Matt Lemke

OK so here's what's going down. Due to the extremely low gas prices, it looks like I may be done working for quite some time. I am planning to take full advantage of this since I have some money saved up, and am looking for people who want to join me for parts of this year for multiple big trips. I'll describe briefly what I am hoping to accomplish this year and if anyone is at all interested in any of it please let me know Note that I am not a hardman climber! I can lead 5.9 rock at best and am VERY conservative regarding avalanches, icefalls and other objective hazards. I am mainly interested in moderate alpine climbs anywhere from easy hiking/scrambling to AI/WI 3 or 5.9. I am going to be spending lots of time in the next few weeks researching what sounds cool so the lists below are by no means set in stone. Underlined interests are ones I am very inclined to make happen and are the top of my list! Late February/March/early April - Chile and Argentina. Mountaineering interests include: Tronador, Osorno, Cerro San Francisco, Nevado el Plomo, Volcan San Jose, Nevado Juncal, Volcan Yates, Volcan Lanin and many more. Climbing interests include: A route on Cerro Trinidad in Cochamo...perhaps this one --> http://www.summitpost.org/fa-send-it-like-santa-trinidad-vally-cochamo-chile/785833 May/June - Alaska Mountaineering. Mountaineering interests include: Mount Foraker, Mount Brooks, Mount Silverthorne, Mount Russell, and any one of the hundreds of scramble peaks in the western Chugatch range or along the Kenai peninsula. Climbing interests include: Arrigetch Peaks in the Brooks Range... Moderate multi-pitch routes (Late June-Early July). July - British Columbia and or Alberta. Primary interests include: Mount Waddington, Gimli Peak South Ridge, Bugaboo Spire, Mount Sir Donald, Mount Robson, Mount Assinoboine, Mount Temple, Mount Athabasca, MANY more. August/September - WA Cascades, ID Sawtooths/Lost River Range, Montana Beartooths, Wind River Range. Primary interests include: Mox Peaks/Chilliwack Bulgers (early August), Mount Goode, basically any WA Bulger, Bears Tooth, Mount Wood, Borah Peak, Gannett Peak, Cirque of the Towers Traverse...MANY more. October - Sierra Nevadas. Don't know much yet December/January 2016 - Chile. Plans for this trip are already set Again, this is just a brainstorm of ideas. I am down for almost anything within my skill and risk level except Denali, or any of the crazy mountains in the St. Elias area. Also, the primary locations for each time period are also open to change.

Holy smokes! Another to add to the list...I have been searching for a nice techy route on Buck and now I found one. Nice write up!

I had my passport

Interesting...I have never heard that route called the SW "Ramp" before. Most people call it the SW Couloir or SW gully. Nice write up though...Granite Peak is one of my favorite mountains in the US

The guard at the border crossing wanted us to have written proof of: -US residence (preferrable not my parents house) -Employment as well as written proof of when I am needed back at work -Health insurance which required international coverage -Adequate funding in my bank account -Camping reservations (we were just planning to sleep in the car and he went full retard after we told him that) He was a complete douchebag and I think he turned us back simply because we looking like homeless guys looking to park ship in Canada and smoke weed when in reality we were just going to climb, didn't have any weed (which he confirmed after searching our car), and met all his requirements sans the written proof part (I showed him insurance cards, cash, and told him about my job and residence). My climbing partner not having any money or insurance though as well as arriving in Sumas at midnight may not have helped. After looking it up online it didn't say anything about needing any of those documents so the embassy will hear my wrath in a few days and I have a good feeling I can get that border crossing guard fired hehe

Trip: Ragged Ridge - Katsuk, Kimtah, Cosho - South Side Traverse from Easy Pass Date: 7/28/2014 Trip Report: After getting rejected from entering Canada for stupid reasons at the Sumas border crossing, we made our back up plan for Ragged Ridge. We drove over to the Easy Pass TH and hiked the nice 3.6 mile trail to the pass at about 6,550 feet. Thank you to the WTA workers improving the trail the last 600 feet to the pass. Here is where the fun begins. We left the trail at the pass right before it begins descending down towards Fisher Creek and began a sidehill traverse on the south side of the ridge. We generally made a slight ascending traverse crossing many small gullies and buttresses until reaching a large basin just below the Mesahchie Col nearly a mile from the pass. This traverse mostly follows the 6600-6700 foot contour. After pulling out the map we realized this wasn't the correct basin to camp. We looked further west and noticed a smaller basin in the 6,700 foot range with a small rocky knob just above which corresponded to the map. We also noticed Mesahchie Peak still well off to the west. Unfortunately this basin was still over an hour of traversing away! We continued and stayed on a good grassy line around 6,800 feet until we reached the large gully just before reaching the basin. Here a waterfall greeted us and we had to descend 200 feet of steep scree to reach an easy place to traverse across. Past the creek and waterfall, a couple more small ribs was passed and we reached camp at 6,600 feet in the basin just south of Mesahchie Peak. Snow mostly filled this basin so we made camp on the flattest place we could find. The hike to this point from the TH took us about 5 hours. Since we had a late start of 11am from the TH, we relaxed the remainder of the afternoon under the hot sun until it fell behind the small knob above the basin. The next morning we left camp just after 6:30am and began ascending for 800 feet to a large flat bench at 7,400 feet with great views of Mesahchie and Katsuk. The final 250 feet of this ascent will certainly involve some class 4 either up one of the various ribs or gullies. We tried 3 different ways and every one has some tougher scrambling. We began traversing west at the 7,400 foot level as our goal for the day was Kimtah and Cosho. the traversing started easy and apart from the major gully near the Grotesque Gendarmes, was straightforward. Contrary to popular belief, the traverse on the south side of the Ragged Ridge is quite friendly compared to other North Cascades traverses and we never had any problems traversing the numerous gullies and ribs along the south slopes of Katsuk and Kimtah. It was important though that we stayed at the 7,400 foot area because some gullies cannot be traversed lower than that. After 2.5 hours of traversing we reached a prominent buttress and a huge cliff right after crossing a very wide talus filled gully. Above us near the saddle between Kimtah and Katsuk we saw the Grotesque Gendarmes. A report from 8 years ago here on CC by Tom S mentioned descending this prominent buttress and locating one of a couple ledges to reach easy terrain once again. We descended about 150 feet down the buttress, located a narrow gully which we descended another 50 feet and rounded a corner. We then saw a nice ledge leading to the talus below the cliff but a very airy step midway across left us uneasy. So we continued another 50 feet down the gully and located another ledge that was easier. We feel we descended a total of 250-300 feet. We felt this was also the crux of the day and certainly 4th class (with exposure) no matter which way you went. Once beyond this difficulty, it was smooth sailing as we continued on an ascending traverse back to 7,400 feet and crossed a few more gullies. I believe it was the third major gully past the gendarmes that we used to climb straight up to the ridge just west of the summit of Kimtah. It was an obvious gully and the first one we saw with running water past the gendarmes. The 3rd class scrambling was on solid granite up this gully that reminded me of a natures staircase as the rock fractured into perfect cubes. Once we reached the ridge between the summit and the sub-peak to the west, we continued a few more minutes to the east to reach the highest point which entailed some more class 3 scrambling. We reached the top just before noon after 5.5 hours on the move. We found a mountaineers register at the summit that was placed fairly recently and signed it. Now we started towards Cosho by heading west and traversing just south of the main sub-summit following the first cairns we saw all day. The route stays close to the ridge crest the whole way following ledges and gullies just to the south side of the crest. We reached the col between "Thieves Peak" and Kimtah quickly and jumped onto the "glacier" and traversed to the north of "Thieves Peak". We saw no reason to rope up as we stayed close to the edge of the snowfield and saw no cracks. Thanks Tom for that info. We ascended the snow until reaching the upper east face of Cosho and scrambled class 3-4 terrain the final 250 feet to the summit, reaching it around 1:30pm. The views were spectacular. There was no summit register however...only an empty aluminum can that we couldn't open. We reversed the route to the Cosho/Kimtah col and instead of re-climbing Kimtah, we traversed lower on the south side of Kimtah following some cairns but the ledge system we followed was perfect taking us right back to the gully we used to ascend Kimtah. From here we reversed the route back and returned to camp at sunset. The following morning we left camp at 7:45 and re-ascended the 4th class ribs to the 7,400 foot bench. I made sure to study the route the night before and noticed a gully the appeared to head straight up to the mushroom looking summit block of Katsuk. There was a decent amount of snow in it but it looked like we could avoid it by climbing the rib to the left of the gully. So we made a short ascending traverse to the small waterfall where the gully I wanted to climb began. We climbed to the left side of the water to avoid the waterfall and continued scrambling up a blocky mix of granite and slate (the granite was better!) to either side of the flowing water. At about 8,100 feet the gully forked with the left gully taking us right to the summit block. We avoided the steeper snowfield with a scary runout by climbing the class 3-4 rib just to its left separating it from another, scary looking gully just to the south and west. The final 200 feet to the summit block we followed the small moat on the left side of the snowfield as the rib narrowed and became more difficult. Once at the 50 foot summit block we climbed up its west side (class 4). We reached the top just before 10am about 2 hours from camp. There was a recent summit register in a plastic pill container placed in 2004 here. After 30 minutes on top, we retraced the route scrambling back down the rib and the gully returning to camp. We left camp at 1pm and decided to try a lower traverse back. The first half of the traverse back to Easy Pass we did the same route. Once we reached the large basin below Mesahchie Col, we aimed to traverse below the series of rocky ribs and reach the trail about 150 feet below the pass to try and shorten the traversing. Although the route went very well without any issues, we didn't reduce the traversing much as we only hiked for 10 minutes up the trail to reach the pass. A nice, quick hike down the trail got us back to the car just before 5pm. All in all, 3 north cascades bulgers is a success. Really the only reason we didn't do Mesahche is because I had no clue what the route was as I didn't look it up and the only beta we had with us (Tom's TR) didn't mention Mesahchie. I'll have to go back to day hike it later this year to finish Ragged Ridge. Enjoy the photos below! [img:center]http://images.summitpost.org/medium/906843.JPG[/img]=Mesahchie Peak from Easy Pass [img:center]http://images.summitpost.org/medium/906846.JPG[/img]=Mount Goode [img:center]http://images.summitpost.org/medium/906850.JPG[/img]=Gully on Kimtah we ascended [img:center]http://images.summitpost.org/medium/906856.JPG[/img]=Kimtah from Cosho [img:center]http://images.summitpost.org/medium/906857.JPG[/img]=Panther Creek Valley from Cosho [img:center]http://images.summitpost.org/medium/906863.JPG[/img]=Josh and Mount Logan [img:center]http://images.summitpost.org/medium/906880.jpg[/img]=Two options viewed on the return allowing passage of the Gendarmes crux. [img:center]http://images.summitpost.org/medium/906868.JPG[/img]Katsuk Peak from the 7,400 foot bench above the small basin [img:center]http://images.summitpost.org/medium/906873.JPG[/img]=Climbing the rib left of the snow in the upper gully [img:center]http://images.summitpost.org/medium/906876.JPG[/img]DCing the Katsuk summit block [img:center]http://images.summitpost.org/large/906842.jpg[/img]=Sunset on Mount Goode [img:center]http://images.summitpost.org/large/906841.jpg[/img]=Goode to Eldorado from the summit of Cosho Gear Notes: Only climbing gear we used was a mountaineering axe for the snow/easy glacier on Cosho. Snow was soft enough we didn't use crampons. Went ultra light on this trip. Approach Notes: Easy Pass Trail. 3.6 miles long

Keep me in mind...I am in and out of WA a lot (work in Wyoming, projecting for a book in Montana, but live in WA). Goode, Jburg, Moxes and Tupshin are my primary N Cascade Goals this year plus whatever alpine cragging in the Stuart Range I get to. I might be returning to WA in a week or so as well but still not 100% sure. Feel free to Email me at mlemke100@gmail.com I can lead 5.8 comfortably in the alpine perhaps 5.9 on a good day. I also don't like repeating climbs lol

I did Outer Space on May 3rd and the ticks were not too bad. Every once in awhile I would pull one off my foot

Hey I am down for some Index climbing on Monday. Not sure if it will be dry at Index tomorrow but I can give you a belay on 5.10 routes and I should be able to clean them fine. If it's wet, would you be interested in Outer Space? That's the main route in the 11worth area I am interested in. Feel free to text 425-999-1968 or email mlemke100@gmail.com

Yes I did hear from a Red Lodge native friend of mine that Sand Dune was fat. It apparently doesn't come in real fat too often.

Trip: Beartooths - California Ice WI 4 Date: 12/17/2013 Trip Report: After a family visit back home in Renton, Jacob and I drove out to Red Lodge, Montana for some ice climbing in the Beartooth Front. We warmed up on Hellroaring and Woodbine falls which were fat and nice. On our third day we drove up the East Rosebud Road making it to within 1/4 mile of the TH and hiked to the "Hump" which is the short section of trail blasted out of a 40 foot high rock cliff 1 mile from the TH at the south side of E Rosebud Lake. 0.5 mile further we got to the small creek crossing and made the grueling 1,500 foot hike up loose talus, good snow and many short WI2 ice steps to the base of the California Ice Main flow. This approach took 3 hours or so. Jacob led both WI4 pitches on somewhat sketchy and changing ice conditions. The ice was very featured with some small bulges making the difficulty somewhat harder. We had a sucky hanging belay halfway up (not necessary) and made it to the top of the main flow and a nice ledge. With waning daylight, we rapped off two pitons on the rock wall at climbers left, not finishing the WI3 third pitch. The hike out sucked. Photos below. See this page below I made on SP for more beta: California Ice Wi 4 Sunrise over E Rosebud Lake [img:center]http://images.summitpost.org/medium/880296.JPG[/img] Looking up E Rosebud Canyon [img:center]http://images.summitpost.org/medium/880291.JPG[/img] Looking up the WI4 main flow [img:center]http://images.summitpost.org/medium/880293.JPG[/img] Hiking up nice snow on the approach [img:center]http://images.summitpost.org/medium/880295.JPG[/img] View across the valley from base of route [img:center]http://images.summitpost.org/medium/880289.JPG[/img] Recommended route...spectacular alpine moderate ice climb in the Beartooths Gear Notes: 10 screws all sizes, double 60m ropes Approach Notes: 1.5 miles of trail (snow covered...ez to follow), 1,500 feet hiking up talus/snow/WI2 steps, we did in our stiff boots w/out too much trouble.

Awesome work! Thanks for the idea

Surely someone is out there who is even open to go climbing I am willing to change the climb if requested too!

PM'd

Looking for someone to join me on this climb either wed-thurs or thurs-fri. Having trouble finding someone to climb with during my short time back in WA. E-mail mlemke100@gmail.com or call 425-999-1968 Thanks!

PM'd

Could I talk you into doing something at WA Pass? Burgundy Spire? If not I'd be down for Outer Space on Sunday.

Climbs on my list include: Sloan Peak SE face Sherpa Peak North ridge Prussik Peak Burgundy Spire SEWS - 5.8 route or shoot me other ideas! E-mail mlemke100@gmail.com or reply if interested Cheers!

Will we run into serious issues traversing around cracks in the Redoubt glacier on our climb of the Mox Peaks in early to mid september or is there a simple way up the lower section of glacier above Ouzel lake? Also, what YDS rating is the SE side/ridge of easy mox above the Col of the Wild? Looking to combine the 2. Thanks

Trip: Mount Formidable - NE Face Direct - Second Ascent Date Climbed: 7/18/2013 Trip Report: Below is only the text for my TR....see the link for photos as well! Mount Formidable Direct NE Face [img:left]http://images.summitpost.org/medium/857695.jpg[/img] Introduction and Approach As I was on my way back to Washington from Montana I was searching for someone to climb a good peak with and Dane was up for the challenge to attempt the direct northeast face of Mount Formidable. I always knew Formidable was one of the iconic Cascade peaks however the thought of climbing it was a last minute decision among some of my other choices I had in mind. After some Facebook conversations, we agreed to give it a go despite the weather forecast calling for thunderstorms on Wednesday. So on Monday July 15th I made the long drive to Seattle from Red Lodge, Montana to pick up Dane and we I finished the drive up to Marblemount. We crashed alongside the Cascade River Road at 3:30 in the morning and agreed to sleep in as long as possible. Around 9:30 Tuesday morning the sun woke us up and we drove up to the Cascade Pass Trailhead and organized our gear. It wasn't long before we were headed up the stupidly inclined trail to Cascade Pass. 36 switchbacks later, just before reaching the pass I see a marmot and a coyote battling it out. Just as the coyote was about to start biting the marmot to death it hides into a hole and the coyote tries pulling him out but upon seeing us he scatters. For the next 5 minutes the marmot cries an annoying yelping sound. Interesting sight to see! After a short break at the pass and a brief talk with the ranger, I put my big boots on and we start hiking south up towards the Cache glacier. The first part of the path was snow free and I was wishing I still had my sandals on. We hit snow soon enough though and I am easily able to kick steps to Cache viewpoint. We descended a short ways and roped up for the Cache glacier crossing. Although there are only a few small crevasses on the lower section of this glacier we still decided to rope up for the way in. After an hour or so of hot, sweaty and blinding snow hiking we arrive at the large cornice blocking the way to Cache Col. A five foot vertical climb and some thrashing with my axe gets me up and onto bare ground at the col. Here we unrope and plunge step our way down mellow snow to Kool Aid Lake. Here we set up camp on a nice flat section and relaxed, taking in the views of Mount Formidable across the valley. We head to bed early since the plan was to get started at 4am for the climb. Well, that didn't exactly happen... Delayed by Thunderstorms So around 11pm that night it started to rain...hard! I thought to myself "I hope this passes" but alas, 4 in the morning came around and I was awaken once again instead this time it was a huge clap of thunder. Looms like the forecast was correct. It stormed with a fairly constant flash and boom for the next few hours and we briefly talked it over in the tent and agreed to simply sleep in and see what the weather does later in the morning. At around 9, it cleared out and we emerged to see some residual clouds over Formidable but a clear western sky. We decided to make the climb up Formidable the following day and try to hike back out right after. "That would be a very long day" Dane said but I replied I was up for the challenge. We relaxed and waited for the skies to clear a little more and decided to do a short climb up the east ridge of Arts Knoll. So from Kool Aid Lake we hike up the snowfields to the saddle between Hurry Up Peak and Arts Knoll. The snow was exposed to the direct sunlight and we were sweating bullets on this short 800 foot ascent to the saddle. Once we got to the saddle though the breeze picked up and cooled us off just the right amount. We scrambled up some very loose class 3 and 4 terrain for a hundred feet or so until I was able to locate the correct start to the route. Dane belayed as I climbed around a small tower and up to some old slings at the base of a right facing chimney with a smooth slab to the right side. I clipped into the slings (which I also backed up with my own), and Dane climbed up. We stashed boots and extra gear here and I led up the chimney which had a somewhat tricky 5.7 start where I had to smear my right foot on the slab and pull through a small overhang to get into the easier section of the chimney above. There were some loose death blocks but the rock was solid where it needed to be. Once above the 5.7 start it was a fun and easy stem up the chimney for 100 feet up where the terrain eased and I found a few solid cracks to set an anchor and belay Dane up. I thought there would be one more pitch for Dane to lead but once I rounded the corner I realized the summit was 5 feet above me. Doh..."Sorry Dane" I remember saying. Regardless, it was a fun climb to make the day a success. Most people who summit Arts Knoll walk up the easy west ridge on their way through on the Ptarmigan Traverse. Now our descent was a little interesting to say the least. We were unable to find any good rappel anchors to rappel the route (since we had gear at the base to retrieve). While I was searching for an anchor I noticed the low angle slab route that Loren and Jens used on their first ascent trip in 2002 (which we were using their beta for our climb on Formidable). I had the idea to lower Dane down this slab (which was a much easier route) off the same anchor I used to belay him up. On his way down he would put some pro in the large cracks and I would downclimb and pick them up on my way down. Although this took much longer, it worked perfectly. From the base of the slab, there were two slings lying next to a large boulder which we used to rappel the rest of the way down to the snow below the sketchy part we scrambled. On the way down I swung over and got our stashed gear. Once we were on the snow, it was a short traverse back to the saddle. From here we ran down the snow back to Kool Aid Lake and was back at camp around 5pm. We ate a nice dinner and went to sleep early. "OK Lets try this again" I remark...4am start time?" Dane replies yes and we are off to sleep. I occasionally open the tent to photograph the sunset. Formidable still had some clouds around it but I knew the next morning it would be clear and the valleys would likely have fog below us. Mount Formidable Direct NE Face At 4am we got up right on time and it only took us 15 minutes to get our stuff together and start towards the red ledge. With my plastic boots on, hiking across talus was a little painful but I managed. Crossing the red ledge wasn't too hard, just kick some steps and walk across the 5 foot wide ledge. Once across we continued traversing until we found a logical place to leave the Ptarmigan Traverse path and descend about 600 feet to a flat section in the Middle Cascade glacier at 5,500 feet elevation between two huge icefall sections. We roped up once we hit the end of the talus slopes and walked out onto a wild place. Chunks of ice, piles of rocks and lots of corn snow was all mixed together in a mess of summertime glacier. I said to dane we should cross this section of the glacier and ascend a few hundred feet up the Formidable Glacier as quickly as possible to avoid getting hit by falling debris. It was clear by looking at the huge piles of junk on the snow that stuff falls here all the time! So off we went, quickly ascending in a serious fall zone. Luckily it was still early in the morning when everything was still frozen in place. After the initial ascent onto the Formidable glacier, we began traversing to the right all the way to the west end of the glacier away from the fall zones. Once we finished this traverse, we continued the ascent up the glacier weaving around large crevasses. This was the most heavily crevassed glacier I have ever ascended. The snow never really exceeded 45 degrees which made the ascent fairly easy. Around 7:30am, about three hours from the time we left, we reached the top of the glacier and I began looking for a place to cross the serious moat. I located a small snow bridge that bridged the 50 foot abyss and gently crossed it which involved stepping over onto a small ledge which would be our first belay ledge. I set up an anchor once on the ledge and belayed Dane across. There was barely enough room for both of us. I racked up and just as I was about to stat climbing the first pitch, the bridge we just crossed fell into the abyss of the moat!! "Well, I guess we are committed now...even before the first pitch" I recall saying. I start up the mostly solid but rubble covered class 4 pitch which involved simply scrambling up delicate terrain. I continued up and used the entire length of the 70 meter rope only placing one piece! I call for Dane to start simul-climbing as I am midway up a steep rubble filled gully and can see a good place to set up a belay 15 feet above me. I manage to pull up with some stemming and quickly set up a belay in the only solid cracks I have seen so far. I belay Dane the rest of the way. Even though this long 80 meter pitch was rubble covered, the baseline rock was mostly solid. From my large belay ledge, I clearly see the neve couloir we will climb. Dane starts on the second pitch which was mainly a traverse across a large dirty ledge towards the base of the neve couloir. He climbs a short snowbank and makes a nice anchor at the base of the couloir, using most of the rope. I follow and quickly start my way up the couloir for our third pitch. I decide to take a picket and an ice screw. As I head up, I quickly realize the snow is easy to kick steps in and about 50 feet up I place a picket. The snow then steepens to at least 65 degrees in a couple spots and I find some good cracks to place rock pro in the right side. I remember wishing I had a second picket though. Just before I reach the end of the snow couloir, Dane called out "end of rope". I yell back to begin climbing and I pull through the overhanging chalkstones at the top of the couloir to another large ledge where I set an anchor and belay Dane up. Once at the ledge atop the couloir, we take a quick break and unroped, we walk around a rib and locate the base of a long section of low angle easy climbing. It's Dane's turn to lead and he starts up the mainly 4th class and low 5th class terrain. When the rope runs out I begin climbing. We probably simul-climb an additional 70 meters making our 4th pitch around 140 meters or so. When Dane reaches a steeper section just below the duolith, he makes an anchor and belays me up. We quickly switch packs and I start up the first of two 5.6 pitches of the route. I traverse to the right, then back ledge working my way up a short vertical section to the duolith. This feature is a 30 foot tower of rotten granite with a 3 foot wide crack splitting it down the middle. I climbed past this feature on its left side and made an anchor in a bomber constriction crack just above the duolith using about half the rope. Dane followed and started up the 6th pitch which began as a climb up an easy leftward ramp then ascended steeper rock and zigzagging until the rope drag became a serious problem. He set up a belay in an awkward spot after using half the rope but he was unable to pull the rope through. I quickly ran up the easy ramp and helped him free the rope a bit so he could pull it. I then began climbing and the upper part of this pitch was actually a bit tricky with my plastic boots on and carrying the heave pack. I traversed back and forth testing every hold since the rock was pretty loose. I let loose two huge blocks on the way up which went tumbling down the entire northeast face! Upon reaching Dane, we didn't even switch packs and I continued up much easier terrain (Class 3 and 4) for another 30 meter pitch until I reached the crest of the north ridge. Here I sling a boulder and belayed Dane up. Once we were both on the ridge we could then relax and take in the amazing views. We ate a quick snack and I began up the last portion of the north ridge. I told Dane to tie in at the halfway point and we could simul-climb the rest of the way. Once I had a good stance, Dane tied in and we finished the route, reaching the summit at 3:10pm, about 10.5 hours from leaving Kool Aid Lake. The South Route descent After reading the summit register I logged it and we had a nice long break on the summit taking in the glorious views of many prominent peaks in the Glacier Peak Wilderness and North Cascades NP. Around 3:50pm though it was time to start heading down. We had the SummitPost route description for the standard south route which would prove very helpful (Thanks Paul!). We started by scrambling down very tedious class 3 and some class 4 terrain a short ways until we found a slabby section we didn't want to down-climb. I located a nice horn to sling and we made one full rappel down to some easier terrain below. We continued down traversing to the skiers left and working towards the large snowfields below. Steep cliffs barred passage to the snow below but when we got to the ledge which traverses the steep snow chasm, we decided to simply sling a huge boulder and make an overhanging rappel down to more mellow snow below, instead of trying to traverse some 55 degree snow and walk on a ledge we had no idea where it would lead. Once on the snowfields below, we plunge stepped down to the cleaver which divides the two basins on the south side of Mount Formidable. The route said to descend to 7,400 feet on the cleaver where we were then able to scramble down to the large basin. From here it was an easy snow traverse across the basin towards the crossover saddle. A short 150 foot climb brought us to the saddle where we were greeted with amazing views of the Spire Point area and White Rock Lakes below. By now it was about 6:45 in the afternoon and I spotted the Ptarmigan Traverse tracks 100 feet below me. We met up with them and traversed easy snow and made the short ascent back to the Spider/Formidable col and roped up. The descent down the Middle Cascade Glacier was straightforward with a few large cracks opening up. By this point, my feet were in great pain since I had been wearing my plastic boots with Intuition liners and my feet were baking all day. We continued on the path traversing back to the red ledge. The sun had set with some vibrant colors just as we reached the ledge and it was almost 10pm when we arrived back at the tent. There was no way we were going to be able to hike out back to the trailhead tonight. I had blisters on my feet since they were so warm and sweaty all day and we both were exhausted. We went right to sleep and finished the hike out the next morning. This was a day later than we had anticipated but the thunderstorms are to blame for that. Luckily we were able to contact family and friends at a reasonable time later that morning. Unfortunately my drive from Seattle back to Renton took a couple hours due to a large amount of traffic. Just the thing I was hoping for on my welcome home back to the Seattle area!

That's an illegal sale in my Colorado world lol Awesome pics Jason. Chikamin was my very first summit and your pics brought back memories

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Pics can be seen in the link at the top. I regret to say I just don't have the time to format the pics more than once but I did copy and paste the text of my TR so it could at least be read here. Yeah next time I will just bring standard boots.

Trip: Mount Constance - West Arete Date: 6/3/2013 Trip Report: See the photos at this page below: Mount Constance West Arete Also see this route description page I made for the climb: West Arete description Prologue and Stats ME: "Lets climb the west arete on Constance" Dane: "Sounds pretty Cool! I'd really like to do that route" ME: "It's pretty moderate and the weather has been warm lately should be dry" Alright, so we have this random Monday in early June that sounds like the perfect time to do it right? Well, the scree and junk in Avalanche Canyon will be nicely covered but it's late enough that the trail to Lake Constance is snow free. As I weigh my options I come more and more to the conclusion this is the perfect time to do this route and to some extent I was correct....except for when I was wrong! RT Mileage: 19 miles (Including bike travel) RT Elevation Gain: 7,000 feet (Including bike travel) Total gain rock climbing: ~1,000 feet RT Time: 19 hours The Climb I get off work Sunday afternoon around 5:30PM and finish packing up. I realize I won't be making my 6:00 meeting time so I call Dane to say I'll be a couple hours late. Our conversation goes something like this: "ah thats ok we can just head over tonight, camp at the washout and do it in a day no biggie" Oh If only If only..... I end up picking Dane up in Seattle around 7:15 and we head over to Edmonds to catch the ferry. The sunset from the ferry was quite scenic and we got to see the sun descend behind Constance as the clouds drifted away. With a sunny forecast called for the mountains we were very excited. Just as we arrived at Kingston, it was getting dark and we got to Brinnon just before 10PM. I was able to stop at the gas station minutes before they closed to grab just a little more food that I was glad I did. 10 miles up the Dosewallips Road we hit the washout and went right to sleep in the car (or at least I did). At first light we were up and bikes a ready and by 5:30 we were off. It was about 4 miles up the gentle gravel road to the start of the Lake Constance trail. I was wearing flip flops and carrying my plastic boots on my back, along with the rack and all that other stuff I appear to need to go alpine rock climbing. Shortly before the trailhead there is this rocky stream I try to bike through only to end up face down in the water with a bunch of scratches and a wet foot. "Stupid Pack!" is the first thing I can think of to say as if I would have made it across just fine without it. We reach the trailhead around 6:30AM, stash our bikes under a bridge and I instantly realize it was going to be a difficult trail to hike in sandals but I didn't want to hike up in plastics and the thought of bringing approach shoes seemed to cross my mind while I threw everything in the car so off we were heading up 1,700 feet of rocky, steep and dirty trail through the old 2009 burn area and over many wet logs until we get to the flat area halfway up. We take a break here and I examine my sandals and am glad I don't have any broken toes yet. We continue an additional 1,700 feet up even steeper and more grueling terrain which included a large amount of class 3 scrambling with exposure until we reach Lake Constance. I was shocked the NPS advertised this trail on their website...people could die here! It took us about 3.5 hours to hike the trail and shortly after 10 we were hiking above the lake. By this point I was not worried about time at all as I was assuming it would take merely a couple hours to climb the route then a couple more to descend. I had also looked at my map incorrectly and thought Mount Constance was 7,100 feet high...which would make the rock climbing portion only 600 feet long. I seem to recall as we climbed the route it was way more than 600 feet but I wouldn't find this out until on the ferry ride back lol. So we slogged up somewhat nice snow a long 1.5 miles up Avalanche Canyon to Crystal Pass. The final 300 feet sucked as the snow got softer but we managed to make it to the pass at 12:30PM. Along the way in the canyon, I remember the geology nerd inside me showing its true colors when we passed by a huge vertical wall of pillow basalt on the east flank of The Thumb. Anyways, once at the pass I racked up and we traversed around a small tower to get to the start of the steeper rock climbing. We agreed to simul-climb the first part of the route as much as possible. As I started up the first right-trending ledge and up the rock the clouds rolled in and it became foggy. WHAT! I screamed... it was bright and sunny moments ago! Onwards, I continued up a 20 foot vertical crack with a piece of red webbing around a chalkstone at its base as my first tried and true piece of pro! At the top of the chimney I belayed Dane up and we realized we were moving slower than molasses in January...or did we just stat the route really late? I don't know has to be one of those things. "Isn't this a grade 1 or 2 climb" I ask myself....like The Tooth? Maybe it pays to check the grade as well instead of looking at the YDS class and thinking uneasily quick "Oh I can lead that!" lol Above the wide crack I continue around through some snow covered class 3 easy terrain that isn't so easy when snowy. I quickly realize my rock shoes are worthless and put the boots back on and find a way up a dripping wet slab to reach the base of two towers. My route description tells me to find a ledge on the right side of the right tower which low and behold there was a perfect ledge. So we continued simul-climbing across this ledge and up to the crest of the arete where we traverse a short but rugged flat section of ridge (which was horribly snow covered) to the big ledge at the base of the upper wall. Dane and I decide to pitch the rest of the climb out. So we rest a little in complete fog while I curse the blasted weather forecasters for getting it so wrong it felt like 3 rights only sometimes make a left! I thought about the nice views of the Brothers we had earlier in the morning. So once we were both ready to go, I started up the crux wall which began as a right trending ledge, then a left one and then up past two pitons and continuing left to a piton at the base of a 15-20 foot chimney. I belayed Dane up here since rope drag was annoying. Once he got up I started up the chimney and thought I'd try and take advantage of our full 70 meter rope. So I continued up a mellow section of run-out face climbing, then reached a vertical wall that I went around to the left side of. I noticed a nice left facing open book and started right up as the rope drag got worse. Probably should have belayed at the base of this open book but I was committed now. I get to the top and begin making a hand traverse left to what I can clearly see is easy snow covered scree. Just as I'm about to reach easy terrain I hear a scream something on the lines of "Out of rope!" Drat! I'm 10 feet away! I was forced to stand on a questionable foothold on a smooth snow covered slab and make an anchor with a well placed chock and a couple crappy cams. I begin a very uncomfortable belay and as Dane climbs I am thinking about the very comfortable belay I could have 10 feet to my left!!! Soon enough Dane makes it to me and I have him just continue to the easier terrain instead of bothering with the dumb spot I was in. All this time it's still foggy and I'm being dripped on every once in awhile from an unknown water source. Dane boots up some snow just above me and I finish the route and meet him at the nice easy section he's standing on...only after an event I won't describe that involved lots of yelling. OK finally we are done! "What time is it?" Damn...it's 6:00??? It took us over 5 hours to climb 600 feet??? (remember I misread the map!). Well now that I was thoroughly demoralized that I am a god awful slow leader (although slightly less demoralized afterwards when I found out it was almost twice as long as I thought) and that the summit was still an hour of snow covered class 3-4 exposed scrambling away (on the standard route) we began our descent. Dane had been up Constance before via the standard route so I was hoping we would have a smooth descent. Wait...is it that tower we traverse? Does that gully look right? What the heck is that? All questions I peppered Dane with the entire way down (sorry man). I led the climb so I figured he could lead us down the standard route since he'd done it before. However with the fog and way too much snow covering all traces of a trail or cairns, least to say we were very confused and our descent involved loads of route-finding, snowy and wet class 3-4 scrambling and steep snow to traverse that I might add was incredibly soft to the point we would set off our own wet slides below us every step! Once we hit the summit ridge crest we scrambled down to the south some class 4 stuff and managed to find the ledge around the left side of the first set of towers. Dane then recognized the Finger Traverse and opted against the Terrible traverse since it would involve losing elevation and traversing loose snow with a death cliff below. However upon reaching the finger traverse it was dripping so he did a good job of finding the bypass to the right side of the tower. Once around that tower we descended to a large snowfield and after more route-finding issues we finally figure out we must descend to the left around the rib instead of climbing up through one of the notches. Once past that we locate the notch above the north chute, then finally find the correct snowfield to descend to reach the notch above the south chute. I scream to Dane in the process "Wait there is another ridge between us and Avalanche Canyon" thinking we had gone too far but to my relief he stated that's how it's supposed to be. I had noticed it was finally beginning to clear up and we actually got to see a nice sunset. So down we went. There was about 2-3 inches of snow covering most of the scree in the upper south chute making the descent a little less terrible. Once we got to the next notch we could clearly see Avalanche Canyon and we were smooth sailing down awesome plunge stepping snow to the Lake. By now however the sun had set at twilight was getting dimmer. Once back at the lake we both rank a load of water and grudged about the 3,600 foot hike down the steep trail in the dark. I'll spare you the details and just say it sucked...I was wearing plastic boots the whole way down. At 1AM we made it back to the car after only 19 or so hours from when we started. We went right to sleep zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Fun climbing with you too Danial. Thanks for the ass pics lol