Josh Lewis

Objective: Finding Someone who would be willing to take me out ice climbing For well over a year I been wanting to get into ice climbing, but have not once gotten a chance. Now that it's getting later in the season I'm becoming a bit desperate looking for someone who would be willing to take a newbie onto the ice. I know how to repel, belay and all that good stuff. I've got a set of nice ice tools, got a very good rope that could be used for ice climbing. So I've got everything I need except for the ice screws. I've even done a few preparations at home to get a feel for it (I know about alternating tools). I've also been on 60+ degree snow slopes and been on icy slopes were I got a feel for how to have the tool grip the ice well. I'm in good shape, and would be willing to do a lot for this. Even if I have to be that persons trail breaker for the next month... or what ever you come up with. So just a reminder I have not actually ice climbed before, but have a good deal of mountaineering experience. If anyone is willing to do this it would be very much so appreciated, and I would also be willing to be someone's belay slave if needed.

How am I supposed to go ice climbing if there is no practice ice! I'm getting pretty steamed here. Last year I couldn't because I was a liability, this year there is no ice. What's it going to be next year? I'm planning on climbing the Kautz this year which I figure I should have some ice practice. Anyone know of good places for beginners besides Leavenworth?

I'm about to go onto Mid-Winter break which I am free from February 20 (Sunday) to the 27th (Sunday). Whether it be snow climbs, snowshoeing, spending many days out, or even single day trips. Currently I have no restrictions for time so it's not like I have to have to be back on certain days. I want to get out as much as I possibly can! And I can be a trail breaker if you need one.

Trip: Gorgeous Day on Mount Ann - Date: 2/2/2011 Trip Report: I've always loved the North Cascades and have seen a lot of beautiful places in the many times I have visited the mountains, but this time I saw something new. Mount Shuksan presented itself in way I had not quite seen before with any other mountain. Not even the photos do the full justice with how beautiful Mount Shuksan was, my friend Gimpilator tells me it's one of the most photographed mountains. I now understand why... [img:center]http://www.summitpost.org/images/medium/696328.JPG[/img] [img:center]http://www.summitpost.org/images/medium/696344.JPG[/img] [img:center]http://www.summitpost.org/images/medium/696283.JPG[/img] [img:center]http://www.summitpost.org/images/medium/696368.JPG[/img] To see more view the trip report here: http://www.joshklewis.com/component/content/article/2-hike/91-gorgeous-day-on-mount-ann To see the gallery view here: http://www.summitpost.org/gorgeous-day-on-mount-ann/images/p-696386

Any updates?

I just now reread your post, I'm available for more than just glacier travel, back packing trips, hikes, you name it. I mostly mentioned having my brother along if you want to practice z-pulley (in my post before this one).

I agree, a buddy of mine went up in May and says it was good. When I went up in late June I had a bit of ice, although ironically it was better that day and I did not hear the hissing ice much on the way down, but on the way up I was a little worried when I got pelted by an ice chunk.

Well I would be willing to help, I have all the group gear so that's set. But I would want at least one other person in on this as well, my brother could join as well (the more people the better, or at least up to 4 people). But I live further south in Lynnwood, so let me know if you come down south and would like me as a partner. For me any excuse is a good excuse for me to get out into the mountains, even if I don't summit anything.

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