HighLife Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 (edited) Trip: West McMillan Spire - West Ridge Date: 8/31/2013 Trip Report: BIKE TO MCMILLAN: A Human Powered Adventure From Bellingham To The West McMillan Spire. With a perfect 3-day weather window, I packed my pack and biked the 70 miles to Newhalem. I tied my bike to a tree at the end of the pavement on the road to the Goodell Creek TH, hiked 1.5 miles up the road to the TH, then the 4 miles to the climbers turnoff where I made my camp for the night. Left camp at 7am, climbed hard. Made the summit by 1:40pm. Raced nightfall all the way back to camp. Made it back to camp with 30 min of light left- the perfect amt of time to cook up instant mashed potatoes. Location (Elevation): Time Elapsed / Split / Real Time Day 1: Bellingham (200 ft) : 0 / 0 / 06:30am End of Pavement (500 ft) : 7:00 / 7:00 / 01:30pm Climber's Turnoff "Camp" (1,600 ft) : 8:38 / 1:38 / 03:08pm Day 2: Climbers Turnoff "Camp"(1,600 ft) : 0 / 0 / 07:00am Heather Bench [top of hill climb] (5,200 ft) : 1:57 / 1:57 / 08:57 Arrive West McMillan Summit (8,000 ft) : 6:40 / 4:43 / 1:40pm Depart West McMillan Summit (8,000 ft) : 7:00 / 00:20 / 02:00pm Heather Bench [top of hill climb] (5,200 ft) : 10:54 / 3:54 / 05:54pm Climbers Turnoff "Camp"(1,600 ft) : 12:24 / 1:30 / 07:24pm Day 3: Climber's Turnoff "Camp" (1,600ft) : 0:00 / 0:00 / 07:30am End of Pavement (500 ft) : 1:30 / 1:30 / 09:00am Bellingham (200 ft) : 8:30 / 7:00 / 04:00pm The Southern Pickets Photo Credit: Steph Abegg stephabegg.com Mt Fury Inspiration, Degenhardt, Terror, Shuksan, and Baker Back home safe! Gear Notes: Hard snow on Terror Glacier. Crampons and running shoes made a sketchy mix. Glad to have brought ice axe. Edited September 11, 2013 by HighLife Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonG Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 Glad you had a safe trip! We saw you pedaling your ass off just outside of Concrete and wondered where you were headed with the climbing gear. Pretty cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodcutter Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 Yeah man> we met you at breakfast time as you were heading up from Godell Cr. Excellent effort. Someone was alive up on top of one of the 'Macs that night & I did wonder if it was you. Jake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mthorman Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 Awesome job man! I love the combination of the various different sports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sol Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 Love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 self-propelled adventure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 Cool!! This is the kind of stuff I like to do, we should join forces! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wayne Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 Thats awesome, except for the idea of pedaling that far with a pack? Did you have panniers or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whatcomboy Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 That is a good climb. Did the dog ride a bike? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bedellympian Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Doesn't look like there are paniers on his bike in the picture. I've done 40+ one-way with a backpacking pack and it wasn't ideal but it works better than you would think. Paniers are awkward in their own way. My preferred method is throwing the pack in a baby-haulin' trailer. Makes drivers way more respectful of you, although up hills are a pain in the butt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trumpetsailor Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 Nice work, Highlife! Great to meet you at the Terror Basin glacial lake outlet on our way up. Thanks for the knowledge, too. Woodcutter - we were the party of two atop West Mac for the night. Were you the blinkers on the N. Ridge of Terror (I guess we met you in Goodell Creek that morning?)? We thought we saw lights at Picket Pass too. Sublime evening/sunrise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HighLife Posted September 22, 2013 Author Share Posted September 22, 2013 How was the traverse? Did you make it to Hannegan pass TH? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HighLife Posted September 22, 2013 Author Share Posted September 22, 2013 I wish I had paniers. Not having them sure made it harder to stand and my butt sore. I think they are now on my Christmas list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HighLife Posted September 22, 2013 Author Share Posted September 22, 2013 The dog is pretty tough, but she stayed at home on that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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