DPS

Butter. Lots of butter. Put it in everything: morning oatmeal, hot chocolate, instant rice. I made a very passable risotto at 14k with instant rice, cheese, salami, and chicken broth. Lots of drinks; instant apple cider, hot chocolate, instant soups. We budgeted 5,000 calories a day based on previous trips to the AK range putting in long days. The days on Denali were quite short with lots of rest days so we ended up eating maybe 3,500 calories a day.

A lot of excellent advice from very experienced climbers here. Late June gives you a lot of options from alpine rock, alpine cragging, alpine ice, and glacier routes. I would recommend having alternate plans in case you can't get permits for your first choice or the weather is inclement. Mountains east of the crest often enjoy good weather when the west side is raining. Washington Pass, Stuart Range, and Enchantments offer a lot of variety, better chance of good weather, and non-permit options. A few specific recommendations: Mt. Triumph. High quality Skagit gneiss, amazing views into the Pickets, and a straight forward approach. Permits are very limited though. Mt. Stuart. Good time for the Ice Cliff Arete, North Ridge, Ice Cliff Glacier as you can still probably descend via Sherpa Glacier making the approach and descent from Mountaineer's Creek straight forward. No permits needed other than the ones you get at the trailhead, which you do need to have. Mt. Shuksan. North Face, Price Glacier both challenging and iconic routes on this most iconic of Cascades mountains. No limited permits necessary. Mt. Baker. North Ridge, Coleman Headwall. No limited permits necessary. I would second the recommendation to start your trip mid week and queue up an hour before the ranger station opens to increase your odds of getting a permit. You will very likely be challenged by a ranger in Boston Basin to see your permit. It used to be that if a ranger caught you without a permit they could issue you one on the spot. Too many people are enjoying our mountains for that now, the rangers have become very strict with permits. 20 years ago, I was hiking out from a day trip up Colchuck Peak with Alex. I was breaking in a new pair of boots and developed some mighty blisters and was moving really slowly so Alex hiked ahead with our permit. Naturally, I bumped into a ranger who asked to see my permit. I told him Alex had it and was hiking ahead of me (a likely story). The ranger hiked all the way out from Colchuck Lake with me to check our permit at the trail head. I would add that in my experience back country rangers are good people and are doing their best to preserve an increasingly burdened fragile alpine environment. They aren't rangers because they enjoy being hard asses, they love the mountains as much as climbers.

That is early, typically the road opens Memorial Day Weekend. Having made the approach to North side routes in winter three times from the Snow Park at Crystal Mountain Blvd. I can attest it adds a long way, around 12 miles one way and full two days for the round trip. I went into do Curtis Ridge the weekend before the road opened, and we were able to drive Hwy 410 to White River road, and then road bicycles the five or six miles to White River campground. That wasn't bad at all. Last time I did Lib Ridge we decided on a leisurely three day trip and we camped right before dropping onto the Carbon on good, flat dirt. We then crossed the Carbon early the next morning.

I think you missed the ice. The first time I went into do TC was 25 years ago, and it was fat in February. Last time I climbed it was not in condition until April, and then only for a few weeks. Now it seams like the window is around mid April and only lasts a two weekends.

Hey Gene, we think alike. Biving below the ice cliff would be a really nice alternative. There is enough flat real estate for a tent or two and you would beat the crowds. Last time I went up to the North Ridge we got a late start from the trailhead and ended up behind 22 climbers.

Wow, looks great! Am I remembering incorrectly, but weren't the Repo crags called something else in Burdo's guidebook. British Isles or something?

Nice work. This is such a conditions dependent route. I've done the North Face variation, which involved climbing to the top of the hidden couloir, then three 60 meter M4 pitches to the North Face Bowl, (NFB). The NFB was covered in 1/4" of snice. We simu-climbed the entire crackless, slabby NFB, myself half convinced we would find gear in the next 5 meters, the other half envisioned my partner and myself lying dead in a cocoon of rope at the base of the North Face of Dragontail. I eventually found a crack in a boulder 60 meters below the exit couloir. I welded a #2 Black Diamond angle piton that my partner was unable to retrieve and climbed to establish a belay below the exit couloir. Three more M4 pitches delivered us at the start of the third couloir and easy climbing to the summit, where we were hit by a blizzard... The second time Chris Simmmons and I climbed the traditional route in fat, WI-4ish condtiions in 14 hours car to car. We were aided by being able to drive to within one mile of the trailhead.

Did you climb up to the big chock stone chimney, which would be the top of pitch two or three? Did you then stick to the ridge crest, the photo of Don appears to be on the south side of the ridge? Did you follow the summer route? Thanks! As an aside, I think it is very cool that FWAs are still happening at Snoqualmie Pass and folks like Chris Simmons are doing a lot of exploration and fitting together really interesting enchainments. Snoqualmie Pass is like little Scotland. When the conditions are ripe, the goods are excellent. I did a Tooth to Denny traverse in the summer which was really cool, if a bit contrived. I think in good winter conditions traversing the NE Slab of the Tooth to Denny Mt. would be a good, long day out. There is also a striking prow on Hemlock Peak (I think) climbers right of the NE Slab on the Tooth that I have seen in climbable, thickly ice conditions. That would be a cool way up Hemlock and could enchain the rock pitches on the north ridge.

I'm not happy about having my climb poached. Gerrit and Jake will corroborate that I had intentions on the winter ascent as far back as 2013. I even placed a piton with a red tag, but it was probably covered in ice. In all seriousness, nice work. A very cool addition to winter climbing in the Snoqualmie Pass area!

HI Curt, You probably don't remember me, but I climbed WR Forbidden with you and Carlos Hatfield 25 years ago. I was chatting with a colleague whom I worked, climbed, and skied with for 20 years. He just mentioned he had a class with Gary Gray at WWU. Small world. Good to see you still setting out. DPS

Yes Jake, Mark has crushed my dreams of making the FWA of the West Ridge (unclimbed in winter according to someone at Pro Ski and Guide). Remember when we went to attempt it but stopped at the North Face because it was so heavily iced? Ahhh, what could have been.

Well, that would be the best time frame. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Quiet you, some of us have tick lists you know.

Hyalite, Montana.

I did my graduate school research and dissertation on waterborne pathogens (Giardia spp., Cryptosporidum parvum, and Fecal Coliform bacteria). Every stream I tested had the protozoans, however, they were typically at concentrations far below what is necessary to cause an infection. That said, if there were protozoans present, Fecal Coliform bacteria was typically in the millions of CFU per 100 ml. One of the take aways is you are more likely to encounter bacteria than protozoans, which can still make you very, very sick.