dougd

I did not know Dawes personally but had the pleasure of meeting him while on a fund raiser bike ride for Cystic Fibrosis a year or so after he summited Everest. Spotted him at a rest stop waiting outside the women's bathroom and as I awaited my wife who was in the long line at same, I introduced myself. We talked about climbing, and getting older and this was just a genuine, humble, kind soul. Climbing big mountains can have that effect of a person. He was also a neighbor who lived at the bottom of the long steep hill my wife and I live on and we would often see him running it, and right up to the end he trained on that hill. Saw him doing just that, grinding away, right before his last climb. Plenty of folks around the Spokane climbing community knew him. Chris Kopczynski wrote about climbing with Dawes in his book https://www.amazon.com/Highest-Hardest-Mountain-Climbers-Lifetime/dp/1493066471, John Roskelley &c.. RIP Dawes d

Man, good on ya for getting this done. This is a worthy mountain. A full on adventure solo. It's funny how some hills just stick in your craw.. Mt Rainier was like that for me way back in '81. The Matterhorn was on my list too for a while, and in 2012 my wife and I spent a week at the Bonhoff hostel in Zermatt, hiking, riding funiculars and staring it down. Couldn't even get to the Hornli Hut to scope out the route due to high winds. Out of curiosity (mostly) visited the guide shack and found out the price was 1100 Euro back then... Had thoughts about getting back to it after but never did. I'm good with knowing that at one time I was good enough... Thanks for sharing your story. Brings back good memories. d

I aged out of serious climbing a few years ago but still keep up with what's happening here and appreciate the effort given to the trip and this report. Top notch, including the images. Mt Triumph was my last real climb at age 62. After resisting the notion that it was time to turn away from climbing, I knew it was time. What a fine mountain to finish it on and your pic it was very satisfying somehow... Thanks, d

Good to see Pat getting out and about..

I really enjoyed this TR/pics. Quite a story, thanks for sharing it. d

I've had my Suunto Core for about 6 years and I like it. It's durable (I'm tough on gear) and easy to set up after replacing a battery. My recent experience of buying a cheap 5 pack replacement batteries from REI is that they last a few months each, if, I don't mess with the watch much... A good watch for climbing. I've not used the barometric storm warning system either but everything else works fine. d

This TR takes me back. I remember well, standing at that spot in your first pic, after the "hike" in, looking down that 40deg scree slope into the basin proper, and deciding rightly to just backtrack a bit and spend the evening at a nice little camp site just down from the col instead of heading on down that slope to camp. I was just up for one night to have a look around and man, the view from up there is one I'm determined to enjoy again. Jason, thanks. d

Of the 3 routes I've done on the mountain, my favorite by far was the ledges. Early June 2011 there were no ledges per se, just a spicy, rising traverse, under that big rock to the ramp... Nice report thanks for posting. d

+1 on the Denny's.. Nice report. If I can ever get back in reasonable shape, I'd like to get to this area. Thanks, d

And a standout periwinkle blue to boot! Time to straighten up and fly right boiz... d

Thanks Jason. Beautiful pics.

Congrats fellas. If I wasn't quitting climbing, this would be a worthy objective... d

Smokey W side pic from Ingalls Pass on 12Aug...

Thanks for sharing Jason. I've seen some of this country up close thanks to you and others here, but no more 8 day packs for this kid... The third from the top is a sweet shot. d

The camping looks good to go for my Grandson and I later this week... Thanks for posting d