JasonG

Thanks Phil! Makes more sense for early September I guess, though the weather did seem wet and cold enough for significant snow (if the source I found wasn't in error).

Thanks Luke! I was admiring your night shots, you hauled some nice gear up that high. And yes, the left variation is much, much easier- though climbing up through the storm and descending would have been character building as well. The UW 4km forecast is often pretty accurate, and helps in avoiding such unpleasantness: http://www.atmos.washington.edu/mm5rt/rt/gfsinit.d2.html The 1 hr precip and column integrated water loops are the most helpful to me.

Deadman the tent corners to stuff sacks, tent pegs, plastic bags, anything. Losing a tent can be a big deal, and not because of the monetary value of the gear inside.

On 9/7/1973 Arlington WA reported 1.06 inches of rain with a high temperature of 50. No rain on either side for several days, though temperatures were cool....

It sounded like the weather turned for the worse during the latter part of the search. I'm guessing there was significant new snow at the elevation of the glacier, quite possible in early September, especially in the 1970's.

Nice work! We just missed you as we were coming around the circumnavigation. I think you talked to a portion of our party that elected to hang back. We heard that boom too, it was loud, loud, loud! I will try and post up a TR in the next couple of days....

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/2018223873_pacificpclimber27.html A well written article, and a poignant reminder about the familial cost of climbing fatalities. With two boys about the same age as Wally's sons were when he disappeared, the piece was a good reminder to always stack the odds in my favor. A photo from Mr. Scurlock as well!

I liked this part: Still, he mused, there was an odd irony to the situation – albeit one that was probably lost on his critics. "I've never had children; I made it specifically impossible to have children – and I'm being hassled by children," he said. "Maybe it serves me right." It is funny what the young 'uns get worked up over. The older I get the more I realize that "nothing matters" (to quote Paul Theroux), most especially school exams.

You will have to move fast to bag all the peaks that Lowell listed on his 1985 traverse. That is quite the 7 day tick list! Having spent a couple weeks on two separate trips in this area, I'm very impressed- I still have a few of those peaks left!

Thanks for the history Lowell. I saw the original summer line on the rib, but didn't know if it had been ascended in spring conditions. I should have known!

Had this face even ever been climbed before? Strong work!

Gunsight is a bit out of the way for the typical Ptarmigan, as is Sinister. Formidable and Spider are somewhat dangerously loose but offer spectacular views. LeConte, Sentinel, Old Guard, Spire Point, and German Helmet are all pleasant and pretty easy. Dome is probably the best of the main peaks along the traverse and well worth a visit. If you can leave a whole day for Dome, it is an amazing spot to sit and soak in the views for hours. Enjoy the trip, it is probably the best (most enjoyable) of the long Cascades traverses I've done. Of course, that was back when you could drive on the Suiattle Rd.

I think this is what you are looking for.

As a warm up, the NR of Whatcom may be a good way to approach after taking the boat and hiking to Whatcom pass. That's the way we approached Fury and it is a fun way into the range. It is a bit longer than the Access Creek approach. But you can tick Challenger on the way also.

Sweet looking climbing, thanks for the TR! I need to get to the Sierras....

Thanks for the conditions update! You probably didn't get a look at moraine lake? Wondering if the forbidden tour would still be in OK shape....

Thanks Lowell, I will have to go and take a look!

Excellent! That is a fun early season ramble, and one of the quickest ways to the top of a peak in that area. Glad the weather worked out for you Sean......keep your fingers crossed for Sunday!

Wow, that is quite a scrapbook! Can you look at it if you go to the Mountaineers?

Thanks for the extra detail Lowell! I seem to remember my dad and grandparents relating that Dwight was not fond of guidebooks. It makes sense, considering how he loved the thrill of discovery and exploration. Maybe somebody can ask Fred his recollections of why the guidebook wasn't written, but I suspect Dwight wanted others to discover the Cascades for themselves, as he had done.

This past Saturday, the Roman wall and upper Coleman were quite firm/icy still at 1300 and it was a very warm day. I think if you aimed to summit at noon that would be about right. Jordan's times from TH to summit are in the right range for your pace.

As long as you are prepared for steep snow with significant exposure, I would think it would be a fine objective about now. Things are likely to have settled down with how much warmth we've had in the last week.

Trip: Mount Baker - Watson's Traverse in Reverse Date: 5/12/2012 Trip Report: Growing up, I knew Dwight Watson as a curious old man (he rode the train to Monte Cristo as a boy!). Full of life, and always chattering about the things that interested him, Dwight never belied that he was one of the founding fathers of ski mountaineering in the Cascades. Very near the end of his life (he died in 1996), I had the privilege of going on a picnic with him at the Big Four trailhead where he pulled out his shoe boxes of photos and regaled us all with tales of mountain exploits from the 1930's through the 1960's. It was then I learned, belatedly, that he had been the first? person to take Fred and Helmey Beckey climbing ("The Beckey Boys" according to Dwight). Apparently Dwight was a friend of Fred's dad, and was asked to show Fred how not to kill himself in the hills. I wasn't a climber in 1995, and only in later years did I see how many times Dwight's name appeared in Fred's Books, often in the photo credits. Dwight died before I could talk with him about many of his firsts ascents and descents, and before Lowell Skoog ever got to meet him. But, through extensive research, Lowell has brought Dwight to us all in remarkable detail. And, at one of Lowell's excellent slide shows several years ago, I had the good fortune of seeing the original movie Dwight shot on his 1939 traverse of Mount Baker. Since Dwight was the first to have done this trip, Lowell named the trip, Watson's Traverse. In the intervening years, the name stuck and the traverse has become somewhat popular (folks skied it the day we approached the Park). It is trip I have wanted to do for years and I was fortune enough to complete it this past weekend, albeit in the reverse direction (Baker Ski area to Coleman). Although I trust that the proper Watson is best on skis, I only know how to snowboard, and thus my plan to go in the reverse direction with a bivy at the edge of the Park Gl. I know, I really should learn to ski. Regardless, we had a fantastic outing and the whole side of the mountain (and the summit) to ourselves. A note to those that might do the Watson some time this year- the bergshrund is fairly open all the way from the south side of the Park Headwall to the Cockscomb. We found a way through, but it was spicy and will only get more so with time. I encourage any skiers out there to at least do this trip once, it's a classic!

Whatever happened to keeping the TR's spray free? Here is a not too terrific photo of one of you guys (the black speck) on the NR. Since we were carrying over I left the tele at home...

I have a picture of one of you guys on the second ice pitch, I'll post it up here when I get a few minutes. We were over on the ridge above the Park Gl. It was cool to see some folks on it!