GabrielM

Lacking any interest so far, I bit the bullet and went solo yesterday up North Twin Sister West Ridge. On my way to trail-head, around the turnoff for Middle Fork logging road I was greeted by the welcoming committee, a black bear that darted across the road The gate at trail-head was locked and there was one other car at the small parking just ahead of the gate. The logging road was mostly uneventful, the only exciting thing being a coyote (or a fox?!) that I saw (about 500 ft away from me) and decided to go away after making a bit of noise. I had the GPX map loaded on my Suunto and it was smooth sailing up the logging roads to the turnoff for North Twin Sister. So was the spur up to the ridge (a bit overgrown in places) and the trail through the forested area. Did not have a lot of luck identifying where cairns were placed on the ridge so I made the most of the description from Matt Gunn Scrambles book and in general stuck to the ridge as much as it looked sensible, diverting left or right as necessary. Made the summit in 2:50 - 2:55 from the gate. Close to the top I ran into a party of 2 fine old gentlemen from Oregon (the other car that was parked at the gate) and saw another party of 3 that just started descending the North slopes (which seem to still hold a fair bit of snow). I didn't carry an ice axe and / or crampons with me so I returned the same way. Suffices to say that on the way down I saw different cairns that on the way up and in general picked the least resistance path (mostly on the left side of the ridge as you go down). I took my time on the ridge descent and so I did on the logging road back to the car. Made it as far as 3/4 mile away from the gate in 6:25 when I heard a van approaching me from behind (it was the party of 3 that was descending the North slopes). I could not refuse the ride to the gate, even it was just for 3/4 mile To say that the rock is like sandpaper is an understatement: I don't have much skin left on my finger tips and my iPhone no longer recognizes my fingerprints Here are few snaps I took. Still keen to buddy up with someone and do the South Twin and / or the traverse. PM or post here if interested.

I just did Crown Mountain and West Crown (North Vancouver, BC, where I'm based) which worked out to 6,500 ft elevation gain and 9.5 miles and wouldn't mind taking tomorrow off But Saturday (or Sunday) works for me. I can't find any info about the middle one but South one sounds good. Gabriel

I changed this one to an open date as long there is some interest. With couple days heads up I should be able to go as long as the weather window is favorable (weekends preferred but during the week is okay too). PM or post here.