[TR] Return to Moss (nee Spring) Mountain - 7/13/2014

[susan]

Trip: Return to Moss (nee Spring) Mountain -

 

Date: 7/13/2014

 

Trip Report:

M and I had one opportunity to climb together in July on the 13th so we took it. It's been hot and neither of us likes crowds so we decided to go to Spring Mountain. We'd been there before, a few years ago, and liked the short approach and long multipitch routes. We also figured it wouldn't be very crowded. Turns out it seems to have been abandoned. It was easy to find the trail off Foret Road 49 but the trail soon became a bit fuzzy (hard to read). Using years of trail hiking we managed to get close to the crags, mostly on the trail. Lost the trail near the end and bushwacked through 6 foot tall thimble berry. Could have been worse, at least it wasn't salmon berry or god forbid, devil's club. Thimble berry is more like toilet paper than a bed of nails. We stumbled up to the base of the rock and saw bolts! We were saved. But where were we. Nothing on the topo matched what we saw. Where was the perennial waterfall. We remembered it from before but it was nowhere to be found. We bushwhacked to climber's right and found a fixed line. Heaved ourselves up that and found more bolts. Again, probably at the Dart Area but nothing quite jived. Perhaps the thick moss along the base of the crags was hiding critical information. Oh, and did I say it was hot and humid! So, back down the fixed line and bushwhack climbers left. There is no semblance of trail along the base and the ground is totally hidden from view by the healthy, thriving thimble beer, occasional salmon berry and vine maple. We finally did find the perennial spring and identified where we had climbed before. Between the abundance of moss and the heat, we opted out of actually climbing. The thermometer on M's pack read 87 F in the shade. Too bad the cliff has seen almost no traffic. I remember a fun multipitch crag with quite a few routes. Routes are still there, but substantial scrubbing is needed as well as more traffic to keep it clean. That's the bane of wanting to have low use crags in the NW. Without enough use, the forest (as Kevin McClane said about Squamish) is winning.

[genepires]

Seems like that trail has sorta disappeared for that last 20 yards or so for quite a while. that is nothing new. I think your bushwack part escaped too far right. I usually end up only about 30 yards right of the main area.

 

the main area has always looked dirty but when I got on it, it has been clean. I think the moss and dirt cling to the rock on such a way to be confusing. SO even if it looks dirty, it is worth going up.

 

Now, it being in the upper 80's is enough to make that place unbearable. I am a wimp that way. Spring/Fall is the season for Spring mtn. direct south facing sunlight.

[Riley81]

That's weird I was out there last year and cleaned up the trail, checked out a route I put up two years ago and it was still clean, and helped hanman put up a new route, didn't seem like too much had been lost to the moss.

[shapp]

you were lost, it was better than you describe when we first started putting up Other Side of the Tracks

Edited July 15, 2014 by shapp

[susan]

I'm so glad you guys are all relying on information that is at least a year old, if not more. I would have been disappointed if you hadn't. Yes, we did arrive too far right, probably at route 9. We did bushwack to the base of 'Tracks'. I was looking right at it. The upper wall does look more or less clean, but the bottom is pretty mossy on most, not all, routes. The heat was the main issue. If it had been cooler, we would have gone ahead and climbed, moss be damned. There is NO evident trail along the base at this time. The cairns marking the junction shown in the topo are intact. I'm sure it was better in 2009 when Tracks went up.

[hanman]

That thimbleberry and anenome (sp?) can get crazy tall up there this time of year, and seems to thwart access to the base for many. The Dodge Dart area is up and right about a 20 minute hike from where you were, sounds like the fixed line was near the Cloven Roof.Tracks went up in 2006, and the base always looks cruddy until swept clear as this is where the snow cone resides/ends up.

 

Earlier this year I climbed Romantica, Ticktock, Shapely Apes,Dodge Dart, and cleaned out a short and sweet honest to goodness hand crack on Juggernaut. All seemed about the same moss-wise. Trophy Wife, Pastor of Muppets and Heavens could certainly use a scrub and traffic.

 

Wild Rosy (2 climbs left of Tracks) should be fine as it was finished last year.

 

The place sure is a reflector oven in the summer heat though. I usually visit in the spring and fall.

 

M.Hanna

[genepires]

I'm so glad you guys are all relying on information that is at least a year old, if not more. I would have been disappointed if you hadn't. Yes, we did arrive too far right, probably at route 9. We did bushwack to the base of 'Tracks'. I was looking right at it. The upper wall does look more or less clean, but the bottom is pretty mossy on most, not all, routes. The heat was the main issue. If it had been cooler, we would have gone ahead and climbed, moss be damned. There is NO evident trail along the base at this time. The cairns marking the junction shown in the topo are intact. I'm sure it was better in 2009 when Tracks went up.

 

since others are not allowed to comment on the area, it must be all yours. so how about YOU go and clean it up to your satisfaction.

 

[hanman]

 

I could use an occasional hand. Or two.

 

Or a well placed napalm strike.

 

Welcome to the North Cascades

 

[genepires]

that dirt makes your teeth look so white. people pay good money for a teeth whitening. little did they know that there was a cheaper option. may be the new fashion "look".

[Riley81]

I thought we decided on zinc strips across the top of the whole crag.