Lowell_Skoog

1999 was a record snow year, of course. I skied the southwest route on Mt Buckner that very same day (7/20/99) and we managed to ski from Cascade Pass to the parking lot that afternoon. Hard to believe!

That's a great idea, Jay. If somebody wanted to write short biographies of noteworthy climbers, it would be especially interesting to discuss groups of climbers and how they have formed, changed, and influenced the region. I think you suggested something like this many months ago. Stories have been written about the Ptarmigans and the Sherpas, but there are lots of other groups that have come and gone, and it would be interesting to hear about them. Like the Ballard Alpine Club--now there's a hard-core group! I hope to continue writing something for each NWMJ issue. Right now I'm most interested in detailed profiles of significant climbers (like Wolf Bauer). But there's room for other stuff on the journal and I'd sure love to see more people contribute!

Not nearly up to Tom Miller standards but this was taken August 1976 from over near Torment. I'm looking at the picture in Tom Miller's book. MisterMo's 1976 picture actually shows more ice volume than Tom's 1952 picture. The two glacier segments right of the NE buttress are more solidly connected in MisterMo's picture and the snouts are thicker and more prominent. The Sill Glacier (adjacent to the C-J couloir) also looks thicker in Mo's picture. I've read that the Northwest is subject to 20-30 year cycles of cold-wet and warm-dry weather. The period from the mid-1940s through the mid-1970s was a cold-wet one. MisterMo's picture probably captures the peak glacier volume on Johannesburg since the 1920s. Nice shot! I don't want to post any of Tom Miller's pictures without his permission. If the above description isn't sufficient, I suppose I could ask him if it's okay to post. The pictures on my alpenglow.org site were posted with Tom's permission.

Did you notice the condition of the upper reaches of the Colonial Glacier (right below the Colonial-Neve col)? A friend and I descended that ice yesterday after completing the Eldorado-Snowfield traverse. The ice near the col is catacombed with huge, thinly-roofed caves. The cave roof (at least near the top, where I looked) is thin enough to be translucent. The roof has collapsed in a few places. This area seems very dangerous to me. We made our best guess at where the strong places were, and tip-toed down the ice on our campons as quick as we could. I think these caves are sure to collapse within the next few years, or sooner. Be really careful if you go up there. Or did you find another way to reach the Colonial-Neve col? As an aside, several recent posters have mentioned using aluminum crampons on their trips up Snowfield. Maybe I'm just getting wimpy, but I was really glad I brought steel crampons on our traverse. I hate the way aluminum crampons feel on hard ice. They don't feel secure to me.

If that's what I wanted to do I would have done the walk up. You've got something to go back for then. It's nice to leave a few things undone so you've got a reason to visit an area again. I climbed Kearney's west buttress and Beckey's original north buttress many years ago. We thought the summit was worthwhile both times. But there's no disputing about taste...

I should add some context to explain John's email, above. It may help you appreciate what his life was like in those days. The email was sent to fellow Microsofties jimb (Jim Borgeous), kristenl (Kristen Laine), and markb (Mark Bebie). Swapping Monday morning climbing stories around the cyberspace water cooler is old hat today, but it was quite new back then. You can think of John and his friends as trailblazers of a sort--CascadeClimbers.com is descended by several generations from the sort of informal chatter that climbers at Microsoft and elsewhere were starting back then. I especially like the last paragraph, where John mentions that he "brought the jar in," which means he had it there at work. It's nice to imagine the four of them converging at his office to take a look at it. I've lost track of Jim. Kristen was one of the founders of Women Climbers Northwest and now lives on the east coast, I believe.

Dear Lesley, I'm very sorry (shocked really) to hear this news. I didn't know your father well, but my old house-mate Mark Bebie worked with him at Microsoft about 20 years ago and they climbed together a bit. I happened to save a bit of old email that Mark sent me in 1987 after your father and Monte Westlund climbed the north face of Mt Baring, next to the Stevens Pass highway in the Cascades. This is an intimidating looking climb that doesn't get done very often. Mark and I talked about doing it, which is why I saved the email, I guess. Here it is with all the headers and everything, which gives you a little better feeling for those days. This was before the world-wide web existed. Here's your father's email, forwarded to me by Mark: And here's some private commentary from Mark: Sadly, Mark Bebie died in a climbing accident some years ago, so he's not around to offer more. There are other old friends of your father's who occasionally post here. I hope some of them will see this thread and contact you. All the best, Lowell Skoog Seattle

Too bad you missed the opportunity to peer down the north face from the summit. That's one of the best parts of climbing Bear Mountain.

As you might expect, this is not a new question:

I looked at portions of the traverse through binoculars from Black Peak yesterday. I can't say whether anything is impassible, but I recommend being prepared for icy conditions on all the glaciers. The Dana Glacier below Spire Point has almost no snow left on it! The Le Conte glacier is likely to be the crux. Bring steel crampons and a few ice screws.

Northwest Mountaineering Journal, Issue 2, Summer 2005 The 2005 issue of the Northwest Mountaineering Journal is now available on the web. See: http://www.nwmj.org This issue has feature articles about rock climbing, ice climbing, alpine climbing, high traverses, mountain photography, and influential Northwest mountaineers. It includes reports of new climbing routes, first winter ascents, and first ski descents in the Cascades and Olympics. It also contains highlights from Mount Rainier and North Cascade National Parks. I'd like to thank everyone who contributed stories, photos, and information for this issue, both for your contributions and for your patience as we assembled this issue over the past several months. I'd also like to thank the great team of volunteers who edited the journal and the folks at CascadeClimbers.com and the The Mountaineers who provided invaluable support. We hope you enjoy this issue and will begin looking forward to the next one. The 2005 Northwest Mountaineering Journal Team Malcolm S. Bates Ralph Bodenner Dave Burdick Steve Firebaugh Paul Klenke Alex Krawarik Matt Perkins Lowell Skoog Gary Yngve

There's a really good story in the Seattle Times PNW magazine today by the sister of Sean Ryan, one of the young rangers who died during a rescue attempt ten years ago. Heartfelt, informative and sobering: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw08142005/coverstory.html

My brother Gordy and I were both free on Saturday and neither of us could remember when we last went climbing together. I wanted to go somewhere scenic and he wanted to climb something he hadn't done before, so we settled on The Triad, a nice relaxed trip. As I remembered from my last trip, the approach was at least as good as (maybe better than!) the climb. "The hills are alive..." Julie Andrews is busting out in song just over the next ridge: Here Gordy is wishing he had real boots instead of Cinder Cones and real crampons instead of Katulas. This is the north facing snowfield just west of The Triad: On the east ridge of the middle peak, beginning the roped climbing: On the east ridge of the middle peak: On top of the Big Dick: Eldorado Peak and the Marble Creek cirque from The Triad: We climbed only the highest peak. On the way home, we found a better way to cross the snowfield west of The Triad. Cross low and look for a snow finger near the west edge: It's impressive to consider that Art Winder and friends made the first ascent of Eldorado Peak in 1933 from Sibley Creek in twelve hours round trip, pioneering the whole Triad high route along the way. Ours was about a ten hour round trip. Here we're walking home along Sound of Music ridge: Climbers familiar with The Triad will probably notice that the pictures make the climb look nicer than it is. But hey, that's what pictures are for! Selective memory!

Wow. I thought BASE jumpers took off with some sort of pilot chute in one hand, so they can just let go of it. I guess not. Maybe that's old school. BASE jumping is one of the things I fully intend on NOT getting involved in. Cool pictures though.

I think the date must have changed. A friend e-mailed me a copy of the paid obituary that was published in the Yakima paper (yesterday, I think). It says there will be a White Pass celebration on August 6. The on-line copy has a couple of nice photos of Dave Mahre.

I never met Dave Mahre and am sorry I didn't. The thing that always struck me about him was that he did such a magnficent job of balancing his love of the outdoors and of his family. He wasn't just a climbing hardman. What an inspiration!

I received this in an e-mail from the AAC Cascade Section:

Sure, that's a feasible route. I imagine that Beckey's guide has some details. I've skied it, but not walked it. In a nutshell, you descend the Chickamin Glacier from the summit of Dome and cross the lowest col between Sinister and Gunsight. Traverse WSW and descend the basin south of Sinister Peak to Ross Pass. From there it's easy walking to Totem Pass. I don't think there are any real obstacles on the route, but it might be tricky in whiteout. The Bachelor-Downey Creek trail is in pretty good shape. Stay south of the big avalanche clearing at the head of Bachelor Creek (which wiped out the trail a few years ago). Just stay in the woods--they're open and easy to descend.

It would help if you could provide more clarity on which glacier you're referring to. Is this the Thunder Glacier on Mt Baker or the Thunder Glacier on Mt Buckner? If it's the one on Buckner, I imagine that the NCNP rangers at Marblemount would be interested. If it's the one on Baker, you might check with the USFS rangers at Glacier.

Acclaimed climber Dave Mahre dies at age 77 Published: Sun, Jul 24, 2005 By MARK MOREY YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC http://www.yakima-herald.com/?storyid=283839078536442

Ross Peritore and Jason Cassarino climbed the north face on March 22, 2004, then skied it. I believe this was just a day or two after winter ended. (I'm never too clear on when the equinox falls in any particular year.) That's the closest anybody has come to a winter ascent of the north face that I know of. I suspect that Phil is aware of this one.

I attended the memorial gathering at the Seattle Mountaineers clubhouse this evening. I went to pay my respects, even though I didn't know any of the victims. But when I looked at the pictures I realized that I had met Mark Harrison last winter at a Mountaineer ski leader clinic. He impressed me, and the evening suddenly became more personal for me. I won't speculate on whether the accident was preventable or not. I tend to think every accident is preventable on some level. The best we can do is try to learn from them. What hits me hardest about this accident is that Mark Harrison and John Augenstein died not in the course of a routine descent, but while helping an injured companion (Jo Backus) who also tragically perished. So this wasn't just a case of three people who died "doing what they loved" (an expression I've never liked). It was a case of three people who died helping each other get home. The accident would not have happened if they hadn't been working together to help her. It's inspiring and heart breaking at the same time.

Thanks for your interest, Ross. Memorial Day was our target date, but as you can see, we've slipped a bit. Our unusual winter was partly responsible, due to many late breaking climb reports. We're continually trying to figure out how to manage the NWMJ task better, and I hope we can get closer to our target date next year. Thanks for your patience. I hope the 2005 NWMJ will seem worth the wait...

Hmm... Add Liberty Mountain and you've got it all: classic ice, classic rock, and classic brush (or so I've heard). Anybody done all three? I've never been up Liberty Mountain, myself.

A few years ago some of my paragliding friends dreamed up what they called the "Fly-90 Challenge", which was to hike up and fly their paragliders off as many peaks along I-90 as possible in one day. My friend managed (as I remember) Granite, Bandera, Si, and Tiger (Poo Poo Point) in one day. He wrote up an entertaining story about it that appeared in the Northwest Paragliding Club newsletter. These days people aren't into hike-and-fly's as much. Glider performance has gotten better and pilots have gotten bolder and cross-country flying is the thing. A couple of times now paragliders have FLOWN all the way from Tiger Mountain, near Issaquah, up I-90 and over Snoqualmie Pass, most recently about a month ago.