klenke Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 How: Foot and snowshoe, green belays and curses; 3,400 ft total gain What: Green Mountain's East Peak by Verlot (4,454 ft; 1,600 ft of prominence); some of the densest evergreen "forest" I've ever bushwhacked through -- BW4 (a chapparal for sure) When: 8:30AM - 4:30PM Today (3 hours longer than I had expected) Where: Road 4005 (Benson Creek Road) leading ENE from Verlot. It is permanently gated at about 0.4 miles from MLH. Bikable road ends in 1.4 miles near where the Maiden of the Woods carving used to be (a diminutive replica can be seen at the entrance to Mtn. View Inn in Robe). Took 4005 to T-junction labeled 1759 ft on maps. Went straight upslope to 2,900 ft where another road was found. Took this road left (west) for a few hundred yards then left it to bear NE uphill to ridge crest 0.7 miles south of East Peak. At crest just before road is where the chapparal was. Took 40 minutes to go 200 yards! Said we wouldn't go back down that way for sure. Followed ridge crest logging road all the way around to 3,900 ft at head of Benson Creek. Dropped packs and snowshoed the remaining half-mile to the summit (no views due to weather). Some interesting crags at the false summit. On the return, we descended the upper Benson Creek drainage to the logging road crossing the creek at 2,959 ft. Returned to where we had gained that logging road on the ascent and continued down to the car, arriving back there at just before dark. I had wanted to do a 0.3-mile side-trip to the Maiden of the Woods carving but we didn't have time. As it turns out, it is not there anymore anyway (or so the guy at the Robe store said). Map of start. Map of summit. Who: Brian Hench (catbirdseat), Jim Johnson (Really_Big_Johnson?), Paul Klenke Why: Who knows? Because it's there. A peak few have visited, even fewer in the winter. Go get this bad boy. Or maybe not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catbirdseat Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 I get the credit or rather blame for "discovering" that bit of BW4. Lovely, wasn't it? Picture wet doug firs of 1" diameter spaced about 12" apart. Add a 45 degree slope with about 12 inches of new snow. Now wet the trees down thoroughly. It made for a good workout, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plexus Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 I want to see some pictures of this hedge. I know what you're talking about, I've hit some stuff like that screwing around on the MTn Loop Hwy a couple years ago and over off of the Bacon Creek Rd (can't remember the name of the peak) this past winter. Fought for about 15 minutes, then decided a longer detour was more favorable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klenke Posted December 23, 2003 Author Share Posted December 23, 2003 None of us were able to snap a photo off of the dense forest (not as thick as a hedge but damn thick). In fact, it would have been near impossible to get our packs off to get at our cameras. So, in lieu, here is a cartoon representation of catbirdseat in the chaparral: It was the type of "forest" one typically encounters off the verges of logging roads. They seem to form a barrier between the road and more open forest farther in. Incidentally, so where is Green Mountain? Here are three pics with this particular Green Mountain featured in it: 1st picture with Green in it (Three Fingers from Pilchuck) 2nd picture with Green in it (Rainier from Baker) 3rd picture with Green in it (Baker from Pilchuck) This last one does not show the East Peak of Green. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dryad Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 Klenke, your picture can't be right. CBS's pack is WAY bigger than that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancegranite Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 We used to drive up to the summit of Green mountain in high school...did you find any of our empty beer cans? PS, Nice picture! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catbirdseat Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 Klenke was literally two feet from reaching the summit when he found a spruce trap (or should I say a Mountain hemlock trap?). His snowshoe plunged into a four foot deep hole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plexus Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 How long did it take for you to get out of the hole Paul? The picture of Sauk in my gallery, on that trip we crossed through some clear cut, sunk through a hole and it took me about five minutes to get out. In your second picture, you should get up Gee Point. There is some fun climbing there. Once you reach the ruins of an old shelter, keep going straight instead of following the trail uphill, there was a nice chimney that is mid-fifth class. In the honor of Beckey, the description goes "cross over talus and steep heather (a bitch when wet) and head for the obvious chimney. One pitch, small rack with hexes 9-12. Also there is a wall up at Cumberland Pass on the north side of the Finney Creek rd that has some nice runout 5.9s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klenke Posted December 24, 2003 Author Share Posted December 24, 2003 Brian, thanks for not posting the picture of me with my bare chest ala Michael Layton sans nipple rings. Lance: no, no beer cans seen though plenty of other garbage around. A lot of the logging roads are fairly overgrown now, so that'll keep the riff-raff away. In fact, FR-4005 exiting from MLH at Verlot is gated--apparently by the guy operating the Robe store--because of people dumping garbage. Ryan, there's a humorous anecdote to my falling in that tree well. We had set a turn-around time of 1:30PM. So I'm rounding the last tree. I've got my eyes on this hump of snow right in front of me amongst the trees literally four feet away. It's the "summit." But, this tree I'm stepping past has other ideas and my left leg goes right in up to my hip. Naturally, my snowshoe gets stuck. And you know it's nearly impossible to take the snowshoe off when it's way down there. Meanwhile, Brian is about a minute behind me. It's 1:25PM. I remember thinking, "Great, I knew something was going to happen to keep me from making the summit at the designated turn-around time." Just kind of funny the timing of it. It only took a minute or so to get out but it was a struggle. To die trapped in a tree well: what a horrible way to die. Every year plenty of skiers do. Gee Point: I have not done it. I have done Finney Peak though, so I know the area. Big Gee is the high point in the Gee Point vicinity. It's 5,080+ feet and has 3,120 feet of prominence! It might make for a respectable winter climb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancegranite Posted December 24, 2003 Share Posted December 24, 2003 Way to get subalpine extreme! Excellent training... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catbirdseat Posted December 25, 2003 Share Posted December 25, 2003 Talk about excellent training. I've had easier days climbing Rainier. Regarding the klenke shirtless shot. I was thinking of photoshopping in some fake nipple rings, a la Necro, and posting it, but klenke offered me too much money not to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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