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.

No, but there was a deer. He chased us around.

Yeah, I realize not a real TR, but as the rangers had no real news on the area, and I couldn't find anything online for this year (other than skiing on TAY), I thought I'd post something so others could avoid our... error. Someone found the gaiters in the morning and returned them to me, which is awesome; they had a similar report about the creeks and dealing with them in the AM (not bad) vs PM (water above gaiters and not fun). There was also a ptarmigan.

Found 'em!

Lost fairly new gaiters on hike up to Boston Basin on 6/3/16. Somewhere between TH and the first creek crossing (Midas). I'll definitely buy you a beer if you have them! asilbermd at gmail.com Thanks!

Trip: Boston Basin - Forbidden Date: 6/3/2016 Trip Report: More to come (photos)... hopefully this will help anyone headed up there today. Short story: couldn't get above 4500', so we didn't get to Boston Basin/ Forbidden. Sad. Beautiful views though! We got our permits for Boston Basin in Marblemount at 5pm, and got to MP 20 on Cascade River Rd after a stop at the diner by 730pm. Plan was to camp in Boston Basin Friday and Saturday nights, climbing Forbidden W Ridge Saturday and Sharkfin + Sahale Sunday. The gate is closed at MP 20. Most route descriptions say that the TH to Boston Basin is at MP 21.7, but the ranger reports said that it is 2.5 miles past the gate at MP 20, and we found that to be true... so the TH is really at MP 22.5 (ish) and around 3200' elevation. We found the trail to be very brushy (vine maple mostly) - if you are inclined to carry a machete, bring it (no joke)- but OK to follow and fairly dry (I was wearing minimalist trail runners) until 4000'. Just before the first stream crossing there are some downed trees which make finding the trail a bit of a hassle, but bearing uphill at an angle towards Forbidden has you on the trail again just before the stream (Midas?). At 1030pm, we found the stream crossing to be too dangerous; a pair of guys attempting Dorado Needle at the cars said that their friends had experienced similar problems a week or so ago. Footprints and a bag of tennis shoes lower down suggested that another party got up there, but it was cooler earlier in the week, so perhaps the stream was easier to cross. Because it required walking directly in the stream (unless one were to run and jump 3+ feet to a rocky landing higher up somehow), and the stream crossing was essentially a break in a roaring waterfall (we couldn't hear each other talking over the noise)... coupled with the fact that there were 2-3 more stream crossings to go, and the temps were forecasted to increase significantly throughout the weekend (we were afraid the streams would just be insane on the way out Sunday night, and I have to be at work on Monday)... we bailed. Not an easy decision after the approach with 40 lb packs, but there was no way we were going to attempt it even without packs on. On the hike out I lost my black O.R. gaiters to the overgrown vine maple shitshow that was the trail, so if anyone finds them and wants to send me an email I'd be forever grateful- asilbermd at gmail.com It was already late, and we figured we might as well suffer more, so we continued up the road to the end... it was completely dry except for 3 small snow patches... so apart from that and some rock clearing that seems to be in progress, we're hopeful the road will open all the way soon. Biking up is no problem, and there's no need for boots (well, for what we did). Heard reports of snow at 5000' but melting fast. We camped at the end of the road, and awoke to huge ice/rockfall from the hanging glaciers on J-burg. We were totally wiped from the late night, lack of sleep, and inability to get to Boston Basin, so we bailed for the car. Passed two black bears on the hike down this morning; salmonberries are out; the parking lot had 6 cars when we left last night, and this morning (Saturday) it was more than full at 830am. Pretty crazy. Pics to follow... although the one of the stream crossing didn't really turn out due to lack of light at the time. Approach Notes: See above.

http://www.ncwcalendar.com/news/2016/may/16/sheriffs-office-identifies-climber-killed-in-icicle-canyon-fall/ Her name and more details are listed in this article.

This is so sad to hear. I just took my in-laws out to climb in the same area two weeks ago... It's hard to imagine how one would deal with something like this. Does anyone know details on the Prime Rib accident? I know the article said that a knot came untied, but what kind of knot was used (they mentioned it was backed up with a figure 8 but it implies another main knot was used). I'm just curious from a "don't make the same mistake" point of view.

Ah that just seems cluttered to me. I called Marblemount rangers and they said they might open the road this Friday evening but only to El Dorado parking; it would be another 2-3 miles to walk up the road to the Boston Basin TH. No word as to when the end of the road will open.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what the W Ridge of Forbidden would be like this weekend? I know the road opens Friday, but does anyone have any info as to snowpack in Boston Basin, or how dry the ridge is?

Thanks for the update! I hope to do this one soon!