BrettS

Thanks for the photos. It's a nice escape from the November doldrums!

Fun times, and great photos!

Thanks for the fun scenic day out! Good times!

I'm in a similar boat, but we have a younger kid (1.5ish), and both my wife and I are looking for Alpine/cragging families. Thanks for posting!

Good meeting you up there yesterday. It was certainly a fine day to be out! I second the thanks for all the new hardware!

Beautiful! I need to get back out there.

Amazing all around! Way to realize such a big dream together! Two left shoes over that much terrain.....ouch! Impressive and inspirational!

Fun route! Pitch 4 is classic darrington, and wonderfully sustained. Thanks for all the effort putting this up!

The Road is in pretty good shape. A Prius would probably get there, though it would be a bit slow going to avoid some of the potholes. In general, the road is in better shape than most found in the Cascades.

11:00pm. I'm not that fast!

Trip: Bugaboos - Beckey-Chouinard and Surfs Up Trip Date: 08/07/2018 Trip Report: My wife and I took a quick trip to the Bugs last week, primarily to get on South Howser’s Beckey-Chouinard which has been on my dream list for years. We also climbed Snowpatch spire via Surfs Up. Both were great routes, and we had a blast! The crux was leaving the one year old at home with the grandparents, but I think that was just on our end. We were also lucky to have stellar weather and great travel conditions for the duration of our short trip, though I expect this to change very quickly. The Bugaboo-Snowpatch Col was melting fast, and may already be a bit sketchy from a rock fall perspective. I won’t share a ton of beta, since it is all over out there. We decided to camp at East Creek so that we could check out the approach/descent the day before and potentially get a jump on the multitudes (and there were a lot of folks!) marching in early from Applebee Dome. I think this worked out pretty well, but it’s a bit of a hump carrying a heavy pack over the BS col and down the Pigeon-Howser col. The PH col has some unpleasant loose scrambling which is a bit unnerving when there are multiple parties tromping around. BS Col PH Col and East Creek PH Col We woke up early and scrambled up to the split rock (a bit tricky in the dark). We headed up a bit too early through blocks, where I think you are supposed to continue traversing on slabs, but it all worked out. We simuled 3 pitches, then climbed pitch after pitch of 5.8-5.10- awesomeness that was both fun and tiring. The dihedral pitches are really fun. We did the standard squeeze chimney, which was a bit of a thrutch with a pack/ice axe on, but was well protected and certainly doable. The 5.10 cracks to the left looked inviting, though I heard from other parties that that are a little rounded and sustained relative to the other splitter cracks on the route. Pick your poison. I’ve never really done tension traverse purposefully, and I’m not really sure how the leader would avoid the 5.10+ traverse on the last pitch before the rappel. Luckily it is just really one short committing move and you’re to easy ground. I’m sure you could figure out a way to aid it, but it wasn’t that bad, and it is very easy for the follower to tension across if you wait a while to place your first piece in the easy chimney/gully after the traverse. The rappels are great, and get you down fast (single 70m). I would stick to the descriptions for the rappels that are available online and posted at the Kian Hut. They are right on, and very literal. We got down to the snow as light was fading and romped back to the Pigeon-Howser Col. I did not bring crampons, which was fine with the exception of a glacier ice traverse just above East Creek Camp. This was a bit spicy, but probably avoidable earlier in the year. We got back to camp around 11:00, which felt relatively civilized, though I was certainly a bit tired. It was a great route, and worthy of the hype! Of course this has led to route crowding, and most days there were several groups that retreated because they were too far back in the conga line. We took a rest day, and then humped our heavy packs over to Snowpatch Spire on the way out. We decided to go for Surfs Up, as it made logistical sense and we had heard good things. The first few pitches were meh by Bugaboo classic standards, but the following pitches were stellar! The position from Surfs Up Ledge onward is really amazing, and the climbing is fun! Again, the rappels are great (single 70m) and get you down fast. A beautiful place that is now very popular! I’ll be back! Gear Notes: Doubles to 3" single 4" Approach Notes: Up BS Col, Down PH Col to East Creek

I’ll try to oblige if I get a second. Good short trip!

It was good last week, but melting fast and I don't expect it to be in condition much longer. The two schrunds are starting to open up, and there is a short section of glacier ice down low. The upper section is melted out, with some mandatory loose scrambling. You can rap the upper section with double ropes. I imagine that things are going to rapidly deteriorate over the next couple of weeks.

Chance encounters up in the hills are always fun. Good to see you up there Jason on such a fine day! East Wilmans was fun, and conditions were excellent!

Nice work buddy! Looks like a lot of fun!

That makes our conditions on Guillaumet look like a cakewalk! Nice work, and thanks for sharing!

I assume that the pocket glacier is still around? Any updates on its status? Thanks.

Nice! Was there much wetness/seepage up there? Thanks for sharing!

Wow! Your trips and photos are always inspiring! Thanks for testing the waters out there, and for providing fodder for my climbing daydreams.

I was hoping you would chime in! Thanks for the help!

I'm thinking about heading up to give Yak Check a go on Sunday this week. Any thoughts on whether the route will be reasonably dry or not given the current forecast (light to moderate rain through Friday, sunny Saturday and Sunday with cool temps)? Thanks for the help!

That looks like a lot of fun in a beautiful area. I would love to get out there sometime soon! Thanks for sharing!

Trip: Nesakwatch Spires and Rexford - Ensawkwatch Enchainment Variation Date: 8/24/2015 Trip Report: My wife and I climbed the Ensawkwatch Enchainment last weekend with a few variations (SW Ridge N Nesakwatch, N Ridge S Nesakwatch, and W Face Rexford)for a fun full day of climbing in a really unique and beautiful place. There seems to be an ethic in this area of preserving a little adventure by not divulging too much beta, so I’ll try to refrain from being overly specific (let me know if I say too much and I can edit). It was certainly fun to have a measure of route finding excitement, and there appear to be many variations on these routes that will likely go at around the same grade. We decided to make this trip much more manageable by breaking it into three days, hiking in Friday afternoon, climbing Saturday, and hiking out Sunday. It is certainly a relentless hump up to the basin below the spires (something like 1,000 meters in 3 kilometers) but luckily the approach is fairly short, taking us about 3 hours at a moderate pace with heavy overnight packs. Finding water is a bit of a challenge up there this time of year. Luckily there is a small snow/ice patch below Rexford that appears to stick around through the summer we used for water that is about half an hour round trip from the bivy rock. The rock is a spectacular place to spend the night, and is ideally situated near the start and finish of the enchainment. Slesse with cool clouds Bivy Rock below S Nesakwatch and Rexford We started the enchainment with the Southwest Ridge of North Nesakwatch Spire. We thought that this would be a good alternative to the standard North Ridge as it is substantially steeper and looks much cleaner. There appear to be many options to start the climbing on the ridge. We stayed more or less on the ridge crest for the majority of the climb. There are 3-4 pitches of good finger and hand cracks that ascend the initial steep portion of the ridge that are around the 5.9 range. There is a wide section that looked really good that I avoided since I lacked a 4 inch piece (maybe bring a 4” piece for this section?). This is followed by low angle easy section (we simuled) to the base of the final headwall pitch. The headwall crack is easier 5.8-9, and is really fun! A final easier pitch over some loose blocks reaches the summit (a little funkiness here the way we went anyway). Overall the Southwest Ridge had some really fun crack climbing, with a little loose block action encountered on occasion. SW Ridge Profile SW Ridge SW Ridge SW Ridge SW Ridge Awesome headwall pitch We descended the south ridge slightly on the east side carefully over some loose terrain, and began climbing the standard North Ridge of South Nesakwatch Spire. We simuled most of the ridge left of the crest on generally sound rock. We pitched out the final chimney section below the summit block, and I thought it was around 5.7ish. We didn’t do the final 5.7 unprotected (at least without big gear) offwidth to the true summit, because…, well…, I suck at offwidths and it scared me. It really didn’t look that bad though, and I’m sure a few grunts would get you through it without too much trouble. S Nesakwatch Spire and Rexford We descended the south ridge for a short distance to a single short rappel and then continued down the ridge to the col between the S spire and Rexford. We scrambled up some loose and exposed 4th class terrain up to the base of a large chimney, and then around the corner to the left up another easy chimney to a sandy ledge where we set up a belay. One pitch (5.7ish) got us to the standard West Ridge route. Instead of heading left on easy terrain towards the standard route (cairns here), we headed up and right to climb the West Face of the false summit. From here we ascended up and right, following the same general line as these guys . We found the climbing here to be very enjoyable, with the final 2-3 pitches after the initial traverse in the 5.8-9 range on very good hand and finger cracks with great belay ledges. There were a few loose blocks here and there that required some careful avoidance, and there was a lot of lichen, but the climbing was really very good here. The final right leaning crack to the false summit was particularly exposed and aesthetic. Certainly a great alternative to the standard West Ridge route! West Face Rexford Summit From the false summit, we scrambled around the shattered ridgecrest to the right, and ascended a short easy (5.6ish) chimney to the true summit. Unfortunately, the beautiful views seen earlier in the day were completely obscured by the wildfire smoke that blew in in the afternoon. At least we got some good views in the morning, and some great climbing in the afternoon! Smokey N and S Spires on descent of Rexford Summit The descent down the West Ridge route was easy and uneventful. It was fun traversing the large rocky ridge crest down to the final gully rappel. The boulders in this area are brilliant white with golden accents, and are extremely clean. After a short boulder hop back to the bivy rock, we unloaded our gear and relaxed in the smoky amber evening light. Rexford West Face of false summit descending the West Ridge of Rexford This was definitely a fun, and adventurous outing with great climbing interspersed with some careful loose block avoidance. The scenery and terrain is very unique, and it’s a great place to spend some time. The West Face of South Nesakwatch Spire looks absolutely amazing, and certainly warrants a return trip! Gear Notes: We brought doubles to 3". I would maybe bring doubles to 2" and one 3" and 4" piece for the SW Ridge if I were to do it again. Approach Notes: Short, steep, and well marked. The road to the signed trail head is drive-able all the way with a Subaru, but just barely so. Take a right directly after Riverside Campground, go across the Creek, and take your first right. Follow the rough road and at the only major fork, take a right.

What an awesome trip, and a great write up! Thanks for sharing the photos, and some of those features look like great climbing! After the last few trips, hope you enjoy fishing, swimming, and looking at beautiful women for the rest of the summer! Oh, and nice ass by the way!