JasonG

Ha! I should say ugly for us softies. Just really terrible breakable crust over old debris. In the grand scheme of Cascadian suffering it was a paper cut. And you are welcome to join us anytime @lunger! Say the word and you'll be on the email list for extremely moderate adventures.

This was his first tour ever in the Cascades!

Love it! No TR is too old, I'm glad you came back to this. And, "dry skiing"....

That is an incredible time @mike_1, and so casual sounding! In a (half) day sounds like a lot of fun. I need to go back when I don't have to walk the road to the TH. Plus, I had to bypass the runnels as they were too thin. Thanks for the reminder to return!

Thanks everyone! If you're a photo snob like me you may want to click on the first photo in the TR and then cycle thru them using the arrows. This shows you much higher resolution versions than what is visible embedded above. You need to see them at their full frame glory!

You're right @KirkW, we should just all kill ourselves now.

Good point @genepires, but I think less people are also needed if we shrink our war machine. Less weapons to maintain. Of course, as @Dannible pointed out, things aren't simple to re-program at the Federal level. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who works for or has worked at the Congressional level on the most productive path. I suspect that it boils down to # of voices and seniority of your leaders in DC. i.e. the swamp.

It's true, defense spending dwarfs all other sectors of discretionary government expenditures (when you exclude SS and Medicare/Medicaid, which are much larger than the miltary). No matter the administration. Obama: A few less bombs would go a long ways on the forests.

Trip: Goat Mountain - SW route Trip Date: 03/31/2018 Trip Report: The last hall pass before our Canadian Hut trip was put to good use this past Saturday. Goat has mocked me for decades as I've gazed north from the ski area and tours out of Heather Meadows. No longer! In the winter a Goat tour starts pretty low. So, with the cold breath of the GRAVEDIGGER on our backs, we skinned from the start of the Hannegan Road a bit over two miles to the start of the Goat Mountain summer trail. Toiling upwards on a fine day we ran across cougar tracks from the day before, a few minutes before Shuksan burst into view at treeline. Those would be about the only tracks we would see until we gained the Twin Lakes Road on the north side of Goat. Sefrit: We reached Goat col about 4-5 hours after leaving the cars and started to skin the final 600 feet to the true summit of Goat, which is the eastern one marked on the USGS quad. Soon, however, we realized that skis were going to be a liability with the wind slab cooking on the south aspect of the peak and dropped them in favor of booting to the summit. The proved to be a smart move, as significant wet slides swept this face below the ridge between the time we ascended and descended. We were able to effectively mitigate the hazard by sticking to the ridge in the trees and rocks. Tomyhoi watching us on the ascent: The summit was glorious on this still spring day and we spent a half hour snapping pictures and admiring the view. Unfortunately we couldn't linger long, since half of our party waited at the col and we had a long slog out the Twin Lakes Road ahead of us. Downward! The final few feet to the summit: Southern Pickets: Ruth and Triumph on the right: Sefrit again: Nooksack Tower: Tomyhoi again: Seahpo and Jagged Ridge: West Goat: Then it was time to ski! The lower we got the worse the snow was (and it didn't start out that great), until it was horrific breakable crust. At least we had nice views of Goat: The happy(ish) crew, minus me, before things got really ugly: One last look at GOAT: Gear Notes: skis, ski crampons, light axe if going for true Goat, a slogging attitude. Approach Notes: Hannegan Road to Goat summer trail to Goat col to Twin Lakes Road to ruin.

How do we effectively advocate for more trail maintenance funding @Dannible?? I've written my electeds several times but they never even respond on this particular issue, likely because I'm one of the only ones who has ever brought it up. Get the big outdoor retailers involved like BD, Patagonia, REI??

More trails! If you look at old maps, there are hundreds of miles of trails that have been abandoned. Clear 'em out and publicize them!

ha! It's been awhile since I've listened to that.

I'm not crazy! And I do pine for those days in the mid-90's when you had well-known North Cascades trails to yourself. Now I have to go Devil's Club wrestling to find some space.

That's why you need to always cross with a decorated military veteran like @Trent. The red carpet treatment!

Wow, that looks steep! Nice work guys.

Thanks for the report @Chris Hopkins!

Here is another, this is a great group site: https://www.recreation.gov/camping/bridge-creek-group-site/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=73880

Ouch, that IS so painful.

You could grab sites at the forest service camps on the east side of Hwy 20. Plenty of hiking and climbing options up there. I guess it depends whether or not you want to be close to city stuff and cragging or more want to be in the mountains.

Ha! Thanks guys. Now....if I can just win that pass......

Sort of like a certain someone on the Cosley-Houston @Phil K?

This is much more true than you could ever imagine @Chris Hopkins. Judging by your response above, I think you'll fit right in.

Very true @genepires. I wasn't meaning to disagree with you, just saying that avalanches tend to kill way too many professionals for my liking, and sometimes without much in the way of warning beforehand. This isn't the norm, but it does keep you on your toes.

That's certainly true in many instances @genepires, but the ones the scare me the most are where nothing pointed to a problem.....until there was one. As @CascadeClimber said earlier, there is a lot of variability out there on the snowy landscape and sometimes it catches up to even the best.