JasonG

Climb: Dakobed Traverse- Date of Climb: 7/14/2004 Trip Report: We originally planned on heading to the Colonial/Snowfield group, but somehow changed plans at the last minute to something a little bit more obscure. Maybe we wanted more bushwacking, road walking, heat, bugs than Colonial would have offered, or maybe we were just looking for more of a remote adventure, either way we got it. The trip started with my wife, myself and two friends from Mount Vernon meeting a friend Steve at the Lake Wenatchee RS. It was here that we discovered that our plan B would involve an extra 3 miles of road walking due to the White River Rd being washed out at the Tall Timbers Ranch (note from wife- call RS beforehand!!). That made our first day around 14 miles and 4000+ feet of gain in 90 degree heat to gain Boulder Pass. I had to make it much more fun for myself by forgetting my camera in the trailhead (discovered when I reached the normal TH), adding 6 more miles of fun in the day for me! So I spent the rest of the day trying to catch the group, alternately passing out from the heat and being woken by bugs draining my precious bodily fluids. I finally got to Boulder Pass around 6:30 pm dehydrated and finding the rest of the group in similar condtion. I could tell I had close to a mutiny on my hands. It'll all be better tomorrow I promised. . . And it was, for the most part. We got going by 6:30am and were roping up for the Walrus Glacier by 8am. At this point Steve wasn't feeling well and decided to bail on the rest of the trip. This started to tip the scales against any of us going any farther, but I managed to convince people that it would get better/cooler/less bugs/more downhill/etc. and we carried on to the summit of Clark without Steve. Quite a nice view! We orginally had plans to summit other peaks down the line that day (Luahna and Challangin) and then camp at col 7750. Screw that! We had enough just traversing over to the col, nothing scary or hard, but a long distance to cover sidehilling (you cross the Walrus, Richardson, Pilz, and Butterfly Glaciers) after our sufferfest the day before. The good news was the camps at the col are downright amazing. Great, flat tent sites with 360 degree views and running water nearby. That evening we gorged and rested from the two long days behind us and looked forward to a more mellow day (at least that's what I told them, but I wasn't too sure. I was a little bit worried about the descent to Thunder Basin- it looked steep!). I went scouting after dinner and thought I scoped an OK line down into Thunder Basin and realized that we would probably have to skip Tenpeak in favor of Neyah point. We needed something easy with a good view and Neyah was much more in line with our energy level (only 400' above camp and less than a mile away). We'd have to lose a bunch of elevation and traverse a ways to get over to Tenpeak, tough to sell to the rest of the crew (including myself at this point). I wasn't too disappointed though, and headed to bed looking forward to a fun, easy summit. The next day dawned clear and didn't disappoint. We were on top of Neyah point within an hour of leaving camp (including time to summit a gendarme we thought was Neyah point- D'OH). Much time was spent napping, snapping photographs of the east side of Glacier Peak (very cool), and remarking how glad we were to be there instead of traversing below to get to Tenpeak. After 2-3 hours we headed back to camp and packed up, uneager to begin the descent into the unkown. Too soon we were ready to leave and began descending easy snow to reach a "poorly defined rib" described by Beckey. Things got very steep from this point, but every time we thought we needed to get out the rope, we would find a goat path skirting the cliff bands. It's exposure demanded constant attention, but the worst was over after about a 1000' of drop. Another 1200' of dropping around cliff bands found us in one of the most beautiful basins I have camped in. No evidence of camp sites, bear and deer tracks everywhere, flat meadows for acres and acres, and a large creek to swim in. There was even tons of avalanche supplied wood for a roaring fire (on the sand bar, so we didn't leave a lasting mark). Truly an idyllic spot, and the bugs weren't even bad! We slept in, and reluctantly packed up to leave around 9am the next day (day 4). We had 10+ miles to cover (~3 miles without a maintained trail) and were a little worried about how the schwack might go. We weren't disappointed, as we surely found the "dense brush" described by Beckey at the immediate exit from Thunder Basin. It went by pretty quickly and we were able to follow a trail cleared by some hunters mostly the rest of the way back to the White River trail. This was a godsend, as some dense slide alder sections would have downright sucked without the tunnel cleared by the hunters. It hasn't been maintained in proably over a decade so it won't be long before it is gone completely. The 7 mile hike out the White River trail was uneventful except for the ford of Thunder Creek (brige out and the creek high). We even managed to get a trail crew worker to give us a ride down the three miles of road to Tall Timbers (you can go around the washout through the camp but it is private property and they won't let the general public through). A quick dip in the river and dinner the Index Cafe finished off a fine adventure! Overall we were surprised at the lack of evidence of human passage after we left Boulder Pass. I don't think this area sees many visitors and is very beautiful for those looking for some solitude. Gear Notes: 37m rope, light axe Approach Notes: everything including some stream fording

Climb: Bonanza-Mary Green Glacier Date of Climb: 7/4/2004 Trip Report: With a three day weekend and a pretty decent forecast for the east side, we (my wife and two friends) headed over to Field's Point and caught the Lady of the Lake Saturday morning. It was total chaos at the landing, with the boat running late from the sheer volume of humanity trying to cram aboard. There were literally no seats left once everyone was on, and they even had to break out a bunch of folding chairs to calm the teeming masses. We left a good 45 minutes late and arrived in Lucerne in due time ($26 RT). We(I) had neglected to reserve a seat on the bus to Holden, but mangaed to cram on the floor in the back of one of the buses for the painfully slow crawl up the hill to Holden ($10 RT). I had never been to Holden before and I thought it had quite the cool feel with the mining relics and all. It'd be great to base out of in the winter I bet- Anybody done that?? Anyways, the hike to Holden Lake went by quickly (~2 hours) and soon we found the climbers path on the east side and were at the great camp sites at Holden Pass (3.5 hours total). This early in the season there are dry spots to camp with small meltwater streams providing water just feet from the tents! Given Beckey's intimidating description of Bonanza, we got a 5am start the next day and expected a full day of battle. Imagine our surprise when we arrived on the summit at 8:30 am! The glacier was not badly broken, the rock not nearly as loose as I had expected, and the route finding straightforward. If we felt pretty good on our performance, all we had to do was open up the summit register and find out how slow we really were. Sean (Courage??), Andreas (Schmidt??) and Greg(??) listed a time of 4:10 from Holden village!!! Now that is fast! Regardless of times and such, we had a good time on the summit and lounged for about 3 hours, napping and photographing the amazing vistas surrounding us. Finally the time came to say goodbye and we started down, passing a group of Mountaineers on their way up (part of the reason we waited, so as not to knock rocks on them). I think it took us less than 3 hours to descend and we were kicking back barefoot in the meadows of camp by 3pm. A short hike out on Monday, followed by a swim in Lake Chelan after arriving at Field's Point, and dinner at Gustav's made for the perfect 4th of July weekend! All in all I'd highly recommend this outing for those looking for a mellow long weekend in the high Cascades. Gear Notes: 37m, 8.5mm rope Picket- just in case axe alum. crampons-nice for the early morning small rack- didn't use Approach Notes: trail in great shape as is the glacier.

My wife and I are planning a trip for this Oct/Nov and are curious what would be considered a good deal on airfare, and/or where people have had luck finding such deals. We plan on spending time in Thailand on the way back so we will probably buy two tickets, one RT to Bangkok and another RT from Bangkok to Kathmandu. Currently I'm finding fares around $800 to Bangkok and $600 fares RT between Bangkok and KTM. Thanks for any info/help!!!!

FWIW I have worn out a pair of the Trango S's in under one year of weekend warrioring. In my opinion the boots are about as durable as a pair of running shoes. I've worn the soles flat and blown out the Aramid (sp??) sides . .. I'm not happy that La Sportiva will not warranty them saying "I've used them for too much". I work full time, (not in the mountains as a guide or anything, and I didn't use these boots for work) and don't think a mountaineering boot (even a lightweight one) should wear so quickly! Anyone had good experiences with the Kayland Multi-Traction??

Anybody been up there recently?? Curious if the snow is continuous all the way down and across the creek . . . Thanks!!

Climb: Wedge Mountain-NE Arete Date of Climb: 4/25/2004 Trip Report: Given the perfect forecast, and my fearing the re-instatement of the draft, my wife and I fled to Canada this past weekend to give Wedge a try. We left Mount Vernon about 7am on Saturday and pointed the Civc towards the Great White North. Luckily, we passed across the border without losing our secret stash of dried meat and fruit and sped north towards Whistler. A near diaster was averted in Squamish when we were caught in a mad rush for donuts at Tim Horton's. People were practically running over each other to get into the parking lot. It was truly a crazy, chaotic scene. All we wanted to do was use the bathroom .. . next time I'll just pull off the side of the road. Anyways .. .The road to the TH was hit hard by the October floods and we could only coax the Civic about a km up the road. We left the cars around 11:30 am and began the toil upwards, upwards, upwards. We soon found out that we were out of shape and the trail was steep. All in all it took us a little less than 5 hours to get to the hut . . . we were going slow for sure! The hut was a welcome site and we were greeted by a solo euro named Anton. He promptly packed up his stuff and left the hut to us! There are benefits to being really, really, stinky, I guess. He left to go bivy on the glacier and mentioned he probably wasn't going to climb the next day. Bummer, we would have to break trail all by our lonesomes. The evening was a little on the cloudy side, but the next day dawned clear and calm. We left the hut around 5 am and began the slog upwards. With snowshoes we didn't sink much down low, but gradually the snow got deeper till we were sinking ankle deep or so. Where the glacier steepened, we took off the shoes and started postholing upwards to the low col where we were to gain the NE arete (the full arete looked snowy and time consuming so we opted for just the final steep bit). This took awhile as it was mostly calf to knee deep wind slab. Once we got to the col, the snow firmed a bit on the arete and it was a pretty fast hour up to the summit (around 5 hours from the hut total). The arete was mostly knife edged, but not so much that it made for tough travel. The wind kept pushing us around a bit (and any snow we kicked, goggles would've helped), but not enough to make it scary, only fun. Man, that arete is cool!!!! Worth every bit of slogging to get to it. Due to the cold, and the long walk back, we didn't spend too much time on top. We descended the West ridge gulley, which was straightforward, but steep and wind loaded at the top. It would have been fantastic skiing conditions, but a little questionable on the avy danger side. It is a quick and good way to get down though. From the gulley it was a slow, hot, slog back to the hut, arriving 7.5 hours after we left. We crashed for a few minutes in the sun and tried to get up the motivation to hike down. This took awhile, but eventually we left and arrived at the cars (about 5:30pm) to end a fantastic weekend. The hike down sucked, big time (lots of plunging into tree wells). But the pain was seriously dulled by the fact that we had such beautiful weather and the hut and mountain to ourselves!!! Now we only had one more crux . . . getting past Tim Horton's in one piece. Gear Notes: Two pickets, axes, aluminum crampons, 37m rope. Ski poles and snowshoes were nice on approach and descent. Approach Notes: Snow starts about 1200m

I climbed up and down the SW couloir by myself on Sunday. I'm not a very bold person and I didn't think it was a bad solo trip at all. Crampons and an axe are all that you really need. I used a second tool a bit on the down climb. Beware of other parties above as there is a bit of loose rock high up the gully. Have fun, it is short (<2hrs car to summit) but good!

Just wondering if you could drive all the way to the TH. Of course any info on the approach right now would be great too! Thanks.

Climb: Shuksan-North Face Date of Climb: 4/10/2004 Trip Report: DR, my wife and a friend headed up on Friday to a nice dry bivy on the ridge below the North Face (3 hours from the White Salmon Lodge). Got going by 5am on Sat. and had pretty good, albeit variable, conditions on the face. Some hard crusty cramponing, some ankle deep soft stuff, and some windslab. It took us about 2.5 hours up to the shoulder and another couple of hours to the summit. Great weather, good snow conditions greeted us pretty much the whole day, with an especially fast descent down the White Salmon Glacier. We were back at the cars by 4pm, and drinking beer and eating pizza at the Beer Shrine by 6pm (one of the best parts of the day) A fun, and more moderate than expected route. Good times!!! Gear Notes: Brought a couple pickets, one screw per team (didn't need any of it), 40m 8.5mm ropes, second tool (only used on the summit pyramid). Oh, and lots of Canadian Rye bread (didn't use). Maybe a copy of "The Perfect Storm" (didn't read). Approach Notes: Beware of the deep slop low on the White Salmon!!

If you are a relatively skilled/fit skier and are interested, shoot me a PM. I'm solo right now, and plan on a pretty early start from Mount Vernon (home). Thanks!!

I think we were on the summit between 12:30 and 1:30pm. We made one 50m rappel from the deep notch below the summit. The cornice you rap under is getting HUGE!!

Climb: Chair Peak-North Face Date of Climb: 3/13/2004 Trip Report: Myself, wife, and friend left the cars at ~ 6:20 am under high clouds and booted it up past source lake to the base of the north face. I think it took us around 2 hours, and conditions were excellent for walking (didn't break through). We were the first there and started up the route to find excellent ice (actual water ice) and not so excellent snow. The ice was plastic, thick, and took screws well. The snow was a bit sugary, but wasn't too insecure. In general, the face is looking a little on the thin side (although this was my first time, so I'm not sure what is normal), but still in pretty good shape. We spent about an hour on top enjoying the sun and view and made a speedy return back to alpental once we got past the wallowing above source lake (we didn't bring flotation and it warmed up enough during the day to make things messy down low). Fun times!! Gear Notes: 3 pickets, 5 screws, a few pins, twin 50m ropes, some took two tools, some a tool and an axe. Approach Notes: snow

We left about 4am. Cathedral Gap had almost no snow around it, must have been too windy this winter. Cadaver gap was looking pretty wind-loaded, although we weren't really close enough to tell for sure. We didn't hang around long enough to dig a pit, but in the loaded areas, the (relatively) soft layer was >2' deep (plunging my axe didn't hit anything hard). Wind was really the big factor though . . .

Not bad at all. Mostly cramponing with some infrequent mid shin post-holing. We could have avoided the bit of windslab we encountered, we mainly turned around when we realized our chances of seeing the summit were slim considering the wind/temp combo.

Climb: Mt. Rainier-Gib Ledges Attempt Date of Climb: 2/9/2004 Trip Report: To make a short story shorter, we failed. High winds and some windslab on the Cowlitz meant we only got to around 11,500. It was mainly the wind, however. 40+ mph gusts and ground blizzard conditions don't make it too fun when it is only 10 degrees out. As a side note, most S, SE facing slopes were getting a pretty healthy dose of windloading over the past few days. We saw Gib chute avalanche Sunday evening, and were more than a little worried on Monday considering the wind. We never made it far enough to judge how unstable it really was on Monday. . . . For any interested, there is an RMI group of about 15 spending the week at Muir right now. They plan on trying for the Ingrahm either tomorrow or Thursday I think. Now's your chance to follow the cattle track and avoid the trail breaking sufferfest!!!

My partner and I are heading up Sun/Mon and wouldn't mind another rope team along to help with step-kicking . . . Wtih the forecast, we're probably not the only ones thinking of it . . .

I've heard Lowell refer to it as the Isolation traverse. I think the inspriration traverse is from Eldo out to Primus and Thunder Creek. PM Lowell and he'd probably have any info you'd want . ..

My wife and I climbed both Cook (via Zurbriggen's, descended the Linda) and Aspiring (SW ridge) last year on our honeymoon (late December 2002) and had a great time. We climbed Aspiring as a warm-up and I think It is a good mountain to head to to get a feel for New Zealand climbing. Even that early, the SW ridge was starting to get spicy near the top with a little bit of mixed rock and ice to ~60 degrees. We descended the NW ridge and that seemed to be pretty much a scramble except for some steep snow descending the "ramp". We round tripped it from the French Ridge hut which made for a long day, but oh so beautiful! Mount Cook lived up to it's reputation and scared us a bit. We witnessed a ice chunk the size of a house rip down the Gunbarrels and proceed to plow its way down most of the Linda Glacier. We moved quickly after that! That said, the area is probably one of the more spectacular I've visited and it is worth heading to, even if you only climb Mt. Dixon and/or walk around the Plateau hut. We flew in and didn't regret it (a heli can haul a lot of tasty food!), mainly after hiking out and realizing what slog it would be going UP! The hike out is not for the faint of heart, though. We came very close to getting shoved over a cliff by an avalanche (we left early, but the snow didn't freeze overnight), and large rocks were falling out of the moraine wall and bowling down the exit gully. Needless to say, we realized why most fly in AND out. Still I though it was cool, mainly to get an idea of how huge a mountain Cook really is. I would also reccomend Castle Hill (amazing bouldering/surreal wandering), and second Dru's reccomendation for Mt. Owen. An amazing karst landscape complete with a cool six bunk hut. The east ridge of Taranaki was a fun scramble, as was the MacPherson-Talbot traverse in the Darrans. Pretty much I could spend every winter in New Zealand (This topic took me back mentally). . . but I'd better get back to work!

TimL- Descended it a couple of weeks ago, and it isn't too bad. Mainly scrambling with some steep snow. There will be a couple of tricky crevasse sections, but other than that it'll probably go just fine.

Just got back today from the Pride Gl. route. It goes fine with only one crevasse blocking the entire route, we climbed into it and out via a short 70 degree pitch (most of the glacier is pretty easily navigated). The descent down the NE ridge has a couple of minor problems, but none too bad. I'll leave the rest for you to discover . . . It is a fun route that has the complete Cascades alpine package. Thanks to its omission in Beckey, I doubt you'll see a soul- we didn't. Have fun!

Just wondering if it makes things much harder traversing the opposite direction from the norm. . . . Thanks for any info!

I climbed it this past week and had no problem getting to the ridge. We crossed slabs below the glacier and scrambled up to the notch. The col bivy sites are spacious so I think a megamid would be fine (the spots to pitch it might be a bit bumpy, but PLENTY of room). There is a snow patch at the col that gives a small melt stream on warm afternoons . . . and dries up overnight. Have fun!

Not sure about the SE ridge, but if it is anything like the E ridge the rock might be on the scary loose side. The E ridge was pretty bad (as in rock quality), even by alpine standards . .. .

Thanks Dru! My honda will appreciate a 2WD road. So . . . in your opinion descending the south gullies is better than reversing the route (what the guide reccomends) ??

Just curious if there are decent campsites at the small lake on the way to that ridge route described in Alpine Select (in the Ault creek valley?). We don't have a high clearance vehicle and with the long drive from the states, road walk, etc. are looking to bivy somewhere before the route. Thanks for any info . . .