Lowell_Skoog

Yup, you gotta go to the Mountaineers library. The annuals are in a locked cabinet, since there's only one set. The library volunteer will open them for you.

A tricouni is a boot nail. They made the first ascents of LeConte, Spider, Formidable, Magic, Johannesburg, Boston, and the N face of Buckner. The Dome summit traverse was also a first. It would be a great tribute to the Ptarmigans to retrace their itinerary exactly. I bet it has never been done. If you enjoy Cascade history you really owe it to yourself to read Harvey Manning's article. It's a classic. [ 07-02-2002, 10:21 PM: Message edited by: Lowell Skoog ]

fleblebleb: Believe me, I'm working on it, but it'll take a while. I've put a summary of my status on my web site: http://alpenglow.org/ski-history/project/status-frame.html I just finished a five-month contract engineering job, and I'm back to work full time on my history project, probably through the summer. I could probably get the book done a lot faster if I quit working on the website, but they are both important to me. The website will improve the quality of the book and will live on as a source reference after the book is published. For more information on the Isolation and Ptarmigan traverses, see the Subject index of my website. There are a few other sources on these trips that I haven't written notes for, but not a lot has been written about them as ski trips.

The article you want is "Ptarmigans and Their Ptrips" by Harvey Manning in the 1958 Mountaineer. My ski history project has a review of it, but not the details you're looking for: http://alpenglow.org/ski-history/notes/period/mtneer-a/mtneer-a-1950-59.html#mtneer-a-1958-p48 Since I have a copy of the article in my files, here's a summary: Day 1: From Seattle to a camp in Sulphur Creek valley. Day 2: Climbed to shoulder below SW peak of Dome Pk. Day 3: Traversed both peaks of Dome, walked to Spire Point and climbed it, returned to camp. Day 4: Moved camp to head of South Cascade Glacier. Day 5: Climbed Sentinel, Old Guard and Le Conte, moved camp to Yang Yang lakes. Day 6: Rest day. Day 7: Climbed Formidable, Spider and Magic, probably camped at Koolaid Lake. Day 8: Traversed to Cascade Pass, climbed Johannesburg, bivied on descent. Day 9: Returned to camp and rested. Day 10: Climbed Sahale, Boston and north face of Buckner. Day 11: Hiked down Stehekin River to Bridge Creek. Day 12: Hiked up Agnes Creek toward Suiattle Pass. Day 13: Hiked over Suiattle Pass and out Suiattle River back to Sulpur Creek. Their dream trip had also included Logan and Goode but they gave it up since "there were not enough tricounis among us to equip one safe climbing boot," plus they were out of food. I've spoken to Ray Clough (he lives in Sunriver, OR) and he was fresh out of high school when he did this trip. He graduated from Roosevelt High in 1938 and grew up just a few blocks from where I live in Seattle.

June 2002 has been the best month for ski mountaineering in the North Cascades in twenty years. The combination of a solid snowpack and successive, multi-day windows of fine weather was unprecedented in recent memory. Several parties took advantage of these conditions. The highlight of the season was a continuous ski traverse from Diablo Lake to Holden Village by Matt Firth of Twisp and Bob Nielsen of Stehekin. They started with Ed Cupp at the Pyramid Lake trailhead on the North Cascades Highway on June 19 and skied the Isolation Traverse to Cascade Pass in 3-1/2 days. According to Matt, the technical crux of the trip was getting from Torment Basin to Boston Basin with just a 120 foot 7mm rope. Cupp exited at the Cascade River and the other two skiers continued along the Extended Ptarmigan Traverse, over Dome Peak and across the Hanging Gardens to Image Lake, arriving at Cloudy Pass on June 26. There Nielsen exited to Holden Village. Firth continued by himself to a food cache near Spider Gap. His original plan had been to continue to the Dakobed Range and Glacier Peak. But after considering the sketchy route around Fortress Mountain and the fact that he was now alone, he decided that the natural ending for the tour was near Lyman Lake. So he exited to Holden on June 27. It rained hard the day after Matt got home, and he was sure he would have been pinned down by the weather had he continued on the trip. This is the fullest realization so far of the "American Alps Traverse," a long-discussed linkup along the backbone of the North Cascades. During most years, fickle weather would not allow a continuous push like this and a party might well run out of food before completing the trip. Having day-dreamed about this trip for many years (placing caches and attempting it in 1991) I congratulate Matt and Bob on their excellent adventure. --- Following on the heels of this party, Alan Kearney and my brother Carl skied the Ptarmigan Traverse over June 23-27. In addition to completing the traverse, they made several steep descents along the way. On day two (June 24), Carl skied Spider Mountain by the south gully. The following day (June 25) both Alan and Carl skied the north face of Sentinel Peak. Due to poor snow conditions, they did not ski from the exact summit, but began their descent at the top of the ridge just east of the summit about 100 feet from the top. The next day they skied the north flank of Hoch Joch Spitz, the pretty snow peak west of the South Cascade Glacier. Scientists at the USGS glacier survey station may have skied this peak earlier, but nothing is known about it. --- These trips follow descents earlier in the month of Mt Baker's Coleman headwall, Mt Buckner's north face, and Sahale Mountain's NW face, previously discussed in TelemarkTalk.com and CascadeClimbers.com. It has been a great season for ambitious ski mountaineers in the North Cascades as well as those who enjoy established classics. I'm betting the season isn't over yet.

Hey Betty, Could you explain a bit more what was wrong with Craig Welch's article? (It ran a week ago, I think.) I read it and thought it was quite well written for a mainstream newspaper. It described the problems from several points of view in a way that the general public could understand. I'm not a Vantage regular, so I don't know the politics intimately. But your complaints don't shed much light on the situation.

Dru said: quote: I take it you're just doing WA/PNW descents Lowell, not Canadian stuff... or you would have the Trevor Petersen (I think?) W face of Welch on there. And I said: quote: Yes. My current scope is Washington only (both Cascades and Olympics). I might look at Mt Hood eventually, but probably not. Thinking about it, I should probably include the Cheam Range in my research, since Beckey considers that part of the Cascades. So I guess my scope is anything in the three Beckey guides, plus the Olympics. So if you know of any interesting skiing history between the border and the Fraser River, let me know. I've already sent a private message to Dru about the Welch Peak descent.

quote: I take it you're just doing WA/PNW descents Lowell, not Canadian stuff... or you would have the Trevor Petersen (I think?) W face of Welch on there.Yes. My current scope is Washington only (both Cascades and Olympics). I might look at Mt Hood eventually, but probably not. The task is already big enough to keep me busy for several years.

quote: Who was the first to ski the CJ couloir, and how often is it done?I don't know of any ski descents of the Johanesburg couloir. If it's a major feature over 40 degrees and it's not listed on my history website, then I don't have any information about previous ski descents. See: http://alpenglow.org/ski-history If you know of significant descents not listed on my site, please let me know. The CJ couloir is a super obvious line, but also a bowling alley at times. I'm sure somebody will ski it eventually. Nearly all the snow/ice climbs in the Cascades are between 45-50 degrees, which makes them potentially skiable.

Andrew McLean has posted some of his pictures from Mt Buckner on his website. Here's a thread he started on telemarktalk.com: http://www.telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?topic=2803&forum=1&12 And here's a direct link to the photos: http://www.pawprince.com/2002/cascades/home.html [ 06-19-2002, 01:26 PM: Message edited by: Lowell Skoog ]

I'm not aware of any ski descents of the Price Glacier. Let me know if you've heard of any.

Jens wrote: quote: What's up with some of these Utah guys ticking our coveted prizes? -It has happened before. I guess most of us are lazy (myself included). I understand that the group came up to ski Liberty Ridge, but because of poor conditions on Rainier, Martin Volken suggested Buckner. I know of at least two other groups who wanted to ski Buckner, but they missed this particular window. Martin got aced in a similar way on the Park Glacier headwall of Mt Baker a few years ago. quote: Anyone care to divulge about F.Descents they are eyeing? What is the "Mount Everest" of ski descents left to be done in the Cascades? I have a list, but I'm not ready to share it quite yet. When it comes to steep terrain, my preference is toward roped skiing, since I cannot justify greater risk to my family. The Everest of Cascade ski descents is the NE face of Mt Fury in the Picket Range. Fury has been skied only once, seventeen years ago, from the SE side. There are LOTS of other descents possible in the range, but that's all you'll get out of me for now.

Juan: You too can be an athlete if you get your sponsors in line. Being a climber is just so 1980s, you know. I have a friend who is a Larson Brothers Bakery athlete. He gets a discount on pastries the day after they're baked. I've been thinking about hitting up Gai's for a donut sponsorship.

I don't know of prior descents of Tieton or Dome. They both sound worth recording. I'll follow up with Ben about them (or you can contact me at lowell.skoog@alpenglow.org ). Thanks for the info! As an amateur ski historian, I sometimes wonder if I'll ever get caught up with the history, since it's got a hundred-year head start on me.

Wow, big weekend for steep skiing in the Cascades. Looks like I'll be busy updating my history website. Rumors have floated around for years about ski descents of the Coleman headwall, but I've never heard any names or confirmed reports. Some years ago there was a photo by Bela Vadasz showing somebody carrying skis up the headwall, and I believe Jim Nelson has a similar photo in his selected climbs guidebook. I've also heard rumors of tracks being spotted on the headwall, but it's all very sketchy. I'm inclined to post the Manfredi/Berg descent as a strawman on my website and see if anything else shakes out. (I finally got around to posting several descents by those guys on Mt Adams. I have details from Ben, but haven't written them up yet.) For more details on Washington ski mountaineering history, see http://alpenglow.org/ski-history

Thanks for the post, Mike. That should be the first ski descent. It was bound to happen soon, with all the recent talk about it. I'll add it to my history project records, and contact Martin and friends for more details eventually.

Ok, I believe it. The picture is taken way over on the climber's left side of the schrund, so the face is viewed on-edge, and seems to taper to nothing near the top, even though its really pretty rectangular. You got me fair and square. Now, for the barrage of questions. Tell me more about David Persson's ascent. Did he ski the face? When was this? Who was he with? What else did he do in Washington (and elsewhere) before his death on Liberty Ridge? Who can I contact to find out more? p.s. Feel free to send me mail at lowell.skoog@alpenglow.org if you prefer. [ 06-11-2002, 05:13 PM: Message edited by: Lowell Skoog ]

It doesn't look like Redoubt to me. The top of the NE face of Reboubt is not that narrow. And the upper couloir does not have a schrund like that. Also, the rock in the picture looks too good to be Redoubt. I give up. By the way, Dru, if you know about ski descents on Redoubt or other peaks along the border (or can direct me to somebody who does), let me know. My historical research is still focused on the Olde Days, but I'm interested in any leads I can find.

My brother told me that Luke Edger and Chad Kellogg snowboarded the Success Clacier Couloir in July 1998. (I put a place-holder in my history project website for it.) I haven't yet contacted either of them for details, so I don't know anything more about it.

I got a request for more information about my Hozomeen climbs, so here goes, from my journal... North Peak, June 19, 1982. Left Seattle 5:30 am Saturday. Drove Canada #1 to the Silver-Skagit road to the Hozomeen guard station. 10:30 am hiked to Hozomeen Lake (about 1-1/2 hour). Crashed along a rough path around east side of lake, then climbed through fairly open trees and traversed right to the SW gully of the peak. Followed gully until it threatened to get hard, then did some class 3 backpacking out of it to the left. Climbed more steep forest, then traversed right at around 5000 feet to a point above where the gully splits. Dumped overnight gear here. About 3:30 pm we continued up steep woods and traversed to the north peak gully. The gully was snow filled and we made good time to the notch. Snow covered the rottenest rock to the summit, which we reached at 6:30 pm. My journal says, "Don't do this climb without snow." We descended and bivied where we had left our overnight gear. South Peak, June 20, 1982. Used 165 ft 9mm rope, 8 chocks to #6 hex, 6 runners (2 long) [sounds skimpy.] From our bivi (about 6 am) we dropped to a snow filled gully [the right branch, I assume]. Easy climbing lead to an area of slabby rock. Here we did some steeper snow climbing, then made a scrambling traverse rightward to the saddle between the S and SW peaks. My journal says "caution required" for this section. We scrambled up to a point east of the saddle, then down-climbed rock to snow on the south side. We backed down the snow and traversed east to a spur, then climbed snow and easy rock up the spur to a gravelly traverse that led to the crest of the west ridge (east of a major sub-peak). Here we roped up and did three running pitches of moderate class 4-ish climbing close to the crest to reach the summit. The hard bit ("mid class 5") was a 15 foot section about 2/3 of the way up, which I described as "very steep, lousy rock, with a questionable fixed pin." The climb took 4 hours from our bivi and about 3 hours to cautiously return. My notes say that from our bivi we traversed into the woods north of the gully, then made a long but straightforward descent to the lake, where we took a swim. We were back to our car about 6 pm. My final journal entry: "Hozomeen, by any of its routes, is only a nice climb to say you've done." Addendum: My notes did say there were some nice views from the top. [ 06-10-2002, 10:51 PM: Message edited by: Lowell Skoog ]

quote: Is it true there are large steep walls up there? Oh yeah. I believe Hozomeen is an old Salish word meaning, "We're hosed."

I climbed both peaks of Hozomeen in June 1982 with Mark Bebie and my brother Carl. At the time, we felt that early season was good because you could avoid some unpleasant rock scrambling on snow. The standard route on the north peak was pretty easy as I recall. There was a long snow gully that led high on the peak from the SW. The south peak was more intimidating, As I recall we climbed up the NW side of the peak largely on snow, then crossed the W ridge to the S side, where the rock climbing began. Most of it was not too difficult, but there was a crux step protected with an old loose piton. I don't think we brought any pitons of our own, but it would be a good idea these days. If you're really interested, I could check my journal for more details. (I don't have it with me at the moment.)

Well, I wouldn't take "continuous descent to the valley" too literally. The bottom 1000 feet was so rough that we decided to walk rather than risk our necks crashing onto trees. And then there's five miles of road to deal with. So, if you're interested in skiing Mt Daniel, there's still a lot of work involved. A young forest ranger stranded his truck trying to drive through a snowpatch below Scatter Creek. Broke the axle. We figured it was a career limiting move.

There's still lots of snow on the peaks between Bear's Breast and Summit Chief. A lot of glide cracks are starting to show. I took several rolls of film, but haven't developed them yet. I don't have a digital camera or a scanner.

Between June 1 and 4 three friends and I skied from Snoqualmie Pass to the Cle Elum River in the Cascades. This route combines the most scenic portion of the Snoqualmie Haute Route with a traverse over Mount Hinman and Mount Daniel. With the above-normal snowpack, we were able to ski right from our car at Snoqualmie Pass to Commonwealth Basin and the Kendall catwalk. Most of the catwalk was bare, but the east end required step kicking across a steep snow patch. We skied to Ridge Lake, then followed the Crest Trail route across the south facing slopes above Alaska Lake. I don't recommend this route. It is steep with cliffs below and glide cracks that you can't see until you start the traverse. Although it is longer, I recommend climbing up and dropping into the basin beneath Mount Thompson to reach Bumblebee Pass. From Alaska Mountain we skied to Joe Lake, then camped at the saddle between Huckleberry Mountain and Chikamin Peak. On our second morning we cramponed up the west flank of Chikamin Peak and skied down the pretty basin to the east. We traversed beneath the north wall of Lemah Mountain and skied to Iceberg Lake, then climbed to the Overcoat Glacier. We found a scenic camp at the northeast edge of the glacier and watched clouds roll over the peaks from the west. On the third morning we toured around the Overcoat Glacier for views and I scrambled up the north route on Overcoat Peak. (Rope recommended.) Then we packed up and traversed the divide running northeast to the saddle next to Summit Chief Mountain. This high traverse works well, but requires caution and good snow conditions because of cliffs below. The crux is a short rock ramp, apparent from the southwest but hidden if you come from the other direction. We descended to the head of the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River and climbed the west flank of Mount Hinman. We had intended to camp between Mount Hinman and Mount Daniel, but our weatheradio told of approaching bad weather. We skied wide open slopes to the Hinman-Daniel saddle, then climbed the southwest flank of Daniel to the west shoulder of Lynch Glacier. As we climbed the glacier to the summit, mists swirling around the spires gave the peak an Alaskan look. We camped at Peggy's Pond that night. Our last day required descending the Cathedral Rock trail to the Cle Elum River. We found snow all the way to the valley bottom, but the lower sections were too rough to be worth skiing. We walked and skied five miles of road to reach our second car near Camp Creek. On the drive back to Snoqualmie Pass, the peaks were socked in, signalling the end of our good weather window. It was a fine trip, and I definitely recommend it. [ 06-06-2002, 01:41 PM: Message edited by: Lowell Skoog ]