dberdinka

Trip: Trisolace Peak - Northeast Spur Date: 7/6/2016 Trip Report: I wandered off to the southern end of the Twin Sisters Range and scrambled up a nice ridgeline on Trisolace Peak. There was a lot of bushwacking and boulder hopping enroute. A great place to have an adventure.

Its an Olympus Stylus 1. I have a love/hate relationship with it. Purchased primarily because at the time it was one of the only P&S with a built in EVF which is real handy on an icecap. The lens is pretty sharp to me and the 300 comes in real handy at times (like that Eldorado Ridge shot) but I miss wide-angle as it only goes to 28. The sensor is tiny and it definitely shows when lighting becomes dim. I can't push the ISO very far at all and as a result I'm always having to shoot wide open and sometimes that doesn't even work. Keep thinking of buying an LX100 or an RX100 but then you loose the zoom. To many tradeoffs to upgrade yet. Waiting to see if the Nikon 1" sensor 24-200 ever shows up.

No doubt it's only the helmet that prevents you from having any game.

Trip: Primus Peak-Eldorado - Traverse Date: 6/24/2016 Trip Report: My friend Dave and I approached Primus Peak from the north then exited across the icecap and out the regular Eldorado Approach. This has to be one of the most straight forward high traverses in the North Cascades with nice soothing terrain throughout and the potential for minimal technical difficulty. Good for small children or the elderly. On Friday evening we hiked six miles up Thunder Creek to Mcmillan Camp under occasional drizzle. The following morning we found an excellent path leading 4000' up an occasionally steep forested ridgeline to the cirque below the Borealis Glacier. Old Austin Post photos show a spectacular icefall leading into a piedmont-type tongue of ice filling the entire basin. Sadly this is no more. The glacier has retreated high into the cirque and some partially sunken slabs of ice are all thats left to indicate it's former greatness. Even sadder was the fact that the clouds were not breaking up as forecast and the entire basin was filled with a dense soup of mist. The North Ridge of Primus is one of these obscure routes that just sounds and looks like it could be some sort of unknown classic. However, that is definitely not the case! If you're a frequent choss-dawger you may find it solid and delightful. I often felt like I was about to pull the whole mountain off with me. Maybe if we hadn't try to stay so true to the crest we would have wisely avoid the worst rock in a few rotten notches. So if it's not unrecommended it just certainly won't be the highlight of your summer. About five minutes after topping out two skiers came strolling out of the mist. Maybe more surprised than even we were to encounter another group in such a remote place. While we had originally intended to return the way we came at some point I had convinced Dave that hiking out via Eldorado would be only minimal, if any, additional effort. This was pretty much the case, particularly with a skin track to punch holes in. We bivied near the foot of Klawatti Peak before tagging Eldorado in the morning and experiencing culture shock in the Tentropolis of Eldorado high camp. Wandering across the Klawatti/Inspiration icecap should be considered a must do by any Cascades climber no matter how you get there. Really I just wrote this whole TR so I could have an excuse for posting this picture - there are I think 4 people in the image 3:20 pm 6/25 Gear Notes: small rack to 2" for North Ridge

Glad you liked it. It involved way more excavation than I anticipated before I began. You wouldn't believe how much trundling and cleaning the "fun short slab pitch" required. A third route is in the works maybe 50'-100' left with a surprisingly different style of climbing than True Grit or Ragged Edge. Hopefully finished up a little earlier in the season than the last two.

I'm honored and surprised you would dump my route overlays right into your website. But then again I learned everything I know from (imitating) you.

Awesome. A worthy destination in and of itself.

I wonder how old those two big cedars are? They are pretty special.

Maybe if you cheeseheads got back to burning down our tents we might be less inclined to visit.

AMAZING. Nice work. Thanks for posting.

A COUPLE HOURS WITH A WIRE BRUSH WOULD DO MORE GOOD THAN THE PASSAGE OF A 1,000 CLIMBERS.

Blast from the Past!

SOLD

Trip of a lifetime. Just stunning. Two questions.. Is it true that they found ancient relics on the summits when modern climbers first climbed these things? I thought I once read that somewhere. How did you rationalize the reasonable chance of getting your head lopped off?

I recognize that spot! We use to call it Hyperbole Canyon. Been there a few times myself.

Widowmaker face..

The most reactive conditions I ever encountered were on a day where the avalanche forecast was Moderate. On the singular aspect we went to ski there was an intact hoar frost layer and the entire slope slid easily. Very similar aspects across valley appeared totally bomber as we watched other parties ski down them. Point being is the NWAC forecast is painted with a broad brush with far too little actual observations to be considered definitive. FWIW my rudimentry understanding is that this particular accident occurred in an area that I would consider to be the sketchiest terrain by far in the entire Heather Meadows area.

Silvretta 404s mounted on 177cm Hagan TX titanium skis. Skis are ultralight, 177cm in length with dimension of 92-69-80 and weight 1.1 kg each (w/o bindings). Considering their size and weight they ski very well. Bindings are size N (normal) and supposedly fit sole lengths of 11.375" - 13.375". Gear is very lightly used and in excellent condition. Ski bases are pristine. No skins. $120 OBO. Located in Bellingham. Would prefer pick-up. Buyer pays shipping and packaging costs. PM or e-mail dberdinkaATgmailDOTcom.

Basically brand new. Size large, worn for a single day of ski touring. Great pant/layer. I just decided since I don't actually do any winter/alpine climbing anymore I'd be better off with a more ski specific pair of pants. I'm 5' 11" and 170-175lbs and they fit fine. $150 + shipping. ($300 retail) PM or email dberdinka AT gmail DOT com.

Saw this Woman of the Skag in the local news

Jason, how do you interpret the "column-integrated cloud water" loop? That one didn't make immediate and obvious sense. The Low/Mid/High cloud water loops seemed more intuitive, where I assume they are an indication of how cloudy the skies are going to be. If Low is green/blue your in a whiteout if not your in flat-light or better?

I never would have thought that would be so casual. Nice job.

Hey Mike. Like it or not I would counter that in the last 25 years "Top Down Development" of alpine rock climbs has been used on a majority of significant new routes outside the Stuart Range and NCNP. Doorish/Burdo free routes on Dolomite Tower. Free version of TRL, Freedom or Death, Liberty & Injustice on Liberty Bell. Hitchiker, Passenger, Mojo Rising on South Early. Gato Negro across the valley. Numerous free routes on Exfoliation Dome. Numerous free routes on SQW and vicinity. Infinite Bliss. Edge of Space on SCW (thought I heard it, could be wrong) IMO in the mountains you should go ground up where the rock quality allows it. Stuart Range and NCNP are perfect examples of that. Personally I think there's a lot potential for high quality alpine rock routes on the lower elevation and more accessible peaks on the west side of the Cascades hiding underneath a layer of munge and superficial looseness. In those cases top down development is entirely reasonable.

I've skied right along the base of it and always thought of going up there again. It actually looks pretty good and really steep. Appears granitic which seems odd for Sefrit. Definitely vertical crack systems exist. The hogsback leading directly to the summit of Sefrit looks cool as well and presumably much easier. The obvious issue is getting there. Midwinter works. In a good snow year (if that ever happens again) there would definitely be a period of time in late spring where the access would be reasonable and the route may be dry. Good luck. That ones going to take some serious motivation.

Jason of course is correct. Such nice fall weather right now. I'd be up there again working on route three if I hadn't grievously sprained my ankle last week stumbling out that god forsaken trail with a 50 lb pack. Love that area.