[TR] North Cascades - Spectacular ridge-Mt Logan 7/8/2011

[Marikos]

Trip: North Cascades - Spectacular ridge-Mt Logan

 

Date: 7/8/2011

 

Trip Report:

Spectacular Ridge-Mt. Logan Traverse; July 8-16, 2011

 

 

 

We had planned for this week knowing snowy conditions would exist almost 6 months ago, and given the inflexible schedules of modern age adults with families had to go or stay home. We went and had a very interesting trip. The original plan was to traverse from Easy pass trailhead to Park Creek pass and onto the Cascade River road and mostly accomplished our objective despite all sorts of weather fun. Here is the blow by blow.

 

Day one: Set out from the Easy Pass trailhead and had 2-3 miles of relatively easy travel before hitting continuous snow around 4000 feet; sidetracked into the forest and eventually made our way back into the big cirque below the pass and kick stepped our way to the snow bound pass. The weather was cool and cloudy with a few sprinkles. We arrived late and decided to camp there and descend in the Am. Had a great unobstructed view of Logan distantly.

 

Day two: Dropped down the trail mostly snowfree to the Fisher Cirque below and eventually turned Left (west) into the snow filled basin and made our way to the gully up to Silent Lakes. It was snowbound and relatively easy travel. The snow was nice consolidated and step kicking was easy. The lake basin was beautiful and Silent Lakes just beginning to thaw. Found a nice dry area (which were just about always available the entire route) to rest and stare at the marvelous views of peaks (Black, Fisher and Arriva). After a nice break, we made our way west to the cirque around the bend; dropped down about 200-300 feet to avoid cliffs and made our way w/o difficulties to “Spectacular pass”. Once there the view was great toward Logan and Ragged ridge; the wind was pretty stiff and we thought about camping but the cirque west and down looked inviting. Scouting the route showed a steep icy gully mostly in snow. I scouted a class 2 route down the rocks/heather to the right (North) which was easily navigable and lead to the bottom of the icy chute. It required a somewhat difficult traverse to the other side requiring 20-30 feet of slow downward frontpointing and I suspect wouldn`t be much fun w/o a snow base. Once to the other side it was easy going to a nice beautiful basin below the sharp peaks of Spectacular Ridge. The weather had begun to change in earnest and rain ensued so we put our tarp up and relaxed.

 

Day Three: Slept to the rhythm of rain and woke to nearly white out fog. Decided to head out anyway as the way was obvious and we had got a good look the night before. Went straight up the valley/ridge to an easy entry onto spectacular ridge south around point 7135. The weather briefly broke but rain soon followed and we set up our tarp for an extended period, eventually leaving to find a more suitable campsite. W/o getting a look down toward Fisher Pass we were all reluctant to go down blindly into likely cliffy territory in the thick fog. Fortunately, 1/4 mile later a very nice knob afforded a great dry campsite with periodic views and a beautiful cornice in view. Spent a enjoyable but cold camp on the ridge.

 

Day Four: Woke to breaking skies and periodic breaks in the clouds and got an inkling as to why Spectacular Ridge is thus named. A nice not so step snow finger headed down through cliffs and we headed down eventually zig zagging down through snow and avoiding cliffs to Fisher Pass not surprisingly buried in snow. Headed up a shortcut (better to travel the obvious ramp heading SE) and got into some pretty steep snow and brush wacking before getting on to the long ridge extending off of the Logan Massif. Breaking clouds, sun and beautiful views ensued and we could have moved on but couldn`t resist the glorious views and found a great dry patch of ground for rest and camping. Spirits were high and the Irish Whiskey especially fine that night…..

 

Day Five: Not surprisingly woke to clouds and threatening skies and opted to head out to the broad basin below the long ridge leading to the Douglas Glacier. Went beneath a line of cliffs and then headed to a pass between the Douglas and the North Fork Bridge Creek drainage. On arrival the light rain had changed over to snow at around 7000 feet. We roped up and bundled up and headed out. The original plan (as inspired by Lowell Skoog`s Alpenglow site and ski trip over the same terrain) was to go to the Banded Douglas Col and try to climb over Logan`s summit and then down to the Fremont Glacier. The fog was thick, wind pretty steady and snow continuous. The terrain was pretty staightfoward however and the crevasses few so after awhile got to the col and felt pretty uninspired to proceed to the summit in lousy conditions and opted to head down the Banded Glacier and attain the Fremont Glacier down lower. In the way were two tall wind carved snow walls angling up about 30 and 10 feet each and required two steep snow climbing pitches. The weather was lousy but we managed over to the Banded Glacier proper, surprisingly full of crevasses. Zig zagged our way down to the moraine lake below and followed the shore to a beautiful larch rock dry camp next to the lake. Whew… fun but tiring day. After a rest, I scouted a route (now in breaking weather) around the buttress just SW of camp. Initially I stayed high over an unstable boulder field and looked at the lay of the land and the entry to the Fremont Glacier. It appeared as if several ways lead pretty easily to the Glacier proper and on return stumbled on a Goat/ animal (complete with Goat prints) path below the boulder field that was loads easier and I knew our party would appreciate tomorrow.

 

Day Six: Breaking skies departure lead us around the buttress and with minimal recon and we crossed some steep snow chutes and got onto a fairly steep entry to the flat portion of the Fremont Glacier which made for a cool walk to the terminal moraine on the SW side of the glacier. Sat down to a nice lunch with stunning views to the Boston Glacier and surrounding peaks and after we made an easy side traverse (following a nice set of snow tracks) to Park Creek Pass. I had injured my knee 4 and 1/2 months ago pretty badly skiing and armed with a great brace was hesitant to overload myself (and everyone else for that matter); so Will, a frequent member of our traversing group kindly schlepped up two Bear canisters full of food (and some Tecquila!) and cached it near the pass. Supplies had been getting pretty low so it was great to dive into some new food. ¾ of a mile from the pass we camped on a huge boulder and put up our tarp and sprinkles ensued. We were all happy at making it this far and gobbled up lots of food and each had a nice cup of iced tecquila. (Iced drinks were not hard to manage anywhere en route!) Unfortunately, Jeff our elder member of the trip informed us his cold feet had taken a turn for the worse. Looking them over, they were swollen, painful and moderately numb. It was obviously a case of mild frostbite (aka chillbains). Tom and I headed over to get a good look at the big cirque beneath the Buckner Coloiur. The route was a long snow slog to a steep 400 foot coloiur leading to Horseshoe basin. The bailout was down the Thunder creek trail. Given the bad skies and concern about Jeff`s feet we decided the trail was the smart bet.

 

Day Seven: Woke to steady rain and decided to chill out, eat and drink…. The skies never let up and we stayed on the rock all day.

 

Day Eight: Cloudy/breaking skies and off we went from the pass down a steep snow slope to the upper reaches of Thunder creek basin. Full of snow with numerous avalanche chutes requiring crossing. Snow was fully present until 4800 feet and patchy until 4000 feet. The bridge at Thunder Camp is out but Bruce fording the creek easily and the rest of us crossed a snow bridge). Made our way down the trail and stayed at Junction camp with nice views across valley. The weather once again was turning sour and rainy but it was very nice to be into the warm zone and off the snow.

 

Day Nine: Hiked the last 10 miles down valley w/o much ado. Managed to catch a ride to our car with some sweet ladies from the Sedro Wooley downtown café.

 

Parting notes: Worst weather on a trip in a long while but still highly satisfying. Any body venturing out there should be ready for snow and cold (be sure to have dry boots if possible!). We especially want to acknowledge our collegue Jeff Newman, calling it quits this year, who at 68 proved to all of us the possibilities of traversing for a long, long time. His calm, steady presence will be missed after tripping with us these last 15 years…..

 

Pictures:

 

 

 

 

________________________________