JasonG

Awesome!! I'm really enjoying reading your blog while you and the mrs. are on the road. I have to admit, I am a bit jealous. Good times!

That's a great climb that deserves more attention. Thanks for the report!

Cold Springs is the TH for the South Spur, and you have the math right. It's more like 18 miles RT with the current road status, though it felt like 22! The route is in fine shape right now and you'll have fun if the weather cooperates. Good luck!

A great read! Thanks for posting that, I missed it when it first came out.

Wow, glad you made it down safe Alasdair! That sequence of avi photos on your blog is pretty spectacular, and scary at the same time.

Sweet! I need to head to Europe, though I may wait for implosion of the euro.

Find a used split board, but don't cut your board in half. You will be into it ~$300 with skins and a split kit, and you can probably find a used one for not much more. And you can save your regular board for the occasional lift served day. A real splitboard will ride, much, much better than a homemade one. I think I have seen new Voile's and K2's at the end of the season for ~$500. You can use whatever binding you are currently using on your snowboard.

To Curt's credit, he did fix the draw after looking which way the route went. Thanks for the tip about the wetness, my next attempt will have to be in July!

Trip: Mt. Garfield - Infinite Outrage (Bliss) to p. 20 Date: 6/15/2012 Trip Report: Curt and I finally got to go and check out what all the fuss is about. Our verdict.... much ado about nothing. Aside from people getting their panties in a wad over exact wilderness boundaries (the Middle Fork Valley is no Little Beaver), charges of over bolting are quite exaggerated. In fact, we often were scratching our heads about exactly where the line went as the bolts weren't always obvious (as I would have expected from the wailing and gnashing of teeth). The pitches 5.7 and under are minimally bolted, and those 5.8 and up, bolted comfortably but not excessively. I'd say Bravo to the Leland and Co. for putting up a fine route on an impressive feature, it's just unfortunate that I was too out of practice to finish it! Even with a start at first light from the road, we ran out of time and energy at the top of pitch 20. Part of our slowness was due to the wetness on most every pitch (is this normal in the spring, or a result of the wet June?), but part was my lack of time on the rock in recent years. Just be advised the you pretty much need to simul all the easier pitches if you want to pull this off comfortably in a day. Also, the topo is a bit confusing on the 5.0 unbolted section above p. 15. It has probably been said before on one of the many IB threads, but from the top of p.15 you diagonal up and right about 200' to a bush with many rap slings, then go straight up to the next station (~80'), and up and veer left from there ~140 feet to the next station and the start of p.18. I found the .10c pitch (19) to be quite challenging, though Curt led it in fine style. Even though we didn't get to the top, the views didn't disappoint, and were much better than I was expecting. It is a worthy climb in every sense, and to the top of p. 14 would make a great mellower day. The rock is very, very good! Side note - On the way down we saw a large, dead goat on a ledge to the skier's right of the climbing route. Interesting, I haven't seen that before. The vultures were starting to move in as we were leaving. Also, the black flies were pretty bad on the entire route, perhaps due to the wetness? Gear Notes: 20+ draws and some small nuts and cams for the runout sections. Two 60m ropes. Helmet. Approach Notes: Cairn marks the trail along Middle Fork Road, approx. 1 mile past Taylor River bridge.

No Holk, Shasta is on the list for sure! Thanks for the GPS track graphic, that's really cool. You're right, the masses have yet to descent on Adams, though the ski conditions aren't quite ripe yet (as we found out).

Trip: Mt Adams - South Spur climb, SW chutes ski Date: 6/10/2012 Trip Report: It is a long drive to the south side of Mt. Adams, if you live in the Skagit valley....but luckily there is a cheery ranger in Trout Lake to welcome you to the matchbox of WA (you have to see the interpretive display). This past weekend I went along with my two good luck weather charms, Kit and Charlotte, to ski the SW chutes on Mt. Adams. We arrived in the matchbox on Saturday afternoon to rain and low clouds obscuring the mountain. We delayed leaving the ranger station for some time, having fun chatting with another Skagit team that happened to be down for the same objective. Eventually we drove up towards the TH and were stopped by snow about 3 miles downhill, ~4600'. It was raining, so we stayed in the car for a half hour or more and watched as Team Tarheel shouldered their loads and set off into the rain and wind. Finally the rain slowed and we headed off and up. The wind, however, did not show signs of letting up so we only went up to about 6100' before we found a sheltered spot to pitch the tent for the night. As forecasted, the winds died during the night and the clouds cleared revealing a spectacular Sunday morning. We were up and away about 0600, heading up the standard South Spur and encountering a few other parties along the way. Ski crampons came in very handy on the way up, but we still ended up booting the last several hundred feet to Piker's peak. Regular crampons came in handy on this section as there was a good deal of bubbly blue rimey ice. We topped out on Piker's and dropped our skis and booted over to the summit (Team Tarheel was busying setting a bootpack, and the ski conditions didn't look that great from the summit to Piker's). I think we arrived around noon? We retraced our steps back to our skis and readied for the SW chutes. The top was very icy, but below it softened, though it was still quite wind affected. The lower we got the better the conditions, though we were a bit early in the year for corn. But, even with less than stellar ski conditions, what a run! Thirty five plus degrees for 3000+ vertical feet, I don't think I've skied anything quite like it. We skied down and left until about 6200' whereby we skinned back up and traversed back over to the ridge and our camp. A quick ski and boot down the road (several bare patches are showing) and we rolled back to the car about 1730. Burgers and beer in Hood River rounded out the weekend, and we made the long trek back to the Skagit, arriving about 0030. Gear Notes: ski crampons, and we found boot crampons helpful. Approach Notes: 3 mile of road skiing.

As of a few days ago, you drive about 3 miles short of the TH. Pretty good ski conditions on the mountain below 9K. TR coming...

Wow, that is pretty amazing. Even snowier than last year, and nearly the maximum.

Great photos Jason! (not me, 4). You certainly know your way around that G12.

Agreed, they work often when other pieces won't nearly as well, esp. in horizontal cracks or pockets. Plus, they are lighter than cams in the small sizes- a bonus in the alpine.

Nice work guys! Trust me, you should be very glad that the bridge over the 'schrund held your weight! Although falling in would have brought your gumby status up to my level. And from a geologic perspective, the mountains north of I-90 are considered the North Cascades (easy to see the change when looking north and south from Chair or Kaleeten). But that's not how we roll on cc.com. Silly gumbies!

I'm going with Colin.

The NR isn't bad, and you will have a good look at the chute on your way up the Adams Gl., and likely from camp as well. I never was tempted to drop off the ridge into the chute when we did it in July awhile back. The Adams Gl. is a really pleasant climb, with some of the most scenic camps in all of the Cascades! Enjoy!

Thanks! By Cascades standards, it is very minor bushwhacking, BW1-2 max. If you want nightmares, look down into the Goodell, Luna, or McMillan Creek valleys from the summit of Fury. With skis, you may never come out, unless you ditch your pack.

I thought the exact opposite, having gone both ways. I like the low route, though I can imagine with perfectly bad snow conditions it could be terrible. Regardless, that is a great effort! I remember being tired after bivying...

Ah.....Hozomeen lake. I have "fond" memories of schwacking around that far shore. Of course, that was on the last day in May. I didn't trust June.

An impressive outing! Thanks for sharing what was I'm sure a powerful experience.

Trip: Mt. Shuksan - Circumnavigation Date: 5/26/2012 Trip Report: I am continually amazed at what a great part of the world we live in. There aren't many places where you can ski/climb/boat/hike to amazingly scenic locales and sleep in your bed at night. Well, there aren't that many places where you can do that, AND have a range of careers to choose from. The PNW is great, and I have a hard time faulting those that move here and never look back. This is something I was reminded of a couple weeks ago as a group of 9 (!) tackled a one day ski around Mt. Shuksan. We left the White Salmon gate around 0630 and skinned to the edge of the ski area before dropping down along the clear cut to the valley bottom. Some brush made things interesting, but it was in relatively good shape. Once on the valley bottom, easy skinning brought us to steepening slopes below the White Salmon Gl where we skittered around on avi debris looking for easier skinning. It was a little early and a firm crust made things tricky as the angle steepened. We ended up just strapping the boards on the packs and following Scott and he made a direct line for Winnie's Slide. We paused at the top of the slide to re-group and east some lunch, and a portion of the group opted to hang back a bit and ski up along the Hanging Gl. rather than go all the way around. I was feeling tired enough that this was an attractive option, but I dragged myself up behind the other five that were making their way to the summit pyramid. When we arrived around 11 (?), the pyramid had been in the full sun for some time and was beginning to fall apart. There was still more rime than rock showing and, given that there was a large supply of ammunition for the mountain to throw down on us still, we laid to rest our summit ambitions and kept ambling around the mountain. The traverse around is incredibly scenic, and pretty mellow, so we were caught a bit off guard when Kit set off a slab that propagated surprisingly far and ran down and across a crevasse. We were thinking wet, loose snow slides were likely, so this was something we weren't really paying close attention to. A good lesson, as nobody was caught. We topped out at the pass between the Crystal and the Hanging and transitioned for the long ride down. And, what a ride! Cruising across the Hanging, with Mt. Baker straight ahead, Shuksan to our left, and the precipitous drop to the White Salmon on our right, was a fantastic way to enjoy the fruits of our labor on a sunny spring day. The snow was quite good until we got midway down the White Salmon where it turned to deep mush with the attendant wet slides. A quick ski down the valley and we were faced with the slog to get back up to the ski area. I have to admit that this seemed to go on much longer than I remembered- I must be getting old. We ran into some brush here as well, but what Cascades ski would be complete without a little mud and devil's club? I think we arrived back at the cars about 11 hours after we started (don't laugh Dan!), and enjoyed a round of beers and various salty snacks in the sun. Good times! Gear Notes: Crampons (ski and boot), axe, and whippet useful.

There is another heartbreaking story in that 1973 MRC bulletin - a three year old boy who wandered off near Lake Wenatchee and was never found, despite a massive search over five days. Nearly the same age as my two sons....

Very cool! I've wanted to climb a route from Centre Creek and this looks like a good one. Recommended?