geosean

Just posted a report on Millennium Wall near Leavenworth:

Trip: Millennium Wall Ice - Leavenworth - Various TR Trip Date: 12/30/2017 Trip Report: Millennium Wall was in but wet on Saturday. We did a few top rope laps. There were some areas that were leadable with good hard ice under the slush. It was tough breaking trail basically the whole way through Cascade Concrete, so go do it soon and keep the boot pack clear! Gear Notes: Usual Approach Notes: Skis, snowshoes, boot pack, tried it all... nothing worked great.

Nice, that looks awesome! Thanks for posting and fueling the imagination.

BTW the new website makes writing trip reports waaaaaay easier! Loved it. Now everyone else write one! I don't believe that no one is out there climbing!!

Me, Andy, Joel and Fred climbed Shuksan via the Sulphide Glacier route the weekend of the 9th-10th. We took skis (and a split board) to within a few hundred feet of the summit, carrying them for only the first 2 miles of trail walking. It was strange to travel up into such warmer weather with the inversion going on. It was winter at Baker Lake, the lower parts of the mountain were spring like, and the summit was wintry again. We camped at the normal glacier camp on Saturday after getting an alpine start of 10:45 am from the TH. With the winter darkness setting in I think we went to bed about 6 or 7 pm, it was sweet to sleep for so long. Up at 5, moving at 6 we skinned up wind crust and crud to maybe a third of the way up the summit pyramid before switching to crampons and axes. Fred led the booting all the way to the top through wind crust on top of pow on top of verglas. The summit was amazing, quiet, lonely, and calm! After a somewhat mediocre upper portion the bottom half of the Sulphide was pretty good skiing due to the sun having warmed the wind crud. My light mountaineering skis were sub par in the crud, but everyone had fun. Back at camp at 11:30 for lunch and water in t-shirts. We did a combination of strategies on the descent, but two of us skied all the way to the dirt on the trail traverse below 3000' before booting it to the car. I think it is safe to say a good time was had by all! It was amazing to have the mountain to ourselves for like 28 hours. Views were fantastic and weather/conditions darn good. I was particularly glad to make it since I was 0-2 on ski attempts on this route. Hiking in wearing long underwear: Skinning up the ridge: Sunrise: Summit gully: Summit views:

Thanks for posting!

Thanks a lot for the work. One thing I really liked before was the ability to see all new trip reports at a glance. I like to read them all and don't necessarily click on each region. Thanks again for all the effort, maybe TRs participation will pick up!!!

That's awesome. Nice work pushing through.

Trip: American Border Peak - ABP - SE Route Date: 9/16/2017 Trip Report: Fred and I climbed American Border Peak via the standard route (Beckey's SE Face). It was a piece of cake, go get it! Well, maybe not sooo easy. Wear boots for ankle support, and bring poles, thats all I can say. You cant really beat Klenke's beta on Summitpost, although I though there was a bit more beta than necessary on the climbing portion; it was the easiest part of the whole trip and only 40m; 5.3 as advertised. I led the pitch from the base of the chimney through the keyhole placing only 1 piece. There is a piton, and a slung chockstone to clip, then I slung two more chockstones to get to the rap webbing at the top of the keyhole. 13.5 hours car to car with about an hour on the summit. 9.9 miles 5100' vertical If you are rapping and there are 7 pieces of webbing is it necessary to add another? If so please remove 6 or 7. This is the tat I removed from 4 rap stations. There were literally 8 pieces on one chockstone. We left sufficient webbing at each rap. (Beer can for scale). Fred on one of the traverses up high: Canadian Border Peak from the summit. The views make it all worth while, well... maybe not this time: Fred on ONE of the talus basins you traverse on the approach: Gear Notes: poles set of nuts (used 2 for a belay anchor at the bottom of the chimney) 4 cams (used 1) slings pocket knife Approach Notes: Slow more than long.

Thanks for posting here, its nice to have the Rangers as members of the climbing community!

Trip: Mt Triumph - NE Ridge Date: 8/12/2017 Trip Report: Me, Fred, and Max climbed the NE Ridge on Triumph in a day on Saturday. It was fantastic! Though smoky. We TH bivied for a couple of hours on Friday night and were on the trail at 2:30 am. We reached the saddle on the trail above the lakes in 2 hours, the col in 2 more. I think it was about 2 more to the notch in the ridge. Summited at 11:30 am, back to the trailhead at 9:30 pm. Navigating after the campground at the first lake was tough in the mostly dark, we took a few wrong turns. The snow was firm both directions so crampons are advised (as Max learned the hard way). We took a ramp on the right hand side of the gully to reach the notch in the ridge. This was really easy, third class at the worst spot. We simul-climbed the entire ridge except the crux crack, which I followed in approach shoes without doing a single crack technique move - because I suck at those. We rapped I think 5 times on the way down, near the crux and at the bottom mostly. We found two places where it was more than a 30m rap to the next station... Not sure what that is all about since everyone says a single 60m works. It worked, but was kind of dumb belaying out like 10 feet to the next station. Just make sure the first person to rap has the rack. The views the entire time from the col were great although there was still a lit of smoke - thanks a lot Canada! All in all a great day out! We were all pretty wiped by the time we hit the car again, and I was a bit bummed to miss out on the bivy, but the weather called for rain on Sunday. I would say it is moderately reasonable as a single day trip if you are comfortable simul-climbing or soloing low 5th class. Fred posturing on the summit while the Pickets and Max look on: Some cool clouds spilling over the ridge between Triumph and Despair (no joke intended): A colorful moment in the mountains (literally): Gear Notes: 2 30m ropes approach shoes 6 cams to 3" set of nuts 13 runners axe crampons Approach Notes: Doing it in the light would be good, at least until the second lake.

Well expressed and a good assessment of the issues involved. I have been almost killed by rappelling parties as well. BE CAREFUL out there, please, everyone. And try to avoid knocking stuff down while raping. Glad you ended up OK.

Trip: Sloan Peak - Corkscrew Date: 7/29/2017 Trip Report: Me and Chris climbed Sloan Peak on Saturday from the N Sloan Trailhead off N Fork Sauk River Road. It was a good long day, but due to light packs totally doable. We spent 12.5 hours car-to-car I believe. It was 11.5 miles and 6100' vertical gain. The scrambling was pretty easy, route finding very easy. The glacier was getting pretty broken up though. It will be passable for weeks yet, but a little sketchy. Maybe take a couple of pickets to set as running pro as there was some tight zig-zagging on snow bridges. We wore approach shoes for the trip but did end up with wet feet due to the snow walking; we did try to stick to snow as much as possible on the way out though. Crampons are recommended as much of the snow was icy even in the afternoon. First views of the summit: A fantastic section of the "scramble": Glacier Peak from the summit: Baker, White Chuck, Pugh and Bedal from the summit: Glacier-polished slabs on the descent: Gear Notes: 30m rope, axe, crampons, helmets. Approach Notes: Sloan Peak Trail was a bit brush and wet (due to dew) in the morning but easy to follow. Snow begins at about 5000' but can be avoided all the way to the glacier if you want.

Wow, awesome work. And a great write up. Thanks.

Yeah, there was lots of snow everywhere for the time of year. The North faces and N. Ridge of Forbidden seemed to be holding a lot still.

Trip: Mt. Torment - South Ridge Date: 6/25/2017 Trip Report: Me and Tristan climbed Torment by the South Ridge Route on Sunday. We had planned to do the Torment-Forbidden Traverse but the rigors of the approach and climbing with backpacks (despite going pretty light) were too much and we gave it up after just Torment. It was still a good trip in the mountains with great weather and we did climb a big mountain. We started Saturday midday from the Torment Basin "trail". The rangers were of no help with a description or conditions of the route. We went this way due to permits and the fact that the road was closed just beyond so Boston Basin was a lot longer approach than normal. To do it over I still might go from Torment, even if the road was open - the BB trail was actually worse than I remember it being last year. Beckey was actually spot on and only slightly vague with his approach description. When it gets crappy and brushy stay close to the cliffs, I think. We camped at the 6600' saddle on the south ridge of Torment, it took about 6 hours with several long breaks and a fairly moderate pace... plus some off route bush whacking. The next morning we packed up and climbed the south ridge, the notch was an easy walk on snow to reach, actually we skipped some class 4 described in Nelson & Potterfield and just walked right into the first dihedral. We ended up pitching out basically the whole route to the high notch not on purpose but because every time we were ready to simul the rope drag made the leader stop and belay. I recommend no more then 30m of rope between you. Climbing with an overnight backpack on is tough apparently, plus it was hot, so at the high S ridge notch we decided we better not attempt the traverse. We ditched packs and scrambled up the last bit, placing a few pieces. Looking out toward Sahale from the upper notch: Photo of the traverse from the summit: We used Nelson & Potterfield for the route beta and it worked well, plus just follow the tat, there is tons. Please keep your knife handy on the descent and clean some of it. We rapped off and down the gully onto the Taboo Glacier, then hiked down to the upper bivys in BB. There was just one melted out and dry. We had a leisurely evenining and morning, then hoofed it back to the car. I think the BB trail is worse than last year, more deadfall and more brush. The traverse from BB: Close up of Forbidden: Gear Notes: Approach shoes were great, just a little wet on the approach due to snow. 60m rope 7 cams up to #2 set of nuts rap webbing aluminum axe and crampons trekking poles would have been nice on the snowfields and approach Approach Notes: Beckey or Nelson & Potterfield both nailed it, just listen to them and not your brain like we did. Near the top of the forest we went too far left into the trees hoping for relief from brush but it didn't work well. Stay right of all major creeks.

I didn't see any snow on the south butt. The only snow we touched on the ridge was on the north side, so I would guess it is all clear. The gullies to approach the buttress looked tricky though, kind of shoulder season stuff: Easy section of the ridge with weather behind (it was dry all day, just cloudy): Also why do some of the pics rotate? It doesn't display that way anywhere else.

Trip: Cutthroat Peak - West Ridge Date: 6/11/2017 Trip Report: With a somewhat iffy weather forecast we opted for an easier climb. We went into it pretty casually... so much so that we didn't really read any beta before hand. More on that later. We did have cell phone pics of the Beckey description. We didn't know where to cross the creek but found a way. We stayed dry (or at least no one admitted to getting wet). There was a perfect amount of snow for accessing the ridge. We wore boots which was probably good because even with cool temps the snow was pretty wet. The first pitch (Beckey 5.2) was quite scary - very chossy and lots of loose holds. We simuled up it and along the crest to the summit block where we pitched out three short pitches to avoid rope drag. We also put on rock shoes at this point. After lounging on the summit in surprisingly warm and calm weather for quite a while we headed down. We totally botched the descent - if you go the way we went you will understand why people say to rap the S. Buttress. I believe there is a way to make it easy, but we already had all the training weight of extra clothing, so why take the easy way down. What you should do is rap skiers right from the summit chains (I think). We went skiers left and ended up below the south side of the ridge following tat nests for 5 raps (I think) until we hit snow again in the bowl. It would have been fun to down-climb the ridge, but at least we know the way not to go now. It took us 10.5 hours, leisurely with lots of time on top. Gear Notes: Single rack, single rope, axes, rock shoes (not really needed but nice) and boots. Lots more in the packs all day. Approach Notes: Super cruiser snow. S. Buttress gullies are melting out though.

Trip: Shuksan (no summit) - NW Couloir Date: 5/27/2017 Trip Report: I climbed the NW Couloir on Shuksan on Saturday. The snow was fantastic for steep climbing, consolidated and crusty. There were some delicate moat crossings, but I could have end run them instead. The top portion, above, below and including the traverse were snice/ice that was front pointing only. This made the traverse quite spicy given the cliff below and the exposure. Me standing at a moat possibly 2/3 of the way up: Top out on the Hanging/Curtis Glacier: It took about 2.5 hours to climb the whole thing, I topped out on the Curtis Glacier at about 10:30. The Curtis was still mostly frozen, only occasional post holing; then I cruised down the White Salmon glissading most of the way. I had wanted to go for the summit but my buddy bailed in the valley due to not feeling well. Met back up with him at the bottom of the White Salmon about 12:30, after a short nap at the WS-Curtis divide bivy site. Gear Notes: Carried a bunch of stuff; used axe, tool, crampons. Approach Notes: Did the traverse, it was pretty decent, mostly snow but not skin-able. I would carry skis from the car to where you break out of the trees on the traverse if I were to go back today.

Nice work; and thanks for posting!

Thanks for posting, always good to have conditions info!

Trip: South Twin Sister - West Ridge Date: 5/21/2017 Trip Report: Climbed the west ridge of the South Twin Sister yesterday with two buddies. It was a great (though very hot) day in the mountains. Light packs and enjoyable climbing. I had been down the west ridge of the south twice, but never up it. We pushed bikes up the road for about 5 miles (except Fred who had to walk out). Then snow forced us to hike the rest of the way. The trail was a bit brushy: We kicked steps up a steep snow slope to access the ridge at about 6100'. At about 6700' the rock gets more difficult and we took the south side snow slope, which proved to be tough in itself - steep wet snow slogging up to near the summit. For the descent we downclimbed the NE face, crossed the glacier to the 5900' notch and descended snow to the basin between the twins and out to the bikes. It was a great day in the hills. Lots of mountaineering challenges - approach, brush, steep snow, gambling on a descent. Loads of fun. This is an interesting time of year to climb in the Sisters range, the snow really adds to the mountaineering challenges versus the easy summer scramble. Gear Notes: Axe, helmet, crampons, bikes. Approach Notes: Bikes to 5 miles, at snow, then booted.

Awesome; looks like really fun conditions for the climb. Thanks for posting!

Thanks for the beta, good to have a conditions check-in!

Ha, just saw your report on TAY, nice job Pierce, glad you guys had a good trip. Sorry for the skin track back, we thought we were following somebody else's but turned out we were deranged with regret!