tvashtarkatena Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 (edited) Trip: Goode, Storm King, Logan - NE Butt, NW Ridge, Fremont-Douglas Date: 7/9-13/2007 Trip Report: Abba’s “Take a Chance on Me” kept echoing through my simmering brain as the midday heat continued to climb. Soon I was reduced to staring at Don’s quick stepping red running shoes and humming along; I had no more fight left, when I noticed something large and brown stirring in the bushes to our left. "Bear!" A natty teenage cinnamon bear sprang forth and began hurtling blueberry bushes. "Uh, maybe I shouldn’t yell that next time," Don said as he put his unused camera away. It didn’t take long to cover the trail from Rainy Pass to the junction of the N fork of Bridge Creek, but negotiating the last few miles was another story. Numerous blowdowns, 2 fords of a very swollen Grizzly Creek (we shared Don’s red running shoes for that part), and nettles knocked back our pace a bit. We were dreading the ford of Bridge Creek required to get to the base of Goodes NE buttress…until we saw it. A huge, beautiful, perfectly horizontal log lay across the creek as if engineered. Goode and Storm King, from the N fork of Bridge Creek A short bit of slide alder took us to the base of the buttress just S of Goode, which we followed to gain a large snowpatch leading to the base of the leftmost waterfall. Passage to the Netherworld, Goode approach From there we climbed the 3rd class slabs (right of the falls), jumped to the next rock rib right, and climbed to the 5100 foot bivvy atop a treed knoll. Topping out on the steep section of the Goode approach The following morning we got up bright and early for the ascent of Goodes NE buttress. The NE Buttress of Goode Gotta love those aluminum crampons. Goode Glacier. We just said no to the steep, crappy rock below the shrund, and decided instead to climb a 4th/5th class pitch just left of the schrund in order to bypass it, then traverse right (N) to across steep snow to gain the buttress. This deposited us about halfway to the summit, with 2000 feet of climbing remaining. Recommended. Ascending the Goode Glacier. The bypass pitch is left of the schrund Stepping onto the rock after bypassing the schrund at around 7000 feet. The route itself is really, really fun. First 3rd class until the arête sharpens, then enjoyable, wonderfully exposed 4th with a sprinkling of 5th in a couple of spots. We belayed the bypass pitch (the hardest climbing of the day), plus 1.5 pitches up higher. The rest we simulclimbed. Rock shoes are not needed. Inspirational poser Don’t forget to cross a gulley to the right to gain the true summit. There you’ll find some really nice bivvy sites. There is also a bivvy site on the route. Oops. Wrong summit. Enroute to the Storm King col We descended the uber shitty SW gulley, then traversed clockwise around the mountain on a bench at 7200. Just before rounding the last buttress before Storm King, we ascended heather slopes near a waterfall which took us straight to the Storm King Col. Once at the col we stashed our rack and set up rap that would also serve as a top rope the following morning when we re-ascended the col from our bivvy. Climbing wonderful rock to the Storm King Col from the east. I’d strongly advise against leading the Storm King Col from the east. The rock is essentially vertical dirt clods that solidify into solid rock when exposed to free fall, which is really often. The nice part about this kind of rock is that you can make your own holds as you go. I was able to belay Don safely up our top rope by crouching under a snow remnant, which shielded me from rock fall. To his credit, he only kicked one chunk down. Staying on theme, we climbed Storm Kings NW ridge next. Unlike the face, which is essentially a vertical bowling alley, you at least have a 50/50 chance that the rocks will fall off the ridges opposite side. What a shit pile. Route hygiene. Storm Kings NW ridge. I took the liberty of removing a refrigerator size boulder from the summit. Very satisfying. On Storm Kings summit. Goode in the backround. Don practices his dance moves on the Storm King descent. Inexplicably, we were drawn to explore the possibility of a high traverse on the west side to Park Creek Pass. Perhaps we were trying to fulfill some deep seated subconscious urge to self flagellate, but fortunately we aborted this idea at the first sign of trouble and descended the steep rocky buttress just west of the large descending basin west of Storm King. 2 raps put us into the jungle at its base. From there we descended several hundred feet of steep, fairly open slide alder before gaining mature, open forest, which took us to the trail…right at dusk. The trail made a perfect bivvy, although little furry things kept on running over my head throughout the night. The following day we hike through Park Creek Pass and continued on to Logan. Next time I’d skip the climbers trail, which doesn’t take a very good line, and just ascend directly to the larchy bench from the trail, then traverse. Ascending the Fremont Glacier. Mt. Logan summit in the distance. Soon we found ourselves on the Fremont Glacier, which seems to be devoid of crevasses, but not no-see-ums, which followed us up there. Towards the summit we found ourselves amidst a buttefly migration; we plodded through a fluttering current of thousands of these creatures flying inches from the snow. We roped for the initial 4th class gulley due to possible loose rock, but the climbing is straightforward. From there, it’s easy 3rd class to the summit on a cairned trail. This was my fourth attempt on this mountain, so tagging its summit was particularly satisfying. One can downclimb easy 3rd class and step right onto the Banded Glacier, which quickly takes you to the Douglas Glacier and the way out to the Fisher Creek Trail. Descending Mt. Logans Douglas Glacier. Sysiphus. Douglas Glacier. Our descent route of Mt. Logans Douglas Glacier. We bivvied at about 5400 feet in the basin at the end of the route line in the photo above, a fantastically wild place surrounded by over 30 major waterfalls. Eeewww. In camp after the descending the Douglas Glacier. From there we bushwhacked down the first step skier’s right of the creek, then crossed and negotiated the next step on skier’s left side. Not pleasant, but not that bad, either…if you’re going down hill of course. Violet. Lower down the slope and in the flats there is an avalanche swath that provides passage much in the same way the urethra provides passage for a kidney stone. Embracing the Suck on the way out. The last couple of miles to the Fisher Creek trail is old growth. From there, it was an easy hike out over Easy Pass through a thunder storm, which helpfully kept the heat at bay during our ascent. Ewok sighting. Lupine after the thunderstorm. Fisher Creek. Columbia Tiger Lily. Fisher Creek. Direct hit. Easy Pass trailhead. Gear Notes: lite axe, crampons, light mountain rack to 2.5", tiny cams not very useful, 8.8mm x 45m rope. Approach Notes: Blowdowns! Edited July 20, 2007 by tvashtarkatena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billygoat Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Nice Trip Report! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesterboo Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Looks like burly adventure! Thanks for the report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazz Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 great report and great work you two!! Don is awesome!! Great guy! nice images too! thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenity Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Classic trip! Good report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Right on man, you're rockin' it. Goode looks like a fun, I hope I can get out there soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanl Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Sweet. Great write-up. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvs Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 That looked like Darth Vader without his helmet. Great report, beautiful pictures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 (edited) I thought it looked kinda like soft bubblegum. I wanted to chew on it. I wonder if you could have scooped the skin off with a spoon? Edited July 20, 2007 by robmcdan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderhound Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Sick, push that bitch over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plexus Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Great read!! Great pictures! Great humour!! Nice climbs! And I think I'll skip Storm King in the future, doesn't sound like too much fun. How many miles and elevation do you think you guys did? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvashtarkatena Posted July 20, 2007 Author Share Posted July 20, 2007 37 miles and about 16,000 feet of elevation gain total. Not too bad, considering that we just climbed 11,000' just to do Jack Mtn's 9000' summit. Go figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 What a ramble, way to go! Big fun on a couple of 9000 footers. Thanks for the amusing trip report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.