JasonG

Most certainly is! You really need to ski the Boulder Gl., it's fantastic and is the fall line you see facing the camera. Ski right off the summit and down, no need to traverse across the summit pyramid.

That picture of your partner on the knife edge is stunning!

Too bad about the wedder, but kudos for sticking it out! That is one of my favorite short scrambles, you can't beat the access and the route is pretty airy for being third class.

Trip: Mount Blum - North Ridge Date: 6/28/2015 Trip Report: If you climb in the Cascades long enough, and aren't super talented, eventually you start to run out of "select" routes to climb. This can be a blessing, since the majority go to the more well known peaks and routes, while choss dawgs like myself 'schwack our way to solitude on lesser known peaks like Blum. At least that is what I keep telling myself when the approaches are as long and hot as Blum lakes was a couple weeks ago. Tim and I both had had the NR of Blum on our lists for some time, and even a forecast for extensive lightning on Sunday wasn't enough to turn us to alternate objectives (we'll start early and move fast!). So, on a day that was supposed to be 99 in Marblemount we began the steep climb up Blum lakes, sweating in the jungle-like heat and humidity. There is actually a trail a lot of the way up the ridge, but you need to find it and stay on it. This is key. It starts near the bridge over Blum Creek, gradually becoming more defined as the angle increases. Where you begin the sidehill traverse to the lakes, however, it disappears. If you've done everything right, it should only take about 4 hours to get to the lakes, maybe less if you are chasing someone like Tim. The lakes don't see much use so there aren't numerous or very established campsites, but you can find adequate sites near the middle lake outlet and the lower lake inlet. The NPS has killed off the fish in the lakes over the past several years, so leave the fishing gear behind. We were up and away from camp around 5am thrashing in the dark and mosquitos to the upper lakes, again in jungle-like heat and humidity. I think it took us about two hours to wind around the mountain to the base of the route where we rounded the toe of the buttress and gained a couple hundred feet looking for the easiest line to gain the crest. Dodging crevasses, we found some rampy looking lines opposite an icefall and delicately worked our way onto the rock above a gaping moat. A few minutes after getting on the rock we heard a roar as a dump truck load of snow and ice chunks came rocketing down the glacier from a gully we couldn't quite see, just around the corner. It obliterated the area of the glacier we had just ascended. Tim and I looked at each other and shook our heads. This is not dad friendly terrain, I thought to myself. Tim graciously offered to take the first couple run out and cruxy pitches (5.8+?) to get us to easy terrain near the crest where we unroped and scrambled for quite some time. This ridge is long! We simuled a few mid-fifth knife edge sections and then unroped for more scrambling (but still very exposed 4th and low fifth) the rest of the way to the final bit of steep snow below the summit. We changed into boots and kicked steps up to the summit, about 7 hours after leaving camp. It was blazing hot on the summit and we could see the thunderheads and rain coming our way. Taking a few quick pictures, we ate our lunches and perused the summit register (which looks to have been struck by ligtning). Unfortunately it had been replaced recently; Tim and I were looking forward to the old register that had the complete ascent record of the peak (was still up there in 2008). We still had a lot of vertical to descend that day, so before we would have liked we began down. A couple hours to camp, some whiskey, a quick swim, some packing, and another three painful hours down found us at the beer stash in Blum Creek, about 14 hours after leaving camp that morning. My quads hurt for the better part of the next week. Gear Notes: Medium rack to 2". In a normal snow year and temps, ice axe and crampons. Approach Notes: Blum Lakes route. No water until the lakes

One time I criticized the NPS expansion proposal on this board and a ranger showed up at a Skagit Alpine Club meeting to take me and my opinions to task. It wasn't funny then (more creepy), but with time, it's somewhat hilarious. I guess my point is, sometimes anonymity is a good thing.

Impressive trip! Thanks for the beta on the Sir Donald descent, it is on my list for sure. May as well add Uto as well.

That is some climate change I can get behind.

I agree Tom/Rad, and I think it points to how bears behave differently across the west (sometimes its related to species, sometimes not). I've often been struck by how easy we have it in the Cascades compared to AK, MT, WY, CA, BC, AB, etc. And it isn't because we don't have many bears about.

There are pretty big behavior differences between Black bears and Grizzly/Brown bears, at least in my experience.

Oh yeah! I was waiting for this. Nice work keeping it together on a stupidly hot day. The "Terror Pitch" is sure to keep the crowds at bay.

Finally some spray I can get behind!

As a child of the 70's/80's, old VH is a guilty pleasure of mine. So good!

I've never been through the impasse before, that is a great shot!

Ah......youth. Way to make it happen!

Such fortitude, I think this is one of the best battles I've heard around here in awhile!

I like it, alpine thuggery for sure. I was going to think of another to add, but I think there really isn't another that has the same flavor as those three. At least a route that you'd recommend to someone.

Hey Matt- Do you have a complete list of the (your) Blue Collar Tour?

Ah, but you forget Pink.....spray is eternal.

Nicely done! That IS a beast of a mountain, one you will never forget.

I knew I was more of a mountain "hiker" than "climber", but you've officially confirmed it.

That looks like a north cascades approach, without the alpine reward at the end. And I thought I was crazy.

There's a fine line between clever and stupid.

I guess that is where I disagree on the purpose of National Parks. I feel that they should be responsive to their users, provided that the wishes wouldn't irreparably harm the parks for future users. For a long time, this is how the parks were run. The fact remains that just traveling and camping in the alpine damages the meadows and leaves a mark that everyone will see for generations. Fish or no fish, we are leaving our mark whenever we visit the hills. The Rotenone kills everything in the lakes, salamaders included, and the amphibs recolonize from nearby habitats. Why not wait until the public is more behind the need for such anal ecological restoration? And I don't need a salamander to tell me that I'm not a nice person.

That's unfortunate. I certainly don't get that upset over the issue but I can't see how this is a good use of tax dollars. It has cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to implement, and meant many heli trips into the wilderness. This money could be much better spent on trail work, but I admit I'm biased. I think the whole situation typifies the NPS attitude towards recreation in the park. I get the sense that they feel human influence must be minimized or eliminated to the maximum extent possible. I could be wrong, but I would think that vast majority of park users would be just fine letting the stocking and fishing continue. And it would be way cheaper. I have to admit that I think the high lake fish eradication program is borderline insanity. I have a hard time understanding the rationale. Of course, I'm a fish biologist and a life long fisherman!

And then there's this. I hiked into Blum lakes this weekend only to find that the NPS has killed all the fish in the lake with chemicals. From my sources at work, I guess they flew 20+ 55 gallon barrels of Rotenone(or some similar pesticide) up there a few years ago and killed all the fish in both lakes. These lakes were teaming with trout 15 years ago when I was last in there. This time we had our fishing gear, but no fish were to be seen. I heard that this has been done to 26 lakes in the park in the last 5 years. I'm trying to find out which ones so I don't haul gear in for no reason. The USFS sees eye to eye with fishers such as myself, which unfortunately isn't the case with the NPS. I couldn't care less about salamanders.