[TR] Mount Stone - Route 1 5/26/2007

[Fairweather]

Trip: Mount Stone - Route 1

 

Date: 5/26/2007

 

Trip Report:

Met Off White in Hoodsport this past Saturday at the ungodly hour of 4:30am and drove up the Hamma Hamma to the Putvin Trailhead. A cloudy, cool morning hike up, and up, and up through the forest, but no rain or wind. The snow line greeted us abruptly just beyond the top of the trail "headwall" - half an hour below Lake of the Angels. Melting fast! We were interested in seeing the lake and took a side trip there for a quick snack. The snow was very soft and the lake/basin were 100% covered beneath this last winter's dump. Skiing would be fantastic for anyone willing to haul up their gear. We plodded upward and had the good fortune of remaining between cloud layers most of the day, and the added bonus of having the entire area to ourselves! Classic Olympic fare as the fog and mists blew across the tops of Stone and the surrounding crags, allowing only periodic glimpses. Some mixed scrambling led us to the hidden basin below the main peak. An easy but improbable-looking scramble led to the top and surprisingly warm relaxation. What a great day to climb with a great companion.

 

 

Note: We hiked out the last mile+ on the old Boulder Creek Road. The road is overgrowing fast but would still be about 95% passable on a mountain bike - minus a couple of major washouts.

[pope]

Nice going. Way to push on through the muck. I was at a birthday party in Fircrest, thinking about all the fun you old-timers must be having. I did make it out to Banner for a quick ride with Dwayner on Monday. Out on the Oakland trail we came to a point where a bunch of bones are nailed to a tree....and there was a strange, woodsy fellow walking down an adjacent trail. Creepy. Mentioning "woodsy" fellows, Dwayner got all hot and bothered when an athletic female trail runner came bounding past.

[Off_White]

Yeah, this was a great day and a fun trip with a good partner. Here's a couple more pics:

 

On the way up, heading up to the notch and onto a false summit, then on up to the summit block.

 

On the descent, looking across the Hamma Hamma valley to Thorsen (Jefferson) and Pershing. Some of those routes looked like worthwhile early season jaunts as they played peek-a-boo with us.

 

Visibility was really just fine, the cloud layers worked out well and we never got whited out. The burning orb made an occasional appearance, and sometimes you could just feel the solar radiation streaming through the higher murk layer. Warm day, lots of surface sluff action, that snow will be going away quickly.

[Drederek]

Well you guys weren't quite alone, I got this shot from the minor peak just a few hundred yards east of Stone. Actually saw a couple peeps (musta been you) as I was hiking up the last bit of ridge. What a great day!

[Off_White]

Well fuckin' A Duke, if I'd have known you weren't all busy with holiday weekend stuff I'd have given you a shout to see if you wanted to come along. It's a small world after all.

[olyclimber]

Awesome...Mt. Stone is a super fun climb. Next time you guys head out, let me know...I'd like to go.

[Fairweather]

Well you guys weren't quite alone, I got this shot from the minor peak just a few hundred yards east of Stone. Actually saw a couple peeps (musta been you) as I was hiking up the last bit of ridge. What a great day!

 

Were you on Lena or Bretherton? If so, how was the hike to Upper Lena?

[olyclimber]

The hike to Upper Lena isn't too bad. I did a day trip with my little bro later in the summer where we entered via the Putvin trail, climbed Mt. Stone, and the hiked out via Upper down to lower Lena lake. It was a long day, but pretty fun. The high ridgeline territory between Mt. Stone and Upper Lena is very nice. There is a way trail that is easy to lose (especially if you are trying to move quickly like we were on that day), and wouldn't be visible with the snow level where its at right now....but navigating the territory is pretty straight forward. You could even drop down to Scout Lake for a little solitude.

[Fairweather]

Actually, my little brother and I did that traverse a couple years back Magnificent area. I was curious about current conditions to the upper lake because I had read that there was a lot of windfall from the big storm last winter and I was curious about the snow line on that side. I really want to climb Bretherton after the snow melts down this summer, if for no other reason than to visit Milk Lake - which I've heard is a beautiful place. Maybe we can hook up for a trip? BTW; we still need to go see if Anderson Glacier still has a pulse one of these days.

[olyclimber]

Lets make it happen. Check PMs.

[Drederek]

I made it no further than the minor peak. Was heading up to Stone and lost the trail in the snow above the rock bench. Contoured toward the waterfall for a few hundred yards till I saw a narrow snow filled gully going straight up. So I bit and believe it led me up to St Peters gate. Once I gained the ridge I headed up it toward Stone. I had been quite impressed with the rock quality below this peak while hiking under it to Stone last fall so I was curious if it might have some solid cracks to climb on it and was happy to "settle" for it. Alas the top was typical of the area with just a few clumps of much harder rock mixed in. I ate lunch and put a sweater on which I almost immediately took off due to a slight thinning of the clouds and rapid increase in radiant heat. On the way back down saw some tracks coming up from route 2 so decided to prolong the adventure by descending that direction and get to that nice flat road more quickly. There's a lot more snow on that side of the ridge which made the going fairly easy. Lost the tracks fairly quickly and probably went down more directly than the "faint trail" but managed to make it down, the last 500' through the brush, picking up the "faint trail" for the last 50'to the old bridge.