JasonG

So how many people total up on Dome and Sinister this past weekend?

Thanks everyone! Yeah Scott, we missed you up there. And Steve, I think it was the other way around! It is certainly reasonable to travel solo up to Columbia Crest from the base of the cleaver- we traveled unroped the entire way. Descending in the heat of midday wouldn't be fun in my book, however. It has certainly been done though, so you might not think it bad. There is enough potential for rock and icefall that I thought descending the well-worn DC was much preferable. This year it is impressively broken though, crossing numerous large bridges. Perhaps later when they fall in and are spanned with ladders it might be good solo? But then the Cleaver will be mostly melted out..... (it is prime now!)

Passive aggressive crowds at Itswoot Ridge?? Beat in trail up Bachelor creek? Say it ain't so! How times change.... That's a beautiful area, and a difficult summit to reach. Nice work!

Trip: Mount Rainier - Success Cleaver Date: 6/26/2017 Trip Report: Quick conditions update for those headed to the mountain over the long holiday weekend.... Snow starts below Indian Henry's, it's about 3-4' deep at patrol cabin. Camped first night on rock slabs below Pyramid Peak ~6.3k, running water all around. Deep snow most of the way up the Cleaver, good travel generally. Knife edge portion melted out and can scramble the crest. Sunday night, stomped out platform at the 10.7k small col on crest of success cleaver. Left camp at 0230 and found generally good step kicking snow up and right in gullies merging onto Kautz Cleaver ~12.2k (no rockfall, small bits of ice falling on us). Above this, we encountered icy sections of snow where we were on front points for long sections (to about 45 degrees). Second tool helpful since we were moving un-roped on the climb to Point Success. Found weakness to sneak past final cliff below Point Success that only required a short bit of 55 degree snow/ice (~15'). We arrived at Point Success around 0700 and wandered across to Columbia Crest. Quiet morning on the mountain: saw one party topping out on the Emmons, another coming up the Kautz, one entering crater from DC and another ascending the DC as we were descending around 0900. The DC itself was amazingly sloppy at 1000, glad to have been down relatively early. As we approached Ingraham Flats, convection started rapidly building and we watched as lightning hit ridges south of the Tatoosh. A dramatic backdrop as we arrived at Muir and checked in with the ranger on duty! Rain and wind as we descended the snowfield to Paradise with the summit obscured. Good timing, I guess. As an aside, success cleaver is about the only route to the summit plateau that doesn't involve significant glacier travel. You pay, of course, starting from the westside road at only ~2600', and having to carry over (descending the cleaver not recommended). The benefit being having the mountain to yourself on a busy weekend. Highly recommended, if you do it over three days. Less would be quite punishing! Oh, and be prepared for a quick entry into urban life upon reaching Paradise. We helped several fit snowshoes for tooling around the parking lot, which was greatly entertaining (for all involved, probably). Gear Notes: Light rope, steel crampons, axe, helmet, light second tool (camp corsa nanotech perfect). Approach Notes: "Unmaintained" Tahoma creek trail is key.

Conditions and weather looks perfect for as far as the eye can see. Have fun!

You didn't miss anything Ben, I wasn't clear that the register was on Wilmans Peak, not the spire. I found the remnants of the spire register at the base, sans cap or paper. It did have a small trowel for burying poo though....

Was there much snow still on the north side rock of Torment? Good effort, it is a bit tougher to climb with packs, that's for sure! At least you got a good feel of what to expect next time, and a summit as well. Torment is a great prize in and of itself.

DAMN. That is an impressive three day effort! Having been all through that country (over many more days) I can imagine how tired you must have been cramming that into a weekend. That buttress is pretty intimidating looking, well done!

If you want to have a good trip, three days for Rainier summit, with two days spent moving up the mountain. I can't stress this enough. That and only going if the forecast is perfect (clear with <30mph winds forecast for summit). Go somewhere else in WA if the forecast sucks. Have fun! Just got back from the summit last night and the mountain is in good shape.....

To be fair, the bad section of the old road is early on. It is still worth bringing bikes, even with pushing them for a bit. There was a new road put in, but my understanding was that they obliterated it on the way out after the mine remediation work. From what we could see around Monte Cristo, this seemed to be the case. The gully to East Wilman's has TONS of snow. The NW ramp on Wilmans, however, was boney. Surprisingly so. I think it was ripped apart by climax slides this winter/spring. Yeah Scott! Warmed the hearts of Steve and I to see your names in there, and not a tech bro in sight. And you should know that us Skagitonians are way into tennis!

It did seem harder, but I thought that was just the 42 year old me whining (and my poor memory fading)! You could see where some rock had let go and there were a couple moves that I didn't remember from before. Interesting. Yes, good to see you Brett! And Doug, not totally better, but a bit of improvement.....

Trip: Wilmans Peak and East Wilmans Spire - Wilmans- NW face, East Spire- Standard Date: 6/17/2017 Trip Report: My tennis elbow was still bothering me last weekend (getting better though thanks to advice I gathered from the fitness forum), so the North Cascades Blue Collar Tour extended its run. The Wilmans massif was the next stop and the NW face certainly delivered- hauling bikes over the Sauk on a slippery log, discontinuous snow forcing forays onto slimy, exposed 4th class rock, and a glide crack dodging descent that left no room for error. Interestingly, the summit register of Wilmans peak had been hit by lightning, melting the plastic bag inside, which I replaced. It appeared that Wilmans hadn't been climbed since 2009, which actually surprised us- until we started the descent to East Wilmans. As with most Blue Collar Tours, the rope stayed stowed until we came upon some real 5th class climbing on East Wilmans. This is also where we ran into a friend of mine and his partner who where on their own mission to the unmistakable table-top sized summit with a three piton anchor. We lounged with them for a bit too long as the weather slowly deteriorated and were treated to rain on the hike and bike to the cars. Strangely, when I last climbed East Wilmans about a dozen years ago I also knew the only other party on the mountain. The Blue Collar Club isn't large, but they are consistent. Gear Notes: Bikes are a must for the road to Monte Cristo. Helmet, axe, crampons, light rack to 3", 60m half rope (for East Wilmans). We used rock shoes but you can climb it in boots too. It's about 5.6. Approach Notes: Standard approach to Glacier Basin, head up towards East Wilmans, then hang a left to the NW ramp of Wilmans where the gully narrows. Plan on about a 11-12 hour RT including long summit breaks.

Oh, the North Ridge is high quality as well! Aside from Stuart, I can't think of another mountain in the Cascades with as many five star routes (OK, maybe Prusik?). But none match the alpine ambiance of Forbidden.

The Stehekin road was closed at High Bridge after the Oct 2003 flood, I think.

Ah, yes, I interpreted your comment wrong. It is quite good. Certainly on par with the east and west ridges, if only for the outrageous positions. Rock quality is a bit less, but still fine.

You know "many" that have climbed the NW face? That does surprise me. It really feels like you are off the beaten track on it, but I climbed it years ago.

Thanks for the history lesson. Amazing stories on that last link.

Excellent! Perhaps my favorite mountain to climb in the North Cascades, it is nice to see that Forbidden is coming into shape. Love the pic of the NW face, more should check that route out- it's a grand adventure.

Wow, I never would have guessed.

Ohhhhhhhhhh, that. I'm impressed that you were on the Trapezoid recently! It doesn't seem to see a lot of traffic.

It think so- it's like being a factory worker with terrible benefits and a bankrupt pension fund. No safety net!

Love it! The history, the brush, the fire on Jumbo, the death blocks, all of it. Darrington to the core. Thanks and keep up the good work!

Trip: Jumbo - juuuuuummmmbbbbboooooo!!!! Date: 6/10/2017 Trip Report: The North Cascades "Blue Collar Tour" continued last weekend with Jumbo as its next stop. Cloudy murk was the theme of the day, but Kit and I were pleasantly surprised to find a relatively brush free route, aided by a long neglected miner's trail that greatly sped our ascent to about the 3000' level. Here, careful attention to the map and our Choss Dawg sensibilities were needed to ferret out the path to the easy slopes above 4000'. The final snowfields were as straightforward as the lower route convoluted, leading to the aesthetic and exposed summit knife edge (class 3, and over far too soon). A particular treat when climbing Jumbo are the pastoral views down into the heart of Darrington, Sauk Prairie and the NF Stillaguamish. Oh, and Squire Creek wall. It's rather large, if you didn't know. I almost forgot the tennis elbow that got me started on the Blue Collar Tour this spring! Gear Notes: crampons, axe, helmet Approach Notes: Find the old trail, past the landslide, and about 300' before the washed out culvert. Summitpost has a good description of the route. If you nail it, your life will be pretty easy. If you botch it, you may never make the summit so pay attention!

Whoah http://www.seattletimes.com/life/outdoors/from-snoqualmie-pass-to-the-canadian-border-in-34-days-on-skis/

No bias there.