bellows
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Posts posted by bellows
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Really nice pics. I especially like the flickr one of Camp Shurman with the prayers flags strung out in an arc. Thanks for sharing!
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You can do that with a G-Works gas exchanger. Top off smaller canisters from bigger canisters or combine two half used canisters into one full and one empty. Works great.
And you can recycle empty canisters. Just put a puncture hole in them to show they're empty.
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It was damn near magical. I was weary from a long day and tedious rock but when I saw the Brocken Spectre it all melted away.
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Trip: Mt Deception & Others - Scrambles
Date: 7/23/2017
Trip Report:
I got my money's worth out of a trip into Royal Basin this past weekend. I was able to scramble Mt Clark, Martin Peak, Mt Deception, Mt Fricaba, Hal Foss Peak, and Mt Mystery over two days. I approached via Royal Creek Basin and exited through Heather Creek for a very long and fulfilling loop trip.
First stop Mt Clark on the right via Surprise Basin. The corkscrew route was not intuitive but I had good beta from nwhikers here.
Next stop Martin, which I reached from retracing my route back down Surprise Basin and contouring below a buttress ~EL 6200 to head up loose slab and scree towards the ridge between Martin and Deception. The true/alternate(?) summit was a fun fifth class boulder move up a skinny spire to a perched cairn:
Back down the ridge, then dropping onto the Deception Glacier towards Deception Peak, going left of Gilhooley Spire up steep snow:
Late in the day arriving on top of Mt Deception and was greeted by a very cool Brocken Spectre!
I spent a long time on top, resting and enjoying the late day sun with my climbing buddy:
Running out of daylight and running out of gas I dropped into Upper Royal Basin for the night. Full disclosure, I bandit bivied in the basin without the required NPS permit. I had fully intended to legally camp outside the park boundaries east of the Fricaba / Hal Foss ridgeline but at 9:30pm I discreetly laid down for some needed rest. I was up and gone at dawn with no one the wiser except now this forum.
Breakfast on Fricaba, finally getting full views that Saturday clouds obscured. Is it called the Needles because of all the spires or because of all the fractured needle like rocks?
Over to Hal Foss Peak and eventually to the base of Mystery. The cover girl of the OMCG had the complex route finding up the East Face, including some low fifth on iffy rock around an open moat. More snow or careful route finding would have been helpful and could have kept it 3rd class. Views were spectacular.
Deception, Martin, Clark, and others:
Olympus:
Mt Anderson and West Peak:
I exited via the lovely and lonely Heather Creek basin. An underrated gem and one the of prettiest places i think I've been. I didn't see any signs of a boot path or climbers waytrail in the basin which exponentially enhanced the beauty.
A descending traverse high on the west side of the basin starting ~5600 was critical to avoid a messy schwack in the lower reaches. Eventually I met up with an old trail along the creek and eventually the Dungeness Trail back to my truck, physically exhausted but spiritually refreshed.
Rough sketch of loop:
Gear Notes:
Trail runners, mountaineering boots, crampons, axe, HELMET
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Very cool. Print out all the chapters and this would make an entertaining coffee table book. Thanks for taking us on the ride!
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Tease! To get around the gallery error, click on your name, scroll down and click on "view photos" to get into the gallery, then you can add pics etc.
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I've had this message for awhile from the direct "gallery" link. But there's a work around. Click on your name, scroll down and click on "view photos" to get into the gallery, then you can add pics etc.
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Try this:
http://www.articleformatter.com/
Backstory:
http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1149152/Trip_Report_Issue#Post1149152
It's a frustrating issue but don't give up! TR's are what make this site go round.
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Really cool trip report. I love that you saw a wolverine, that's awesome!
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What plane wreck? You got me curious, all I could find online was the big C-141 crash, but that seems to be one valley over in the Home Lake drainage on the west side of Inner Constance and Warrior.
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Pics? I think the easiest/fastest way off Cutthroat is actually the West Ridge that you came up. Three single rope raps off newer chains and some 3rd/4th class down climbing along the ridge. The lower two sets of chains aren't especially easy to find though.
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Trip: Mt Constance - Finger Traverse
Date: 6/11/2017
Trip Report:
I've spent almost 10 years looking at Mt Constance yet always seem to get distracted by other peaks in other places. Horror stories of a steep burnt out trail, endless loose scree, and a maze of gullies and ledges haven't made it especially appealing. But it's hard to ignore from Seattle and as with many prominent mountains I yearned to know what it looked like from the top. Thankfully the views aren't required to satisfy that yearning, it's just a simple need to demystify a view from afar. Which is good because Sunday the views were barely good enough to see the next gully or ledge ahead of me making a complex mountain that much more engaging.
Traffic jam on the Dose road early morning Sunday:
The road is now closed ~1 mile further downstream from the big washout. I brought a bike and made quick work of the now 5 miles to the old trailhead, then put in some earphones and set off uphill. The first 800' or so are an absolute mess of deadfall and brush and the old tread is only visible maybe half the time. There's a trail here somewhere:
It gets better the further up you go and I reached the lake soon enough. At that point the weather was still promising:
Avalanche Canyon and the south chute were mostly covered in frozen snow which made uphill travel quick and pleasant. As I neared the Cats Ears the cloud ceiling started dropping and by the time I got through to the other side visibility turned to pea soup:
Even with poor visibility I'd read enough trip reports and had enough beta to piece together step by step directions from the top of the south chute: drop down below buttress, up scree gully, through notch, down snowfield, etc. It worked, albeit fairly slowly as I methodically checked and rechecked my beta. Eventually the summit block came into view, and the clouds even thinned a bit on the north side:
On top looking down at my footprints where I traversed to the north side. The fog and clouds below make for a disorientating photo:
More disorientation. Looking horizontal across the finger traverse:
Finally orientated back in Avalanche Canyon late afternoon, the clouds parted and told me my timing was terrible for the upper mountain:
Still a very cool area and now I have a reason to go back and see the views.
Gear Notes:
Helmet, crampons, and an axe for sure. Plus a bike!
Approach Notes:
Mother Nature has not been kind to the trail to Lake Constance.
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Quality TR! Great beta on a fun route.
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Lying lonely on the Palmer snowfield on Saturday May 27, I'm sure it'd love to reunite with its mate. Looks like it's barely been used. PM me and I'll get it back to you.
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I've done it several times both ways. I like leaving from IF better. The biggest drawback to me is the hike out. You get down from the summit to camp and rest/relax for a bit, then have to rope up again to get down to Muir. If you're leaving from Muir, when you get down from the summit to camp you can pack everything away and relax a bit more. There's no wrong answer here, both options work fine.
Yes, still bring a single group shovel to smooth out a tent platform.
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Ditto what DPS said. If you have three days, consider moving camp from Muir to Ingraham Flats on day two. With a three day window you also have some flexibility. If day three forecast looks bad but day two is good, push for the summit on day two.
And don't downplay the DC, I've always found it an engaging route. You get to see several different aspects of the mountain and I enjoy the enthusiasm and anxious energy of all the climbers at Camp Muir. It may not be a wilderness experience but enjoy it for what it is.
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Very cool. Lots of snow! The cornice tunnel looks like hard work, nice job.
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Very cool, thanks for reporting back!
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Dragontail? Do tell...
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Very cool thread bump. That V-thread got me to search up the old thread from your FA. Pretty wild: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/271947/Ice_on_Shuksan
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Three of us made it to Strobach for the first time on Saturday. Good times. We ended up lapping FOTL pitch 1 and gawking at lots of much harder climbs.
First on the Left:
The more moderate Sudden Change of Plans and Sad Ce'bu that we had hoped to get on looked thin/out. Dropline looked fat though:
Hate Pony, Adrenalepherine, and Ponderosa Pillar looking intimidating:
Unholy Baptism gnar:
Temps are looking to remain cold for at least another week, go get some!
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Nice pics! Timely beta, thanks for the report.
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Lol, awesome! I hope I still have the passion to get out in the snow like that when I'm 94, even if it's just for a minute.
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How'd it go? Share stories and pics!
[TR] Mt Deception & Others - Scrambles 7/23/2017
in Olympic Peninsula
Posted
Sorry Tim, I never saw it. And I was keeping half an eye out for it after reading your nwhikers post.