7/24-7/26/09

So, the Nooksack Tower…..  One of the most complex, time consuming, beautiful and scary summits in the Cascades.  This thing looks so intimidating…..but somehow I was able to get Mark on board for an attempt.  Of course Mark had to add another element, a hard route up it.  Taking a day off from work, we made our attempt.

Mark and I started planning this trip a few months back, more of just a thought.  Then another TR came in our inboxes from a friend and it was on.  We needed 3 days of perfect weather.  As of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday our forecast was looking pretty solid.  With a 30% chance of t-storms on Friday night, we figured we’d be good to go for our summit attempt on Sat.  Little did we know the forecast had a mind of its own and mother nature had other things in store.

We arrived at the closed road leading to Hannigan Pass and the Nooksack Cirque trail.  We figured bikes would save some time….boy were we right.

We cruised down the road and decided to take our chances on using our bikes on the trail.  Yup, I know, its totally not allowed, but its an old logging road and why not.  We ditched them in the trees at the Wilderness boundary after a wild, hilarious ride.  I just wish I had gotten a picture of Mark’s flip over the handlebars..

We dropped down the river and after eying the infamous log crossing we decided to take our luck with a ford.  It was pretty interesting and even higher on our return.  Mark sacrificed a Teva to the Nooksack Gods on the return trip.

Once across the river, its pretty tough to locate the climbers trail right off the bat.  Instead we headed over to Price Creek and then back into the woods, finally finding the trail about 100yds from the Nooksack and only 40ft from Price Creek.  I have to admit, the trail is pretty steep and really overgrown.  We did some fancy math and figured that maybe 5 parties a year come out this way.  It didn’t take us too long to climb the 1,500ft to the lake and we were pleased to be away from the hordes of blackflies and have views of our objective.

After an interesting bush-schwack up the ridge, we scrambled across some amazing granite slabs and reached our bivy site at about 5,800ft.  Probably the most incredible bivy spot I’ve been in yet in the Cascades.  The view of the Tower and Price Glacier were amazing, not to mention the views off in every other direction.

We started to set-up our base camp, organize our gear and discuss whether or not we have tried to bite off more than we could chew….  At some point we even said to each other, “boy, if it rained, our decision would be easy.”  At first we were both leaning towards backing off, then after a few hours of looking over the route through my monocular and zooming in on some pics I took, we started to become more and more confident that “yeah, we could do that”.  We started setting ourselves up for the morning; packing packs, flagging out rope, counting calories, etc.  Then mother nature decided to make the decision for us.

Well, the clouds opened up on us and it rained for the next 2hrs….  We made ourselves safe in our bivy bags and traded the flask of whiskey I brought along.  Thunder and lightening surrounded us and made this eastcoaster a little nervous, especially being on a high ridge.  At some point we stuck our heads out of our bags and this pretty much made our decision:

Eventually the storm passed and we were able to stretch and look around.  Knowing that the route would probably not be dry by 5am when we’d be on it, we were fully relaxed and ready to sit back and enjoy the rest of the night.  Little did we know that mother nature was going to give us one of the most amazing evenings in the mountains.  I went through 250 pics that night.  We had a little more rain, some sun, clouds, rainbows, lightening, more thunder and just amazing weather phenomenon.  Here’s a sample:

We woke up around 7 on Saturday, had a little coffee and talked over our options.  Go back to Seattle and relax?  Or, hang out there and explore the area.  We decided that the effort to get there was totally worth hanging out for the day and looking around.  We looked around for a good set of cracks to either FA or TR and were just amazed by the surroundings, the Nooksack Cirque is amazing!!!!

After a little rain shower (about the same time we would have been on the crux pitch) we headed back to camp and decided to set-up a top rope right out of our camp and just goofed around on the granite.  Nothing all that exciting was climbed, but it was still fun to try and to play on such amazing granite.  Of course, another t-storm rolled in and we got nailed pretty hard with more rain (yup, about the same time we would have been starting our descent of about 12 rappels).  As that day progressed, we were even more and more happy we decided not to climb.  A few pics of our wanderings:

The second night brought more rain and more clouds and more cool weather watching.  We decided that we’d head out early the next morning, grab our beers out of the river and get another one with lunch at Grahams in Glacier.

Yeah, we didn’t get to summit.  But the trip turned out to be pretty fantastic nonetheless!!!  Mark was even lucky enough to get cell phone service and let his wife know we were safe….oh to wish her happy anniversary!!!

Nooksack Tower and the surrounding area is pretty amazing!!  Its tough to get to, the mountain is complex and serious climbing.  We figured we’d have to be “on” from 20 minutes outside of camp to 20 minutes before we got back.  Whether or not we’ll go back, that’s a tough question and one that won’t be answered right now….but might if things all came together 

I wanted to take Jaga somewhere scenic, but really give her a taste of what mountaineering in the Cascades is all about; hard approaches with incredible scenery.

I first did Snowking a few years back and always thought it was worth a return trip.  We hit the parking area, which was about 1/2 mile further down the road than when I first did it.  It took us about an hour to hike the overgrown road to reach the “trail”.  Now a days there’s a pretty well established camping spot right before the trail heads up.

I’d say it took Jaga about 200′ to realize that packing light isn’t just a process of thought, but more of a statement of intent.  We did a little gear exchange and I took a few of her heavier items.  This was going to be a long approach……

Before we knew it, we hit solid snow at about 4500′ and still had a few hours of hiking before reaching a suitable camping spot.  It took us about 6 hours to reach our perch overlooking the Ptarmigan Traverse peaks and Mt Baker off in the distance.

Temps were forecasted to be in the 60′s at night and almost 90 during the day, so we decided an early start and a pre-breakfast summit was the best idea.  Taking about 2.5 hrs to get to the summit…sweating our asses off and about an hour back to camp.  A great breakfast of eggs & sausage and we were on our way down….by that time it was almost 80 degrees.  Now that’s hot on top of solid snow!!

I’ll just put up pics, as this TR is a little late….

It seems to have been a pretty good summer.  I was finally able to check a few off the tick list…  A trip into the Pickets was one of em.  Ever since first opening Selected Climbs and reading the W. McMillan Spire climb, I was hooked.  Something about the difficulty of the approach, the quoted fears, the questions of “why?”, the challenging weather all made the idea of a full fledged “Sufferfest” seem……good.

Now, I’ve been trying to drag people up here for a while.  This trip has been on my radar for almost 6 years; I’ve thought about bringing significant others, strangers and friends…but somehow I get John to go along with it.  He’s been itching to get his ass-kicked for a while, so the Pickets are ideal.  We head out at 5:30am and arrive at the TH and ready to hike at 9am.  The first 4.5 miles are relatively flat, gaining 1000′, along an extremely overgrown logging road.  We fly through it and arrive at the trail turn-off in about 1hr.  We take a break and I ask John “so, you ready for this?”.  The climbers trail takes off and rises 3600′ in less than 3 miles….that’s STEEP.  We’re at the heather benches and grabbing a break after 3hrs of climbing.

The next 3 miles or so are amazing!  Basically a long traverse through gorgeous heather & boulder gardens, everywhere around you are amazing landscapes and terraces.  Our hike in, with continuos clouds, wasn’t nearly as amazing as the hike out.  6hrs from the car and we were arriving in camp, not bad for an approach recommended for 2 days!  Select our bivy spots, take out the sleeping pads and its time for a nap.

The clouds drifted in and out, just like us…  Soon enough it was time for dinner and time for a little sunset.

Another couple joined us and i was able to get this shot, it was too bad we didn’t get their email…

After debating about setting up the tarp or taking our chances with rain, we pass out.  Somewhere around 10pm, the clouds broke apart and left us with crystal clear skies all night.  It was hard to sleep, knowing that a night so filled with the stars is a rare and cherished opportunity so I spent as many wake-ups as I could gazing upward.

5am came and went and neither of us heard our alarms.  The lack of stars woke me up and I roused John for a little breakfast & coffee.  Out of camp by 7am, traversing more heather and granite slab terraces.  Arriving at the snow slope at 9am.

Set up our crampons and charging up the snow finger as quick as possible; knowing full well the long day we were in for.

We made pretty good time getting to the notch.  John had a little dizzy spell that put a damper on the mood, but it was still a fun little part of the climb.  Charged up the class 3 scramble as fast as I could and only spent a few moments on the summit.  The wind was freezing and I didn’t want to spend too much time up there.  I was finally at my spot, my pinnacle within the views that I’ve always wanted and the battery light on my camera was flashing, the wind was almost blowing me down and my partner wasn’t feeling well.  I did get a few shots and had a few moments to talk to peaks like Mt Fury, Luna, Terror, Shuksan……and of course, my baby, my obsession; Mt Redoubt.

I took off down the loose route and almost ran back to the moat.  We had a little snack break and started our descent.  We climbed down the moat for a while before finally hoping on the snow for a super fun glissade down to the rocks.  It was hilarious, neither of us could see a thing as the snow filled our eyes.  I was wondering when I would actually get some “turns” and snow face shots in Sept.  We cruised on back to camp, and took a much needed hydration and food break, packed up our gear and got going.

Going back across the heather traverse was more than perfect.  The skies were clear, the wind was gone and temps were perfect.  We flew through it, trying to get ourselves back down but still making time for pictures and view absorbtion.

4 hrs after leaving camp, we pulled up to the car and raised our arms in victory!  Sure our feet were sore and my quads stung for a few days afterward, but the ice cold Guiness took all that pain away.  It was the traditional stop at Good Food for the mediocre burgers and fries Gut Bomb before finally making it back to Seattle around 9:30pm.

The Pickets.  Sure its one of the most challenging places to get into in Washington…but I CAN’T wait to get in there again.  Can anyone say winter!!!???

So its been 6 years since I first arrived in Washington and Mt Olympus has always been one of the those peaks that’s been on the list, but the question has always been “when can I fit it in?”  See, for those of you that don’t know, Mt Olympus is WAY out there, I mean WAY out there.  The drive to the trail head alone takes 5 hrs.  So when Aaron asked, how about taking Friday the 22nd off and going for Olympus, I answered: “yeah, I can fit it in”.

Its not that Olympus is a hard route, or technically challenging, its more about the adventure and the challenge of it.  Logistically speaking, its difficult, it takes 3 good weather days (in a rain forest), a ferry ride, a 5 hour drive and about 45 total miles of hiking…not to mention several hours of glacier travel, crossing a moat and getting permits.  Sounded perfect for the weather window we thought we were going to get.  Then the forecast started to fall apart as we got closer and closer……  But there was still one good day for the summit!!

After taking my “bosses” through last year’s finances, it was time to take off.  We headed out for the ferry around 6pm, caught the 6:30pm and were sleeping at the TH by 11:30 pm or so.  Up at 5am and in the overnight parking lot, packing by 5:05am……  It was too bad we couldn’t self-register for a permit and had to hang out until 9 AM for the Ranger Station to open!!!  Too much caffeine to kill to take a nap!!

So finally we were hiking by 9:30.  And man, we were cruising!  Hiking an average of almost 3.5 mph.  Something about the prospect of 15+ miles of hiking along a flat river valley made us want to get moving.  We finally took a little lunch break after about 8 miles and a little more than 2 hrs of hiking.

Now, the Hoh River trail is not only flat, but it is one of the richest trails I’ve ever hiked on; both in energy produced and exchanged.  It truly is an old-growth forest full of enormous trees, some standing and some fallen, feeding the others.  Reaching hundreds of feet, all in a quest to absorb more of the suns power.

We finally reached our little camp at Elk Lake at about 4pm.  Set up and went to soak our feet in the local watering hole.

In bed as soon as the lights went out and up by 3am.  With 3 miles left to the glacier, we figured doing it super early and before anyone else would get us to the summit first.  It was my first real approach in the dark in a long long time and a few of the spots were pretty interesting, including a large landslide/avy slope that had taken out the entire trail for about 100yrds or so.  Good times in the dark, but after about 2 hrs we reached the glacier and took a little break as we waited for the sun to rise.

We made good time crossing the Blue Glacier.  What a perfect name.  I’ve been on numerous glaciers over the last few year, but never have I hiked on true blue glacier ice.  I heard water running all around me, but only once saw it actually water.  The route is pretty straight forward all the way up to the Snow Dome.  We followed the Blue around a rocky spur and up to the right.  Aaron led through a few traversing switchbacks and were up on top of the Snow Dome in a short couple of hours.  We took a break and watched a black bear “huck the ‘schrund” and then run off.  Now, too bad we couldn’t do that!

The first few hours of the day threatened rain clouds for a while, before finally burning entirely off by about 8am.  Leaving us with clear skies for the remainder of the day.  After taking the long route to the summit (due to schrund issues) we reached the summit base at about 9:30am.

That’s were it got a little interesting.  There was a sketchy report from the rangers in regards to a possibly uncrossable moat surrounding the summit pyramid.  We fooled around a little trying to find the best way over it; do we jump?  Should one of us climb down then up?  No, instead, lets send Ty across that thin little bridge, have him set up an anchor and then belay us over.  Not to worry, it turned out a lot easier than we expected..  Soon we were scrambling up the class 2 ramp and arrived at the little 5.4 step.  I gave Aaron the lead and had him take us up.  He did a glorious job with only one piece of pro for his 20m pitch; slung a huge horn and belayed Eric & I up.

I took us up and over the summit to the rap anchors on the far side and waited for the other 2 to join me.

We had tons of fun rapping the route!  Aaron nominated me to take us down first…huh????  So we ended up doing about 1 full & 2 half raps with our 2 30m ropes.  Typically a standard rap would work just fine, but with no snow bridge and a giant moat below the standard rap landing we had to do a little angular rap and even donated a little webbing for future endeavors.

Finally back on snow, we all breathed a little easier and started our way down.  We made great time and were able to take a look back at the 3 other parties that started after us.

We made great time back to the moraine and Aaron and I could barely wait to review safety measures!!!  Agonizing!!!  Soon enough we were hiking down the moraine and made time for one last look at our little mountain.

Back on the trail, and tromping down.  We packed up our camp, took a safety break and were soon off to our second nights camp, at the 9 mile camp area.  We pulled into camp around 9pm or so, made a little dinner and passed out.  Thoughts of a 48 hr car to car were in our heads, but I was soon thinking…I’d rather sleep!!  5am arrived and the rain along with it; Aaron, in his bivy bag decided that it was time to wake up and get going.  Eric and I decided another hour of sleep would be perfect, so we said our good-byes to Aaron and drifted back to sleep.  An hour later we were up and out of camp shortly thereafter.  After a mile the rains started again and never let up!  The last eight miles were, in a word, WET!  When hiking in the rain, it’s a game in your head to see how long it takes until you fully give up, give in to your feet and the direction they want…..It took me about 6 miles until the pools of water were no longer avoided; instead they became the icy bath that my feet appreciated.

So sure, Aaron made it in the 48 hrs he so wanted and Eric and I made it in 49.5hrs.  Not too bad for about 45 total miles.  We arrived in the rain forest parking lot to a ton of tourists, all with umbrellas and laughter as they seemed so surprised that a day with an 80% rain forecast turned into a day of about 2 1/2 inches of rain……..

But hey,  “we fit it in”

A complete pic sets can be found at:

http://isc.astro.cornell.edu/~don/pictures/v/friends/joe/joe_climbing/joe_ty_redoubt08/

www.flickr.com/photos/tytyler37/

This story doesn’t begin on Friday, June 13 2008; it actually begins back in September of 2006 with a “climbing partner” connection on cc.com. This guy throws out this mountain, completely unknown to me; calls it Redoubt. Sends me these convoluted emails of various trip reports and sketchy directions on how to get there and what to do once your there. I think this should have been my first indicator that this mountain who hold either my interest or my frustration..or both for a long time. So we go. The short version of this tale: we hike up 3-4 miles on the wrong road, then turn around, find the right one and begin to hike again. Arriving at camp exhausted, then waking up to bad weather and zero visibility…..Attempt 1

Somehow that trip spurred the others. Something about the remoteness, the difficulty and the beauty make for an unforgettable package.

Attempt 2: I was able to convince Joe to give it a shot. No more of the confusion on the approach, simply put…Redoubt soaks up the bad weather. This time there was zero visibility and rain…what a combo for a hike out!!

Attempt 3: This one was just dumb!!! Lets try a mountain that I can’t get in the summer, in the winter!! Duh, of course the approach road is snow bound about 8 miles from the TH. This one turns into a car sleep, some time in Tim Hortons and off to Price Glacier…

Onto to Attempt 4: This one started with the first view of Redoubt’s North side. Besides Mt Shuksan, I have yet to find a more striking mountain to look at. I know there are, but not for me.

Once I got Joe up into Depot Creek Basin and he took a look at the NE Face Route all bets were off. It was obvious he wanted to climb it as much as I did. There was a decent weather window and a chance for taking a personal day from work….so we took it. Sure, it had snowed a fews days before and the weather had warmed a little, then cooled, then warmed, then cooled…maybe conditions would be OK.

We made the call on Thursday to leave the following day. We had a feeling it wouldn’t be perfect, but there was no REAL way of knowing until we actually were up there. Left Friday morning after a lazy morning of French Toast and slightly burnt bacon, we crossed the border with no problems, made the now traditional stop at Tim Hortons for some donuts and a quick snack. Then off to Chilliwack.

Now, the Chilliwack Rd is nothing to brush aside. It has to be the MOST potholed road in N. America that I have ever seen. I don’t think I ever got the Disco above 20 mph the whole 10 miles of dirt. What’s funny is, it doesn’t stop at the turn off for the TH, instead it turns into an abandoned logging road that stretches another 3 miles of off-roading…..the Disco ate it up!!!! Finally arriving at the TH around 1pm or so.

The trail continues on what used to be the continuation of this road for another 200yds or so, then takes a sharp left heading up hill, past an abandoned truck, then taking a right onto another logging road. This is followed for about 2 miles, completely overgrown with alder…so much so that there are points that its easier to simply get on your hands and knees, and pray.

Finally you reach the end of the road and Canada. The complete feel of the hike dramatically changes as soon as you hit the border. It goes from second growth timber harvested land to old growth North Cascades National Park life. Its breathtaking and a customary photo and rest stop.

Its now time for another type of fun; route finding. Not only is the Depot Creek trail not maintained, nor an official trail, but it hardly sees any traffic. There were about 4 entries in the log book since my last attempt in September 2007. Shortly after leaving the border and what I refer to as Border Boulder, we loose the trail in a mass of tree blow downs and snow, so we just head off. We both know the general direction and know that following on this side of the creek will eventually take us to the headwall. Hours pass, we find the trail, lose the trail, scramble over trees, posthole to our knees….so it goes in the Cascades. Finally we reach the headwall and take a moment to, yet again, absorb the beauty of it.

This being my third time up the headwall, I’m pretty familiar with what I’m about to experience, where my breaks will be and about how long it will take. To our surprise we FLY up this thing in a little over an hour with one significant break and arrive in Depot Creek Basin. This place is awe inspiring! Your first views are of an Alaskan like basin with Mt Spikard, the back of Mox Peaks and Redoubt encompassing the radius of your turning neck.

We have our plan and our idea for our bivy spot so its time to find a suitable stream crossing. This is as good as it gets!

The North Face of Redoubt and our bivy spot to the right of the moraine.

Oh, and did I mention that we saw a little black bear? We first saw his prints, then him….

Not too much else to say about the approach day. Standard sufferfest material, only not as bad your third time around.

Now to Saturday, when things get GOOD!

We awake at 2am to a cloudy, low visibility morning and I’m thinking “great, off of Redoubt again because of weather”. The question arises: “should we wait till Sunday?”. Nope, lets close our eyes for another hour and see what happens. Sure enough things start to look better and we’re on our way by 4:30am, not the ideal time.

We make good time and are at the base of the NE Face route in about 2 hrs. Looking up…not TOO scary!

and we’re all smiles at this point.

I give Joe the gear I have and he takes the first lead. I feel as though I do better after getting my self adjusted and rarely take the first lead of the day…… Hey, I’m a coward!

After placing a few pickets and a cam, Joe runs out of snow pro and its my turn to take over. Mid way up this portion of the route, the view isn’t all that bad.

I take us on up. Putting in some gear along the rocks on left hand side of the face. After running out of snow pro and seeing that the final portion of the face is a snow traverse under a cornice and build myself a fabulous anchor belay of a red alien, one of my ice tools and a shoddy nut placement, bring Joe up and let him take on the Alaska like snow flutes.

somehow this pic doesn’t truly capture the scaryness of the flutes or their steepness…but trust me, its there!

Of course as Joe climbs higher, the snow turns to Shmooo and is unprotectable. He buries a fluke about 3ft deep and I easily yank the thing out of the snow without even the slightest effort. At this point, things have gotten officially scary and getting more so!!!

The top of this face is a knife edge snow arete with, dare I say, dramatic drops in either direction. By dramatic, I mean 800′ of 60-70 degrees of what we just climbed on our right and to the left…well, I’d say almost 2000′ of 70-80 degree rotten snow & rock. Good times!

Whew, we finished that part but knew we were actually heading into the harder and lesser known part of the climb. Time to take the plunge! I took the rope and rack and was planning on taking us around a corner into the NE Couloir to see what we were in store for. First of all, every step I made toward the corner was followed by collapsing snow and deep breaths. It wasn’t advisable to look down, but how could you NOT!! So I placed a tri-cam, I think another nut, then came around the corner. I think the words out of my mouth…or just in the mouth of my mind, were “Oh Shit” or maybe “Fuck Me!” I can’t remember at this point. So I hammered in a piton and brought Joe up.

Here’s a shot of what I saw. To sum it up, we had to climb off to the right on the rock, then traverse to the left. The next 5 pitches weren’t appropriate for pics….or really climbing for that matter.

at this point, the smiles were gone and replaced with “uh, we’re screwed” looks. Note the slight drop-off behind Joe…not too bad right?

Joe took us up the next pitch of some scary loose mix climbing. We figured M4, maybe M5?? Whatever, it was scary. Pitch 3 was mine. Somehow I got a pretty decent one, actually somewhat fun climbing on fairly solid rock with occasional pro. Maybe 5.6/5.7?

Then Pitch 4!! Pitch 4 was probably the scariest for both of us; mostly for Joe as he was leading this scary traverse on marginal pro, super weak snow and too much exposure. He kicked off a few snow slides that we were just mesmerized to watch gather speed, snow and then disappear into the abyss below us. Some of you know that sound of snow falling in the distance….well imagine the distance 1000-2000′ below you.

I think somewhere along this pitch Joe decided that he didn’t want to go anywhere near the snow and being the rock hound he is, he thought taking on the rest of the couloir on the rock, head-on was the success strategy we needed. In other words, he wanted the sharp end of the rope again….uh, ok, no argument from me! Shortly after leaving this glorious belay spot, where I stood on my toes and my heals hung above the emptiness, he declares….”I think I’m going to just traverse and we can try the shrund/cornice”. Did I mention this? Probably not, cause it looked like this. You can just make out Joe at our next belay, just to the right of center in the pic.

Somehow I knew that this was up to me. I had to take us over the top and off this route. The top of this was the exit to the South side…salvation and a safe descent. Not only the descent, but the view I so longed for ever since first seeing this mountain. So HELL YEAH I WANTED IT!!!!!

GONNA MAKE IT!!!!!

It was probably scarier than it looks. Not too much keeping me up there. The snow was so soft, I had to traverse more than I had to climb. The little pro I put in the rock wasn’t great and the picket I placed in the snow wouldn’t have done a damn thing. Luckily Joe had the frame of mind to take a shot of path.

Once at the top, I could breath….I mean really breath. Took some time to build Joe a bomb proof anchor; figuring…we’re way too close to safety to let something happen here, and he asked for it. After taking 8 hrs to finish the 6 pitches of climbing, still being about 400′ from the summit, it being 5:15pm and the fact that we had to traverse the mountain all the way back to camp..I made the statement that we were done for the day. Joe looked at me and simply said “you know what that means?” Sure enough, I know, it means attempt #5 is in order!!

So we started the down climbing and mountain traverse. I won’t bore you with the details of the crust that bruised our shins or the good time we made regardless, or the totally random mtn goat tracks we saw.

Mt Redoubt never ceases to provide me with a “slap in the face”. Just when I’m feeling cocky in my climbing, my fitness, my mindset…..I come here and have it all taken away. So many people have come to Redoubt and have summited without even the slightest effort, have had the best climbs of their lives. Me on the other hand, have to try yet again. I’m not complaining, not at all; in fact, I look forward to my next encounter with Redoubt. The next time, it’ll be a different route, different conditions, and a different ass-kicking. The N Face is next!!!!

See you soon Redoubt!!!

Plans started back at the beginning of December. Hmm, where to go for 5 days at the end of the year? Wanting to avoid the city as much as possible (and reality) for New Years I had the idea of a winter ascent. Plan A, my 3rd shot at Redoubt, this time in the winter; or plan B, a winter ascent of Mt Olympus. After convincing Joe of what a wonderful idea they were we started planning. Looking at maps, coming up with schedules and talking gear.

As the time approached things looked worse and worse; La Nina was DUMPING snow in the mountains all around us……non-stop!!! Time for a new plan. Neither of us wanted to play avalanche dodging…..now what. Joe through out the idea of a few days of ice climbing in Hyalite. At first the idea sounded “eh” to me. Especially after spraining my ankle last winter on an ice lead, I was still feeling a little “gun shy”. What about another summit somewhere I asked and Joe quickly throughout the idea of the Grand Teton. Plans C & D were born. Now it was a question of Rocky Mtn weather. Not typically as bad as our NW weather, but of course the wind chill in the Teton area was predicted to be about -20, plus the heavy snow they were predicting. When leaving Seattle after work, we still weren’t sure where we were headed.

We left Seattle at about 4pm Friday and decided right outside of Ellensburg to head to MT. The weather was better and we had a place to crash. Some friends of Joe’s were in the area and we were invited to stay with them at their parents….SWEET!!! Saving $$ on food and a warm place to stay….PERFECT. Driving through the night sucks!! Especially when at every mtn pass is was dumping snow…and I happened to be stuck with that driving shift.

We arrived in Bozeman around 7am, fueled up at the local IHOP and planned our day.

Driving in was pretty sweet after the road was recently plowed (something we found out never happened) a good sign. Headed out of the parking lot and hiked up to our first objective:

Mummy 2: Joe on lead

While belaying we got to watch a pretty large loose snow avy come off the neighboring climb…which we then set-up a TR from.Sceptor, WI-5

After some runs on that and after only a few hours sleep, it was time to call it day 1. We headed to the Story’s house for a HUGE dinner and a warm bed. Ah, the life of climbing bums.

Day 2: we were up early with a huge breakfast and off again to the canyon. This timed we carried Joe’s buddy Kyle along and climbed a little guy called the Fat One: WI 2-3

We each got a climb and then headed off to a much better objective just a few yards away. This was my first true mix climb (both dry tooling and ice climbing). It was a super fun chimney with 5.8 and WI3+ climbing. Kyle took the lead

Pretty sweet. It took each of us a while to climb it and we soon ran out of light…and body warmth. Once again headed back to a big dinner and a hot shower. Joe and I decided it was time for a beer and headed into Bozeman to discuss our thoughts on the remaining days we had. Tetons? More Hyalite? hmmm.

More Hyalite….but with a little flair. The plan. Head into Hyalite, climb Twin Falls (WI3), haul up the ski gear, skin up and ski the basin above and then rapel out….all in a day. Oh yeah! Things started off just fine at the parking lot.

After missing the right trail we headed off into the woods and broke trail for about 2hrs until finally reaching the trail. Another 30 minutes and we were at the falls. My turn for the lead:

I set up the anchor and belay Joe’s other buddy up. He and I haul some ski gear and then belay for Joe.

Time for the quick change over and to start skinning up.

It continued to dump on us for the next 2hrs or so as we tried to reach a 10,000ft saddle. The work of the approach, the climb and altitude started to take its toll on both Joe and I and we struggled to keep it going. The powder on the way down was worth the effort though!!!! Sweet Rocky Mtn powder!!!

After reaching the flats above the falls, my skins gave out and I had to plunge step my back to the rap. By this time the east coast in me started to come out and I became easier and easier to frustrate. I was cold, my skins didn’t work, my harness gave me a hard time, I dropped my glove in the snow…it went on and on until the climax of having my safety back-up on the rap freeze up on the line and I was hanging half way down, with my full pack…near darkness. The profanity began and the anger stepped in….ah my temper. Finally got myself loose and to the ground, just as all the light disappeared and one more pleasant surprise….a missing battery in my headlamp!!! I hiked out in the dark and just wanted to cry…or scream, I can’t remember which.

We finally made it back to civilization and had another of our huge dinners and it was time to pass out. That’s right, asleep at 9pm on New Years Eve!!!!!

Oh and my toes at the end of the weekend. PRETTY

With 3 peaks so close together and 3 days off, how could we not go for? Mt Maude, Seven Finger Jack and Fernow. We headed out early Friday am arriving at the Phelps Creek TH a little after 9:30am and started hiking around 10am. The first 1.5 miles of Phelps Creek trail is easy and flat with a few interesting stream crossings, all doable thanks to some previous hikers and their placements of logs and rocks.

We turned up the Lero Creek trail shortly after 11am and started the steep ascent into Leroy Basin. People complain that this trail is steep and long, I say just steep. We arrived in Leroy Basin just as a storm front was crossing over the ridgeline to the west, not a good sign of things to come.

The weather held off for the most part and in between rain and snow showers we were able to make our way up a snow couloir and rocky slope to the summit of 7F Jack.

Not too much visibility. We guessed that this was the summit????

The descent was pretty straight forward and it seemed as though the weather might break for us before the end of the day.

Before long we had our camp set up at about 7000 overlooking Leroy Basin on a little minor rocky bluff. Not a bad spot to be.

After a lot of map reading and deliberation we decided that our original idea of going for Copper Pk was way too much. We decided to sleep in and just take a “leisure” trip over to Fernow. We woke up and started hiking at about 10. The climb to the col between 7F Jack and Fernow was easily gained in about 30minutes from camp and took only a few minutes to get over and onto the best rock ever…..NOT!!!

But the view was pretty amazing

We were given a super nice view of the upcoming descent and climb up to the snowfield below Fernow. It looked awfully exposed and slabby.

The descent down to the basin was pretty scketchy, loose 3rd class rock with some nice exposure. We were not looking forward to going back up it. The basin went quickly and we were soon looking at the slope up to Fernow from its base. It didn’t look nearly as bad as I thought from a distance.

After only an hour or so we were approaching the saddle below the Fernow summit and started to scope out our route.

The path to the top of Fernow, follows a few small ledge systems up and around in a clockwise fashion. You almost reach the far ridgeline before starting up for the summit. The rock is reasonably sound with the occasional loose section. After about an hour or so of route finding and scrambling we reached the summit.

With an awesome view of Mt Maude’s NF, which was supposed to be the next days adventure.

Can someone tell me why the Ladybugs love to hang on the summit of these big mountains??

We started down and took a different route back to the col which consisted of a loose boulder field, very unstable and tiring down scrambling.

The rest of the descent back to camp was pretty straight forward. We did hate the 3rd class runout that took us back to the 7F Jack-Fernow col. We both vowed never to return to that hell zone

Finally reaching camp and getting ready to gear down, I reach down and notice my crampon’s front toe strap is broken and no longer holding my toe in place. We also realize that the trekking poles that we both left at camp are now gone. DAMN marmots, stole them for the sweat on the handles. Good times….

We start to boil water for dinner and what should I see out of the corner of my eye, but the little marmot dragging one of the trekking poles into the trees. Mark chases him down and fights him for his trekking pole back. Too funny to watch.

We are treated with a pretty nice sunset view and enjoy a leisure evening. Once we discovered the broken crampon, we decided that kicking steps up the NF of Maude would definitely not be a wise choice. So we opted to sleep in and do the normal route.

We woke up a little later than planned, but with a guide book predicting a 4 hr climb we weren’t too worried. We packed up camp and headed down to the base of the snow slope laced with boot tracks and dropped our unnecessary gear. We took our own little modified variation to the main snow field. We found a short snow finger that lead into a small rocky chute. Not bad, just a little spice on an otherwise basic snow climb.

After only about 30 minutes we reached the upper snow field and were soon on the rocky ridge heading toward the summit. 4 hrs? more like 2..

We reached the summit 45 minutes later after following the climbers track on the climbers left of the ridge. Reached the final 10 ft snow patch and were soon on the summit. We ran into two other WAC members there and we all chatted for a while about how far out Copper is and how we all wish it was closer…. They had summited Fernow a couple of weeks prior to us. We sat and enjoyed the summit for a while, taking pictures.

Fernow from Mt Maude summit

We started our descent and were back in Leroy Basin by 1pm and only had the few miles to hike out. That meant burgers and shakes at the 59 Diner!!!!

We almost ran the last 2 miles out. It was too bad we didn’t get on the NF of Maude and that we had a few casualties in gear, but all in all, a pretty damn great trip!!

A little Pearly Gates, Givlers Dome and Hookcreek Rock action

Pearly Gates

Givlers Dome

Hookcreek Rock

Once again I was convinced that climbing was a better idea than getting in some BC turns. At first Joe and I were expecting to go up and help out on repairs & clean-up at the WAC cabin after a huge tree took a shot at it. We found out that almost everyone had finished the work on Saturday. So instead we headed off for the Rap Wall above Source Lake for a little Dry-tooling practice. It was my first time really doing it, and of course Joe wanted me to lead……

The hike in to the wall is only about and hour long and for the most part a pleasant jaunt through the snow, following the nice boot track up. We didn’t pass too many skiers or snowshoers on the way up which surprised me, but soon we saw people all over the place. I swear, its like an extension of the Alpental Ski area out there on the weekends.

Once we arrived at the base of the wall, we did a little scouting for the routes and decided that we would try the middle route (M7) I think. I took the lead first and burned myself out by the time I was able to clip the second bolt (thanks for the patient belay Joe). I could go no more so I had Joe jump on. He made it past the second bolt, but the third was unseen under snow and ice so we decided to top rope it and try again. Not to mention I left one of the tools securely in the ice when I fell.

After Joe saved the tool and gave in as well, he pulled the rope and I headed up to set a boot track to the top-rope tree and then rap to the base of the route.

We then top roped the route, which made it a lot less scary, but not much easier. Lots of hangdogging by both of us (more so me, of course). I made to about 5 ft below the lip and couldn’t go anymore. My wrists were pumped after holding the tools in a death grip for the last 20 minutes or so. Joe took the climb on in fine style and made it all the way to the top. Good job!!! People just kept streaming past us on the way down the whole time. I couldn’t believe it, it seemed like no one came up….but everyone went down. What a nice day in the Source Lake basin, the sun shined, the snow looked great and I was able to pick out my lines for next weekend!!!!!!!

After some convincing to skip out on fresh powder turns, Joe and I headed up for a little ice at Hubba Hubba Hill in Leavenworth. We stopped and took a look at Drury, the running water along its right side didn’t look too promising. We arrived at the parking area and the ice looked OK from a distance. We headed up and wallowed through chest deep sugar snow for about 1 1/2hrs before reaching the base. The ice turned out to be pretty thin and hollow. The few screws that we did place were of marginal protection. Needless to say we made it. All in all the climb was pretty nice. I thought about all the turns I missed, but then I thought about all the ice that everyone else missed out on. Check out the pictures.