Alex Stoll

Trip: Mt. Rainier - Emmons Glacier Date: 5/6/2016 Trip Report: With the weather looking good, and the White River road probably plowed most of the way up (since it’s scheduled to open May 16), we figured it would be a good idea to bike the 6 miles from 410 to the White River Campground for an early season ski of the Emmons. And with Mother’s Day on Sunday we figured it would be a short trip back to Yakima so I could spend the day with my mom. We started biking around 5:30 am, not bothering to set up a ski rig on our bikes, which we payed for later with our lower backs - and butts. The road is about 6 miles long and 1000 ft. of steady gain, so by the end of the road I was ready to be on my feet. We hiked the trail to about a mile from Glacier Basin and then transitioned to skins, skinned up the Interglacier, and reached Camp Sherman about 2:30 pm. We had the camp to ourselves until two climbers tromped in around 8:30 pm to our surprise. Started the next morning around 4 am and enjoyed mindless glacier travel to the top of the Corridor, at which time we saw the sunrise and observed the other two climbers leaving camp. From there the next 1500 ft when smoothly, traversing right toward the Wilson Glacier, encountering minimal route finding difficulties and enjoying a mix of windblown chalk and firn. We followed the fall line from the Wilson basically to the top, crossing 3-4 thick snow bridges within the last 2000 ft, some of which will probably only last for the next few weeks. The first 3000 ft. we covered in 3 hours, but the altitude hit me hard about 1500 ft. from the summit with nausea, a headache, and shortness of breath, so we didn’t reach the summit until 10:30 am. We put skis on at the summit and enjoyed edgeable hardback and a few inches of chalk in some spots, transitioning to immature corn in the last 1000 ft above camp. We hurriedly packed up camp but were still destined to ski 5000 ft of fairly deep slush down the Interglacier. We were able to ski about a mile down the GB trail, and passed 2-3 groups walking the road while we enjoyed a 5 mile pedal-free bike descent, feeling smug on our wheels. We appeared to be the first group to climb the Emmons, at least recently. The other climbers we had seen on the route turned around after blazing up the first half of the upper mountain. We later passed them on the road as they were walking out, immediately understanding why they were so tired on summit day after hiking an extra 6 miles the day before and booting the late afternoon slush. CONDITIONS SUMMARY- Road totally clear for biking. Trail about 70% dry. Emmons in great early season condition, with the direct final 1,500’ in good shape likely for a few more weeks, and skiing great considering the elevation. Go do it before the masses arrive with the opening of the road.

How did the upper Cascadian look? Thinking of the N ridge this weekend.

If you don't have or want to make an account on here to reply, my email is stolla3@students.wwu.edu

I'm in Bellingham, at WWU, and a series of events have conspired to leave me with Friday through Monday clear for most every weekend this spring quarter. Most of my usual partners go to school five days a week and so I'm trying to find people that can get out more than that. I sport climb in the 10 to 11 range (hard to really tell after the winter) and trad climb 9's to 10's, bouldered up to V6. I'm always up to backcountry ski and prefer mileage to technical stuff, mostly because I'm not that good at skiing. (Lots of mellow runs rather than one or two techy steeps.) Alpine climbs are appealing and could be persuaded to slog up something, though I'd rather be skiing than post-holling, in the spring. My favorite color is blue and I enjoy long walks on the beach, the laughter of children, and the scent of roses. Just shoot me a message if you can get out this spring and we'll go from there.

Compared to the soloing the crampons don't seem too dangerous but we probably should have taken the minute to pop em off.

Trip: Colchuck Peak - North Buttress Couloir Date: 1/18/2014 Trip Report: With less than awesome ski touring options, Charlie and I decided to go take a look at the Colchuck Lake area. We thought we might give the more difficult NE couloir a go, but I suggested we be a little more conservative this being our first climb of this style. After leaving our friend's cabin near Lake Wenatchee around 3:00 am, we arrived at a gated 8 mile road. Damn. I had thought that the ice discussed in previous reports had been melted by the recent warm temps, but no dice. After an hour on the somewhat icy road, followed by an hour and a half up icy trail then snow, we reached the lake. Such a dry year so far. There was better coverage in late spring last year when Calvin and I skied the glacier. A long slog around the lake and awful boulder-field post-holing brought us to the base of the corridor. The climbing was fairly secure in the soft snow with solid feet to stand on though the tools didn't find much to hold onto even when plunged. A few exciting bulges were passed (these get pretty filled in?) in which some real moves had to be made. The couloir eases at two thirds height and we kicked up to the saddle. Over on the north face we mostly just plowed upwards as it's all fairly similar. This ground was much more exciting than the couloir as there was varying coverage of sugar snow over the rock. Probably not bad when dry or with firm snow. Once off the face the summit is a 20 foot scramble off of a flat snowfield. It was so good to finally see the sun. I think it was around 1:00. The walk off and over to the main saddle was relaxing and enjoyable as we soaked up the sun and knew we had only a very long walk ahead. Glissading down the boulderfield was well worth the risk as it kept us from punching through. We found the trail at the base of the valley to be much slicker that it had been in the morning and proceeded to flail and fall our way to the trailhead. It went from barely light to dark about halfway back down 8 mile road which is actually four miles long. Maybe they mean "8 mile roundtrip road." It was much more slick than it had been in the morning, maybe caused by a thin layer of melted water. Charlie whistled "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" as the dark and icy treadmill seemed like it would never end. We fell back into the car around 6 and tried to stay awake for the drive back to the cabin where my girlfriend Hannah had hot spaghetti and sauce ready for us. Awesome. Gear Notes: Took gear so we could climb the NE couloir, half rope, pickets, nuts, a few small cams, and runners. Carried all that shit in our packs as we didn't find anything in the NBC that was worth the trouble of using it. Might as well have carried a watermelon to the top. Approach Notes: Quick for the distance covered, but the fun to pain ratio is probably much more favorable when you can avoid 8 miles of road walking.

So fast, nice work! Solo missions are a sign of true dedication. The only drawback is it's hard to get shots of the action.

Yeah, we were surprised too!

Trip: Forbidden Peak - West Ridge Date: 10/26/2013 Trip Report: Having been in Squamish for the past two weekends and wanting to get some early season skiing in, I asked my friend Charlie if he wanted to ski the Easton Glacier. But, after realizing it had been dry and warm in the mountains for the past few weeks, we decided it was still alpine rock season. Skiing could wait. We did some looking and decided the West Ridge of Forbidden Peak would be a good intro to alpine ridge climbing as it is mostly easy ridge walking with a few short steps of real climbing. Also, it would allow a good look at the terrain on the Forbidden tour, a skiing goal of mine for this winter. After getting out of class, we drove out of Bellingham sometime around 3:00 pm on Friday, hoping to approach that evening and climb the next day as high winds were forecast for Sunday. We parked under Johannesburg around 5:00 or so and got hiking in the fading light. By the time we came out of the trees and into Boston Basin, it was nearly dark. The basin seen from the walk out. Even the alpine has fall colors! This is where the lowlight of the weekend begins. We somehow missed the trail that traverses northwest towards the bivy spots and wound up going way high onto talus. After a few hours of traversing in absolute darkness, tripping over loose rocks, and going over countless steep moraines, we figured we were pretty much under Forbidden and found a snow patch to sleep on, having given up on finding the bivy sites. We went to sleep feeling less than stoked. The next morning we woke up and figured out where we were. The bivy was a few hundred yards down the hill! We were happy to be in the right place. We romped up the tame glacier with crampons on our shoes. Once at the base of the gully to the left of the main couloir, we decided to 3rd class up to the ridge. This was exciting but never really felt dangerous or insecure. We passed countless rappel stations. "50 Cluttered Classics" I guess. Charlie after the gully kicks back. We simuled the whole ridge in way less time than we expected, maybe three hours from the glacier? The ridge crest was mostly dry, I had to step in snow on the North side maybe 2 times. Late October seems extremely late for this route to still be in prime condition, what luck! The mighty and cold looking North aspect of Johannesburg seen on the way up. Boston and Sahale. You have to climb over the first summit then down and up again to get to the true summit. I got to be first on the top, slung a horn, and brought Charlie over. This area really does look like the alps. We had some chocolate and enjoyed the spectacular views and weather. It was so nice that I spent the entire day wearing just a long sleeve base-layer! We then headed back down the ridge via simuling and a few awful rappels. We made a few more in the gully and were back on the glacier before we knew it. After a talkative and knee punishing walk down the trail, we headed home. Gear Notes: Slings! Our rack was 5 or so smaller cams, a set of nuts, and maybe half a dozen slings. The only reason we had to stop was because the leader ran out of slings. It would go on slings alone no problem, there are that many horns and things. We used a 60 meter skinny 7.7 mm glacier rope and it was awesome to not carry a full diameter rope. A pair of approach shoes were all I took and was happy as the glacier was fine with crampons just on the shoes. Approach Notes: Steep! Watch for the trail that breaks off left shortly after leaving the trees. It crosses a few creeks and is hard to see but is very well defined from there on out. We missed it and had a terrible night.