geosean

It was great getting out with you Jason. Thanks for all the awesome pics of me. Here are some cell phone snapshots of you.

WOW, amazing. There is zero chance of me doing this route but I still really enjoyed reading the beta. Nice TR!

Thats correct, the couloir would be an easy-ish 2 day trip with a camp at the lake with no technical gear required (assuming you could boot the couloir). Our original plan was to exit a la the Forbidden Tour, but the couloir was pretty bootable. As for Torment Basin, we figured with the snow up high it would be easier to take the Eldo trail and do an easy traverse at ~6k to access Torment Col.

Oh yeah, beta photos for the Forbidden Tour. The Forbidden glacier looked good down the gut: The exit was looking a bit thin already, but very doable:

Trip: Mount Torment - Moraine Lake Couloir, NW Glacier Trip Date: 04/16/2022 Trip Report: Me and the boys (@Albuquerque Fred, @thedylan, @MGraw) had a great time in the sun for the chilly weekend of April 16-17 on Mount Torment. We skied the Moraine Lake Couloir and most of the NW Glacier on Mount Torment. We were able to drive to .5 miles past the gate at the park boundary on Cascade River Road before we hit snow. We booted for about a half mile past that, then skinned to the Eldorado Trailhead. We again booted to the boulderfield at 4k as per usual, then we skinned up, crossing the ridge into Torment Basin, and to Torment Col (west of Torment). The skiing down from there was good but I was too interested in what was to come to really think much about it. The plan was to climb Torment, then ski the couloir to Moraine Lake and camp. When we got to the entrance to the couloir though the exit onto the glacier looked tough. Dylan gamely started to lead with only pickets for pro, 1 aluminum axe, and aluminum crampons, plus skis and overnight gear on his back. Just out of the belay we realized we would never have time to climb all this and make camp at a reasonable hour so Mike suggested a new plan , we would fix the line and finish the route tomorrow. Dylan got the rope up, rapped, and we skied the AMAZING couloir down to the lake. As in most features like this, the snow being good wasn't the most important part. The setting, the purity of the line, the adventure was made it rock. But the skiing was also good. Making camp at like 4pm in April was full on cushy, plenty of time to build a monster wall around the tent, drink whisky, and lounge. The next morning we booted the couloir, climbed the fixed line, and ascended the NW Glacier on Torment. We had limited beta on this but Tom Sjolseth's report said "we skinned to within 50' of the summit", easy right. Well, not so much. We ran into another short rock step, which, though easy would involve another two transitions to get past. We figured it would be after 10pm by the time we got to the car, so we bailed at 7300'. The ski was epic. Top 5 ski runs ever for sure. We will be back for the summit. The crew: Thanks for the shot Mike: Dylan scouted the scary roll over: Dylan rapping after the lead: I'm sure Fred didn't just fall: Mike and Dylan working the lower couloir: The whole thing: Dylan slays it, even in camp: If you have to boot it might as well be into the sunshine: Mike following the fixed rope: Topping out: This sucked: We should have lapped this one. Classic Cascdes: Gear Notes: 1 axe, crampons, glacier gear, avy gear, camping gear. not enough. Approach Notes: Eldo worked well, I've done Torment Basin and didn't want to do it with skis on my back.

The blue lines are from the topo, all I added is the red line. Dotted usually represents seasonal, or ephemeral, streams and solid are perennial streams.

Yeah, everything was sooo bony. The woods were dry along Icicle Creek.

Trip: Slate Peak - Clean Slate Couloir Trip Date: 02/21/2022 Trip Report: @thedylan and Dave Duyee and I skied the Clean Slate Couloir off of the N ridge of the N Peak of Slate Peak. Dylan wanted it to be a climb also, but it was just a point on the ridge... I wanted a peak too Dylan, but it wasn't to be. We parked ... wait, first I called in sick... then we parked at the White Salmon Snow Park and skinned briefly up Anderson Creek Road. Dylan had graciously scouted the trip the day before and even put in some skin track. There was some of this: Ans this: And this: But finally there was this: And then even some of all this: The snow was amazing and the fresh went down to about 2500' where we entered the woods. Thanks to Dylan for scouting it! If you don't know this one, it looks something like this: Gear Notes: skis, booze Approach Notes: Short, but Cascadian.

Trip: Axis Peak - South Gully Trip Date: 02/19/2022 Trip Report: @Albuquerque Fred and I were at it again. We really felt the need to climb Axis Peak this time, it just calls to you from every vantage... note the sarcasm. I was foolish enough to say "I'm up for anything". Fred thinks is cool to climb lists, I don't; but then I'm not opposed to it on principle either. So off we went on Friday night to TH bivy on Icicle Creek Road at the gated and snowed in 8-Mile road. Fortunately, Eminem was not present. We were up early but it was stupid warm in the morning (tomorrow would bring a fast moving cold front). We knew we had to get out early as a big storm was moving in and we didn't want to be in the mountains, plus we still had the drive back west over the pass. The road went easy but the Bellevue crowd had been slacking as the trail was super not packed out (I assume it is Instagram that causes the normal luge chute and not Leavenworth locals, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't travel here often). We skinned ice crust with occasional post holes and snowshoe crampon scratches to within 1/4 mile of Lake Stuart, then ascended the fan up the gully on the south side of Axis peak. I had a bad experience the previous weekend with ice crust skiing so I was adamant that skis were only for that approach today and we left them at the fan at around 5300'. It was super icy here with about half a dusting of snow from throughout the morning. The gully was a dream, perfect secure cramponing on moderate slopes with some dirt and moss to remind you that you're in the cascades. The gully actually served to focus the sun and block the wind as well so it was amazingly pleasant. The weather called for intense ridgecrest winds. We tagged the summit, signed in, and bailed down a couple hundred feet out of the gale to eat lunch. The descent was amazing, but firm enough the I was still glad we ditched the skis. I got to try out my new skis on frozen avy debris, and sun crust, plus dirty, thin forest on the way out, so that's a plus. We only skied down to 4660' then skinned again, all the way to the road. At least I did, Fred insisted on shuffling in walk mode with no skins despite it obviously being slower and sketchier. Oh well, at least I was proven right. Photos: Oh yeah, in case you are not aware, Axis Peak is the next ridge north of Stuart. Before you ask... North side of Dragontail. Approach skinning: Argonaut: Not the best coverage out there these days: Up the gully, it's better than it looks: There is no summit photo that doesn't look cheezy is there? Gear Notes: Axe, crampons, helmet, skis for the approach. Approach Notes: Road was easy, trail was terrible.

That's sweet! We were talking about that while we're up there but I didn't think the coverage was good enough to ski.

Wow, amazing. Thank you so much for sharing all the details! My heart was pounding while reading the ridge section!

Trip: Mount Sefrit - NW Route - Wall Street Couloir Trip Date: 01/22/2022 Trip Report: I've been eyeing Sefrit for years, really looking to ski the NW route and the "Wall Street" couloir. I did the peak on my first try from the NE and the Bloody Head Couloir (colorful names on this peak), but I've failed more times than I care to remember due to various snow condition excuses. This time we had an outrageous skunking the weekend before which effectively served as a scouting trip. Me, @MGraw, and @thedylan skied in on the super frozen crusty road bed knowing the ski conditions would suck but that the cramponing in the couloir would be all the better for it (this was the plan). We eventually found the log after some awful wallowing in the barely covered brush and began cramponing up the avalanche debris on the couloir fan. I have tried most different types of conditions on this route and this is the only way I can see to make it work safely except for the very rare low snow dump with great stability. One is very vulnerable in the couloir with tons of hanging slabs over your head and 1000' couloir to feed into you. We made quick work to 5000' and last year's high point at the bottom of the upper basin. From here we skinned on crust with occasional thin powder patches all the way to the summit ridge at ~7000'. We took a look into the upper couloir on the NW flank of the summit pyramid, but we had set our hopes on fast and light, so didn't bring climbing gear. It looked too sketchy to try with no rope and only one axe apiece. Sadly this means we have to come back. We ditched the skis at 7000' on the ridge in the amazing warm sun after climbing in the shade all day. At this point it was already pretty late and we were worried (not Dylan). Then we hit a dead end on a tower on the summit ridge and had to backtrack. We climbed on the south side below the crest on mostly steep snow with a couple of rocky moves thrown in. I was worried we would run out of time with so minimal daylight. We persevered however and with Dylan leading some just barely solo-able moves on snowy rock and lots of step kicking we made the summit. I spent all of 30 seconds enjoying the efforts and accumulated knowledge of like 8 failed trips, then turned tail and headed down. The views are great, but the best was toward Shuksan's north side which we had been seeing all the way up from the ridge. Getting down to the skis was surprisingly easier than the way up. The snow was already re-freezing by about 3pm. We skied down, enjoying some of it anyway, booted the couloir, cramponed across the frosty log over Ruth Creek, then back to the skis for a super fast icy ski and skate down the road. 19 miles, about 5800' in 12.5 hours. I think this is the best way to get the route since it is super hard to find powder in a couloir at 3000' and stable conditions. Typical fun getting through the woods, sorry Mike: Ruth Creek: Fun conditions in the lower couloir, easy cramponing though: Upper basin skinning: Loving the alpine: Probably time to ditch the skis. Mike skied off this for his first turns of the year; nice work: Working up the ridge: Shuksan: Let's get out before dark. 10' off the summit: So worth it for the turns... I wanted to die. It never felt so good to take skis off and walk: Gear Notes: skis, helmet, axe, crampons, Bison Grass Vodka for the skate out. Approach Notes: ski from the highway

Nice work! Thanks for the info.

I did easy ridge both ways one year over Labor Day because the trail still hadn't been brushed out by trail crews. Many mile of brushy trail sounded lousy compared to alpine meadow walking. Also early season when there is still snow on the trail makes this a good choice. I have heard many people say the N ridge of Whatcom is sketchy, but mostly people with multi-day packs.

Following. What gives!?

Trip: Townsend, E. Merchant, Merchant... then Baring - Merchant Northeast Gully Trip Date: 05/30/2021 Trip Report: Due to the predicted heavy snowfall at high elevations for the Memorial Day weekend @Albuquerque Fred, @MGraw and I decided on an easy trip from Mount Townsend over Merchant to Gunn and all the Gunn peaks. This turned out to be wildly optimistic. So we did the east part, then bailed down the Merchant standard gully to a trailhead camp, then did Baring the next day for a somewhat chill two day "long" weekend. We hiked the Barclay Lake trail and the route (not quite a trail) up to Eagle lake, walked the west ridge of Mount Townsend, then following somewhat-remembered Beckey beta we went for Merchant. I kind of remembered that Beckey said it would go, but not what he said. Again, we thought this trip would be easy so we went light on beta. We traversed down from the Merchant-Townsend saddle to what looked like a hidden gully. It opened up to a beautiful mellow snow-filled gully all the way to the ridge crest. We (I at least) were stoked to have such a great route, it was a fantastic easy snow climb for 1100'. Townsend: Merchant from Townsend with the hidden gully between the east (left) and main peaks: In the gully: Topping out the gully: We walked up East Merchant (because it was there), then climbed moderate snow to the summit of Merchant. It was 5:30 pm. I had hopes of descending a gully to the SW to the basin between Wing and Merchant to a camp, but it didn't look great and we had foolishly not brought a rope (it was supposed to be easy). The plan had been to descend the south gully and reascend the western branch to get over to Gunn, but it would have involved another 1000' of climbing and then some messiness. So we made the tough choice to bail to the car (good thing we had overnight gear for this day trip). Baring from somewhere on Merchant: Descending the south gully: The south gully was not trivial anyway, so we still got to have some fun. I think this would be a great early spring route if you could nail the avalanche conditions, but it didn't seem like a very good route in these conditions to me. Maybe the party we saw the next day had a better time...? We had to bail a hand line to get down a wet slab move onto a thin snow bridge over a very deep moat (the second waterfall I believe). Fun was had by all at camp with manhattans and comfy shoes. The next day we did Baring in prime conditions. It was basically all snow from 4400' to the summit. A very enjoyable scramble to great views. Would recommend. It was like climbing looks in photos with lunch in the warm sun on the summit and good comradery, rather than the grunting, wetness and agony climbing often is. Baring gully: Easy snow near the top: Index from Baring: Gear Notes: Axe, crampons, helmet, 10m handline (bailed in Merchant S gully), overnight gear for training weight on Merchant Approach Notes: Barclay Lake trail to Eagle Lake

I saw no gate nor any such signs. There is a gate and I believe signs about video monitoring at the side road that descends to the river for the fish passage construction site. But that is about 4 miles before the turn off for the Rankin Creek Road.

Trip: Seward Peak - Standard - West Ridge Trip Date: 05/23/2021 Trip Report: Yesterday me and @Albuquerque Fred climbed the seldom done Seward Peak on the shoulder of Mount Baker. It was very enjoyable in this season and I would highly recommend it. I would imagine that later in the year it might become less fun due to brush and more challenging choss scrambling. We didn't see a soul after the road, nor any sign of people other than some cut brush. But then again we didn't see much at all. We drove up the spurr road labeled as FS Rd 38, adjacent to Ranking Creek, until the third switchback with no problem; after this the road looked good for just as much as you can see, then after that it gets really ugly and rough. Two parties in trucks did make it two more switchbacks and were camped when we walked by but I bet it took as long as walking did. Photo of the road after the third switchback, the trough on the left is very rough and pretty deep. The brush on the old road grade wasn't bad; I think this was the perfect time of year since nothing was leafed out yet and snow covered a lot of it. Continuous snow cover began around 3900' so we donned snowshoes to get them off our backs and for traction. We continued on what seemed to be an old road bed continuing north through the last switchback shown on the map and took a hard right uphill into a gully/clearing at 4200', continuing up to the ridge crest. About here we realized we had hiked up into the clouds and it remained a whiteout for the rest of the day. I think this is Fred around 6000'. We stopped to remove snowshoes and contemplate our fate at 6100', right below the first cliff band, though we couldn't see it. After a break we got a very short opening, just enough to plan out a route: We went up the snow ramp, scrambled a short section, up the large snowfield to the top left above the horizontal rock island, then scrambled a gully to the ridge crest. This must be the standard route because we passed several rap slings. Looking back down the gully: Me too high on the ridge: Beckey says to ascend the ridge then descend on easy ledges, I would say you almost immediately descend after reaching the crest, we went waaay to high to the top of a gendarme and had to backtrack a lot, loosing tons of time (we couldn't see anything). We descended on snow into the south bowl and climbed to the final rock band. In this season this was mostly moderate snow with a short scramble section. Then a few minor ups and downs on the ridge to the summit. Worth it for the views, Baker in the distance: We left a tube with some register paper behind since we didn't find anything and it seemed doubtful there would be a register. Please let me know if I'm mistaken. We spend all of one minute on the summit and headed out. Ascending back to the ridge crest: Two 90' raps down the gully, downclimb the snowfield, then one rap on pretty easy ground to the snow ramp and back to the world. 11 hours car to car with lots of dinking around routefinding in the whiteout. 5300' gain. Gear Notes: (2) 30m ropes, snowshoes, axe, helmet, crampons, mountaineering boots Approach Notes: Middle Fork Road to the third switchback near Rankin Creek. Not too brushy, snow cover began at ~3900'.

Trip: Mount Shuksan - NW Couloir Trip Date: 03/10/2021 Trip Report: I've been wanting to do this route for years; this was my fourth attempt, all others ending ridiculously far from success (although on one we did summit and ski the summit pyramid instead, so how can that really be a failure. Last weekend me, @MGraw, and @thedylan got the idea that conditions would likely be just right for a real try at the NW Couloir mid-week this week. After many weekend storm days skiing near the resort we had a pretty good read on conditions. We decided to play hooky on Wednesday and go for it. Everything worked out great, the warmup on Monday even mysteriously held off trashing the powder down low in the White Salmon valley. We were patting ourselves on the back pretty good when we topped out the north shoulder at 11:30, 5.5 hours after starting out. Then for the hard part... The route is pretty straightforward so I don't need to say much. It rocked! It was scarry getting in and across the traverse; when I took the photo of the traverse from above my hands were shaking. We had all watched the Cody Townsend video the day before where they make it sounds really scary. After doing it there is the possibility that they are playing it up a bit for the camera. Althogh the pucker factor is actually a million-bajillion as stated. Especially with the traverse fairly thin and rocky as we had it. Gear Notes: Axes for the upper S-curves & traverse. Approach Notes: Travers into the White Salmon Valley

Trip: Barometer Mountain, Baroclinic Zone - S Ridge Up, N Ridge Down Trip Date: 02/27/2021 Trip Report: Me, @thedylan and @MGraw skied Barometer Mountain last saturday with the goal of skiing out down what has been called the Baroclinic Zone. I don't know if this is a well-accepted name but we found it on Caltopo. We dropped a car at the Salmon Ridge Snopark at the Nooksack bridge, then got a buddy to give us a ride to Heather Meadows. Thanks Dave! We skinned over Herman Saddle and Galena Butte getting great light powder turns, then followed some guys up the south ridge of Barometer. They set a great skin track and I was glad I told them so when we later found out they are CC poobahs, great meeting you guys! The skiing off the summit was great, then a short skin up to the 5500' point on the north ridge of Barometer. From here we had a great time skiing 3300' down to Anderson Creek Road and out to the car. There were some tight trees and some brush but it was great (we called it mini ski mountaineering to adjust the mental picture of what is acceptable fun). The snow coverage was good all the way to the car where we had chips and beer. A great time was had by all! Me and Dylan nearing point 5500': Great tree powder: Photos by Mike, scouting trip 3 days prior by Mike and Dylan, nice work! Gear Notes: Skis Approach Notes: Car shuttle was clutch!

Trip: Sperry Peak - East Gully Trip Date: 01/23/2021 Trip Report: With the long period of sunshine after the rain event, @thedylan and I figured it would be lousy skiing but should be great for climbing... we were right! (This time). Earlier this fall we had made a list of possible winter climbing objectives, but then it started snowing, and snowing, and snowing; so we gave it up and went skiing. But this was our opportunity. Emboldened by some beta from this 2009 trip report, and this extra beta from Kyle M we decided to go for the East Gully route on Sperry Peak. It turned out to be an awesome route for easy ice and snow. Typically crappy ice climbers (like us) are left out in the cold (see what I did there?) when looking for alpine routes. You ask on a forum for east ice routes and everyone suggests Colonial, Eldo, Graybeard, etc. Or else North Twin and east snow routes. There never seems to be a happy medium or real climbing but not AI4. This was it! We nailed the conditions on route, except for a little sugary snow shenanigans on the ridge. The Mountain Loop Highway is closed for the winter at Deer Creek at 1600' so we opted for bikes. After a TH bivy on Friday night we started off at 5am. To our surprise we made it to the summer trailhead with only minimal biking through crusty snow, arriving there at 6:30 with 7.6 miles under our belts already. We brought snowshoes but ditched them at 2400' where the trail breaks out into the open and we got a good view of how crusty the snow was going to be. We did not regret this. The approach is short but was seriously aided by the high elevation snowpack and firm crust. We easily booted to the approach scramble at 3600'. First view: Route from where we left the summer trail: From the trail the route is obvious, up the gully that splits the face. All the photos make it look like there is a notch between two high points, but the right point is just a flat spot on the ridge. At about 3400' the approach scramble begins that shut down Kyle M and party. Fortunately, we had an easy snow gully, the ice step was wet and thin but there is a right variation that worked with an easy scramble section. The climbing begins at about 4400' with the money pitch right off the batt. If there was a way to build a rap anchor I might have been tempted to give up here and just lap the first pitch, there were several variations possible and it was awesome easy ice and hero snice, the kind of conditions to make you feel like a good ice climber! This didn't last and after maybe 100' it turned to snow over rock with no pro and a rock step looming, I built a crappy anchor and belayed Dylan up. He took the rock step that turned out to be an easy scramble move aided by the shockingly warm sunshine (I climbed it without gloves or a jacket). Then we were back into the snow gully. From here it was simul-soloing moderate snow and snice for several simul blocks with one great snice and ice step in the mix for Dylan to lead. First pitch: Second pitch rock step with spindrift: I lead again up to the ridge, as I approached it I realized I was climbing up to a cornice so had to bear left onto some insanely steep sugary snow with no pro and terrible axe plunges. I wallowed upward somehow making decent footholds and trusting that it seemed to be working. After probably 30 minutes for what was realistically probably 50' but felt like 200 I topped out on the ridge at a flat safe spot at 5500' and started burying everything metal I had for a crappy anchor in the sugar snow. I was psychologically done from the insecurity of it. You don't train for those conditions. The climbing worked, somehow, but it felt awful. Dylan, naturally, made it look easy on second. Dylan's photo looking back down to my belay with the NE ridge behind: Dylan lead the next simul block through the same place mentioned in the 2009 report: " the physical crux of the climb on such a move that required hooking a tree and pulling up with disintegrating footholds above a near vertical flute that dropped into the north face." Second that! The summit was close but the cornice looked daunting, fortunately, it was mostly fatigue talking and it was an easy 4' vertical step onto the summit! Summit slope: We had a good snack break in the sun and felt much rejuvenated. The descent went smoothly, some front pointing and careful walking on crusty snow, mostly NW near the scramble route to the head of the cirque and across the lake to the trail route and out to Headley Pass. We hit the summer TH at 6pm making it an 11.5 hour day on foot, just under 14 car to car. This was a fantastic route, if we could figure out a better way to do the NE ridge part I would definitely go back. There was an ice line to the left a few hundred feet below the ridge crest that I think the '09 party took, but it looked hard compared to the snow I did... in retrospect... Gear Notes: bikes, sneakers, boots, axe, ice tool, helmets, 60m 1/2 rope, 3 screws, some nuts and cams (placed 2 rock pieces all day, minimal options), 2 pickets (3 maybe useful?) Approach Notes: Bikes! Crust made for awesomely fast travel on the low angle stuff. The climb is very accessible from the summer TH.

Nice Kyle, I've been looking up there while serac-ing, wondering how all that stuff was. Thanks for the compilation!

Does anyone have a recent photo of the north face of Shuksan? Possibly from Goat Mountain or nearby. I'm looking to assess ice/rock ratios. Thanks.

Does anyone have a recent photo of the north face of Shuksan? Possibly from Goat Mountain or nearby. I'm looking to assess ice/rock ratios. Thanks.

Pretty weak Dylan, couldn't even c2c the TFT after a broken leg. I guess the northern Pickets in a day will have to wait 'til next year. Awesome work @JonParker!