loose, the rock I was standing on to remove my crapons decided to drop off and bound down the snow slope. I simply stepped off it but was glad there was no one below or that it didn't start a chain reaction from above. This worried Ed some and the scramble from here up was still plenty loose and we were still a little concerned from the incident. Working the ridge on creaking loose rocks and a couple token snowpatches brought us to the "class 4 section' Loose ridge Class 4?? The top of Fortress is a spectacular view point and we enjoyed this for some time before heading down. Glacier peak Walking out we met a group that had climbed Fortress a day before us via Buck Creek pass and saw another groups worth of tents in the basin who went up Chiwawa after us. Busy place this weekend. We finished the trip with some chow at the Happy Clown by Lake Wenatchee and the usual Sunday evening traffic jam on US-2 -Jeff R 7/8-9/06 Gear Notes: Crosstrainers.Used Axe, and crampons lightly. Approach Notes: Trail is snow free, a couple muddy sections and a few blowdowns across the path. Not to many bugs YET.

Yep, that was us at the bivi spots below the East ridge. Sorry, we didn't see your lights. I think we were distracted with all the views. We hiked up at the same time as the W Arete group untill we headed our different ways.

Great pics! I like the image of Eldo since we also had it to ourselves during Saturday/Sun morning while looking over at Forbidden and wondering if it was crowded.We thought maybe the heat was keeping people home? That all changed Sunday when a parade of Mounties came. Luckily we were headed down by then. Did you stop at the Good Food then drive to the Marblemount Ranger station in a suv with racks and a box on top?

Mount Logan from Mesahchie Peak. Red line- Approach route to camp. Yellow line- Glacier route to summit. Orange line- Traverse route to Outpost peak. Photo courtesy of Carla S.

Climb: Mount Logan-Douglas Glacier Date of Climb: 6/25/2006 Trip Report: Myself, PK, and SV, met up Saturday morning the 24th of June and drove to the Marblemount Ranger Station to sign in and then continue to the Easy Pass Trailhead. It was around 11:00am and there was only one other car at the parking area. The temperature was warm and it was only going to get hotter. After dividing up gear and going though the usual pre-climb motions, we shouldered packs and headed up the trail. Hiking up towards Easy Pass was uneventful aside from a creek crossing on a long, narrow, slippery log with overnight packs to make the slog interesting. Snow on the trail started about two miles in but was nice and firm making travel easy and we made the pass in about 2 hours, 20 minutes. The Fisher Creek side of the pass was snow free and offered unobstructed views of our agenda along with the other peaks of the area. Walking the section down to the valley took us about a hour and at the junction of Fisher Creek we came upon two familiar climbers and their four legged companion. They were out for Mesahchie Peak and possibly Katsuk. Katsuk and Mesahchie peaks from the upper basin below the Douglas Glacier Heading down Fisher Creek valley into the trees was nice and along the way we saw a black bear and a number of piles from him or his friends. About four miles down the valley around 4000' we came to the confluence of where the creek draining Mt. Logan's Douglas Glacier meets Fisher Creek. We crossed the latter on a log into open old growth trees. We stayed to the left (east) of this creek encountering a buffet of brushy travel, some good and some bad. At about a mile from Fisher Creek we were quite amazed (and pleased) to discover a huge avalanche had laid waste to the terrain and annihilated any brush that would have hampered us. This must have reduced our approach time by two hours or more. Dare I say this destruction has rendered Logan an easy 2-day climb? Finally, in roughly 6 hours and 30 minutes we entered the upper basin below the Douglas Glacier and set up camp for the next two nights. The basin's headwall amphitheater must contain at least twenty waterfalls coming down rock slabs below the glacier and snowfields. This offered plenty to look at but not much peace and quiet. A waterfall between the upper and lower basins Our camp at 4,800 ft A view up to the glacier and Thunder Peak from camp On early Sunday morning we accessed the foot of the glacier by going up the right side (west) of the cirque. Approaching the upper basin headwall After climbing through the headwall (Class 3) with PK doing a vertical evergreen Class 4 bushwhack, removing his pack in the process, we roped up and basically made a straight line up the glacier avoiding crevasses to a buttress that we went around to the left and up a hidden snow slope to the col between Thunder Peak and the main summit. Ascending the Douglas Glacier Climbing up toward the col Booting up a couple of steep snow sections brought us to the summit rock which we easily scrambled up un-roped. The steep, 50-degree snow slope encountered at the col wasn't a problem in the warm weather SV completing the climb PK completing the climb with Goode Mtn beyond On the summit (9,087 ft) with views galore The views and weather were spectacular as we had lunch and signed in the register. The register has been replaced last year with Blake Herrington's entry re-entered at the top (in purple felt tip ink, no less). The ascent from camp to summit took 5 hours and 30 minutes (4,300 ft of gain). Having a lot of time on our hands and not wanting to sit around camp we decided to do a long easterly traverse over to Outpost Peak (7,910 ft) to finish off the day. Outpost Peak (with Black Peak at upper left) Getting there involved traversing on the north side of the ridge on snow where we took full advantage of the shady areas when we could. This brought us to a snow finger that we booted up placing two pickets until it delivered us to the ridge crest and the dry, loose, and rocky south side facing Storm King and Goode Mountain. We sidehilled this ridge over to Outpost where we again soaked in the views and plenty of Vitamin D. Not only did this other peak help wile away the day but offered us a descent of long sitting glissades down the north side of the basin back to our camp arriving at 6:30pm and a much desired break from the sun and dinner (and hooch) to sedate our hunger. Monday morning had us sleeping in until we broke camp and headed out dreading the hot switchbacks up to Easy Pass. We finished the trip with a cooling wash up in Granite Creek and some fatty burgers at the Good Food in Marblemount. Time to camp and time back to car = 6 1/2 hours. Time to summit = 5 1/2 hours, time to Outpost = 5 hours, back to camp = 1 1/2 hours. Jeff R 6-24/26-06 Gear Notes: Gear- 50 meter rope, crampons, used pickets for snow finger on the traverse to Outpost just because we had carried them the whole way, a whole lot of sunscreen. Not needed- rack for summit scramble which is fun easy Class 3 at most. Approach Notes: Huge avalanche from upper basin has taken care of most of the lower valley brush