JasonG

I agree that it seems like a contrived bit to climb the NW face of the NR to access the NR (when you hike right by the start of it). We bivied at the col where you started, some good sites for 2-3 people there. I think unless you have great conditions on the Boston Gl (we didn't in late August), doing this in a day from BB is not too easy. Great work! I guess with clients you can't take them down the east ledges? Or were they still snowy? I've always found that descent to be, by far, the quickest way off Forbidden. Maybe not the safest though....

How'd your trip go Stefan??? A similar battle with the weather? It was great to finally put a face to the name I'd seen so many times in summit registers over the years!

Interesting, thanks for the info...I never made it through the burn. Still sounds like a much better way to come out than go in!

Have you hiked out the S. Cascade post burn? I nosed up that way last year and it was grim. Didn't seem like a very viable alternative.....

A little grainy, but OK:

Ah.. your tracks on the lower south side of the west ridge makes sense now. You didn't quite go high enough to find the dirty gully. If you went uphill another 50-100 vf you would have seen a giant wind cirque on the climbers left. Shooting up from there is a really dirty gully (class 3-4) that leads to easy slopes. Plug steps up some steep snow to gain the summit slopes.

AHA!! Now THAT was an impressive effort. After seeing no tracks for days, we were a little surprised to find SOLO ski and boot tracks on the NF of sinister. Your tracks were there, but faint. I think that might have been the catalyst for the rest of the group. If someone skied it, we should be able to climb it without too much trouble, right? We had some sluffs roar past us (not too close, but close enough to give me pause) on the way up, so your ascent and descent was a topic of conversation. Strong, bold work!!

We appreciated your beta for getting up to Agnes Col, worked quite well! While there is no easy way of getting in there, I think you may have found the way with the least pain. That log is pretty amazing. The other group we ran into on their way up was headed along the Beckey beta path (farther upstream before crossing and heading uphill). I will try to compare notes when they return.

Ah....thanks for the clarification on the thrushes. Are the rosy finches the ones you see sometimes very high around the summits, flying in small flocks? If so, I agree with the Commander- they do show up in the most unusual places. When I get home I will try and upload a winter ptarmigan photo.

I wonder how common the Hermit Thrush is around here (even though the range map shows it in this area). I may have heard these, but I much more often hear the Swainson's Thrush. Slightly, but noticeably different call. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Swainsons_Thrush/sounds Nice blog post though, it is cool to see some familiar faces. . . . Let me know if you want a pic of a ptarmigan in winter plumage to use on the blog. No snaffles though???? Have you never had the pleasure of meeting one up close and personal?

These are the best plastic bags I've found: http://www.mountainsafety.org.nz/Resources/Resource_List.asp?t=1&cat=7 Unfortunately, it looks like they don't ship outside of NZ. I bought several when I was down there and they last me 4-5 years each. Perfectly sized for a pack, long and narrow, and long enough to use as an emergency bivy sack for your lower torso and legs (the yellow one). I'm kind of surprised I haven't seen something similar sold in gear stores in the PNW.

Yikes. Stories very similar to yours have ended in tragedy. Glad you made it down safe and sound.

I think I need to move to Bishop, or at least get a place down there. Nice looking climbing, year round.

One other suggestion for improving the upload process- how hard would it be to have a small thumbnail show up instead of the file path in the TR text box? I know when I am doing captions, it is kind of a pain to switch between the preview below and the text above to figure out which is which. I could take the time to write a description in the file name, but that would take a bunch of time too. I guess I could add one photo at a time, but it is nice to just click them in order from my gallery page. One last thing, would it be possible to have the default display size be a bit larger, say 800-1000 pixels on the long edge? I usually go in and edit out the "medium" out of the image tag. I usually upload at about that size, as it works well with most monitors. Anyway, not trying to whine here, just a few suggestions from my experiences posting pics. I agree that it is the best thing in the long run to host the pictures here. Nothing is more annoying that an old TR that loses it's pics. Keep up the great work!!

And I should add that Steve, Tim and Gord kept things rolling when the weather was trying to kill our motivation. Fine partners, one and all. If it was left up to me, we probably would've only gotten a fraction of the summits climbed.

Thanks for the encouragement everyone- More photos have been added, with many thanks to Olyclimber!! Looking at the photos, my memories of the weather have already softened. Maybe I will head back in there, it wasn't THAT bad . .. .and oh so scenic!

Awesome, thanks much!!!!!

So the deal is that you are limited to 20 photos in any 24hr period? I waited until the next calendar day to load more and was denied. For my trigger happy finger, limiting it to 20 a day is tough when doing a TR. I upload usually around 800 pixels on the long edge so I think a storage limit per day, rather than quantity, is a better way to go. Thanks for the upgrades, though, adding images is WAY easier than it used to be.

Oh we had whiskey, but that ran out rather quickly. It would have been hard to bring enough, considering the weather.

Trip: Asa, Agnes, Gunsight, and Sinister - Standards Date: 7/13/2011 Trip Report: "Suffer Together....SUFFER AS ONE!" Our mantra for the trip was coined after about the 4th day of unsettled weather, but I think it applied to the sunny days as well, especially hauling our heavy packs out of Agnes Creek. Tim, Steve, and I returned this past Saturday from seven days in Agnes Creek, managing to climb Asa, Agnes, Gunsight (main and north), and Sinister. We had a couple decent days hiking in, but fairly cloudy and damp weather the remainder, with one full day lost to rain/sleet/snow in camp. Thanks to excellent beta from Tom, we more or less found a fairly "easy" way into the range- camping the first night at Swamp Creek (fire!), followed by four nights at Agnes Col (cold, wet, though dry ground to camp on, and drips of water nearby), and a final night back at Swamp Creek (fire!). Our first objective on day two was an easy ridge walk to Asa peak. As advertised, the original summit paper is there from 1908, along with Austin's entry from 1947. Cool stuff. I think we were the 12th party to sign in since the first ascent. On day 3, we followed Fay, Stefan, and Erin's beta to bypass the ridge leading to Agnes by dropping off the east side of the ridge, losing 1000' and regaining the crest very near the summit via the Agnes snow finger. Later in the season this may be safe, but we were just about taken out by a barrage of rockfall partway up the gulley. Looking back at the photos it appears that the culprit were a few snow patches melting out on the steep SE face. The sound of rocks at terminal velocity is not a good one, beware. The rest of the climb was pretty true to Beckey, but the leader was glad to have rock shoes for the short "5.6" pitch. I think we were the 27th party to sign in. On day 4 we headed to Gunsight, intending the climb the SW rib route (only half of each rope team had rock shoes- probably a mistake for this great piece of granite). Instead, we opted for the easier standard gulley between the North and Main peaks, finishing both of them by short pitches of mid- fifth. The climb was made memorable by the cold temps, snow squalls, and wind- climbing with all your clothes on in July???? Day 5 was a weather day and we sat around and tried to stay warm and dry- not an easy task at the col. We huddled behind trees and taught each other knots when we weren't in the tents. I think we all realized that we aren't cut out for expedition climbing. Day 6 dawned relatively unsettled, but mostly dry. We headed over to the Chickamin with the intention of climbing the west ridge of Sinister. Passing under the north face, conditions were quite good for step kicking (it had been skied by an uber dude (EW?) a few days before). An impromptu change of plans initiated by Steve and Tim got our team set on giving the NF a shot. We only had one picket and no second tools so we shortened our ski poles (to plunge like second tools) and made do until we passed the 'shrund at mid height. After that we unroped and Steve led the charge to the summit, only about 3 hrs after leaving camp. Very cool route, too bad we were in the clouds for much of it, including the summit. After a short stay, we wandered down the west ridge in the fog, made one 30m rappel and found our way back to the Chickamin. Upon returning to camp, a fire sounded good so we packed up and headed back down to Swamp Creek for the night. It felt like a long day, although probably only took us about 11-12 hours total. We didn't see anyone on the entire trip until we came back to swamp creek. We chatted at camp with a group heading into the Gunsight area the very next day and wished them well. Unfortunately, the next day it started raining quite hard on our way back to Stehekin, so I wonder how they fared....Back at Stehekin we ran into Stefan, headed into Devore Creek for 6 days. Small world, that Stehekin. The bakery didn't disappoint either, never get tired of that place. Anyway, enough talk, pictures tell the story much better. Here's the first batch, more to follow tomorrow: Swamp Creek Camp Crossing Agnes Creek on a very ample log Mmmmmm. Brush. Glacier Gunsight Agnes 1st Pitch on Agnes It is about a 6000' drop into the West Fork of Agnes Creek below Tim's feet. Rapping steep snow near the summit of Agnes Camp Life! Sinister and Blizzard Peaks emerging from the mists Gunsight Some fine alpine granite, gunsight has. Approaching Cascadian Patagonia Sinister and Dome At the notch on Gunsight Tim gazing up to the true summit of Gunsight Sinister! The North Face is the prominent snow finger on the right, descending down from the summit. Good times! Photo by Steve Trent, tweaked by me. Agnes from Gunsight Belaying the final bit of the North Peak of Gunsight. Rapping past great rock on Gunsight Weather day, Ugh. Approaching the col to access the Chickamin, with Agnes behind Agnes! Expressing frustration for the lack of views on the summit of Sinister, I bet they'd be grand. Run away! Heading down on day 6. Needle Peak to Bonanza above Tim. He and Blake were likely the first ones to traverse the ridge between Needle and Dark Peaks. Link Agnes Creek Brush. Swamp Creek Stink Day 7 and the wheels have completely come off. Long trips are hard on the feet of softies like me Boat Life! Gear Notes: You will need most everything. Bring tat, this area doesn't see much traffic. Approach Notes: Follow Tom and Fay

Well....I had a chance. I think we might as well close 'er down.

Not everyone on the east side is happy about the wolf's comeback, these guys have a lot of support: http://nwsportsmanmag.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/twisp-family-killed-5-wolves-feds-say/ Too bad . . .I was up in Wolf Creek last week and was pretty sure I heard wolves howling at dawn. Eerie and cool at the same time.

I'm not sure of what Lowell's time was, but that seems quite fast. Nice work, esp. walking miles and miles of road at the end.

Cool area isn't it? I'm with Tim, what is that hanging off your pack? Is that the Outward Bound style?

I hope they don't start requiring bear canisters. Climbing gear is awkward enough . . .