JasonG

It is! We stayed mostly on the crest but I did detour a few feet right on the second pitch for gear and a belay

Trip: Mount Watson- West Peak - North Arete Trip Date: 07/16/2024 Trip Report: I want to thank @dberdinka for turning @Trent and myself on to this interesting and highly scenic climb on Mount Watson. I am sure I wouldn't have known about it otherwise and details on it are scarce. Actually details from @dberdinka were scarce too, but that's the way we like it. I knew how to get there and the rest would sort itself out, right? As expected, the approach to the north side of Watson was short and quick. It is a rather complex mountain with multiple summits and ridges, but we identified the only feature we felt @dberdinka would want to climb (a striking and clean buttress that sweeps up to the westerly summit), stepped off the snow, and did some solid scrambling to a ledge. @Trent took the first lead on easy fifth and slightly runout sold slabby rock to a wide ledge. I took the next lead up the steepening buttress, wandering to the right side to find gear and stretching the rope a full 60m to find some cracks I could garden for gear. Fun climbing to mid fifth on generally sound and slabby rock. This brought us to the slightly lower west summit of Watson. But, like many obscure routes in the North Cascades it isn't a gimme and we chuckled as we scratched our heads on the west summit for an "easy" way off. Ultimately, we did some very exposed scrambling down towards the col with the true summit. The col was a gash, and we did a short rap into it off of a block slung with cord. We changed back into boots and did some brush bashing and branch aiding to the true summit. Looking back at the route and West summit of Watson, we could see why @dberdinka had recommended it (it was fun too). Look at it! You can walk off the true summit of Watson and a bit of snow travel brings you around and down to the climber's path and the Anderson/Watson trail. A fun and short day out in the North Cascades! Gear Notes: Ice axe, crampons, light rack to 3". 60m rope was handy to reach ledges. Rock shoes are nice for the slabby rock Approach Notes: Anderson/Watson trail to climber's path that heads to Watson (or the Bacon Hagan Blum traverse). Find the obvious buttress on the west peak of Watson and step off the snow.

Photo of the toe of Mongo here:

Trip: Fortress and Helmet Butte - Standard Trip Date: 07/28/2024 Trip Report: I have fallen woefully behind on TRs this summer, not exactly sure what the deal is with that, but I am slowing trying to rectify things. In no particular order from the past few months, here is a short report on a trip I did with my brother @ZakG about a month ago to Helmet Butte and Fortress. Now that I am firmly in my mature mountaineer phase I am oh so slowly working my way through the Bulger list. I say slowly because I think I climbed my first Bulger (Cashmere?) in 1994 or so. I hope to be done before I die, but it might take another decade at the pace I am going. Anyways, I digress, first world problems. @ZakG arrived at Trinity on a beautiful Saturday to a half empty lot and no people milling about. A good sign and indicative of what we would see that weekend....which was nobody. I am not sure if I have hiked more than 20 miles on maintained trails, on a weekend, and not seen another party, but that was what we experienced. I hope this is going to be more common! A few miles up the Buck Creek trail we knew there would be a bridge out over the Chiwawa, but there is a good log that trail crews dropped across the creek Shortly thereafter we were treated to awe inspiring views of Buck's north face, yet another Bulger I haven't gotten to: This section of trail is burned for several miles and there were quite a few logs across the trail that we had to work around. Still, the combination of fireweed and snags made it scenic. After about 9 miles and some on the excellent Buck Creek trail, we veered north on a climber's path to Pass No Pass, which we reached in early afternoon. There was a flowing stream for water a few hundred vert below the pass and not another tent in sight anywhere. After dinner we went up Helmet Butte for the view and to take a look over at Fortress to pick out our route for the next day. The clouds were more stubborn than forecast, and there was smoke in the air from the Suiattle fires, but all of it added some drama to the skies and interest to the views. We couldn't see any tents down at Buck Creek Pass, nor any people. We awoke in a cloud the next day and opted to hang out in the tent for a bit to see if we could get some visibility. It didn't improve much, but we hadn't hiked all that way to not even try and so we slowly made our way up into the murk to see if we could get above it. And sure enough we did! Nothing quite like the feeling when you realize that you are going to have good views and the summit is within reach. See if you can spot @ZakG: @ZakG on the summit of Fortress with Clark behind: Looking toward Bonanza and Dark: Coming down: And then it was the usual, hurry down, pack up camp, slog out, swat flies in the heat, fish the beer out of the creek, eat some chips, change into glorious cotton, and merge into the masses on the highway heading back to town on a Sunday evening. And we wouldn't have it any other way. Gear Notes: Ice axe and crampons if there is snow, helmet. Approach Notes: Buck Creek trail from Trinity to climber's path to No Name Pass. Follow your nose from there to both Helmet Butte and Fortress

The man himself, @kThurner!!! Would that be the oft discussed toe of Mongo Ridge?

One of our regulars here on this board was Gary's partner for that accident on Shuksan so many years ago. The climbing world is indeed small and interconnected. Sorry that I never had the chance to meet Scott, he sounded like quite the guy.

I didn't like the full west ridge route. The upper part is great, but the gully below it could easily kill you. The South face route is the best according to Steph! (I liked it too). But, I probably won't climb Inspiration 3 times to confirm Steph's opinion.

Thanks for the bump! I doubt I will every get back in shape enough to climb this, but I do appreciate the effort that went into putting this beta on the site. Well done!

The NW ridge of Spickard (wouldn't recommend):

This is great!!!

Oh, the toe looks just fine, just walk down there and go up.

Thanks @JonParker! I missed this.... Yes, agree on all of the above. I think it is a fun and straightforward class 3 ramble @Hartselle Mountain Hikers, but then again, I'm biased. And, you may have guessed, I like to keep the beta to an absolute minimum to keep the spirit of North Cascades adventure alive. It is a lot of fun to have the route unfold before you, hunting and guessing like those who came before. Or, at least I find that part fun. Good luck and please post a TR with your thoughts on the route. It is fun to see how folks experience this corner of the Cascades.

COME ON! That is just downright sadistic. Well done on a cool route! I can speak from experience that if you just go up from ramp to gash it is all fine.

Nice work @Bronco!

So much pain going up that way! I admire the effort for sure. Was the thinking that you wanted to ski north facing slopes? And pretty wild all the people way back in there! It's not exactly an easy spot to get to.

Super cool, that doesn't get done very often. What are you using to take photos?

What a nice and mellow chat RE drones in the wilderness.... thanks for keeping it civil everyone and thanks for listening @eeelip!

Epic in the truest sense of the word! Is that just super lucky with the weather or were you lying in wait for a window? And how did you ever get the idea for this trip in particular, of all the Alaskan adventures to be had? Can you post a map of the rough route or would that spoil the fun?

Totally agree! What a great adventure....to read about.

Cool!

https://www.nps.gov/noca/planyourvisit/road-conditions.htm Both sides agree that it is open.

Not in the least! We love it all, past or present. Well done on a major objective!

I really wish Fred was on Jeopardy! during his lifetime. Talk about celebrity Jeopardy!!

I would think a cat could pull off a hell of a dyno

Maybe not fair, but definitely reality. My guess is that rural landowners are increasingly likely to take matters into their own hands as predator populations continue to expand in the wake of hunting regulations changes in WA (elimination of spring bear, elimination of hound hunting, etc.).