plaigar

Nice work Andy.

thanks Andy and Susan for a great trip! it's raining pictures... Andy crossing the first stream Everett peak and morning fog.

Trip: Snowfield Peak - Date: 6/6/2009 Trip Report: 5 of us climbed Snowfield peak this past weekend. A very enjoyable climb, but with a strenuous approach. Day 1: Started by picking up our permit at Marblemount and proceeded to have breakfast at the "Bunny place". Happily fed we started up the Pyramid Lake trail. for two and a half miles. A climbers path takes over, which was steep, but well defined and easy to follow. Once on top of the ridge, we got patchy, then complete snow coverage. Beautiful views towards Colonial Peak. Some steep steps to negotiate once on top of the ridge. We set up camp at the toe of the Colonial Glacier on some dry patches of glacial debris. Day 2: Woke up early in a whiteout and got going. Unfortunately we had whiteout conditions most of the time, except for some occasional short breaks which allowed us to see a rock outcropping or two. We did end up finding Snowfield and were at the summit at 9am. Final scramble had some slippery lichen covered rock. Excellent summit views of the great white cloud. As we started descending, it started slowly clearing out, and back at camp we had blue skies which again allowed for some nice views. Overall a strenuous but beautiful approach. The climb itself is fairly gentle, and given the right weather likely beautiful too. Thanks everyone for making a great climb, and special thanks to Ed for organizing it! Climbers trail. First views of Colonial Peak Nice drainage below colonial. Sometimes I wish I had a nicer camera so I could capture all of it. Looking down to Diablo and Ross lakes. Looking into the Colonial glacier basin. Looking out from the Neve glacier during one of the few clearings that day. Sun slowly coming out as we were descending Approach Notes: Steep but well defined. Snow on top of the ridge.

Trip: Little Tahoma - From paradise Date: 5/30/2009 Trip Report: Four of us climbed Little Tahoma from Paradise this past weekend. Day 1: First things first - stop for pancakes at Longmire Inn. Delicious as always. We proceeded to patiently claim our climbing permit at Longmire. Well at Paradise we joined the train of people going up to Muir. It was a beautiful day, so it was a bit chaotic there. We went up to just below Anvil rock (8500 ft), roped up, and proceeded to cross the Cowlitz glacier. No difficulties, but some scenic crevasses. The crossing over to the Ingraham glacier was easy (~8400ft). Now over on the Ingraham, we could spot our intended campsite on the far side. It was very hot, so we (or I at least) couldn't wait to sit down and lounge in the snow. We chose the campsite to be just below the notch where you cross over to the Whitman (Also ~8400ft). While the rest of us were lounging in camp, Misha proceeded to scout out the scramble over the notch. Turned out to be a reasonable, but unpleasant, choss scramble. Guess that later in the season this would become worse as the snow melts out further. Day 2: We woke up around 6 and started hiking at 7. The steps Misha had kicked up to the notch were very useful as the snow was firm and nice this morning. Over on the Whitman side, we stayed high on the left side. From camp it took us about 3 hours to the summit. Met up with a group on the summit that left just as we came up, as well as one other party with skis that came up just as we left. Snow was very slushy and soft on the way down, and we happily used snowshoes on the way down from camp. Overall I thought this was a great trip. No sign of other people after you leave the Muir snowfield (we were the only ones approaching Little T from the Paradise side). Very scenic glacier traverses and a neat camp location. Feathery cloud over anvil rock The Ingraham glacier. Camp at the far side. Crossing to the Whitman is at the highest snow finger. camp View from camp. going for the summit another cloud over anvil rock. Gear Notes: Snowshoes.

Thanks for a great trip. Some more pictures from it: Last pitch Stuart in sunset Moonrise over Esmeralda

Trip: Mastiff and Howard - Date: 6/22/2008 Trip Report: TR: Mt Mastiff and Mt Howard Peter & I scrambled a loop trip to Mt Mastiff and Mt Howard. Total distance of 15 miles, 6900 ft elevation gain and about 10 hours. It was raining when we drove on Hwy 2 but once beyond Stevens pass, it was dry and we could see blue sky. We left our bikes at the Rock Mtn trailhead (turnoff currently unmarked, immediately east of Milepost 73). then drove up to Merritt trailhead by Milepost 76. The trail was dry and in good condition, just two down logs to hop pass. Lupine, Indian Paintbrush and other flowers are in bloom. Mosquitos are starting but not too bad. There was some snow after the ~4000 ft elevation. We took a left at the trail junction and gained the ridge northwest toward Mt Mastiff. Ridge hike for the rest of the way to the top, and from Mastiff to Howard. From Howard we went directly south to Crescent Lake, and then traversed over to Rock Lake. On the traverse we dropped a bit too far, and had to regain a few hundred feet of elevation (up to 6000 ft level) to avoid some cliff bands. Hoped to be able to cross Rock lake by the outlet, but it looked difficult, so hiked around the lake instead. Then followed the Rock Mtn trail back to the bikes, and biked back along highway 2 to the car. Counted 48 switchbacks on the way the rock mtn trail. Gear Notes: Ice Axe, Bike, bug juice Approach Notes: Leave bike at Rock Mtn Trailhead before driving to Merritt Trailhead

Here is a topo of the route we took From the trail head it is 6.5 miles to Royal Lake, another mile to the upper tarn. 9 miles to summit.

We tried to follow the trail all the way up to the pass, but since it was snowcovered ended up away form it most of the time. We did end up at the 4th of July NPS camp though (marked with wooden post). From there we pretty much turned north and headed up the ridge. It's indistinct at first, but as you gain elevation it becomes more and more a defined ridge. We did bring an ice axe, and we did take it out. Snowshoes were very useful as it was late April. More pictures of the trip at http://picasaweb.google.com/leadmade/RubyMountain

Trip: Ruby Mountain - South Ridge Date: 4/30/2008 Trip Report: Ruby Mountain - 7400ft 4/30/08 Peter and I went to Ruby Mountain at the south edge of Ross Lake, via 4th of July pass, and the south ridge. We did have some problems finding the mostly snowcovered trail from Thunder Creek up to 4th of July Pass, and ended up mostly bushwhacking up to the pass. We had lunch at a nice spot where we could see Forbidden and Snowfield Peaks among others. We started to hike up the forested ridge that leads to Ruby Mountain and pitched camp at 5400ft, at another nice clearing. The next morning we mozied up the remaining 2000ft to the top via the south ridge. Quite broad and gentle all the way and very scenic. At the summit around 11am, had lunch and back to camp and car by 4pm. Started drizzling approximately 30 seconds after we arrived at car. Anybody knows the story of the solar panel? Gear Notes: snowshoes. Approach Notes: Colonial Creek campground, 4th of July pass, south ridge. Snow most of the way.

I left two jackets at smith rock at the bottom of Cinnamon Slab on March 25 2007 Sunday. one is blue rain shell by Mountain Equiment Co-op (MEC) and a 2nd one is a wild country Orange primaloft with hood. there was also a blue cordelette on the MEC jacket. -peter plaigar@yahoo.se

Lost: Old style Stubai FWK Tirol ice tool somewhere on the lower Nisqually glacier.