JasonG

Wow, that is a serious effort! Glad it all turned out OK, and thanks for persevering on the TR bugs.

Sigh. Sorry! Try this, maybe? http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1149152/Trip_Report_Issue#Post1149152 If not, send me a PM and we can get the content up! Promise.

And.....just added more captions. You know, to kill the mystery a bit.

It is awaiting your ascent of the Tongue Oly! I had no idea what I was looking at other than a breaker bar with an old axe head shoved on top. I will look it up now, I'm curious. And sorry to spill the beans on the top sekrit moderator hideout. Obviously I got carried away when I was inserting pics. Darin- I took that photo just for you.

Thanks Alex! I added some captions tonight.....

Trip: The Devil's Tongue - Standard- Illegal Immigration Ridge Date: 9/16/2017 Trip Report: In anticipation of our 2018 unsupported mission to the North Pillar of the Devil's Thumb Scott and I recently completed a training climb of the Devil's Tongue. We feel it is a good step towards our end goal, mainly because we saw THREE bears..... and we hear AK has a few of them. That, and we had to ford a river (THE MIGHTY SKAGIT), fight with a Barred Owl, and scramble lichen encrusted EXPOSED third class rock. It was pretty intense. But the pastoral scenery from camp and the approach to the peak helped to calm our nerves, even when we had to sweep bear scat from out chosen tent site. Intense! The chocolate didn't hurt either. But unless you're planning on the Devil's Thumb next year, there's probably no reason to climb the Devil's Tongue. This report is mainly to save you the effort of finding out firsthand why nobody goes up there (we were first party to sign in this year). See what I mean? the MIGHTY Skagit: Jack and Ross Lake: Hard Mox and that wall that Lunger and Layton climbed on Lemolo (separate trips): Luna and S. Pickets: More Lunger and Rat FA's, Zorro wall on N. Hozo and NF of S. Hozo: Northern Lights on the left horizon, fire in BC on the right: THE DEVIL'S TONGUE: Foxy Moxy: The Impressive NFs of McNaught and Rahm to the right of the Devil's Tongue: Custer (L) and Rahm ® from the summit: Scott on the summit with Spickard behind: Hazy Pickets: Scott inspecting his tax dollars at work: Hardman living at camp: Good bivy on way to Trailhead: Gear Notes: Helmet, cord for hanging food. Approach Notes: Old Galene Lakes Trail. Save mileage by fording the Skagit after walking from the Nepopekum day use parking area to river. Follow flagged route uphill on far side which deposits you at Middle Galene lakes. Follow your nose cross country from there.

Ummmmmm..... DAMN.

Sorry about how buggy the site is Chris! If you're willing to email me the content we can work to get it inserted here. Check your PMs...

Nathan- check your messages....we will get your TR up!

speaking of Jason G... he left an interesting playing card in the summit register... choss dawgs FTW! I might be guilty by association, but those aren't my cards officers! Honest. I have to admit that I'm looking out my window nervously for Guido right now......as I work on my next TR.

So, so good! That is a truly impressive and intimidating feature, well done. Have you tried the workaround here: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1149152/Trip_Report_Issue#Post1149152 Your site is great, but CC.com is a jealous lover.

That's fast! Well done.

If you are starving for protein at 5000m, maybe.

Tony was the best helicopter pilot the North Cascades has ever seen, a true legend. I feel honored to have flown with him and owe him a debt for saving the life of a friend of mine. He will be missed.

I think most of us are just afraid to look into the face of pure Badassery. It's hard to wrap my mind around it, that's for sure.

Good to know that glacial recession has worked in our favor for once. Do you think that huge moat has no chance of being a problem in late season, or it was a lucky coincidence that it was bridged? I've noticed that the glaciers have changed enough in the last 20 years that it is hard to gauge when a configuration on a particular route is stable or not. Seems to vary significantly within a few years. And glad you had a great trip, that is a favorite route of mine!

Snaffles are busy packing off bits of your new webbing right now. In time, you'll find that quantity means quality in the North Cascades (and less weight in your pack). In seriousness though, glad you got up and down safe! That is a climb that is a bit more serious than the rating would suggest, esp. if there is fresh snow and ice on the final steep parts.

I'll try and add captions this week Scott! Thanks Rolos!

I recently got a Nikon D750 with the Nikkor 24-120 f4 and the 70-300 f4-5.6 lenses. Nothing super fancy, but fancy compared to my 8 year old Canon T1i!

Awesome, love that route! Thanks for the descent beta. We went over Marble Needle, which was also OK.

Perhaps this will help you get the TR up? http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1149152/Trip_Report_Issue#Post1149152 Sorry for the technical difficulties, it would be great if you could make the TR viewable!

Thanks everyone! Curt, it is certainly physical, but not anywhere as ass kicking as getting into the Pickets via Mystery/Pioneer ridges. You can go pretty light, given that it is only three days, and skip Tricouni to make the second day shorter. Neither the first or third days are super long, by traverse standards. For us, the heat zapped us on Day 1 and we were feeling it on the second day. Cooler temps wouldn't wring you out as much getting up to Eldorado. Rad- we were remarking the same thing. It seems there are some big changes up there, at least in the 18 years since I first climbed Eldorado.

Trip: Inspiration Traverse- Cascade River to Thunder Cr. - Primus and Tricouni Date: 9/3/2017 Trip Report: Just when Steve and I thought ourselves well traveled in the North Cascades, we found an unexpectedly spectacular corner of the range, away from the masses, yet within a reasonable 3 day weekend of home. Sure, I had climbed Primus 15 years before, but it was in a cloud without views except for my partners in the mist. So imagine my surprise when I saw the view this past weekend! We began our short, yet long-feeling soiree from the standard approach to Eldorado on Saturday, after what has become a now typical MMA fight for permits at the ranger station (take a number, wait an hour, marvel at the lack of trip planning of many groups). Then it was time to drop a vehicle at the Thunder Creek TH (full as well) and circle back to begin the painful slog upwards from the Cascade River. It was hot, but at least there wasn't much wind. The hike up was the standard 5 hour exercise in humility, broken up in the boulder field by an encounter of two young and enthusiastic lads who were hiking in for the first time, armed with beta gleaned exclusively from Instagram. Steve and I felt even older than the trail already had us feeling, but more we thought that Fred better figure out how to start using social media if he wants to keep his dirtbag lifestyle sustainable. Don't go the way of Blackberry. Anyway, the east ridge bivy (with the best crapper in the park) lived up to its reputation and we were treated to a great sunset and sunrise from one of the better camps anywhere. We got to know our neighbors from the Colorado Mountain School and Mountain Madness, glad that they appreciated the Skag as much as we do. They don't make mountains like this anywhere else in the lower 48. We were up with the sun the next day and we bid our newfound friends farewell. They would be the last people we would see until we were hiking out Thunder Creek Monday. No tracks on the glaciers, and just a few footprints in the dirt would be the theme of the next two days. Smoke from fires slowly invaded over the weekend until we hiked out under a surreal sun Monday afternoon. I'll leave the details of the traverse out to Thunder Creek to your imagination, with plenty of photos below to pique your curiosity. Half of the fun from this past weekend was being surprised right in our own backyard. Go explore! J'Burg: Colorado Mtn. School Ice climbing practice: Moonrise over TFT: NW face of Forbidden: Notice the climbers on the summit ridge of Eldorado: Primus: This lake is not on your map: Snowfield group in the distance: The Borealis Gl. is shrinking fast: Goode and Stormking: Moon over Logan: Steve and Tricouni: Tricouni (L) and Primus: Gear Notes: 30m glacier rope, Al crampons, axe, helmet. Approach Notes: Standard Eldorado approach to East Ridge bivy. Through Austera/Klawatti col, around Austera, carried over Primus to Primus/Tricouni col. Traverse high on Borealis west until possible to reach ridge descending to glacial lake not on USGS map. Descend from Lake on prominent ridge to McAllister Creek.

Only if you start appeasing Raindawg

Ok people, I finally got around to adding captions to the photos in the TR. Let me know if that doesn't answer your obscure peak ID questions! And thanks for all the kudos on the trip and photos, it was the trip of the summer for sure.