canela

Wondering about road conditions too- I wanted to get up to Rexford and have AWD- curious if the road is in similar condition to last year?

But don't rapp too far skier's right from the summit. That leads to having to climb back up your rap line, from experience.

That's pretty cold, dude. I agree with goatboy- I'm sure the other climber who lost control of the rope has called themselves all sorts of names and will do so for a long time- they definitely don't need anyone else calling him names, even if "knucklehead" is a fairly tame insult. I cannot come close to imagining how that person must feel right now. Have a heart.

I heard about this earlier today from another climber. We were discussing how it might be wise for people posting trip reports to not casually talk about glissading down Aasgard after climbing Dragontail and other peaks--- as less experienced climbers might read it and then take it to mean that Aasgard is a safe place to glissade. Everyone should be informed before heading out there and make their own informed decisions, but I cringe every time I read a TR with a note about being "able to get a few glissades in around Aasgard Pass", etc. Hoping for a good outcome....

Sorry, I'm a bit confused. What do you mean by a headwall? I've been up there in May and can't think about where this would be or what it would be on that route. Great TR otherwise! Thanks!

Trip: Tomyhoi Peak - Date: 8/17/2016 Trip Report: After the shitty choss pile proceeded by incredible trail run on Ptarmigan Ridge (from Artist Point) that was Coleman Pinnacle, Tomyhoi Peak was a welcome scramble. I debate posting a TR as it's not so much a climb/mountaineering adventure, but involves a pretty decent approach, an ice axe, and some 3rd class fun, so here it is. Slept at Twin Lakes TH the night prior (highly recommended!) and started up from Yellow Aster Butte TH at 8am. Apparently the first one up as I cleared the cobwebs, but this and the views improved after about 1.5 miles at the trail junction. Gorgeous single-track would make for an awesome run if not carrying an ice axe. Trail easy to follow until tarns, which is an incredible camping spot, and hard to convince myself to keep going and not just lounge and swim all day with incredible views of Baker, Shuksan, Tomyhoi, and border peaks. The trail from the tarns up towards Tomyhoi is very obvious, although getting there is not clear due to so many random trails, but easy enough. There are a number of false summits that then drop steeply to notches, some require a bit of easy 3rd class scrambling, and the snow is essentially nil (one place you can walk on snow if you want but not required) until the glacier before the last false summit. Not much water after 6500'. Crossing the glacier (top of it at the moat) straightforward although you have to walk the ridge of the moat which is a bit of an awkward balancing act in trail runners, but the runout is huge, not super steep, so consequences low; I just took it slow. This leads to a small chossy gully that bypasses some of the gendarmes on the ridge that I read were terrible to navigate otherwise, although looking at them they seem ok to scramble if you forget an ice axe (but I have no evidence of this). From the false summit, the drop down to the notch below the summit tower is steep and scrambly, and the real summit tower scramble looks more 5th class than 3rd, but SummitPost and Steph Abegg's descriptions were helpful in figuring the right line/gully to climb, and it really is quite easy scrambling on solid rock although maybe some would call it 4th class as a fall would have you tumbling down a gully. Pretty awesome though. Didn't see a soul above 5000', other than Canadian loggers down in the valley below, and a black hawk helicopter (border patrol?). Definitely a worthwhile outing, a long day, but the views and scrambling are totally worth it. Gear Notes: Ice axe, trail runners Microspikes (not necessary) Approach Notes: Pretty easy, follow beta from these: http://www.summitpost.org/tomyhoi-peak/150463 http://www.stephabegg.com/home/tripreports/washington/northcascades/tomyhoi

You can use Strava without data in airplane mode. I did this recently in Spain to avoid roaming charges; Strava just uses GPS on phone and then will save info to app on phone until you turn back on cellular data or WIFI, then will upload automatically to Strava site. FYI

Yeah, Ragged Edge was great, but definitely get to the base of the route early otherwise you will be waiting in line (or go on a weekday).

Nice, thanks for the write up! I loved the summit goat pic. Hopefully I'll get up there this week!

Go to link below for TR. Trip report not posting even with Timmy's formatting fix. Ragged Edge TR

Trip: Vesper Peak - Ragged Edge Date: 8/6/2016 Trip Report: Dirt road to TH is "closed" due to washouts but with caution any car can make it to TH (Sunrise Mine). Started hiking at 7am- saw no one until outlet to lake above Headlee Pass and below Sperry Peak. Came across a bunch of tents and another pair of climbers also headed to north side of Vesper to climb. Headed up trail across outlet and after going through dirt and rocky shrub zone, followed cairns for standard trail on the slabs until red slabs then left standard trail to traverse right towards western-most col between Vesper and Wolf peaks. It was not hard to get to col in running shoes; one small snowfield was easy to traverse and soft enough that our carrying of ice axes and micro spikes amounted to weight training only. Once at col, put on climbing gear and left extra gear and pack tucked behind a rock. No snow to cross on traverse around north side of Vesper to start of Ragged Edge/True Grit. The traverse is fairly straightforward, although we missed the drop down to get to the start of the variation of Ragged Edge, and there were so many parties on the rock and waiting to start on the ground, so we started (after waiting 30 mins) at original start of RE which is the same as start of TG. Available beta and gear suggestions are pretty spot-on. P1 and P2 fairly easy. P3 run out until you get to bolt. P4 seemed easier than P3 or P5 so it's probably 5.6 and not 5.7 but a nice pitch. P5 start to bolt is hairy with exposed slabby feet move but can put in 2 solid nuts in crack between anchor and first bolt. P6 has 2 pitons and nice pro in places, run out in the middle, but very easy, straightforward climbing with nice aesthetic on exposed arête to summit. We descended scramble route and in the clouds it was disorienting; ended up needing to traverse more skiers left than expected to get back to stashed gear at col but it is easy class 2 so not an issue. Hike out uneventful other than coming across a guy with his dog (yellow lab) after descending from Headlee Pass. The dog's paws were all bleeding; the owner didn't realize until it was too late and did what he could to put rags/socks/tape on her paws. It looked pretty rough... Definitely put dog booties on your 4-legged friend if you bring them up here. The mosquitoes were getting worse by this point- 6pm? (lot of time spent between waiting to get on climb, waiting behind other climbing parties, retrieving gear after, chatting with other people we ran into that we knew)- but not noticed while walking, so bug spray would be overkill unless you plan to sit around. The berries! Endless huckleberries and blueberries between the TH and Headlee Pass. I don't know if I've ever seen so many, on both sides of the trail. And a number of salmonberries. Some are getting overripe so this next week may be the last time to get them.

Damn, I can't find anything about it other than on Peakbagger, but seems to fit the photo. Looks incredible!

Awesome, and crazy entertaining. I love it. What is the peak in the foreground, center, in the first summit (panorama) photo?

Tim and Zaher- same here- any updates on conditions are appreciated! Specifically snow on approach- do-able in approach/running shoes vs boots?

Yeah, pics were total bunk- nothing turns out well in the dark it seems. Sorry.