Steph_Abegg Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 (edited) Trip: Valhallas -> Mt. Olympus --> Bailey Range --> High Divide Date: 7/5/2007-7/12/2007 Trip Report: My friend Douglas and I just completed a 77-mile, 8-day traverse through the most rugged and beautiful parts of the Olympic Mountains. We began with a 2-day bushwack up the South Fork of the Hoh River and up the steep ridge just north of Valkyrie Creek, which brought us to a range of peaks to the southwest of Mount Olympus known as the Valhallas. This area is probably only accessed by a couple parties a year. The Valhallas appear like mineature Bugaboos, although the climbing is a bit crumblier (although still plenty fun!). After a day of climbing in the Valhallas (a day of rain – our only day of poor weather the entire trip - prevented more peak-bagging), we traversed over to Olympus via the rarely travelled Hubert Glacier. We crossed over the summit, and headed for Bear Pass at the south end of the Bailey Range. Two days of traversing the Bailey Range brought us to the High Divide. On the eighth day of our adventure we hiked out the North Fork of the Hoh River (on a trail!). I posted some photos and a more detailed description on my climbing webpage: http://sabegg.googlepages.com/valhallas Enjoy! Approach Notes: prepare for a physical challenge!! Edited July 17, 2007 by Steph_Abegg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 good job! That looks like a spectacular trip. Nice photos! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Wow! Impressive. I have dreamed of doing that exact route for some time. Congrats, that is quite a schwack! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Beautiful photographs too (especially the night ones!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa_D Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Nice work, Steph--beautiful and classic! And, as always, great photos. Have fun in the Pickets. The weather is looking a bit sketchier, but I hope it works out!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmarch Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Wow, what a great trip! You guys really hit the weather jackpot, eh? Nice pics too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
everyfrog Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Fantastic trip photos - love the night/starry sky ones! what's the camera you take on trips like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying_Ned Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Truly outstanding TR. Thanks for the great photos. The high traverse from Bear Pass to Camp Pan has been done a few times. Most recently (before you and Douglas), to my knowledge, as a loop from Dodwell-Rixon across the ridge and back down the Humes by a party making the Elwha-Quinault trip. That party crossed over to Meany-Queets-Seattle before dropping into Low Divide. Congrats on a great outing. It makes my bones tired just thinking about day 7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph_Abegg Posted July 17, 2007 Author Share Posted July 17, 2007 what's the camera you take on trips like this? I take a Canon 30D (digital) with a 17-85mm lens. A slightly heavy setup, but worth it to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skykilo Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Looks like a great trip, Steph. Nice change of pace from the road trip with the rock-maniac? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 love the tie in with the parents on the trip report Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph_Abegg Posted July 17, 2007 Author Share Posted July 17, 2007 Looks like a great trip, Steph. Nice change of pace from the road trip with the rock-maniac? I just love these long travering trips that bring you into areas no one hardly gets back into. Next destination is the Pickets. But my month of June spent in Red Rocks, Yosemite, and Colorado climbing some big routes was great fun too! http://sabegg.googlepages.com/juneclimbingcalendar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 I can't think of a better way to spend a couple of months Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bremerton_john Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 (edited) Wow Steph, great trip, great write-up. It almost amazes me that you guys chose to climb Frigga, and from the looks of the photo, probably by the same line we did just 2 summers ago (The Black Bart route). http://www.mountaineers.org/nwmj/06/061_Valhallas.html Wasn't the bushwack up Valkyrie creek such a joyous little hike in the woods!? Next time I go in I will bypass the creek and continue up the S. Fork to where the creek drains out of the Geri-Freki. You guys definitely had a whole lot more snow on the ridge traverse to Olympus than we did. It was all rock in August 2005. The Valhallas, what a special little corner of this great park of ours. And I agree with the earlier post that it was particularly interesting that you repeated portions of the climb your parents did. Thanks for sharing those old pics. I like comparing the scenery with changes over time. John Edited July 18, 2007 by bremerton_john Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph_Abegg Posted July 18, 2007 Author Share Posted July 18, 2007 Wasn't the bushwack up Valkyrie creek such a joyous little hike in the woods!? Next time I go in I will bypass the creek and continue up the S. Fork to where the creek drains out of the Geri-Freki. By the time we were traversing to Olympus, I was already planning a return trip to the Valhallas. I think your idea to continue up the S. Fork to the Geri-Freki drainage might be a good alternative to the steep bushwack beside Valkyrie Creek. It looks like the S Fork riverbanks might actually kick back a bit in that next upstream mile (they were getting kind of steep at that point), and there looks like a pretty good line of approach on the east side of the Geri-Freki drainage. I'll have to go back and try it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary_Yngve Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 Awesome trip and awesome photos! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silence Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 Spectacular trip!! Tremendous effort guys -- way to go! Who said the Olys pale in comparison to the NCs? Think again. Your images are absolutely stunning. Thanks so much for the show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeleRoss Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 Awesome trip Steph, and as always amazing photos! Have fun in the Pickets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeleRoss Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 ps...how many power bars did you eat on this trip? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph_Abegg Posted July 18, 2007 Author Share Posted July 18, 2007 ps...how many power bars did you eat on this trip? Initially I was going to bring 15/day + breakfast and dinner, but at the last minute replaced the power bars with tortillas and peanut butter. I have added tortillas to my list of 10 essentials - you could fill a cookbook with the various combinations of wraps you can make with your rations! Additionally, a stack of tortillas provides a great seat at a rest stop, a comphy pillow, and they efficiently slide down the sides of the pack to fill those annoying voids. I have yet to try their functionality as a glissade pad.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazz Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 Good stuff !! what a dream trip. I hope I have the chance to do it before I get too OLD! Great images and report thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairweather Posted July 21, 2007 Share Posted July 21, 2007 Wow! The grand tour!! Great pictures too. That picture looking toward Sagittarius and into the galactic center is stunning. I've never tried my hand at night photography, but your photos are inspiring me to try. CC.com TR of the summer so far, IMO. Looks like your parents had a good trip too! Hmmm: SA Age = (2007-1980)?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa_D Posted July 21, 2007 Share Posted July 21, 2007 ps...how many power bars did you eat on this trip? Initially I was going to bring 15/day + breakfast and dinner, but at the last minute replaced the power bars with tortillas and peanut butter. I have added tortillas to my list of 10 essentials - you could fill a cookbook with the various combinations of wraps you can make with your rations! Additionally, a stack of tortillas provides a great seat at a rest stop, a comphy pillow, and they efficiently slide down the sides of the pack to fill those annoying voids. I have yet to try their functionality as a glissade pad.... Tortillas=food of the gods!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph_Abegg Posted July 22, 2007 Author Share Posted July 22, 2007 That picture looking toward Sagittarius and into the galactic center is stunning. I've never tried my hand at night photography, but your photos are inspiring me to try. Thanks! Getting out of my warm sleeping bag to set up the camera can be a bit hard, but it's usually worth it. No better place to get star photos than in the mountains! http://sabegg.googlepages.com/nightphotography Hmmm: SA Age = (2007-1980)?? 24. I beat my parents to the Valhallas by 6 years.... I plan to return to the Valhallas sometime, since I left a bunch of peaks unclimbed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 Nice pictures! the Hoh approach looks alot better than the Queets/Kilkelly approach I tried and failed with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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