olyclimber Posted March 1, 2005 Posted March 1, 2005 Climb: Mt. Cruiser-Route 1-A Date of Climb: 2/27/2005 Trip Report: Alpinfox (Pax) and I (Porter) climbed Mt. Cruiser this past Sunday (February 27th). We had made an attempt to climb on January 28-29th, but opted out as we awoke to a snow covered rock, which had been clean and dry the previous weekend: Our first attempt was not a waste. During this first trip, we came up with an ingenious ad campaign for JetBoil stoves. One scenario involved and old couple sitting on a park bench and JetBoil Man. I'll spare you the details, but basically our financial futures are set and paved in green. Anyway, last weekend we saw a picture posted by Fairweather from his Mt. Washington climb that showed the Sawtooth range, and we could see that Mt. Cruiser was dry, so we decided to give it another go: We were able to drive past the Putvin trailhead this time, but soon after were stuck in the snow. After digging ourselves out and then getting stuck again, with some help from some Olympians, we got unstuck and turned around. We left the car at around 1pm and hiked up the road to the Mildred Lakes trailhead, and onto the lower Mildred lake by 5:30. We set up camp and hit the hay early. During the night a tiny snaffle scurried across my face and then was in my hair for a small time. We also heard a mysterious noise, which could have been an owl or maybe a cougar? We awoke to a perfect day (compare this with the picture above of our previous attempt): We left our camp at 8am and headed up to the upper lake. We decided to take the following route up: In our scramble up we came across the tracks of a big cat, which Alpinfox identified as either a creature part lion/part tiger....or a cougar (see above). We also found some excellent bouldering on the way up, as demonstrated by Alpinfox as shown here sending Tree Crack: We finally hit the snow fields and donned our crampons and headed up. The snow was consolidated, with a slushy crust. Finally we made it up to the base of the summit block and roped up. Here is Alpinfox headed up the 5.4 pitch of route 1A: We were able to make the summit in two pitches: one long one to a big platform, and one short scramble to the summit. We had 360 degree view of the Olympic mountains. Olympus: Mildred Lakes below: Alpinfox on the summit: #1 Best Belayer: ....and glissading down: We were back down at the camp in a couple of hours and made it out to the car by 6:30. The approach is definitely the hardest part to this easy rock climb, but the views were certainly rewarding. The existance of consolidated snow definitely made the traveling easier up on the ridge, and the recent sunny spell dried the rock of any snow or ice it may have had. According this this thread, there is a possiblity that Cruiser has not seen a winter season ascent before, but it would not surprise me to hear that has been done before. Thanks to Alpinfox for the ropegun duties, and thanks to Fairweather for posting the beta that helped us determine that the route was dry! Gear Notes: JetBoil Stove Extreme attitude Chocolate Halva Top Ramen 1 60m rope (with 10' of 3rd class downclimbing) alum. crampons ice axe #3 camalot (or equivalent) there are a few unnecessary bolts on the route Approach Notes: Road was drivable up to just past the Putvin trailhead. The trail in the trees was clear for the most part, but buried in snow in places. 1 Quote
Pandora Posted March 1, 2005 Posted March 1, 2005 w00t! You crazy snow-driving, cougar-escaping, tree crack-climbing, slush-stomping, 5.4-sending, frozen-nuts-glissading madmen! Here's to all that and more! Quote
specialed Posted March 1, 2005 Posted March 1, 2005 Woo hoo, nice job braving the cougars!! Looks like friggin July. Quote
olyclimber Posted March 1, 2005 Author Posted March 1, 2005 I believe the conditions were probably as easy as it gets for this approach. Here is a link to some folks who did this approach in the summer. The snow covered up some the bushes they had to thwack through. Quote
Stefan Posted March 1, 2005 Posted March 1, 2005 wow. great job! snow conditions are making for excellent winter ascents! nice pics too! Quote
Alpinfox Posted March 1, 2005 Posted March 1, 2005 Looks like friggin July. Definitely! No kidding. I was stunned. There was no snow on south or east facing slopes and the west/north facing slopes had very little. Has anyone been up there during a real winter? I would expect 10 feet or so of snow in a normal year. Is that realistic? Fun trip. This is a great time to climb Cruiser. No crowds, snow over a lot of the brush, our tracks should be around for a while so easy route finding... go get it! A couple more pictures: Olyclimber on the summit ridge Climbing final rock just below the summit Quote
olyclimber Posted March 1, 2005 Author Posted March 1, 2005 Does this windshirt make me look fat? Olyclimber on the summit ridge I was pregnant with a camera. Quote
skyclimb Posted March 1, 2005 Posted March 1, 2005 That first pitch looks SWEET! big ole' blobs of rock. Nice job Quote
Alpinfox Posted March 3, 2005 Posted March 3, 2005 I lost a black Mtn Hardware glove somewhere on the trip out. If you go up there sometime soon (and someone should!) and you see my glove, I'd appreciate it if you would get it back to me. This weekend would be a great time to climb Cruiser! Quote
Harry_Pi Posted March 13, 2005 Posted March 13, 2005 Hello capitalist! What's with all the excitment about climbing one of the easiest routes on Cruiser? It's a fun endeavor but not really worth posting a trip report on. Oh, I get it, a winter climb, maybe I'll never understand chestbeating chuckle heads. Thank you for allow me to post. Quote
olyclimber Posted March 14, 2005 Author Posted March 14, 2005 (edited) Edited March 16, 2005 by olyclimber Quote
CPOly Posted March 14, 2005 Posted March 14, 2005 Hammer/Pax - Maybe it was your comment on the trail regitser. "Booya Beyatch" or something along those lines. Classy Quote
Alpinfox Posted March 14, 2005 Posted March 14, 2005 I'm all about class. Especially when it comes to trail registers. Quote
CPOly Posted March 14, 2005 Posted March 14, 2005 Hey I'm the same way, except I left out the Beyatch and just left the BOOYAA!!!! Quote
Alpinfox Posted March 14, 2005 Posted March 14, 2005 Dude, you need to work on your spelling. It's "Beeeyotch!" the number of "e"s is a personal decision and reflective of the intensity one is trying to convey, but the "o" is mandatory. Please refer to "Elements of Stizyle - Snoop Dogg". Quote
CPOly Posted March 14, 2005 Posted March 14, 2005 Oh hey, someone needed to put me in my place, that is one point of reference that I never checked while determining my "STEELO". I always "Bow down" when it comes to the d o gg y d o gg ya see. Quote
Pandora Posted March 16, 2005 Posted March 16, 2005 Of course, you'll need some of these in order to make your purchase: Quote
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