N Dahlstrom

Ha, thanks for the tip.

Trip: Mount Stuart - Upper North Ridge Date: 8/12/2013 Trip Report: My friend Sam and I climbed the upper North Ridge of Mount Stuart 8/12-8/13 of 2013. We met at Snoqualmie Pass at about noon on the 12th and drove up to the Esmerelda Basin trailhead. After sorting out gear we probably started hiking at about 2:30 or 3 pm. The trail is good and goes pretty quick all the way up to Lake Ingalls. Our first view of the objective. We hiked around the lake on the left (west) side and continued up the west shoulder of Stuart. We then dropped down to the boulder field under the West face. The West face I believe? We then headed up to Goat Pass. There were many clouds blowing around but we trusted the weather report that said the following day was going to be crystal. Goats at the pass. Some more goats. We had opted not to bring a stove so we ate some meat and cheese snacks for dinner and took in the beautiful evening. The goats were very curious about us and would get very close. There were numerous bivy platforms to choose from with rock walls already built up to protect from against the wind. As soon as the sun went down though the wind died and the mosquitos come out in force. They were bad. Sad about the mosquito onslaught. We zipped up our bivy sacks like body bags and listened to the little demons try to bite through the fabric. We got up as soon as there was light and immediately began the walk across the snowfield and glacier. We needed to find running water badly because we had no stove to melt snow. Luckily there was a rock island in the glacier with a good stream of running water next to it. Eating breakfast and filling our bottles at sunrise There were some large crevasses above and below the entrance to the gully that accesses the North ridge. It does get a little steep and we were both glad to have crampons on our approach shoes. The gully was steep and a little loose but not too bad and we felt safe and didn't break out the rope. Once we made it to the notch in the ridge we changed over to climbing mode. Taking a break and getting ready to climb. We kept our approach shoes on and simulclimbed with a 60m half rope doubled over. This worked well and we were able to cover ground relatively quickly. Taking a break after some cracky slab climbing. Sam making a face or maybe talking? Me with some sling-bling. The more slings you bring, the longer your simulpitches will be. It was some great, exposed ridge climbing. We put on our rock shoes for the crux pitches. This is the first of the two 5.9s. We also hauled our bags on this one and the next. Both were quite fun and the 30m limit of our doubled over half rope was no problem. Some views from towards the top of the route. We topped out sometime in the early afternoon. On the summit of Mount Stuart. Wonder if anyone driving I-90 was looking at us while we were up there? View of Ingalls Peak. Summit snacks. The descent was not executed entirely without mistake. We tried to go down too early before fully crossing the little ridge below the false summit and had to backtrack back up and then down. After that it was mostly straightforward with numerous tracks all seeming to lead in approximately the same direction. I was worried that we would hit the Ingalls Creek trail and not know if we were East or West of the Longs Pass intersection, but as it happened we stumbled onto the trail and realized the sign for Longs Pass was literally right in front of us. After that we knew it wasn't going to be an "epic". At this point we now know that we are going to make it home relatively early that night. Panorama from Longs Pass. Final shot of Mount Stuart. Gear Notes: Medium alpine rack with lots of slings for simulclimbing. one #4. Used approach shoes with crampons and light axes for glacier. seemed ok to us. Climbed mostly with approach shoes and enjoyed that, but also liked having climbing shoes for the few crux pitches. Approach Notes: The normal Ingalls Lake to Goat Pass way. Was not really difficult to follow from the beta that's already out there.

Trip: Forbidden Peak - West Ridge Date: 8/5/2013 Trip Report: On August 4-6 My friend Zach and I climbed the West Ridge of Forbidden Peak. We got our permits and hit the trail at about 1:30 or so. It was really hot and we were swarmed by these tiny little flies. The flies were good motivation to get moving. Zach geared up and ready for some extreme alpine action It doesn't take long to get your first view of the route. There it is I didn't have a map, just a GPS, but luckily there was this map near the trailhead that would actually prove quite useful in finding the upper bivy area. Notice the coordinates for the toilets. They are pretty accurate. Hiking photos: Sound of Music anyone? Zach contemplating how fun the NE Buttress of J-burg looks. Next year? A good basecamp outfit is crucial to the success of any expedition. The mosquitos were pretty bad, but there was a breeze that picked up and helped. Evening views from Boston Basin: The morning was nice and cold. The snow was super crunchy and perfect for cramponing efficiently. Zach looking up at the route. I chose the alpinstick approach with a toy axe on my pack that I used for the last steep bit of the glacier. Ya, I know I look like an old man in this photo. Making our way through the rock bands below the glacier proper. Walkin up snow Zach: navigating the glacier. Me: busy taking a selfie. We went around to the left of the little rock island that is just below the route. There was a bergschrund that we climbed into and back out. Definitely some intense mixed moves involved. Climbin' in. Gearing up for the climb We took the loose gully climber's left of the main rib just left of the couloir. It was not too fun, but we swapped a couple simul-leads and made it up. First belay off the glacier Here is the beginning of the West ridge route. Somewhere midroute. We simulclimbed almost the whole route I believe. Just rope drag and running out of slings caused us to set belays. On top. Woot! Crazyawesome views. Back at the col. No sunscreen again? Zach gets a little tore up on the descent back to camp. We slept very well that night back at our camp and got up the next morning for the quick hike out. Morning camp. Hoods for bug and sun protection. Overall a great climb and fun to take three days to just enjoy that beautiful area. I hope to climb around there more in the future. Gear Notes: small rack, crampons, lightweight mountaineering boots (next time I might go for approach shoes with universal crampons so climbing is a little easier but either way works), 60m half rope doubled for climbing lightweight axe, alpinstick, Approach Notes: 3 hours to upper bivy sites. stream crossings no big deal. bugs, big deal. heat, hot.

Trip: Mount Daniel - SE Ridge attempt Date: 7/30/2013 Trip Report: Had a fun (if somewhat buggy) trip up to a new area for me earlier this summer. It was a bit of a family trip. Me, my wife Lindsey, and both my sisters Holly and Kristi attempted the SE ridge of Mount Daniel with an overnight at Peggy's Pond. Cathedral Rock We made camp at Peggy's Pond after I insisted that we scout around for quite a while looking for a possibly less buggy option only to realize it was all equally bad. We ended up back at our original spot. The next morning we made our way up the ridge and ended up a bit too far on the south side and had to make a steep rising traverse to gain the ridge crest proper again. The hiking on the ridge is actually really fun. There are lakes far below and there was a nice breeze keeping us cool. We reached a point just Southeast of the East summit and called that our high point so that we could make it back into town at a decent time. You can see the trail continuing on around the base of the East summit. Even without a summit it was still fun to get out and see some interesting scenery and enjoy a little ridge hiking and scrambling. Gear Notes: Saw some people with bugs net hats. Looks goofy, but good idea. Approach Notes: Long, bumpy road. First 5miles are the worst... except the last 2. Hike was fine and went quickly and the SE Ridge could be done fairly quickly as well.

Trip: Liberty Bell - Beckey Route Date: 7/1/2013 Trip Report: On July 1st of this year Kristi, Lindsey and I were able to take advantage of an alignment of weather and schedule availabilities to climb Liberty Bell. Highway 20 is very familiar to my sister Kristi and I because we spent six years of our childhood living just outside Marblemount. This road and the areas that it gives access to were very important to us during those years and still hold some significance at least in my mind. We drove the extra miles past Lone Fir campground in order to hit up the Mazama Store for wine and dinner supplies. Next morning we hit the trail pretty early in case the route was busy. Lindsey, Kristi and myself The trail was in good shape for the most part and you could avoid snow entirely if you wanted to. The approach gully up to the notch was loose as always but not too bad overall. Kristi coming up the gully The bugs were really bad until we got to the notch where there was a decent breeze to lighten them up. Second belay I believe After three times on this route I can say that I like this pitch the best Looking down The friction slab was a little more challenging because I was testing out the climbing capabilities of my new Selewa mountaineering boots. Beautiful day on top. After a hot hike down we made it back to Seattle for dinner with our parents. It was a great day out in the hills with some of my favorite people. Gear Notes: long sleeves for bugs. small rack Approach Notes: Bugs, bugs, bugs

Just bring the beers and burgers TO the alpine!

Trip: Dragontail and Prusik - Serpentine Ridge and West Ridge Date: 7/8/2013 Trip Report: My friend Sam and I climbed the Serpentine Ridge on Dragontail then the West Ridge of Prusik peak over on July 8th and 9th. Left the Stuart Lake trailhead at about 4am on Monday 7/8 and hiked in the dark for a bit First views of the day's objective We took the scree ridge up to its highest point then crossed a bit of steepish snow up to the base of the route. We had brought one lightweight axe in case we needed to chop steps but it was unnecessary. I had seen two different photos of were to start the first pitch. We chose the righthand variation. It was nice, solid rock right out the gate. Scree ridge. Sam at the base of the route around 8am. Looking up the enjoyable and easy start of the route. After of few belayed pitches and roped scrambling we made it around the "Black Pillar" to the right and takled the crux 5.8 cracks. They were thin and felt pretty solid 5.8. I actually almost slipped off but somehow recovered and avoided falling on Sam's head at the belay. Looking down at Sam after the crux. Then there's a super fun 5.6-5.7 ish handcrack next. A little break in the sun after the technical climbing. Colchuck glacier We then started up the second 1000 feet of the ridge which is not nearly as pleasant as the first. We were also tired from getting little sleep the night before. In hindsight we could have slept in much later but I just didn't know how quickly we were going to be able to climb this route. This is definitely the longest route I have ever done and Sam is relatively new to alpine climbing altogether. We basically just stayed on the ridge crest when possible then into the extremely loose gully to the right in order to avoid a gendarme a couple hundred feet before the summit block. Then we went left again at the base of the summit where it looked very steep and hit the ridge less than 100 feet below the summit. On top at 4pm. Sleepy afternoon. After we ate dinner we realized that we were still really hungry and that we didn't even have that much food left for the next day compared to how much we had already eaten. Our original plan was to stay the night and climb the Stanley-Burgner route on Prusik the next day, but looking at how tired we were and also the lack of food we decided that night to just hike out in the morning, get brunch in L-town and do some cragging instead. We ate some more landjagger and cheese and went to bed. Another Stuart photo Beautiful morning. We packed up in the morning and started to head out, but while filling our bottles at the top of Aasgard pass we got decided that we would so much rather stay in the alpine as long as possible even if it meant being a little hungry. We took inventory of our supplies and decided that we had enough supplies for a quick run up the West ridge of Prusik. We stashed everything we didn't need for the climb at Aasgard at 8am and jogged over to Prusik. We saw some goats (and Sam photo-bombed): Roped up and climbing by 9:30 or 10am. We were about 2 hours total between roping up and getting back to out gear. Hiked back to our gear at Aasgard and began the trudge down the pass. It is fully melted out if you want it to be and quite straightforward. Last view of Dragontail. Beers at the truck by 5:30pm. What a great couple of days in the mountains! Gear Notes: Approach shoes Rack to 3'' (maybe could bring less) Single rope no crampons, no axe (unless it is supposed to get really cold and freeze at night, then maybe) Approach Notes: Stuart Lake trailhead. Around Colchuck Lake. Up the Colchuck glacier moraine and onto the rock. Hike off was some steepish but very soft snow (gets early morning sun). Some snow fields in the Enchantments Basin but Prusik Pass was snow free.