dberdinka

I'm not sure where Clearwater Creek is. The road is gated, to protect Elk herds I think, at Wallace Creek approximately 10 miles from Mosquito Lake Road. Elbow Lake Trail is maybe another mile further down the road. Old Growth on the Elbow Lake Trail

I've always had the desire to do the full traverse as well. 14 named summits and a handful of named pinnacles. Unfortunately access from the south end is now completely blocked in Hamilton. Maybe you can find a way in from FSR 12 off Baker Lake? Evidently Dallas Kloke did the whole traverse minus the North Twin due to bee stings? Supposedly he went back and completed it. Someone should ask the guy. Barbara Peak at the southern end looks fine but tiny and hard to get too. Over the weekend I hiked up to Elbow Lake, very nice trail and forest, completely different feel than the clear-cut wreck on the west side of the range. I think the traverse to do would be too.... Leave a bike at the bridge over the middle fork of the Nooksack. Then drive up to and hike the trail to Elbow Lake. Follow the high ridge in from Elbow Lake, then drop down and left to the mythical East Buttress of Cinderella. From the top of Cinderella continue north over Skookum, S and N Twin. Descend W Ridge of N Twin and normal approach back to bike. 6 mile ride brings you back too car. Could be done in a long day if you were moving fast. This year should be good to go pretty darn soon.

See PM

They might want to reconsider their format considerng their content. The big, glossy, high quality print job is nice but they don't seem to be maximizing it's potential for great images. The cover shot is a perfect example, but I can't really think of any imagery in Issue 10 that really needed the format. When they do use a great two page image, like that of the Totem Pole peaking out, they tend to cover it in too much text. Just a random thought.

Long enough that it's no longer next to the toilet.

Looking for experienced, fit and emotionallly stable climbing partner for weak-hearted attempt at something alpine around Washington Pass on Friday. Cutthroat Peak? Something else? I'm in B'ham, wouldn't hurt if you were too. Could meet at Albertsons in Sedro Wooley around 5:00 AM if not. PM or e-mail at dberdinka ATT yahoo DOTT com. I'll check before 5 PM and again later tonight. A little history of what you've done this winter wouldn't hurt. Complete resume not needed Darin

And is Steve House blaming himself? or is he blaming Bruce Miller for their failure on Nanga Parbat? Or am I confused and just not getting the WAY? - Confused

Maybe I've just gotten lucky but I've encountered very little "typical" winter snow in my last couple trips. Pounding them in with my hammer while simuling long stretches of steep neve has felt pretty darn secure to me. Nice work by the way. Pretty cool how two big unclimbed features got done on the same day.

The North sides of Stuart Goode Slesse all have multiple high-quality routes, including not only three of the most popular and classic rock routes in the range but also have plenty of opportunity for mixed or snow and ice routes in the right conditions. Fury sounds pretty sweet too as do other big faces in the pickets, but the difficulty of access and lower quality rock kind of excludes them in my book.

That looks total f%#king rad. Nice work.

Dru, after 24,500+ posts you're just....sad. A majority of your posts seem to be lame little one-liners dissing other peoples accomplishments. It sucks. As for Peak 4800+/Pootie-Tang/Fallacy, Gene and I make no claims of first ascents of peaks or routes. There is an old cairn on top of "Tang Tower" as well. We just named things for our own amusement. While yet to be confirmed, I have been told that Chris Greyell and Dave Tower did climb several routes on these peaks and evidently drew up topos as well. I don't think it will ever be a rock climbing mecca. It's too hard to get to and the rock quality is subpar compared to Static Point or D-Town. Maybe it will just be rediscovered every ten years by someone looking for adventure. Due to the density of exfoliations on the south face it would be next to impossible to exactly follow someone else "route", all future parties should consider their climbs FAs and name them as well.

In your reality that peak is known as 4800+. In our's it's known as Pootie Peak, the small point to it's east is Tang Tower. In Chris Greyell's reality it's known as Boulder Crags, though I've yet to talk to him about it. Here is a rapidly scribbled topo. Sine your Pitty... was quite good. " " Buttress was forgettable. In general it's like climbing on a slightly chossier version of the West Butt of Blueberry Hill. Still a good place for an adventure.

Thanks for posting. Excellent facts.

Whoaaa! Thats an intense tale, to see that pack again would probably stir up a lot of memories. Thank you for sharing.

Awesome. Post more pics!

I don't know maybe conditions change really fast, but I'd like to think that it will remain in for a lot of people. I've never had as much fun climbing in the Cascades as I have this winter. To actually climb in the Cascades on mountains that are frozen (ice) and not just snowy (glaciers) has been incredible. As good as it looked if anyones considering the Polish Route based on the photo I posted, I feel the need to point out that the final pitch is a big dagger hanging several (5+ ft) out from the ice curtain below it. Getting on it would require some type of horizontal movements that looked a heck of a lot harder than the 5+ rating in Jason & Alex's book.

Ooops! Cosley-Houston, Kearney. I got all my 1980's/1990's Bellingham climbing guides confused. As for the crux it's a short bit of WI4. Doesn't quite look it in the photo, but it's steep! Good times.

They'll be offering the same class next year, and the year after that, and the year after....can't say the same about the ice conditions lately.

Climb: Colfax Peak-Kearney Route Date of Climb: 3/6/2005 Trip Report: I had finally bought myself a pair of ice tools and wanted to use them, but the warm forecast for the weekend sucked. We figured if we got really high we would still be in for a good time. So we headed to Colfax Peak, which at 9400’ is considerably taller than just about everything in the Cascades. The road was blocked short. So the three of us, Darin, Allen and Larry, left the car at 3000’ and maybe a mile short of the Heliotrope trailhead. No worries, by now it should be all melted out. After carrying our skis up the trail we then carried them up the Hogs Back braving one of the more intense blizzards of the winter. Eventually we arrived at the Black Buttes and set up camp around 7200’. It was quickly determined that I had brought the poles for The Other Tent. Really though I blame it on Larry because he was distracting me while packing. Mother is the necessity of Invention, so we made do and soon erected a sagging, squalid little hovel to call home for the night. The three of us did our best to get along in the cramped quarters. Freezing rain, snow and wind eventually gave way to clear skies. After a rather depressing night we got moving slowly. Larry was feeling unmotivated as usual and decide to stay behind. This was probably a good thing, as he tends to be a dispiriting influence anytime I’ve tried to climb with him. The Coleman Glacier is going to be seriously messed up sometime soon but for now Allen and I managed to ski and posthole our way up to the base of Colfax Peak. There is a ton of ice on this thing. I wanted to throw in a photo of Lincoln Peak as well just because it’s cool looking. We climbed the Kearney Route. Not the big obvious iceflow, that’s the Polish Lamb Sausage Route. The Kearney route climbs runnels and ramps connected by the obvious small pillar to the right of that. Skies were still looking good when we got on route around 9 AM. The first pitch was over a full rope length of beautiful alpine ice leading to the base of the crux pillar. The crux pillar was short and sweet leading to a good belay off rock gear on the ramp above. The climb was in phenomenal condition; even the low angle sections consisted of alternating water ice and thunker neve. Three long pitches including a lot of simul-climbing led to the summit. Of course by now the weather had gone to hell. We descend the East Ridge in a whiteout then a downpour. Wallowing down the glacier, punching legs into deep, dark, mysterious holes, generally enjoying life, we eventually made it back to camp. We were glad to see Larry and he seemed glad to see us. After a meeting to ascertain the safety of continuing our descent in the dusk we packed up and headed out. Complete success was achieved by arriving at the North Fork Beer Shrine before the kitchen closed. This route is really freaking good and accessible. I would hope that if we get some more sensible temps soon it should be in condition for a good long while. Gear Notes: short and long screws several pickets sm rock rack to .75" Approach Notes: Should be able to drive to Heliotrope TH.

Looks freakin incredible, looking forward to pics. Caught up with school work yet?

No winter conditions here... Damn, none here either... Looks like freaking August!... Why aren't they wearing T-shirts? If this gets sent those wankers better add an asterick... Interestingly enough the depth of the snowpack has very little to do with whether winter conditions exist or not. For those people who actually got out and tried something, it will be rememebered as the best conditions for technical alpine climbing in a long time and quite wintery as well!

I've been thinking about the same thing. I've come to the conclusion the light and strideable is going to be better than floation and turn ability. If you need lots of floatation are you really going to be climbing anything? And if your skiing in mountaineering boots how well are you going to be cranking out the turns anyway? Finally the sheer weight of some approach-ski setups I've seen is just ridiculous. It sounds weird but I think I'd mount Silverettas on a pair of 170 cm lightweight tele-touring skis (I ski 190's), something like the Fischer Rebound or similar. They'll tour way better on logging roads, they weight half as much as a pair of AT skis and you can generally get them for cheap. In part my decison is based on the fact that I've been teleing on a pair almost exclusively for several years now and have learned to love them.

I don't think Justin has any desire to come back to our sandbox and play nice....

Anytime I hear the name Pitt River I think impossible to access. Is that the case here as well? Sounds like one hell of an effort! And what in the heck is doglotion???

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