TR - What Were We Thinking – A Tatoosh Sufferfest

[cluck]

Yep... we noticed on the fancy MRNP map (the one with the nice shading to enhance the contour feel of the topo lines) that that bump between The Castle and Unicorn was named Foss & since it had a name on that map, we decided to make it part of the plan. Added a little time, but not much.

 

And, yes again..... topo maps show the Unicorn snow field as the Unicorn Glacier... mighty small glacier.

 

June would be way easier as glissade = fun, picking your way down long fields of talus = tedious.

 

 

[ncascademtns]

JoshK said:

I'll say what has to be said...any "speed mountaineering" challange that includes, in any way, transportation via car/bus/plane/whatever in between is fucking stupid. I mean, seriously, you really want to congragulate some guy who drives the highway in between two peaks at 2am doing 120mph more than the guy who gets stuck in some mid day traffic and averages 45mph??!

 

If you really have to contrive yourself up a goal that bad, get a clue and find something else to do.

 

joshk,

I've done a lot of chest beating trips in my days.

I think your just a little jealous that I think of all the good ones.

If only you could think of a few yourself, then I could sit back and bad mouth yours.

 

BTW,

Did you know that the person that has the record for the fastest time climbing all the state high points used a car and a airplane. Think about that!

 

 

Nice work cluck!

[klenke]

ncascademtns said:

Did you know that the person that has the record for the fastest time climbing all the state high points used a car and a airplane. Think about that!

 

Yeah, Ernie, do you think that guy walked between all the peaks? Of course he took a car or a plane. And so did everyone else. Maybe that can be your ultimate goal, to climb the 50 state highpoints (maybe 51 if Puerto Rico joins the union) by foot/bike/canoe a la Erden.

[Old_Man]

Cluck,

 

Cool...thanks for the learning. Nice to pick up some bits trivia from this website. Always appreciated...the homwork's appreciated.

 

Never done the traverse...been wanting to for decades. Might do it next year...ya got my curiosity up now.

 

I'll tip one to you guys. Nice work!

 

[klenke]

Eric Hoffman has done the Tatoosh traverse in two stages. Trip reports:

1st stage

2nd stage

[JoshK]

...

[Alpinfox]

JoshK said:

And about the state highpoint thing, with the exception of rainer and denali, that's an accomplishment of driving speed, and airline planning, nothing more...

 

It's Rainier, not "Rainer".

 

I don't think Gannet Peak, WY and Granite Peak, MT are cakewalks. I agree with your point though. It's rather silly to take some kind of pride in "summiting" the highest point in Florida, Delaware, Maryland, etc....

 

I used to live in Colorado and got really sick of the "Fourteeners" craze. One good thing is that most people ignore all the really cool 13ers such as Dallas Peak, Vestal, Arrow, etc.... Most of the 14ers aren't very interesting.

 

Check out this site for a list of the 50 state highpoints:

http://americasroof.com/usa.shtml

Interesting that Britton Hill, FL is "less difficult" than Ebright Azimuth, DL although both require 0 miles of "hiking".

 

Wouldn't it be interesting to read a trip report for this one:

"Well, me and Cletus, we got ourselves a coupla twelvers and decided to drive on out past Deke's place to the highest point in Oklahoma. Sure was a heluva long way out there and we weren't quite sure if we found the right place, but then we saw this here statue-thing. We had a few more beers and pissed on the fancy rock and shot a few varmits... It's a good ole time boy!"

[Charlie]

Has anyone done Hood & Adams in a day? I tried it- have not been back to try again.

Edited September 18, 2003 by mattp

[klenke]

Fox, what you've got pictured there is the highest point in Nebraska (a 5,424-ft buffalo field called Panorama Point). This is the highest point in Oklahoma.

[Alpinfox]

klenke said:

Fox, what you've got pictured there is the highest point in Nebraska (a 5,424-ft buffalo field called Panorama Point). This is the highest point in Oklahoma.

 

Aha... Well thanks for clearing that up. Let's hear your TR!

 

Perhaps you have been here as well?:

[Attitude]

klenke said:

Fox, what you've got pictured there is the highest point in Nebraska (a 5,424-ft buffalo field called Panorama Point). This is the highest point in Oklahoma.

[klenke]

I haven't been to Miss'sippi's high point. I've only done 14 and these are all Kansas westward.

 

Ha ha, Black Mesa, OK, TR:

I had an old 50 Highpoints book that does not mention the new trail at all (not built ATP). So, I went by the old description which is to start from the corner of a farmer's field on private land. This is roughly a mile SE of the high point monument at the base of the mesa. You're supposed to call the owner to get permission to cross his land but I promptly lost my only quarter in the small nearby town's only phone booth. (Classic case of not knowing whether or not you're supposed to put the area code in first for a local call; in this case I chose wrongly and lost my quarter on the wrong number [when you get an automated message you lose your quarter!].) In the event you cannot get permission it is still generally acceptable to go. The other problem was that the town was so dead (it was 10:00AM) there was no other non-pay phone to use.

 

Traveled a gravel road then a dirt track to the aforementioned corner, saw no one about but a bunch of devil-may-care cows munching the cud across the fence in the direction I wanted to go. Parked the car as best I could under two scraggily trees in a small hollow as a way to block the sun. Had to watch out for cowpies getting outta the car. Also had to beware of rattlers.

 

Debated how much gear to take. Finally decided on Nalgene waterbottle and camera. Also decided on boots over trail shoes, which was a good thing since there's lots of prickly things en route.

 

Took a diagonal across the occupied field all the while leery of Da Bull. The cows gave that typical "who's this bozo?" look as they continued their masticating ways. Pretty soon I found myself beginning the annoyingly boring ascension of the ever-increasing slope of the mesa below the escarpment-proper. Lots of long grass. Rattlsnakes could be lurking anywhere. Keep your ears perked. Got to the 50-ft high blocky talus and cliff band and shortly hopped my way to the top of the mesa.

 

Could not see the monument anywhere. The book's poor map showed it was roughly thataway, so thataway I went. The top of the mesa is super-duper flat. It would be quite boring really if it weren't for the plenteous cacti and other prickly fauna. I kept going and going and finally descried something man-made poking up out of the ground in the distance. Finally, after another 5 minutes of winding my way around pricklers, I got to the monument.

 

Sat on the shady side and leafed through the register tidbits, a couple of packaged condoms being the wildest items I can remember.

 

Returned the same way. The bovines again laughed as only bovines can laugh at the passing homo sapien. On the way outta Oklahoma, I went by way of a road into Colorado that goes around the eastern terminus of the mesa. A sign says something to the effect of "Black Mesa Trail" and there is a short road to a trailhead. An older couple is there reading the kiosk. The kiosk says the trail is 3+ miles long (3 miles!!! Good night!). I tell them it'll be a long way (the older man was handicapped in some way, can't remember how; I think he had a cane). I tell them I took the cross-country route which is probably two hours shorter in the roundtrip. They ask me where it is but I take one look at him and steer them away from the way I went.

 

THE END. { The usher will see you out. }

[nolanr]

I ran into a couple of high pointers this summer (about #44 for them, #1 for me) on Granite in MT. But they've been saving all the glaciated western peaks. It is kinda goofy and contrived, just about anything in Washington state is better than what passes for a high point in most of the states east of the Mississippi. I'll vouch for Granite not being a cake walk. The technical difficulty is fairly low (mostly third class, fairly obvious route finding for the most part), but it's a long approach and Froze To Death Plateau is not the friendliest place to hang out.

[Alpinfox]

 

 

Granite Peak, MT:

 

 

 

 

 

[Dan_Harris]

Nevada's High point, Boundary Peak, is a miserable scree slog. I think the only reason anyone would head up there is the fact it is the high point. That's the reason I went.

[Norman_Clyde]

John Muir wrote an account of an ascent of Boundary Peak wherein he and his party ran out of water. He said of this climb "I suffered as never before."

[klenke]

I suffered on Boundary Peak too: puked at my 12,400-ft bivy (highest I've ever camped on a mountain thus far). The horsecock must have been tainted.

 

Yeah, the scree in the ENE Basin is so miserable that I purposely went back via the East Ridge, whereupon I made acquaintance with a beautiful bristlecone pine. The East Ridge was not devoid of its own scree, though. Actually, mostly it was sand, the type seen in the above link picture.

 

Fox: is that the the chimney pitch below the keyhole on the East Ridge Route of Granite? I debated free climbing that chimney but opted against it since I was all alone up there. Instead I followed the sometimes-cairned circuituous route to the right.

[Alpinfox]

klenke said:

Fox: is that the the chimney pitch below the keyhole on the East Ridge Route of Granite? I debated free climbing that chimney but opted against it since I was all alone up there. Instead I followed the sometimes-cairned circuituous route to the right.

 

I have no idea. I just poached that picture off the web.

Is Granite Peak a worthwhile climb?

 

[klenke]

Damn poachers! You know foxes like you are killed by rifle fire for poaching in certain African nations.

 

I think it is that pitch (99% sure). Clues in both photos match up. I think that chimney goes at 5.4 or something. Since I like or climb well in chimneys like that, it might have seemed like 5.1 to me. I think I remember it having a funky beginning but looked to have easier stemming and footwork higher up.

 

Granite Peak and the Beartooths as a whole are very pleasing to the eye...from a reasonable distance. Once you get on the mountain itself (at least by the standard E. Ridge Route) it starts to look more or less like nothing more than a jumbled mess. You know, like most Washington Cascades peaks.

[JoshK]

klenke said:

Granite Peak and the Beartooths as a whole are very pleasing to the eye...from a reasonable distance. Once you get on the mountain itself (at least by the standard E. Ridge Route) it starts to look more or less like nothing more than a jumbled mess. You know, like most Washington Cascades peaks.

 

What peak *doesn't* look like a jumbled mess once you set foot on it?

[klenke]

True enough, Josh. But this particular peak (Granite Peak) seems to have no form in its formlessness on the East Ridge. When you look at it from close range, no obvious climbing lines (gullies, cracks, etc.) seem to race to your eye. As I recall, it sort of reminds you of a warehouse where all the stacked boxes have fallen down in a chaotic pattern of cubes and rectangles. I don't know, you sort of stand there (at the infamous snowbridge crossing) and look up and say "this is class 3 and 4? How am I suppose to get up that mess?" Since you really never see more than 50 feet of the route ahead of you at any one time (once you get past the snowbridge) it's like you don't really need your eyes to climb it. Blind people could probably climb it pretty easily...well, maybe not. More pictures here.

[nolanr]

Is Granite Peak a worthwhile climb?

 

I thought so. At least if you happen to be in the neighborhood. There's many route variations, some more technical, some less. The lower part of the approach trail is pretty cool, some intriguing crags along the valley. I was amazed how many locals trudged up there to tag their high point (kinda like Rainier), took one look at the beginning of the acual climb, shit their pants, then turned around and headed down. It's not bad at all but not a good place for newbies to get their first alpine experience.

Edited September 20, 2003 by nolanr

[klenke]

nolanr said:

I was amazed how many locals trudged up there to tag their high point (kinda like Rainier), took one look at the beginning of the acual climb, shit their pants, then turned around and headed down."

Yeah, that was the case while I was climbing up to the Froze-to-Death Plateau. Two ordinary looking climber types in their early to mid twenties came down from above to my position on their way out. They said they had a rope but they were too sketched out by it so turned around.

 

This made me wonder if I would be able to climb it solo without a rope since I heard it was anywhere from class 3 to class 5 for a short pitch. But when I got up on the mountain I found it to require routefinding concentration (you have to keep you eye out for cairns) but it was not difficult at all. In fact, it was pretty standard stuff when compared to a Washington Cascades Peak.

 

[nolanr]

Agreed. Did you happen to be on Hidden Lake Peak in June, saw someone w/ your name signed the summit register?

[klenke]

Yes, climbed HLP in June. A friend from Holland was in town and I needed something straightforward to take her up to show her the Cascades up close and personal. HLP was a good choice--especially since I hadn't been up there before. HLP is much higher than HOL.