zoroastr

GregR: My camera is my trusty, 3-yr-old Canon A510 PowerShot, with a whopping 3.2 Megapixels--purchased at Fry's for 120 bucks. It's small, easy handling, and the bundled software does a pretty good job of stitching panos. --cheers.

KaskadskyjKozak: Here's my naive attempt to address your questions. I'm not a very advanced climber and I'm not very good at orienteering or route finding; I'm the type who'd rather just head for the hills and poke around until I find the best route, even if it takes several trips. Fortunately, my climbing partner is a professional surveyor who typically takes a much more disciplined approach to the whole climbing thang. In the case of Whitehorse, we've summited more than once, but the first couple of times we tried it, we made it way more difficult than it needed to be. Here's one way to snag the thing quick: 1. hike the approach trail until you pass the small mine entrance on your right. 2. continue into the main drainage creek and mount the avy debris. 3. follow the drainage creek [avy debris in early season] until it splits and is joined by another large, incoming stream to the right [also totally iced over right now]. 4. start heading up this other creek / avy path as it leads you away from the tempting, direct route up the main drainage. 5. as you move up this other, lesser drainage, start shopping around on your left for an easy way up onto the heavily wooded 'schwacky, steepish slopes. 6. once in the woods, start a rising traverse through the dense, rotten woods that gradually trends to climber's left, and back toward the main peak. this'll put you in a long gully, which you'll want to follow up for about 500 ft. of vert. 7. pop into the woods again, and continue your rising, left-trending traverse. 8. this'll put you in another smaller gullly, but you just want to keep moving up and toward the main, central drainage and the open slopes below the upper reaches of the main peak. 9. eventually, your rising traverse will dump you out in clear slopes, with cliffs on your right. Stay far enough away from the right-hand cliffs to avoid the mini 'lanches that will occasionally send down a few bowling balls. 10. the rest is simple: just keep moving up, hugging the cliffs to climber's right. move past the easy, filled-in 'schrund and up to the summit plateau and the gorgeous, moderate slopes to the actual summit ridge. ----------------- Avalanche concerns: Well, yes, we did encounter a few small surprises as we moved up past the cliffs. We knew going in that these cliffs might send down some of their still-considerable load, but they're are really just small sloughs, and the underlying snowpack is stable. Still, given the current conditions, it probably behooves the prudent climber not to tarry en route to the stabler slopes above the 'schrund. --------hope this helps. enjoy a great moderate route!

un-b-lievable! ...I'm still gaping. thx for the t.r.

Hmm. Interesting. I don't know what the various routes are called, but I do know with absolute certainty that the route we climbed is visible in the photo I took from the Shell station. As I look at the pic, I can recall each landmark along the way. Thanks for the info, though...I like mountain trivia!

Trip: Whitehorse Peak - Parade Route Date: 4/26/2008 Trip Report: Took a couple of office friends along on an early-season slog to the top of Whitehorse during Saturday's rare break in the Northwest gloom. This shot from the Shell station, taken after we'd descended and were having coffee, shows the entire route. After a brief 'shwack through the shortish approach, we basically hugged the cliffs along the right side of the main slopes in the center of the frame. Half an hour after snapping this shot, we were contentedly scarfing Mex' and chaining Dos Equis in Marysville--nice day in the hills. The main 'schrund, which can be a formidable barrier in late season, is currently so filled-in it's a jog! This mountain is holding a major snowpack right now, and even with the snowshoes, we were punching pretty deep. Snow stayed soft all the way up. Alex [black shell], charging up the mountain's upper slopes. Out for only his second climb ever, the 20-something made short work of the 6600-ft. gain. ...watch this space...potential mountain monster! Kudos also go to office mate Tommy who, despite having forgotten to bring snowshoes, still somehow managed to swim to the summit without shaving a second off the group's sub-5-hour ascent! Pretty but interminable trudge... Preparing to finish it off. The final climb to the summit ridge ramped up a bit, but the snow was so friendly that the 'pons never came off the packs. Topping out in deepish but nnicely firm powder.... Tommy, nearing the summit, with a parade of two-plankers strung out below. My summit shots were crap, but the views were v-e-r-y nice! EJohnson, enjoying a leisurely, picturesque drop... Gear Notes: snowshoes, boots, 'pons [never used], sticks, axe, snax, WATER! Approach Notes: After doing this one a few times in years past, we've figured out a pretty quick path through the nastiness down below. Snow is currently deep, soft, and a tad annoying, but this makes for a screaming fast drop--win some, lose some....s'all good.

Trip: Colchuck / Dragontail - Ridge Traverse Date: 4/12/2008 Trip Report: Yesterday's freaky nice weather prompted me n' EJohnson to head over to the other side o' the Crest for some early season slogging. We actually tried to snag this traverse last Saturday, but got seriously slowed by deepish powder en route to Colchck Col. Our trax were perfectly preserved between weekends, and we were able to slip back into them yesterday for a quick boot up to the start of the traverse. Nice shot of the gully route we did in a longish day on Argonaut a few seasons back. After topping out on Argo, we followed the connecting ridge to Colchuck and dropped from Colchuck Col. The route is classic moderate couloir climbing, culminating in a single low-5th roped pitch and an airy traverse across the upper snowfield. On the earlier climb of Argo, I only had one of those crappy disposable cameras that used something called "film." I left a shot of Argonaut's terminal snowfield on SummitPost that year: http://www.summitpost.org/image/53273/152581/a-steepish-traverse-to-the.html After some brief snackage on top of Colchuck, we booted back down the the Col prior to heading up the gully on the right to gain the ridge on Dragontail. In order to avoid a descent of Becky's 55-60-degree recommended slope, we exited the gully for a scramble along the narrow and spectacularly exposed ridge. Though the impulse to linger on the exposed ridge is strong, lengthening shadows argue for an accelerated pace... The ridge itself goes quick; no need to lose altitude, as the traverse to the summit is straightforward. Summit shot on Dragontail, with the ridge route in the background... Preparing to drop down to the Enchantments; descent to the lake requires only a quick hour's drop via Aasgard... Gear Notes: Day gear...stick, 'pons, Pop-Tarts, MP3's. Approach Notes: Approach trail to the lake is packed concrete, but kinda wanders a bit. Three or four-mile boring road section still gated and mostly covered with slush.

I'm sure I'm just being over-protective, but I have to admit that the idea of sending a 5-year-old up a 5.7 route descibed as "rotten even though it looks OK" gave me pause. Did I read that right?

Trip: Mt. Baker - Solo Day Climb Date: 9/3/2007 Trip Report: At once pretty and frustrating, the approach trail traverses a seemingly endless series of moraines before finally turning toward the mountain. Fewer parties than I expected on the mountain. I had originally contemplated another trip up the parade route on Rainier, but this climb turned out to be every bit as aesthetic and rewarding as any of the one-day trips I've made up Baker's larger neighbor to the south--and much less crowded! The Baker climb also seemed slightly more challenging than the DC on Rainier; the terminal slopes before the summit plataeu ramped up nicely, and reminded me of the chute on Rainier's Kautz Glacier route. Mountaineering instruction on the upper moraines. On Baker's lower slopes, a commercially-guided rope team plods upward... A bit later, the same party pauses a few hundred feet below the first set of large crevasses. I'm not sure if they planned to summit, because they turned back and began descending from their position in this photograph...can you pick 'em out? A narrow snowbridge takes climbers through one end of this monster. I'd heard reports of deteriorating snow conditions from some descenders, but I found the upper slopes very nicely frozen, a fact which made for some highly enjoyable cramponing in the final few hundred feet. Taken from the summit 5 hours and 57 minutes after leaving the car. The wind on top was feirce and relentless, making the 10-minute walk from the flat summit plataeu to the true summit, a curious little sand hill, seem like an hour. I forget the name of this satellite peak, but it was incredible--a complex, majestic jumble of ice and rock.

...drove to the MB trailhead once before realizing i hadn't packed the shoes. i was pissed enough to do the thing in a pair of those addidas flip flop things that are just a sole with a big wide band over the front of your foot. worked great going up, but the tootsies were a little raw by the time i was ready for my large coffee and king-sized payday at ken's....strong work--way to git 'er done! [did i say that right?]...

i am without speech... nice one! this definitely tops any of my puny efforts. please take me on the next one. I can just grab one of your pack straps when i start to wither.

Just for contrast, adding a shot of the entrance to the Colonial Glacier, taken from this year's abortive, early-season attempt. We walked right up into high winds and zero visibility...almost enough to make me put on pants!

...Actually, for my next multi-pitch trad lead, I'm handing the camera to my partner and wearing a kilt...stay-tuned for hi-res photos.

I wear the bike shorts sometimes because they're comfortable and fast. As far as being "gay," I'm afraid I wouldn't know. You can probably explain the world of gay fashion better than I can, though, so have at it...

Trip: P. Bunyan's Stump / Colonial Peak - 2-Peak Day Hike Date: 7/15/2007 Trip Report: Last Sunday, EJohnson and I decided to do a bit of "cleanup" in the Colonial Peak region. We'd already bagged several area walk-ups, but never Colonial itself, nor Paul Bunyan's Stump. After mounting the Colonial Glacier, we encountered a few Mountaineers descending from a climb of Snowfield Peak (located across the Neve Glacier). Last season, Johnson and I, along with a friend of Erick's, enjoyed a nice dayclimb of Snowfield in early season, logging a car-to-car time of just over ten hours--it was a blast, but a bit of a slog. On the lower slopes of P.B.'s Stump, during one of the peak's rare cloudless moments. By the time we approached the terminal summit blocks, the thing was once again socked in, and we were robbed of what must surely be some incredible views--grrr! We got revenge later in the day on top of Colonial. With the peak's upper reaches totally shrouded in mist, we mistakenly took the first line that looked like it might go. We knew we were off route when the moves started to run to 4th and low 5th class. Once on top, the joggers' 2nd class route revealed itself. Doing the summit ridge from the wrong side was a bit sketchy; the thing's realy just a pile of loose, teeter-totter blocks. Tiptoe carefully, as there's some healthy exposure... After topping out on the Stump, we decided to head back to the car early and grab some brews in town, but Colonial stayed fog-free and looked too tempting to pass up. Within minutes we were panting up the the lower slopes of the day's second goal. As we hadn't studied the guidebook, we picked what looked like a 3rd-class scramble route up a rocky ridge. For the second time that day, we had underestimated our line. A series of 4th-class ledges got us pretty close to what we thought was the summit... Found a neat little buttress toward the top of Colonial--made for a nice, airy scramble. From our high point on the summit ridge, we looked across to the true summit, which seemed to be about 20 feet higher. We immediately began casting about for a route to the peak's true apex, but some 40 mph, knock-you-on-your-ass winds, combined with the lateness of the hour prompted us to bail. Naturally, on descent, we discovered a huge cairn marking the joggers' path. Memo to self: RTFGB! We started our descent at 5:00 PM, and were at the car by 8:10 PM with bags o' daylight left, giving us a CTC time of 10-1/2 hours. Contemplating the goal of last year's epic day climb: distant Snowfield Peak from a point near the Colonial-Neve Col. This shot was meant to placate the 'stop-and-smell-the-roses' crowd, whose ire we constantly risk provoking with our fast-n-light tactics...oops, I didn't mean to open that particular can of worms...forget I said that.

Trip: Clark Mountain - Parade Rt. - Day Hike Date: 7/9/2007 Trip Report: Now that Summer has finally arrived [don't blink!], it's time for more shameless peakbagging! This time, Mileage Meister Erick Johnson, who, although he's won't admit it, is probably working on the Washginton High 100, suggested a peak I'd never heard of: Clark Mountain. I'd been in the general area before and knew its local reputation for unrivaled alpine splendor. We hit the trail at 9:00 AM sharp, and after sprinting through four miles of the most numerous and aggressive mosquitos I'd ever encountered, Johnson and I started to gain altitude. The approach valley is absolutely stunning, and makes for a perfect travel destination for those who--like me--can't afford Switzerland this year. 10 miles in, we reached the pass where most parties opt to bivy. Following a quick snack and the application of a slimy, fragrant layer of sunscreen, we were off in search of the Walrus Glacier. What follows are a few of my snaps from the ensuing journey... ---------- Approaching the Walrus Gl. From this perspective, the summit pyramid, which lies beyond the horizon, is just visible. If you look very closely, you can make out the parade of Mountaineers beginning their descent of the upper slopes of the Walrus [find them just to the right of the summit pyramid]. We chatted briefly with some of the Mountaineers. They were enjoying a liesurely 3-day trip to the area, were friendly, and seemed to be having a great time. ...and they they had really great gear! After making our way along the terminal ridge, we approached the summit. The scramble is strictly class 2, with occasional interesting class 3 or 4 steps like this one. After enjoying a snack on top and ogling the superb views in slack-jawed awe, we started back down. This shot includes a glimpse of the approach valley . Some of the gorgeous summer blossoms that grow rampant on the tight switchbacks leading up to the main pass. We started our hike at 9:00 AM, and were back at the car at 7:45 PM. with bags of sunlight left! --A great day in the hills! Gear Notes: I brought: * running shoes [kinda missed my boots on the steeper snice] * strap-on 'pons * poles * summer gear * snax and mp3's Approach Notes: For the first four miles of the approach, be prepared to either break all standing records for sprint speed, or don a beekeeper's outfit after bathing in deet. Seriously, we were both surrounded by literal clouds of very aggressive, fast moving "skeetos," which threatened to skew the cost / benefit calculus in favor of staying home.

I don't know how we managed it, but we escaped without a single tick. Last weekend, after hiking in the same valley, two friends and I collected at least a dozen "passengers" between us. I don't know anything about the life cycle of the tick, but last weekend must have been special for them in some way...

Trip: Cashmere Mountain - Standard Rt. - Variation Date: 4/15/2007 Trip Report: Facing the prospect of dismal weather locally, and lured by the promise of better hiking conditions to the east, Erick Johnson and I once again returned to the Leavenworth area. Cashmere had been on my list of desirable summer day hikes for some time, but I somehow never managed to get around to it. Johnson, who I suspect is secretly working on Washington's Highest 100, also coveted the peak, and we both relished the additional challenge imposed by the lingering snowpack. We left the car around 8:30 AM, quickly booted up the still-gated road section to the trailhead, pressed on to Eight-Mile Lake and then bore right up scree and snow fields to gain access to the valley to the north. A couple hours' slog across fairly firm snow brought us to the head of the main valley and the crest of the summer route ridge. The ridge walk was wonderful, with endless views across the valley to the Enchantments. Most of the approach ridge was like this: moderate to flat snowslopes on perfect snow. The interesting climbing doesn't actually start until you're on Cashmere itself. Excellent ridge walking in an incredibly scenic area... Looking across the valley, we gained a new perspective on some of the routes we'd done in years past: Argonaut and Sherpa Peaks, Johnson's Sherpa and Ice Cliff Glacier routes on Stuart, several climbs on Dragontail, Colchuck, Little Annapurna, etc... A quarter mile out, we wondered what the North Face and upper summit ridge would look like... After a brief pause for snacks, Johnson and I made our way across the North Face slopes, shopping around for a way up. We traversed to a point just short of the East Ridge and ascended a couple hundred feet of gorgoeously consolidated snow which ran to about 50 degrees and which probably should have been protected owing to the horrible runout, but we'd brought only axes and crampons. Johnson, of course, fairly jogged up the thing, while I required and extra 20 minutes of careful step-kicking up the steepening and ocassionally thin snowpack just below the summit ridge. The summit itself was a marvelous jumble of snow-dusted blocks, and We took turns scrambling to the cramped but spectacularly airy perch. Traversing back along the North Face in the late afternoon sunshine... To our astonishment, we discovered that all of the gullies on the south side of this peak are quite moderate. We hopped into one of them and lost a quick 500 feet with a glissade and a short traverse around the peak's southern flanks. We had no intention of retracing our longish approach route, favoring instead an exploratory hike-out via the nearest valley, which we hoped would take us to the original approach trail at a point fairly close to the road. Exactly two hours and one world-class bushwack later, we emerged slightly worse for wear at the exact spot we'd envisioned. At this point, a mile or so of dry trail and forty minutes' trudge down the gated road in the fading light of a fine Spring evening were all that stood between us and a stomach full of 76 station junk food--another perfect day in the hills. Gear Notes: Bring legs and lungs for this one, along with a stick and 'pons. Oh, and don't forget the sunscreen...I brought none, and as a consequence was forced to trudge along in my "sun suit:" hooded shell, gloves, pants, etc. Approach Notes: Road still gated due to largish washout. Trail to Eight-Mile Lake filled with punchy, miserable snow--catch it after a good freeze, though, and you're good.

Awesome! My hat is definitely lifted! Let me know when the next one's planned....that is, if you're not returning to Krypton right away..

Perusing your website has an interesting effect: it makes two hours go by like nothing! [the Moffit Pk. report is probably good for at least a couple of nightmares, too! ..] Thanks for a great resource for armchair alpinists like myself! cheers.

Nice TR! ... a real jawdropper. The only chance I'd have on any of those monuments would be to photoshop myself onto your pix...

The snow up high is nicely consolidated, but both approaches, including the entire Snow Lake valley are still quite "loaded."

Trip: Enchantment Lakes - Car-to-Car Loop Date: 3/18/2007 Trip Report: On Friday, March 16, my usual climbing partner Erick Johnson, who happened to have the day off, did something that simultaneously impressed and annoyed me. First, the impressive part. At 9:00 AM, after parking at the gated Eight Mile Road leading up to the Colchuck Lake trailhead, Johnson hiked the road, continued on to Colchuck Lake, booted up to Colchuck Col and somehow managed to traverse the summits of Colchcuk, Dragontail and Little Annapurna before finally heading down Aasgard Pass and back out after logging 20 miles and 10,000 feet of vertical gain. The annoying part is that I wasn't in on it. Inspired by this act of lunacy, I decided to try something in the same area. On Sunday, leaving at 8:00AM from the same spot, I hiked the road, made my way to Colchuck Lake, headed up Aasgard--following Johnson's descent steps through an icy avalanche runnel--then moved from the Upper Enchantments to the Lowers, out to Snow Lake and beyond to complete a loop of the Echantment Lakes region. Oringinally, I'd intended to duplicate Erick's traverse, but halfway to Leavenworth it dawned on me that the only crampons I'd packed were the ones on the bottoms of my snowshoes, and after nervously following a right-hand line through the polished, sun-shaded, icy avalanche runnel on Aasgard, I decided to finish the day with some relaxed mileage instead of altitude. Here's the view that greeted me upon entering the Colchuck basin. The light was terrible, but you can see icy Aasgard, as well as Erick's ascent route up to Colchuck Col. ...heading up Aasgard in perfect weather conditions. I saw no other tracks on the trek between the Upper and Lower Enchantments, making for an incredible sense of isolation and solitude... The frozen state of the small Enchantment Lakes provided many opportunities for shortcutting. Familiarity with the terrain, gained through several previous summer hikes through the region helped me get from the top of Aasgard Pass all the way through the Lower Enchantments in just over an hour. I wanted to take my time, but I was anxious to get through the last few miles of the loop before dark. Although I'd seen evidence of ski tracks a bit higher up, this was my first glimpse of recent ascent tracks from the Snow Lake side. Hooray! ...I'm saved! Having a good set of tracks to follow meant I could relax, listen to MP3's and generally enjoy a great descent back down the valley. After taking this last shot of a semi-frozen Snow Lake, my MP3 player's battery died, forcing me to extract the camera batteries for use in the player. With six more miles of snow slogging and a miserable couple of miles of blowdowns to be followed by the road walk back to my car at Eight Mile campground, I needed tunes much more than I needed to snap snaps! Gear Notes: Running shoes, snowshoes, tunes, axe, poles, sunscreen, and some of those gas station strawberry newtons. Oh..and don't forget your 'pons, like I did. Approach Notes: Obviously, the whole loop is quite doable. The approaches from both sides are fine, but if you enter from the Snow Lake side, you'll quickly be met by an unbelievable number of trail-diverting blowdowns--it's going to take a lot of work to get this trail hikeable by summer. If you want to do the Enchantments, I'd definitely advise going in via Colchuck.

Did it look anything like this? ...taken a couple weeks ago when the weather wasn't quite so sucky. After topping out, we bailed off the north side and picked up the two Tuscohatchies, Pratt Lake, etc. for a nice loop...

A story and a question... A couple of times a week I like to use Mt. Si for conditioning runs. Yesterday, as I often do, I parked at the Little Si trailhead then walked the couple of miles of road over to the main parking lot so I could traverse the hill and end up back at my car. Arrivng at the main trailhead, I was met by that large black lab that can frequently be seen loitering in the parking lot, sniffing people, mooching bits of Power Bar, getting petted, and generally being charming. For whatever reason, the doggie decided to join me on my run. I had no food for him, so I thought he'd return to the parking lot after a few minutes. Instead, he went all the way to the top with me, pausing occasionally to sniff other dogs' nether-regions, check out side trails, and to make sure I was still following behind [never try to keep up with a dog; when you weigh 60 pounds and have four legs, you can cover ground!]. Although I took an instant liking to my canine companion, I have to admit I laughed at the sight of his wild, panicked thrashing as he struggled up the still snow-fillled gully on the Haystack. Seeing that he'd never make it, I turned us around and headed back down. So, even after topping out and picking a completely different trail for the descent, the dog stayed with me. He took a short nap at the Little Si parking lot while I changed out of my hiking clothes, then I drove him back to the main traihead where we met. I had to really punch the accelerator to get away from him as he ran behind the car, but he finally gave up when I hit 60 mph.... QUESTIONS: 1. Who OWNS this damned mutt? He's been there for years. 2. How many times a day does he do SI? [we'll probably never know...] 3. How does he select his hiking partners? All I did was pet him like you do with dogs that seem friendly...maybe that's what starts the following behavior. 4. If you know this dog, do you know if he can find his own way between the trailheads? If I hadn't have given him a ride back, would he just have waited to hook up with someone hiking back over the hill? ...if you see him, give Blackie a pet for me.

Just before the town of Index, we took a right on Forest Service Road #62, drove about two or three miles through the most hideous clearcuts i've ever seen, pulled over, walked another couple of miles to a "trailhead" that was really nothing more than a small, vague gap in the trees--I had to be convinced by Johnson that this was actually a trail he'd already hiked before I'd commit a boot to it. If you want exact directions, mail 'Ejohnson' on CC.