Josh Lewis

I figured with all the high temperatures. How am I supposed to get my alpine on when the ice is out and avalanche danger is present, at least it seems to be going down a little.

So we have the worst ice? Man your already tempting me to move to somewhere else some day.

Thanks Spiderman for the update! I guess I'll have to wait once again.

Nice!

I'm wanting to have a trip on the MLK Weekend of the 15th through the 17th, or sinlge say trips depending on what people are willing to do. I want to get out as much as possible. I mostly looking for snow climbs, glacier travel, or if someone is willing to help me begin getting into ice climbing (I got all the gear except ice screws).

Now I'm wanting to go to Leavenworth! Next chance I get, I'm in!

Well you didn't actually think I would allow myself to not do something so exciting did you? Although I have yet to do this, I plan on it as soon as my first chance pops up. I own my own ice tools and such (as seen in the photo) and have someone who is willing to teach me how. I'm not doing pull ups and such at home for nothing. For the longest time liability was my mile stone that held me from this. Now that there is no longer any liability, now all I gotta do is figure out a way to get there and I'm set.

I'm curious as well as to what the ice conditions are. I want to go ice climbing!

Not so well, only the paper burned and then went out.

[img:center]http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/north_cascades_49/stetattle_ridge_344/logo_20110101_1261283971.jpg[/img] "The Training is nothing, the Will is Everything! The Will to act." -Ras Al Ghul "A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions." -Oliver Wendell Holmes A great overnight trip in the North Cascades, although a bit chilly for my tastes. I think I'm going to need better gear. The rest of the story can be seen here: http://joshklewis.com/component/content/article/2-hike/87-glorious-adventure-on-stetattle-ridge More photos from the trip can be seen here: http://hikrs.com/photo/josh/north-cascades/stetattle-ridge

Trees, well I never thought of that one. The advantage to self incrimination (admitting errors) is that you get more scope on your errors from others. Really I usually treat the alpine environment with decency. If I had wanted to keep what I did a secret, it would have been easy. I hope I don't encourage this behavior but I was a bit ignorant of the impact of my camping.

I know that. We almost camped on snow but I was not sure if it made any difference. The reason I ask is for areas that allow camping but if I wanted to reduce impact.

This is no to excuse what was done, nor encourage it in the future. But what is the impact of snow camping on plants?

Looks like a fun route. I was to climb Chair Peak myself this winter.

"Failure is not an option. Everyone has to succeed." -Arnold Schwarzenegger "Damn! I climbed that... Looks fricken hard." -Vern Clevenger "A fight is not won by one punch or kick. Either learn to endure or hire a bodyguard." -Bruce Lee Who Came: Joanna, Matt Lemke, Michael Lewis, Rex, Holly, and myself Time: 6 and 1/2 Hours Date: December 27, 2010 Elevation Gain: 3,300 Feet Distance: 8 miles Round Trip Las palabras del corazon. This was the hardest trip I have done in a long time, even more so than Snowking or Mount Maude. In today's adventure I pushed myself to the limits. The idea came about on Bullion Peak and was said to be a low avalanche danger mountain. Glad that part was true. Before I went to bed on December 26 I saw Matt wanted to join on a trip so I invited him along. In the morning we piled up at our house into the car which was now crowded with people and dogs. As I went to drink my hot chocolate the dogs bumped me which slightly spilled. Joanna looks over at me and says "If you spill one drop of that drink your going to be toast!". Woops, well what she doesn't know saves me trouble. I silently clean it up. As we drove towards Steven's Pass Matt received news that he had to be back some what early, this put a bit of a spin with the trip. Now the ascent would have to be made in speedier time. After passing over Stevens Pass we parked off the side of the road for the trip and began the walk on the rail road tracks. It was interesting to notice that the train it self was not that loud, but the hissing rails give it out which we run off the track and watch the hundreds of carts go by. After walking East for a mile and a half we turn into the woods to get the East Ridge. Matt starts off breaking trail for us which was decent of him. As we go further up the slope I then take a turn at leading at the more steeper part of the slope. For some reason I find a joy in breaking trail on steeper slopes, I hate breaking trail on flat stuff, but terrain mades the job worth while. At about 11 a.m. we finally get onto the East Ridge where views finally started to break out, although cloud cover made views some what limited. http://www.hikrs.com/original/josh_1/highway_2_64/arrowhead_261/panorama_20101228_2098553454.jpg From here we put on our snowshoes, for a few moments my hands got really cold. "Darn I knew I should not have brought the crummy gloves" I uttered as I coldly put on my snowshoes. My main gloves were wet from the previous day and could not fit into my mitten shell, while the pair I brought was supposedly mountaineering quality (certainly not water proof) but gets cold super easy. So I went to Joanna's technique she showed me on Mount Cleveland which was to use my spare wool socks as inner gloves and then use the shell mittens. Unfortunately finger flexibility was extremely low as a result so I could hardly even buckle traps with it. Travel now was not too bad, especially with Joanna breaking trail. To save myself time I decided to grab snow and put in my mouth as water which at first seemed like a little thing, but later it became necessary. The mountain atmosphere was quite good for a cloudy day, the great feeling I have when seeing snow covered mountains with gentile snow falling from the sky. Matt was starting to fall behind as the snow got deeper, he's in really good shape but lack of snowshoes played a roll, it later played a roll with myself. It was now time for me to take the lead to break trail, we were starting to run out of time, but the trees ahead were teasing making us seem close to the summit. As I traveled there was a little bit of winds, and a little while later when I took a step my snowshoes fell off. "Blazes this is not good" I thought to myself. I had to make a choice, either leave it behind or put it back on. I dreaded the idea of putting it back on, the straps usually freeze over and are a pain to put on. This is one main reason I don't like tub snowshoes, not only do the straps freeze over but most of my trips they fall off of me at least once. I thought of how painful it would be on my hands to have my gloves off with the winds, and how I would have to melt the ice off of them and how horrible it would feel. The snow did not seem that bad I thought, so I ditched it. Bad move, although either option is not friendly, this was a bad move. As I walked with one snowshoe on and one off I was sick of the imbalance of it, besides I wasn't sinking in that bad. So I decided to ditch the other snowshoe. I heard from Michael that we were really low on time, now it was time to step up to the plate and start really pushing myself to try to get the summit. Although it was difficult to break trail with plowing in a bit deep I was able to manage, I was still breaking trail. As we went on higher the snow had become deeper and I lost my position for trail breaking. In fact the trail that Michael and Joanna broke did not help much for me and sinking in, I was as good as breaking trail myself in deep snow. As I went on up I became quite tired by this point but I kept telling myself "You know that if you don't rush your self you will not make it!". Then things got even worse for me, I fell in deep snow steps, mini tree wells, and was getting thirsty. With each scoop of snow it was like ice cream because it was that nice to have. My face by now was getting very cold, and my hands were going numb again because I swapped to the other gloves, I needed my ice axe to help me out with some balancing. As I was going along a song was rolling through my head: "Well I won't back down No I won't back down You can stand me up at the gates of hell But I won't back down No I'll stand my ground, won't be turned around And I'll keep this world from draggin me down gonna stand my ground ... and I won't back down Hey baby, there ain't no easy way out hey I will stand my ground and I won't back down..." -Tom Petty in I Wont Back Down Things started to feel horrendous for me, I started to become dizzy, hungry, and very spacey. Sometimes I would look over at the sun through the clouds which looked very nice. I would snap out of the daze and say "Josh! You have a job to do!". Seeing Joanna and Michael having not that hard of a time it got to me a little. Every step started to feel very difficult, even when resting and catching my breath (for a short time) I felt like I was working hard when I was standing. Every motion now felt that it mattered, the struggle was on and I was now in this all the way. I tried to cheer up my mind with something nice sounding: "I looked out this morning and the sun was gone Turned on some music to start my day I lost myself in a familiar situation I closed my eyes and I slipped away It's more than a feeling (More than a feeling) I feel like I'm somethin (More than a feeling) I begin dreaming (More than a feeling) I see my view today So many people have come and gone Their faces fade as the years go by Yet I still recall as I wander on As clear as the sun in the winter sky It's more than a feeling (More than a feeling) I feel like I'm somethin (More than a feeling) I begin dreaming (More than a feeling) I see my view today When I'm tired and thinking cold I hide in my snowshoes, forget the day And dream of a peak I used to know I closed my eyes and it slipped away Adventure now slipping away." -More than a Feeling by Boston (slightly modified) Every time we passed trees on the next section I felt like I was constantly being teased. I genuinely believed we would not make the summit, I tried with all that I could to go up, but it just seemed like there was no way. Time was running out, and I figured I was just going on just to see how close I can come. When I thought it could not get any worse with difficulty matters I started to get cramps. Every moment my heart was loud and heavy as well as my breath. I was tired to the point where I didn't even take much of photos, I took one last one of Joanna and Michael. All interest in photography was lost past this point (until the end of the trip). I saw the ridge on the left moving up to the top of the trees, this very well could be the summit. If it wasn't we would have to turn around. I yelled for Michael in wondering if that was the summit, he could not hear me. I felt it was so important to know if it was or not, because if it was not there would be no sense in me making myself more dizzy than I already was. By the time I got near the summit Michael was already heading down, by now I was alone. Even the last few feet were hard and I did slowly. When I was on top I yelled in excitement (no jumping, was way too tired). Then I collapsed and had to rest for a moment. I crammed as much food as possible as fast as possible but without choking. My hands were numb, they had been very cold for a long time so I had to beat them together to get them to work properly again. I put on my mitten socks and mitten shells which I was so happy to feel my hands again, I laughed that I made it but sighed because it was not over. It was like what happened on Middle Chiwaukum, going down I had to race down alone (although partners were probably 400 feet ahead or so the whole time, but when I stopped I could not hear them nor see them). There snowshoe tracks covered most of the deep steps I made making for some hidden sink in spots and difficult travel. Going down was almost as hard as going up on the upper part of the ridge. At times I would fall into a snow hole, take a minute to roll out of it laying there spacing out. Then I would dash on down. At other times I would trip over a snow hole and land nearly on my face (catching myself with my hands but still nearly face on the snow). I knew that everyone was racing down the mountain so there was no time for any hesitation. I kept going for a while more until later on I reached the group. From here I drank some water and we got to the glissade slope which was a lovely change, going from super tiring to fun traveling. We lost elevation fast although I had to stop at one point due to a bad cramp. Then Holly had some fun biting us as we went down (tradition of hers). Next we hiked out of the woods and were on the train tracks. Getting to the car I was so happy to sit. On the way home a truck flipped which I was impressed at how quick people responded, we (random people and I) attempted to flip it but it would only move. Then someone offered to get a cable while someone else offered to use there truck. Glad no one was hurt, they managed to unflip it. I was happy to see so many willing people, wish I saw that more around where I live. Then I had luxurious pizza which was a great ending to a great day. This was certainly a satisfying trip although really tiring on me. Had I kept the snowshoes it would not have been that epic at all. What did I learn? Keep your snowshoes on you, even if it does not look that bad.

Wow really?

Who Came: Eastking and I When: Monday December 20, 2010 What Peak: Tye Peak Elevation Gain: 2,000 Feet? Like Eastking I had been without adventure for a while, plus with my foot hurting that did not help me out. (Normally I run to make up for lack of hiking but I could not) Eastking once again picked me up from my house and we drove on over to Steven's Pass. When we got over the pass we could not park at our original trail head plan due to lots of snow and such so we decided to drive back to Stevens Pass. The hike started out pretty nice, we were making good progress up the mountain, weather was not perfect, but what do you expect in December? At Skyline Lake we busted out the snowshoes which I was impressed that there was still some broken trail. At the lake I saw ski tracks crossing a section but I told Eastking I did not want to pull another Wright Mountain stunt so we crossed around the lake, although still on the edge of it. After the lake we went a short distance over a little bump in the ridge and were able to start the descent for getting in the other valley. Once we got down the slope it felt lovely traveling through winters wonders, it was snowing but it had a gentleness to the place. After traversing the slope a ways we once again started to ascent Tye Peak. As we went up I was impressed at how wind blown the slope was which made it easier for traveling. We ditched our snow shoes because there were a few rough patches which snow shoes would only make thing worse. There were even baby cornices forming. My camera sadly lost power, I figured it was because of cold, the next hike I found out it was out of power. Soon we reached the top which I had some quick food and water, took some photos and then it was time to head down. The winds made things a bit colder, I borrowed Eastking's camera to take a few more photos. My hands became seriously cold by then. When the heat pains were gone I felt much nicer. We then dashed on back because it was becoming late, when we got to the lake I was surprised to see a melted water hole which was a clear sign of stay off this lake. The rest of the way we jogged on down. On the way home there were lots of people with there high beams on which made driving difficult, so if your one of those folks, drivers really appreciate it when you turn them off for on coming cars. All in all it was a great trip, can't wait til next trip! More photos can be seen here: http://hikrs.com/photo/josh/highway-2/tye-peak

My beef with them is they are expensive! I call them the hollister for climbers. Ok so maybe they are not that bad.

I've liked Joey's software for a while. I have a map generator for those who want static maps: http://hikrs.com/maps

I'm interested.

Can't wait to climb this Mountain Again!

I forgot to mention, I apologized to the rangers and had a formal agreement not to be camping at Cascade Pass. Because I could not edit my trip report, I did not include that. I usually do well in being kind to the environment, I have friends who are witnesses, I pick up trash and encourage people not to litter. But I will be honest, that was one of my favorite comments ever "Holy Train Wreck".

Edit link dissappears after a certain amount of time which is why I have not been able to remove any images. Notice my trip reports after this one have less photos.

Well, they might have had a slight effect. But the sleep deprevation is what really did it. Going to Glacier Gap on 0 hours of sleep and being up 30 or more hours is what really did it in on me.

"The Mountains are calling and I must go." -John Muir "The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes " -Marcel Proust " Life is NOT a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming -- ’WOW, what a ride!!! " Trip Stats: Distance: 39 Miles Elevation Gain: 11,000 feet Time: 2 1/2 days Who Came: Gimpilator, Redwic, Michael Lewis, and Josh Lewis Peaks Summited: Glacier Peak, White Mountain, Portal Peak This was the longest adventure of mine yet, but at the same time a very rewarding one. This is the sequel of theGlacier Peak Adventure. Gimpilator and Redwic wanted to climb this peak as well, they wanted someone who had done this route before, so they hired me. I suppose one could say "I am never finished". Before the trip Michael went to bed nice and early, I had youth group that night which I could not pass up. Then I decided to read books, trim my beard, take a shower, walk the dog (twice, he kept whining which contributed to me staying up) and then packed. By the time I was done with all this it was almost time for Redwic to pick me up. "Oh boy" I thought as I was having breakfast because I knew I was in for a long day of endurance. I bought some chocolate milk in Darrington (as always) and from here we got to the North Sauk River Trailhead. The hike started out relatively easy, and I was glad it was cool out. I was to concentrated with the climb to worry about photography until we got near White Pass. As we got towards White Pass my sleepyness started to catch up to me. At the Pass we took a break, ate some donuts, and carried on hiking. After traversing the bottom of White Mountain, we missed the turn off for Glacier Peak because the lower fork in the trail looked more used. I told the group I did not remember traveling as far east as we were, but I guess we figured this was the summer trail. As we were walking along, Redwic says "How far does this trail go?" and ironically a few seconds later it ended. "Now what?" I was wondering as I looked up the slope. We decided to go up a small ridge to a highpoint. From here we traversed down the ridge and onto the original path. This must have added a few extra miles... oh well. I took a break to get some water and food while everyone else went ahead. It took me an aweful deal of time to get everything repacked and head out, by the time I started running, they were out of view. I did not want to be left behind so I charged up the hill, which ended up tiring me out. Fortunately they were not as far as I had worried, they stopped for me on a rock out cropping. As I layed down, I was told to find some shade to protect my face from the sun. I was very tired by this point, and laying on the ground was not comfortable. When I tried to reach my water bottle I noticed how hard something as simple as that became. I suppose the fact that I been up 28 hours had an effect on that. Once I got up, the dizzyness faded off, and I felt well enough to head to Glacier Gap. The going was tiring, I was getting more and more drained as we headed up. "C'mon, you can do it, you must do it, no giving up this early" I kept chanting in my head as we were heading towards Glacier Gap. I'm amazed I was able to endure it, not just mentally, but earlier I had feared that if I stopped, I could easily fall asleep in an instant. Before heading out for the trip I had wanted a challenge, but I soon realized this was a little much for me, next time I think I'll get a better nights rest. Once we got to Glacier Gap we set up Camp, and I was finally able to rest. In the distance we saw a small cloud which at first I did not think much of it, but it kept getting bigger and bigger. Once it got quite big and dark, we all wondered if there was a forst fire near the city of Holden or around Lake Chelan. Michael cooked me some romen which was very nice. This was by far the hardest day of the trip, as I went to bed, I hoped that tommorow would not be worse. I slept right away until wake up time. ------------------------------------------------ During the night in a sense one could say I am still climbing, I had a dream I was climbing a mountain and we got caught in a terrible storm. When we got down, we were in the city late at night and were wondering "how are we going to get home?" A nice bus driver said "I'll take you home" which we trusted. She ended up being a crazy driver. Fortunately it was only a dream which was similar to my Rainier trip on the bus ride when we swirved and I almost fell out of the bus. ------------------------------------------------ At 1:49 a.m. I woke up to mice trying to get our stuff. "They're still after our food at this altitude?". Michael and I had to chase them away, but they were very persistant and would only come back 10 seconds later. I checked the time on my camera watch which was 1:59 a.m. "Awww man!" I said aloud, because I had wanted some more sleep, but I knew in less than a minute the rest of the party would wake up for the climb up Glacier Peak. We stashed our stuff in the snow, got our stuff ready, and began heading towards Glacier Peak. Once we got over the small pass, we started dealing with hard snow, which got a little steep. Everyone except for me started putting on there crampons, but I knew there was not enough time for me to do so, so I used the time to put on gaitors. The group seemed concerned that I did not put mine on. Michael and I headed down a slope which led to some rocks, after this we rejoined with Redwic and Gimpilator. Once we got on the ridge, we were finally on Glacier Peak. The starting out was tougher on me then most of the group, I was always pushing myself to keep up with everyone. As we were climbing up I could see a big cloud to the south, and to my amazement I could see red lightning bolts. Eventually we all had to put on crampons, and shortly after roped up. As usual I was the guy in the front, things got easier from here. I figured the team still wanted to go fast, so when I went fast everyone told me to slow down which was a relief. After crossing the bottom of the Dissapointment, we got to the Cool Glacier which is when the crevasses started coming on. I had to carefully traverse a few, but after this it was much easier. Although I did not travel on a boot path by this point, I saw one in the distance which I got onto. There was one other crevasse which involved some careful crossing, but beyond this there was little crevasse danger. Once we got to the ridge we unroped. From here we scambled up the final approach gulley to the summit. There was no ice coming down this time. I was very happy when we got to the top, even though I had already been there which it was 8:15 a.m. Gimpilator had redvines and some other food to share. We took plently of photos, and of course got a photo for Eastking! And yes it was cold! We noticed the temperature rapidly getting warmer, so after 15-20 minutes on the summit we started heading down. When we got back to the lower portion of the ridge we reroped up. As we headed down towards one of the crevasses, I was suprised at how much softer the snow had gotten. At the snow bridge I tested to see how solid it was, my ice axe went straight though. I could see it was also over hanging. I told Michael "watch me!". I carefully traversed to the right until I found a good enough spot to cross, my ice axe still plunged through, but now I could atleast some what safely jump it. After I was done, Michael crossed it, Redwic decided we should go even further over so that he has a safe crossing. When he jumped, his foot partly sank in, but he had enough speed so that he was fine, then Gimpilator crossed it, now we were all past it. From here there was only one more crevasse crossing. On the last one I realized it was not going to last long, Michael predicted it would only last a day or so. From here the danger was out of the way. We then headed for the ridge. At the ridge we unroped, and headed down. I got a pretty good glissade, but soon realized I was on a Glacier and headed back to the ridge. From here we went back over the pass and to our camp. I went to sleep quite fast. An hour later I was woken up because we had to go. "I was in my nice warm bed sleeping, and now I have to wake up to the miserable reality" I mumbled to myself as I was getting up. I felt soar all over, and was quite tired. Fortunately some water helped fix that. Now we had to head over to White Pass. Travelling was not as bad as I had expected it to be, we reached the bottom of the Plug in decent timing. From here Redwic and the rest of us got in a debate on which way to go to White Pass. We ended up going the Standard way. As we were resting, a marmot came up to us, which it was begging for food. I would have loved to give it some, but not only was I low on food, but I hear your not supposed to feed the wildlife. After a while we started to head up the pass. I wondered how bad the next two days were going to be, not only was I tired, but Michael and I were low on food. As we got towards White Pass we separated a little, Michael and I were in the front while Redwic and Gimpilator were in the back. While Gimpilator and Redwic took a stop, they saw an amazing marmot fight which I thought was one of the most interesting things I have ever heard of while in the mountains. From here we got to White Pass, searched for a camp ground and set up camp. The misquitoes were back. As I was unpacking our things, BadDog was walking towards our camp site. Redwic told Gimpilator and Gimpilator said "I'm not falling for that one" which it really was her. I had told her I was going here, but was not sure if she acually was coming. I took a few photos of the sunset and went to bed. The next morning there was clouds all around, it was quite misty, and I was very tired. Michael told me my boots were wet as well. Now I was unsure if I wanted to climb White Mountain or not, if there were no views, I would for sure get blisters, and it would be tough, would it be worth it? I almost gave up and went to sleep. But in the back of my mind a voice rang to me "Where is your sense of Adventure? This is not like you, your going to go out and do this!". Of course I gave in, and put sense to the side and got up. I had to filter some water before heading out, Michael made some tasty hot chocolate for us. We then went to White Pass to climb White Mountain. At the top the views were quite good. Not long after we summited we traversed over to Skull Cap Peak. As we went along, BadDog knew that the PCT was only 50 feet below us, and from there it was a nice walk to Red Pass. Once at Red Pass it was a little bit of a scamble over some rocks, and from there we were near the summit. On the summit BadDog gave us some chips which we had a mini party. Redwic said "oh too bad, the peak is only 6,999 feet, just short of 7,000 feet". "I'll change that!" I exclaimed to Redwic, and he did not believe I could change it. I found a slanted rock, stashed it on, found more rocks, and after a while got it well over a foot taller. After this we headed down to White Pass. At Camp I heard Thunder which we all knew it was time to dash out of there. We packed up camp, and went down towards the car. I met HulkSmash as we were heading down. We took a break at the shelter below. Then we met Opus, and were soon at the trailhead. It was a amazing trip, and it was neat to see more nwhikers. We had Denny's on the way home. And then I had to head off to Camp until August 21! To see more photos click here.