Josh Lewis

Well theres a good explanation. First off, in one of your photos in the chute I could see some nice looking steps. Second it was when we were the only ones for a short time the wind blew hard and perhaps rattled the ice above which was why it was falling. It was not too bad of ice fall, but enough to keep me very alert. Also the photo looks like it was taken in slightly later day which the slope might have been a little easier to manage.

Trip: Outrageous Times - A Success on Mount Hood and Mount Saint Helens "I can't have the adventure of a life time just once!" -Josh Lewis "Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb." -Greg Child. "It's just Mount Hood" -Bearqueeen Who Came: Eastking, nartreb (Dave), Michael Lewis, and I Trip Took Place: Sunday June 27, 2010 - Tuesday June 29, 2010 : 3 Days This trip proved to be a success in many ways, and was a fun experience. There were it's fun times, and it's rough times but over all an outrageous trip. The Plan was originally to climb Mount Rainier, but the forecast to the North was not looking to great. One of my fears of the trip were that Dave would not want me on the trip because of our previous encounter on the interwebs. Fortunately in person he was a very nice guy. Day 1: At first me and Michael were wondering how we would get to the Hotel in Kirkland, so we decided biking 20 miles would be our best option, the bus in Snohomish county does not run on Sunday's anymore. The Night before we would have to go I email Joanna about my plans and she said "You nut! what time you need to be at the hotel?" which this was a turning point, hurray now I don't have to tire myself before the trip! She drove us to the hotel. The drive was long but had some scenery, as we were driving up the road towards Mount Hood, Michael saw an avalanche which already was raising concern, but fortunately it was on a diffrent route from what we were doing. At the parking lot we tried to get as much sleep as possible. I woke up around sunset and knew I would not be able to get anymore sleep so I enjoyed the scenery, and took some photos. Day 2: At 10:00 p.m. I spoke with a guide for a while which he was nice and had some good info. At 10:30 p.m. everyone was awake and everyone got ready for the climb. As we were heading out, Dave threw up, which raised concerns. I suppose he drank too much water, and he mentioned he was still feeling the jet lag (he came all the way from the East Coast for this trip). As we were heading up the climb had a nice feeling to it, the moon was shining bright lighting up the snow, I did not even have to use my head lamp because it was so bright. As we pushed on up the mountain the only time I used my headlamp was to get my crampons on. The city lights below reminded me of the fires on Mount Baker, which both looked like Christmas lights (although the one on Baker looked even cooler). At around 8,500 feet Dave was really not feeling well, which I guess a mix of things contributed to this. Eastking did a noble thing here, because we all had radios he let Michael and I continue, and he went back down with Dave. That deserves major kudos! Now that it was just Michael and I we headed up at a fast pace, we wanted to reach the summit around sunrise to reduce ice fall danger. Above looked so big, Crater Rock seemed like the summit in itself, and eventually I realized why in the 1800's they thought Mount Hood was 17,000 feet, because the illusion of the surrounding rocks all around and ice make it look huge. And then of course we passed through the famous Mount Hood fumaroles which smelled like Rotten Eggs, although I peronally thought Mount Baker's was worse (although the time of year might have a effect on that). At first I could not find our route and was starting to wonder where to go, but then a few seconds later I spotted the Hogsback in front of us. We asked a climber guy which route was best, the old chute, or the Hogsback? He said we could go either way, but the Hogsback would have the bergschrund which we would have to jump over unroped. "Forget that!" so we went down the lower path. It seemed wierd having active volcanoe vents to the side of you being on route. The Morning light was finally starting to come out, and then we reached the old Chute. We put on our helmets, and break out our the Aztars (We each carried one ice tool and one ice axe this way we would be safe going up). At first going up wasn't too bad, but then the wind picked up which is when my thoughts about this section changed. I had been looking forward to this part of the trip, but now started to dread it. Ice started tumbling down the face which raised concerns, the slope was getting steeper, and the ice was less than ideal, it was rotten ice, so each tool placement had to be good. As I was heading up the slope I was distracted by the Scenery around, Mount Hood had a beautiful shadow that had some reds and pinks above it. As I was taking pictures, I get pelted with a chunck of ice. "Awwww!!" I nearly swore at that moment because it hurt a lot (incase you don't know me, I have sweared very little in my life, here I did not). Ice falling hurts more than I had expected, the pain of it hurt for a few days after the trip. More ice was falling down the face and I had to do a stunt to avoid it, missing me by inches. As we carried on, it began to feel like ice climbing, stick in one tool, take a step up, place in ice axe, take another step. My friend Mark was not kidding that in ice climbing your hands get very cold. My fingers were starting to go numb which raised some concern as I was climbing. I was amazed to see Michael continueing, this was certainly not the place for the average hiker. Near the end of the old chute, we had avoided the right chute which looked slightly easier but more ice fall danger, I was worried that we might have picked the wrong chute. As I was next to the ridge, I asked Michael "Does it look good?" and he shook his head no. When I topped out, I almost said "I understand if you want to turn around, this has been a fun trip" but then I noticed a boot path that travelled on the narrow ridge. To my amazement it was a thin cornice, perhaps 2 feet wide, cliffs on either side. We saw the summit a few hundred feet ahead and decided to go for it. I did a sit walk by this point because I wanted my ice axe plunged in all the way. There was little room for error here. Once past the cornice, the rest of the way was relatively safe. Soon Michael and I were on the roof of Oregon! http://hikrs.com/host/Panoramas/Hood%20Summit%20Panorama.jpg The wind was blowing a lot, making me too cold to take out the tripod I had carried all the way up the mountain. Some of the fumes from below rose up and the same old stench returned. Atleast I was able to see much of Southern Washington and Oregon. With the mist rising over the summit I was able to change the top of the shadow of the mountain which was quite interesting. We could not spend too much time up there because we did not want the ice fall danger to be very high during the descent. After all they say 80% of mountaineering accidents are on the way down. Down climbing the chute required a deal of concentration. To my amazement there was less ice fall even though it was "warmer" out. Below us I could see the avalanche that had happened on the car ride in. I attempted to self belay with my ice axe, but that proved to be dangerous because the axe would only go in a few inches. Fortunately there was slightly more of a boot path as we went down thanks to other climbers who went up, but it still reminded me of rock climbing because every step I would have to find the slight foot hold (it was by no means nicely kicked in steps). I would have my head down as I was down climbing which felt strange because everything looked upside down. After spending much time kicking in steps and getting down I was out of the most dangerous part. Once again I got pelted by another large chunck of ice in the other leg, which this time hurt almost just as much but not as much of a reaction because I suppose I was accustom to the drama of it. I saw the climbing guide I had spoken to at the parking lot which was cool, but it felt strange telling a guide "Shouldn't you be wearing your helmet here?". I hope he did so after I told him. Once I got down to the bottom of the Hogsback, I waited a while for Michael. Once we got down out of the crator, I called the rest of the way "The green zone". The glissade was not so great, I took off my crampons expecting a nice glissade but instead it was icy and painful. I decided to slowly go down. Michael and I became quite tired, so we radio Eastking and let him know we wanted to take a nap. On the ice I was amazed at how fast I fell asleep, 20 minutes later Michael wakes me up and says we should go. Later in the day when the snow finally softens up, we get to the gentle slope where they made all the climbers go to the left of the ski place. Now glissades were impossible, which was sad. The rest of the way down was fine, and I found a lense cap. At the trailhead Dave drove us over to our next destination which was Mount Saint Helens. I slept the whole car ride until it was permit time which was at some house, but atleast they gave me free water. At the trailhead of St. Helens the weather looked iffy, Eastking gave me some water, and Dave let me use his stove to cook up some food, I was now ready for the next adventure. That night was cold because I cracked the window in the car, and I did not want to wake up Dave for the keys (everyone else was sleeping in a tent). At 5 a.m. we woke up and were ready to climb. Day 3: It was neat that we started out getting above the clouds. Mount Hood rose above them which had me slightly drooling in my mind. (I would love to go back, even though I just did it). There were a few nice flowers on the way up. As we leave the woods, we break out our crampons due to icy snow. The surrounding clouds added a interesting atmosphere, especially with the sun coming through the clouds. Dave was feeling much better on this Mountain and was doing well. As we looked out South it was interesting to see the clouds almost perfectly cover Washington but not Oregon, I guess they don't call it Washington for nothing. I will admit I was feeling a bit weak at first but once we took a snack break I was feeling much better. There were some winds as we went up. Mount Adams showed an appearance through the clouds which had us all impressed. The rest of the way up to the summit was a nice walk up, but still had a mountainous feeling. At the crator rim, there were cornices all around. Mount Rainier was in view, but looked like bad weather on the mountain. Mount Saint Helens was having steam rising from inside the crator which had me a little surprised on how active it still was. (I know there was some activity a few years back but still it was neat). Cascadeclimbers could not load the rest of the photos due to exceeding the limit. Heading to the summit was interesting, we traversed below the cornice ridge and there were a few large cracks. When approaching the summit we took much caution, we did not touch the highest part of the top cornice, but our heads were above it, and we were higher than the summit rock as it was (due to how much snow there was on the summit). On the way down we waited for the slope to melt out a bit, and then started on a awesome glissade. It would be too much on my thin pants so I did a run glissade, which I got amazing speed. Everyone looked as me as if I were a marithon runner. It was crazy to see someone glissade in cotton jeams. But they get style points from me. Then the rest of the way down there were some awesome sit glissades. :agree: Soon we reached the bottom. Dave drove us all the way home which was a very nice favor, we were 20 miles out of his way. This was an outrageous adventure (you would have had to have been there to know) and we made it home safely. The next day I set out to climb Sahale Mountain... http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5693_20100703_1507551259.jpg http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5694_20100703_1931964794.jpg http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5695_20100703_1320166951.jpg http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5696_20100703_1932560103.jpg http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5702_20100703_1502518898.jpg http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5703_20100703_1078394032.jpg http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5704_20100703_1808977089.jpg http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5705_20100703_1814569611.jpg http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5706_20100703_1641968364.jpg http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5707_20100703_1911827263.jpg Major Kudos to Dave for driving us, and not charging much gas money, you were a great guy! Also Kudos to Eastking for organizing the trip and letting Michael and I summit Mount Hood. Kudos to Michael for leading the top part of the old chute and buying the luxurious food! To see photos in gallery mode, click here.

I might have, but was a bit tired. At one point I might have taken a small nap as I was waiting for my partners to catch up, I was running on 1 hour of sleep, so minor details like that would be hard for me to remember.

I wish, I have a friend who wants to climb it. And yes I summited.

Trip: Vesper Peak - Date: 6/12/2010 Trip Report: Trip Stats: Distance: 9 miles Elevation Gain: 3,900 Feet Time: 7 Hours? Who Came: summithound (Zach), Matt, and I Summithound from nwhikers invited me to go with on Vesper Peak, although I have already summited three times, it would be fun to go for another round. Before the trip, the night before I went to a youth group party, played alot of running around games, biked home, and then got 1 hour of sleep. The trip started out with the usual drama, I get some of the stuff ready the night before, but not everything. I set the alarm so I have some time to pack a few more items in the morning. When I wake up, bam! I can't find some of my essentials. My mom cleaned my room, which if you lived at my house you would know what that means, good luck finding your gear! Before I left for the trip Zach sent me a message saying: "Having been up there a few times already, I assume you have all the necessary gear but as a friendly reminder don't forget sunscreen and sun glasses. " And sure enough even though I packed the sunscreen the night before, my sunglasses were no where to be found, and then my ice axe! I ran franticly though the house trying to find it, fortunately Michael lets me borrow him. I really need to get a lock for my room "I thought to myself as I was running out the door". Getting to the trailhead it was a nice day of weather, although there was a report of high avalanche danger above 6,000 feet. If the conditions were unsafe, I would have bailed. The start of the hike we went at a decent pace. Once we got to the river, it was a little more than I had expected, so the crossing took some time to figure out. Jumping across the last boulder section would have been to dangerous, we did not want to get our feet soaked, so we went a little up hill to find a decent crossing. (Thanks Matt for letting me borrow a ski poll on that part.) Then we got to the uphill part which was on the lower face of Morning Star Mountain. As always, it had a tropical feeling to the place with the heat and moisure. Getting into Wirlz Basin was a relief from the heat, plus I always love the sharp looking peaks towering above. The place looked nearly as snowy as it was when I was there in winter time (although minus the side avalanche and fresh snow). At the part when there was snow, once again I got to kick in some nice steps although Matt would kick in some steps as well. Once we got into the sun, I had to squint as much as I could, sometimes covering most of my view with my hands, and at other times closing my eyes to prevent snow blindness. A skier came by and seemed concerned but I told him I would be alright. Going up to the pass was fun with the snow slope, I always love steep snow, there is something about it that makes me want to go to the mountains, and being the guy kicking in the steps makes it even more fun. From here we travered along the bottom of Sperry, which had a few posthole spots as it usually does. :lol: Then we headed up to the summit which was a little tiring, but had good views, which made up for the lack of views during my winter accent. We stayed a long time on the summit, eating, talking, and enjoying ourselves. There was an unusual amount of lady bugs up there. Then it was time for the decent. Going down was a blast for me, it's amazing how much speed you can get while going down. After my first glassade, on my second I created a snow slide which there was snow all around making the "sssssssssssssssss" noise with other little slabs. My quote comes to mind "How do you like your avalanches? I like them slabby!", but I made sure there was no real danger at the scene, although some people heading up gave me a look like I was crazy for riding on the snow slide. Then when there was another snow slope I did a super fast run glassade. A moment ago I remember being above Sperry, and then now I looked in suprise at how far down I made it in such little time. If I were solo I bet I could have made it to the parking lot in an hour from the summit. After waiting a while my team caught up and then at Headlee Pass it was part two. Although it was a good glassade, I had to slow down near the end to prevent myself from flying into some rocks below. But then I got to glassade the rest of the basin. From here I took a mini nap on some rocks until my partners caught up. My 1 hour of sleep was finally catching up to me. The rest of the way went fine getting to the car. Special Thanks to Zach for inviting me, and driving me, also the photos of this trip report were taken by him as well. Matt was also great on the trip. Hope to go on a trip with you guys soon.

Trip: Snowboarding Adventure - Date: 12/28/2010 Trip Report: "To this day, after this trip I have never snowboarded the same, now I take more cation in my boarding" This is trip took place December 27, 2009. After living through the adventures a few days before "Prairie Mountain Adventure" and "Between Two Perils", the day after I went for a snowboarding trip. Most of the trips having there scares but this one had an event in particular that was worrysome for me, in ways more than the other ones. During this time of my life I called it "Living in Outragous Times" because the days of adventure felt like it would never end. It would be one thriller after the next, until this trip, then things took a turn for a while. Me, my friend Sean, and Cameran head up to Steven's Pass to go snowboarding once again. It had only been one week since we went snowboarding, and this would be a record for the amount of mountain trips I have ever had in one week. As we were heading up to Stevens Pass we were so excited to get back to snowboarding. When we hit the slope it was a bit icy so when snowboarding I had to be careful although it was not too bad. Evenually as we were snowboarding we decide on Big Chief hill which for some reason I sorta got a little over the top on my speed and my friend saw that (most the time snowboarding I am not going super fast because it is dangerous). It was so thrilling going down so fast, there are few activities that can compare with this. Part of my motivation was seeing others speed, although I never went as fast as those who go super fast downhill. He told me to slow it down some which I listened to but after that hill we went up Hogsback to Haggen. At the time I figured "It's just Haggen although was slightly annoyed because I don't like flat areas very much, espeically when things are icy, but Sean kept insisting I do it. After the flat zone zone we get onto Dasey which things go bad for me from here. I will confess I was going a little faster than I should have, but not too fast like I see of others. The sign said "Go with the Flow" and my thoughts were "Ha! I am Flow". One could say I got what was coming. As I was going I some how triped over ice that had a bump. When I fell, it was on my side, and falling on ice/snow rather than softer snow hurts a lot. For a while I just layed there in pain wondering how I was. The first few seconds it happened I felt a serge of pain through that spot, and I worried about internal bleeding or damaging any internal origins. I have taken some nasty falls in the past where I was scared I injuried something, but this time, it had me worried for a long time. I must have been laying in the snow for about 15 minutes, fortunately a nice person comes to me and asks if I am ok, I tell them "I hope so". I check out the damage, fortunately no outside damaged, but my side hurt very much, so I was recommended to see the medical place below. The guy checked me out, he could not see any visible damage, so he gave me an ice pack and I waited for a while waiting hoping it was minor. Fortunately it was not terrible, but as I go back to the lodge, I had to miss out on snowboarding. After well over an hour, mabe two hours of recovery I feel well enough to snowboard again, although was at first affraid to do so, and it still would be painful just walking around. When back to Snowboarding I at first took it slow, but my friends convinced me into going a little faster. The evening was beautiful, with very nice colors from the sunset but like most mountain trips we had to leave not too long after dark. The damage did not seem extreme but I tell you what, for the next day I was worried about internal bleeding and from that point on I made up my mind not to go fast on icy slopes which this changed my perspective of snowboarding speed perhaps forever. This happened about 6 months ago, and even in recent times have had that same spot hurt when hit there, or sleeping to hard on it. Incase anyone was wondering, most of the photos were of Glacier Peak.

Feck sent me a pm of what the freshie section is for. So next I'll know better.

Is this considered a bad post on cc?

The forum says "Freshiez Rock! Talk about AT, Snowboard and Tele adventures and gear here." so I figured this would be the best place to put the report. Where else would I put it? I'm fresh to this part of the forum.

Trip: 20 Mile Jog to Wallace Lake - Date: 6/6/2010 Trip Report: This was my biggest jog yet! Although I have hiked 20 miles in a day before, I have never jogged this distance in 4 and a half hours, especially uphill. Our destination was between Wallace Lake and Jay Lake which officially made the trip 10 miles each way (although probably slightly more). Click Here to See Our Route. This trip took place Sunday June 6, 2010. Joanna told me "Wanna Run to Wallace Lake? I'll totally trash you" which I believed hr because when we went up and down Mount Si with 18 or so miles, she said it was a piece of cake. The weather was too bad to go for the high peaks, but not too bad to go anywhere. Joanna bought me breakfast which was very nice of her, believe me, the energy would be needed for this! Amazingly the weather was decent when we started out, there were some views of the mountains with some nice mist. After the first 2 or so miles I had already developed some pains, but fortunately they went away. As I ran for some reason song was rolling through my head as we were jogging along, but I did not mind, in ways I liked it. As the run went on, there was more clouds that came in, but I liked the atmosphere to the place, the mountains looked nice and misty, the air had a wonderful smell to it, not just the wet smell but of fresh flowers and trees. Even though it was hard work at times, it was quite peaceful. Sometimes Joanna and I would have conversations. After a while we reached the lake which was exciting. After this we decided to head over to Jay lake, unfortunately there was some mud on the way which got my new shoes wet. Oh well. Joanna wanted to turn around and said we were around the 10 mile mark, but then I asked "Are you sure this is it?" and then she said "ok we can go a little further to make for sure we make 10 miles". Just before we get to Jay lake, we turn around from here, Holly was very happy about this. I knew only half the battle was won, even though the way down is "easier" there is the tired factor which I knew this which is why I did not celebrate yet when at the turn around point. The lake reflection was nice and scenic as we ran past back down. At some points on the way down it began to ran, which was fine because it helped keep me cool, not once did I have to wear a long sleeve shirt. As we ran down we saw a bear up ahead. It was a cute sight, but then Holly scared the bear away. As we both got tired, Joanna finally confessed "Well when I said trash you, I meant I would get trashed first" which this statement suprised me. The main issue that was going on with Joanna was joint issues, she said muscle strong she was fine, with me it was my legs that were getting tired. I never did end up getting trashed, but came close to feeling that way towards the last mile to half mile, I kept thinking about "oh how nice that muffin will be". When I was running my legs started to cramp up due to dyhration, but I kept running because I can. When I got to the car I was so happy. Then it was muffin time! This proved to be a very fun trip, and got some great exercise, and found out I could jog more than I thought I was physically capible.

I'm avalible pretty much the entire summer. If you need a partner for any alpine scrambles, or glacier travel trips, I would be willing to join.

Marc, it was worth it. No matter what I would have been tired, would have had to get up early anyways. Although a few extra hours of sleep would have been nice.

I been wanting to climb Sahale Mountain for years, almost got to the summit, but had to turn around because I was on the wrong ridge, but know the standard route pretty well. I would also be willing to climb it the Quien Sabe route. I am avalible from later tommorow to pretty much the whole summer. I've got a glacier rope, so thats no problem. My email is joshlewis4@gmail.com

I had a headlamp, but I will admit, I did not have a back light, but did have a reflector vest on, and my bike had some reflectors. I'll bet even if I did have a back light, he would have taken me home.

I used to dislike internet 7 myself, but then started to love the tab feature.

Internet 8 is crappy for cascadeclimbers for me! I use internet 7 partly because of cascadeclimbers, the editor glitches in ie 8.

There is a free training for rock climbing going on at Mount Erie as seen in this thread: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/963786/SPI_Guide_Training_Mock_Client#Post963786 I was wondering if anyone was heading out to this and would be willing to have me car pool with. This takes place Sunday (tommorow). My phone number is 503-895-9312

Or more like Skittles to Skittles.

Thats why I'm outraged this weekend, I finally get out of school and conditionsare still bad.

I will admit I have had my share of steep scary snow slopes were a fall would create an injury or worse (ok I'm softening up how it was, it was pretty bad). I would say I'm pretty good at self belay, but if I know that a slope is going to be extra steep, sure I don't need an extra tool, but it would make things easier, then I treat my ice axe like an ice tool, or atleast thats how I hear you do it.

I'm considering brinign an ice tool and an ice axe on the sherpa glacier if thats the case. I'm not as much of a fan of this kind of mountaineering: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1288/4682394626_a6979c60b7_b.jpg It's not that I'm bad at self belay, I would rather have the luxury of using an ice tool up the slope for extra support. Unless it's not steep enough.

I will admit, that was my alternative route I wanted to do this year, had it planned for the decent route, but if I should hault on the ICG then alright, Sherpa should be a go.

I'm not as interested in waterfall ice as much as this kind of stuff: Ice Cliff Glacier on Mount Stuart Sure I don't plan on going up it without some practice, might have to wait til next year. The route is on the left of the photo and goes up to the ridge and then is a scamble on the other side.

Should I just stick to steep snow that requires ice tools? I absolutely love the feeling of steep snow, but believe I can go a step further by this point. I love cold, for some reason I get the feeling I might like it better than rock climbing.

So I should wait a while?