TobiasT

Has anyone been out the Cascade River Road recently? How far could one get in a truck? Thanks,

Dude, way make the most out of some shoulder season high pressure. Not a bad way to spend 9 hours.

The prusik slides easy and I don't clip the catastrophe knot. I throw a sling over my shoulder and clip it with a little shock cord to the Ushba so when I come off I don't go anyplace. If the ascender is hanging below me I fall a foot or two which I don't like. I've tested the prusik a few times by holding the ascender open and it's caught.

Ushba basic with a prusik above it. I'm not sure if the prusik would catch should the Ushba fail but it makes me feel better. I usually tie a catastrophe knot once I'm off the deck.

My usual gym partners are either moved away or injured so I find myself without a lead partner. I'm usually there once or twice a week in the evening. Ideally this would also be someone interested in climbing outside, with Index being my favorite spot. Thanks, Tobias

beautiful shots Lee, and a useful update on the condition of the deproach. Thanks.

I was hoping to ski out of Paradise this weekend but it sounds from talking to the ranger at NCNP that Mount Rainier National Park will be gated effective tomorrow as a result of the government shutdown. Maybe I'm wrong - I wasn't able to get through to anyone at the Rainier park office to be sure. The NCNP will be open, but their offices will be closed. I'd love to know if MRNP will actually be open.

Trip: Goode slam via Silent Lakes Jul 25-30 - Date: 7/25/2013 Trip Report: Doug Wash, Scott Kindred and I took 6 days in late July to do a one-way traverse of some spectacular country in the North Cascades National Park, climbing Logan, Goode, and Storm King. Though much of the route is off trail we found the travel to be generally pleasant, and thought that the seldom-visited Silent Lakes were well worth a few extra hours of travel for the peaceful basin, scenic ridges, and the sheer glory of dropping into Fisher Pass. Day 1: Scott’s incredible wife Doreen made a day trip out of it and followed us to Cascade Pass for a car drop, then dropped us at the Easy Pass Trailhead. Thanks Doreen! From there we hiked up over Easy Pass and descended to Fisher Creek. At the NPS sign post near the valley bottom there is an old trail to the left heading up the valley. This trail stays on the north side of the creek through timber until entering the wide open valley. Easy travel. Ascend talus to the top of a small waterfall, turn SW at 6200’ up a snow-filled gulley to the spectacular Silent Lakes basin at 7000’. 5 hrs from the trailhead. Fisher Creek Headwaters Silent Lakes & Black Peak Day 2: We headed SW from Silent Lakes across pleasant heather and talus between 6700-7000’. From here you have two choices: cross the pass on the SW rib of Arriva, or traverse around point 7945. We followed the route across the col on the SW rib of Arriva. In retrospect, it appears that the traverse around Point 7945 could be a better option, as we had to do 45 minutes of loose and somewhat dangerous 4th class down climbing in a rotten gully on the descent west from this col. We stayed right (out of the gulley) until forced across it by cliffs. Shortly we were having lunch in a peaceful basin at 6000’ SW of the gulley. Route from Silent Lakes  Basin at 6000’ From Fisher Pass ascend a thin rock gulley and slopes to a basin W of point 6890, then traverse the large basin E of Logan to Douglas Glacier camp (at a col separating North Fork Bridge Creek from Douglas Glacier), crossing a 3rd-4th class rock rib at ‘7000. Fisher Pass Route Approaching Douglas Glacier camp There was a trickle of water at camp and enough for Scott to take a bath 5 min downhill to the south. 9 hrs from Silent Lakes. We spent the evening marveling at the gaping crevasses on the Douglas glacier and the enormous, clean NE Buttress of Goode. The buttress looks absolutely incredible from this camp. Logan Camp Day 3: The Douglas Glacier has some huge, gaping crevasses, but was easily navigated. Climb to the col between the Banded and Douglas Glaciers. Turn left on steep snow on north side of the ridge and climb maybe 200–300 vertical feet until you’re able to gain rock on east ridge of Logan at a prominent col. Follow this winding rocky ridge (class 3–4) to the summit. 4 hrs RT from camp. Boston Basin from Logan Summit Back at camp, we then set off for the mystical Magic Staircase (described in an excellent and recent Goode trip also report on cascadesclimbers) and were not disappointed. This rocky but solid class 3–4 gully allows a schwack–free descent into head of North Fork Bridge Creek. The traverse SE to the staircase was longer than expected, but the staircase is very much a secret passage, which for us ended in a dramatic tunnel exit. Stellar. Magic Staircase For us the schwack down to the NF Bridge Creek trail was pretty crappy, but we found the trail in a meadow at 4100’. We crossed Bridge creek at 3400’ (knee deep, easy) and ascended a prominent scree gully to the big, left-most flowing watercourse at the head of the scree slope. Ascend 4th and low 5th class slabs on the right side of the watercourse, then up through talus/slabs/heather to bivies at either 5150 (on a knob below the hanging glacier) or 5400 feet. There is a thin trail which we tried to follow, but we got off and ended up in slide alder, so it would be a good idea to be more careful with route finding than we were. Because we intended to access the NE Buttress from the west instead of the normal route on the east side we bivied at 5150’. 6 hrs from Logan camp. Glacier and Goode Day 4: From our bivy on Logan it looked like there was an easy access to the buttress from the west as suggested in Steph’s trip report from the year before. From our bivy at 5150’ we crossed a scree basin then heather slopes to the next drainage to the west, which is bordered to the west by a treed ridge. We ascended to this treed ridge, where we got on the snow at 5800’. There is a fantastic bivy site here with several top notch spots. It didn’t look it had been visited in quite a while. It also appeared that one could cross the North Fork Bridge Creek at around 3600 ft. and schwack up the treed ridge fairly easily to these sites. Once on snow the travel was very easy with no major crevasse issues – easily managed in approach shoes with an aluminum ax and crampons. We got on dry rock on the NE Buttress at 6400’ about 2 hrs from our camp. Traverse to drainage and onto rib in upper left  Approaching NE Buttress from the west The first pitch leading up to NE Buttress proper was easy low fifth class. Once on the Buttress, we contoured briefly onto the east side to avoid a steep step. We traversed right to get back on Buttress once past this step (low to mid fifth class). From here the lower half of the route was an endless, meditative 3rd-4th class scramble with some loose rock. We stayed generally on the ridge or just left of it. It was a matter of looking for the easiest way, not looking for a way that would go. There are plenty of horns to sling and chalk stones to girth hitch. Scott on the buttress Me about 2/3 of the way up To descend we did three 30m rappels trending skiers right, ending above a horn with many slings on it which is visible from the route on the way up. From there you are level with and maybe 50m west of black tooth notch. To get to the notch we down-climbed about 12 feet (4th, solid but scary) then traverse east to the notch (cairns). There is a hand line off the horn to assist in the downclimb. From the notch we downclimbed 20m to slings then did two 30m rappels straight down. We found a black dike of solid rock to skiers right to be the least sketchy of the downclimbing options after the rappels. Exit left when the gully cliffs out towards the bottom. Descending from Goode There is a great bivy on a bench SW at 7200’ with enough water for Scott to take a bath. Some evening clouds and distant thunder moved in and created a spectacular sunset light show for us. We learned later that there had been powerful thunderstorms in the area. Yikes! Having come up and down Goode and found a wonderful bivy spot this was a very satisfying day for each of us. 12 hrs. Ptarmigan Traverse & Glacier Peak Day 5: It’s an easy traverse near 7600’ to a broad basin south of Storm King. There are several notches, one of which has a spire (looks like a gunsight) in it. You want the notch to the east of that notch. Pass to the north side of the peak, traverse a ledge then scree to the west until you hit a prominent ridge with a steep snowfield on the other side (about 200 feet). This ridge leads to the summit, trending somewhat to the left. The rock wasn’t that bad and the scramble was kind of fun. 3rd, some reasonably solid 4th. 2 or 3 hrs to summit. We descended the climbing route. Once back in the broad basin south of Storm King, we descended to 5800’, then schwacked to the Goode climbers trail, which is on the west bank of the next drainage to the east of the one we came down off Storm King. Goode from Storm King (snow patches still present) The talus and the schwack on the way to the Goode climbers trail took a long time and was no fun. In retrospect we thought it would be better to leave gear at camp, which was on the Goode climbers trail, and return there. We took the Park Creek Trail to the Stehekin road and spent the night at Cottonwood camp on the river, where Scott took a bath. 12 hrs from Goode Camp #2. Day 6 was a pleasant, light-pack stroll up to Cascade Pass and down to the car. One of the most relaxing things about taking an extra day or two to do this traverse was that we could leave and return to Seattle at a reasonable hour. One could end this trip by crossing into Horseshoe Basin (either from Booker/Buckner col via Park Creek Pass, or from the trail into Horseshoe Basin off of Cascade Pass Trail) and climbing some of the peaks there, but after Goode we were all more than content to leave those peaks for another trip. Thanks to the car shuttle on the way in we were back in Seattle before dark. This was a truely inspiring trip for each of us, and certainly for myself these are peaks I'd been thinking about for years. Gear Notes: -Our rack for Goode was a set of nuts, 4 cams, and a bunch of slings. There is tons of stuff to sling and girth hitch on the route. We took 4 tiblocs for slimulclimbing and they were sweet. - 2 x30m 8mm ropes. - five10 approach shoes with aluminum crampons. Sweet setup. I had the lowtops, Doug had the hightops, and I was envious of the ankle coverage in talus. -Bugs at night in several of the camp made some kind bugproof bivy a necessity.

Hey Raf! There was some good looking ice on Colfax but it looked discontinuous. I don't know the routes on that peak but I didn't see any clean and continuous ice lines on the north side. Hope you're making it out some these days too. Yeah thanks for that track Peakbeggar. I thought I froze part of my face on the summit. really, really windy up there.

Trip: Baker - Coleman - Deming Date: 3/9/2013 Trip Report: My buddy Jason and I skied the Coleman - Deming route to the summit yesterday under great weather. We left Seattle at 2:45am and started skinning at about 1800ft at 5:30am from the Sno-park lot. Clear skies and nearly continuous snow meant little need for headlamps. We left the road 2 hrs later at an outhouse on the left side of the road near 3800 feet and headed up the Grouse Creek drainage and up the second drainage to the southeast around 4700 ft, where we caught up with a party of 3 we'd been behind for awhile. There were 2 parties and a soloist in front of us from the parking lot and we were very grateful to have that skin track already in place. Once on the Heliotrope Ridge it was calm and clear, and the snow appeared to be great. We were already getting psyched for the way down. I'd not been up there before and I was surprised how low-angle the Coleman glacier is. Lots of really pleasant and moderate travel brought us to the saddle at 9000 ft at 1pm. From there it got windy and chunky. We packed skis up to the top of the Roman Wall, where we ditched packs and skinned across the crater to the true summit, arriving at 3pm. The ski descent of the head wall involved some jump turns, and was not pleasant skiing, but never felt too sketchy. We generally followed the route up on the way out. All the way back down to the Grouse Creek drainage was great skiing in 6-12 inches of light, stable snow on a firm base. We stayed near the tracks of those who'd descended before us and generally felt that crevasses were easily avoided with some caution and careful route choice. Definitely an inspiring day in the mountains for us. We were back to the car around 5:30pm. Gear Notes: Took a light rope, crampons, and axe but never broke any of it out. Approach Notes: It was tough to find out where the sno park lot was going to be, and we didn't really know where it was until we got there.

Hi Hux , my solution (6'5") is usually to not tent. Unless the forecast is pretty bad I normally take the BD hooped bivy which is 8'7" x 35".

Thanks for the conditions update MX.

Solid work dudes. Bummer about the offsets, but a small price to pay for an awesome climb.

Inspiring stuff. Great job anticipating those good conditions. Not often you have that peak to yourself outside of the permit season.

I'd also suggest Private Idaho - you can TR both pitches of Magic Fern with a single 60m rope. I'm not sure if you can walk to the anchors from the top but you can definitely reach the anchors of SCIS.

Agreed my first thought was Western Mountaineering. I've had an ultralite for 5 yrs and use it for just about everything.

I started following easy trad when I was 11 or 12. I left a fair amount of gear which he had to retrieve, particularly small chalks, and I don't think he ever led anything in those days where he thought he could fall. I think it depends on you and the kid though - there are some skilled little climbers out there and if you feel safe and he feels safe you could start earlier.

Looking for a few partners to sharpen leading skills for summer in the gym and outside. Either Stone Gardens location to lead 10's and 11's on weekday evenings, Vantage or exit 38 if possible for the weekends. I've been climbing about 10 yrs and mountaineering about half that. PM if any of this works, Thanks, Tobias

This is great, thanks. I'm going to play around with printing options to get it to the usual 7.5' scale but it seems like it's the 3rd zoom out. I get the impression that as I zoom in and out I'll get different print areas.

Is the IT issue on the same side as you carry your wallet? I had IT issues until I stopped carrying my wallet in my back pocket. I was aggravating the muscles attached to the IT band which tightened it.

Solid work guys, and thanks for the report. Glad to see there is still so much snow up there. Would you care to share anything you gleaned from the Bachelor Creek descent map?

Hi, yeah I got the topo. Thanks for that, it's great. I'll be in touch if I don't get it finished up tomorrow. Tobias

I started this climb a week ago with Rocketparrotlet but we got rained off after 6 pitches. I'd like to go finish it up. I'm looking for somebody that can simulclimb 5.7 reasonably quickly, and can follow 5.10+. I'm happy to swing leads, or to do most of the leading. I've got a rope and some draws, we'd need another 60m rope and some more draws. Thanks, Tobias I'll be out and about today so call or text six 07 227 9934

I think I lost my camera in the back of the pickup of the friendly couple that gave me a lift from Little Giant to Phelps Creek trailheads a few days ago. If you gave me a lift, could you have a look in the flatbed! Thanks

I had a trip planned for three nights, leaving Friday, but my partner is having knee issues and it would be unwise for him to go. I'd still like to take advantage of the good weather and climb a few peaks. Our plan was to start from Stehekin, climbing Logan, Goode via NE buttress, and Storm King. I'd like to do something similar, though if I can find someone fired up about something else, that's fine too. Another plan would be a few 8000+ non-technical peaks in the Glacier Peak Wilderness north of Trinity. For either trip I need a partner that's fit and comfortable scrambling 4th class. I've got a car in N Seattle. PM if you're interested. I'm 33, lead 5.9 trad and have maybe 20 days of glacier travel experience. Tobias