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 

That’s all.  Just Peru.

This post has been a long time coming.  I took this trip back in October and its taken me til now to even think about writing it.  LIFE has appeared and has looked in my direction, and it asked;  “which way are you going to go? I gave you a safety break, a free pass to be away from me and now its time to move,”

What a tough question. Peru was on my life’s list since college.  Since reading the Celestine Prophecy,  the mere mention of Peru would always trigger a thought of “when and why?”

Back in October I answered the question of when.  A trip of unplanned, unpredictable, unforeseen and open experiences leading to the great realizations of SELF.  Since then, its been a consistent question of why…

I guess that leads to the following images.  I don’t want to waste your time with all the craziness that became of my head in a strange land; so instead, I will share the attempts of my eyes:

Please follow the link below to constantly updated images:

www.flickr.com/photos/tytyler37/

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!!!

The snow started coming down pretty hard as soon as we reached the summer TH and seemed to get more intense as we climbed. The trail was super easy to follow almost all the way to tree line where we decided to find a safe spot and set up camp at about 5500′.

We had a great view toward the Baker Ski area.

After setting up camp, we headed up to make ourselves a little track to follow in the am….and to get some first day turns…..just as the sun began to set.

Early to bed! I mean, there really isn’t much else to do in camp, in the winter…..besides getting TONS of sleep. We took a leisurely morning and headed out of camp around 10am for the Goat summit. With fair weather and cold temps is was nice to keep moving.

Following the ridge above our camp was extremely scenic and made for a great skin approach. The clouds broke up a little and we were treated with a sunny shot of the SW face (our objective)

and the remainder of the approach ridge

Eventually the skinning took a turn to steep and difficult with a fairly firm crust underlying the new 6-8″ of fluff. Probably the steepest part of the whole face was the skin….

We reached the summit amazingly at our turn-around time of 1pm. Transitioned to downhill mode, picked out our line, and plowed on through. Each turn presented more and more POW and more and more face shots of super light & cold crystals. You really couldn’t ask for much better snow..or a nicer line!!!! Avy was still considerable so we stuck to skiers right of the face connecting islands of safety all the way down. (too bad my strap is in the way!!!)

We were able to cruise all the way to the lower bowl. I had to boot for about 20′ before getting myself back to rideable terrain…not bad for boarding!!! Floated the rest of the way back to camp where the sun started to really come out and the winds picked up.

Reading the avy report the following day made me realize how important timing truly is in the NW. The winds changed directions on Sunday and probably really loaded the SW slopes that we were on, bringin the avy back up into higher risk….

As always, any trip out is a good one regardless of conditions, but this one couldn’t have been much better!!

For you trip detail folks:

approach time to camp: 3.5 hrs from Nooksack River & SR 542

camp to summit: 3hrs

Snow conditions: 6-8″ of fresh, unconsolidated POW on top of earlier in week crust. Pretty firm crust (needed to stomp skin track in), with about 4 finger hardness underneath. No pits dug, just chose lower angle terrain. Winds changed from NE to SW (ish) mid-day,decent amount of snow transport near ridgelines. Windier as day went on.

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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 a few days of snow early in the week and then consistent high pressure for the week, it seemed a logical choice to head into the high country for the extended weekend. The week consisted of email after email of potential plans: simple day trips, ski descents of Rainier, the Park Glacier on Baker, etc. After much deliberation, we chose to head out to Heliotrope Ridge, easy access and a huge playground of snow seemed like the best bet. We packed up as much gear as our packs could handle and the three of us headed out Friday morning. Joe, with his big dreams, carried not only ski gear but a full ice rack, tools and a spare set of boots (just for a little more “training weight”) hoping to climb Colfax on Saturday.

After fighting tons of blown over trees; crawling over, under, around, over again and then under for 4hrs we finally reached our camp at about 6000′.

Talk about a great spot!! We had a view of our entire playground and couldn’t wait to set up camp and head up and get some turns.

At the top of our first run we had an incredible view of the moon rising directly infront of our line

Talk about a pretty sweet ride back to camp: moonlight, wonderfully light powder, and about 700′ right down to camp.

Saturday morning brought us cloudy skies and moderate winds. We waited for Mark to arrive for his soon to be epic day…. Carrying almost as much gear for a day trip as we carried for an overnight..damn, I was impressed. We hung out for a little bit at camp, took a safety break, and decided that turns over climbing seemed the best bet. Ah; skinning and carving….

The wind let up here and there, but the snow was certainly showing the effects. Wind crusts, wind slabs, pretty random powder pillows all making the day a mixture of “thank god” and “too bad”…..more of the thank god category of course.

After about 4 runs, it was time to head back and get Mark on his way back down the trail before it got too dark. Doug, Joe and myself decided that another night in the down sleeping bags was worth sticking around. We all knew the snow wasn’t getting any better, but another tent night sounded pretty good to all of us. We hoped for a little new snow over night , but instead, we woke up to 13 degrees in the tent and foggy cover. Before even getting out of the tent, the fog burned off and presented us with crystal clear skies!!!

Not a bad way to spend a weekend in November!!!

Oh yeah, Mark’s epic….

Leaving our camp shortly before dark, he headed off onto a side trail in the dark and ended up running into another pair of hikers that he rescued from getting themselves more lost… What took us 1 1/2 hours to hike on our return, took him 4, arriving at the car at about 7:30-8pm. Starting his day at 2am in Seattle and ending it after 11 certainly makes me glad I carried all that crap up there…..

08/02/08
Nothing like a week in Yellowstone to clear your head!!!! How can you possibly write about a backpacking trip to Yellowstone…for a week….alone??? There’s no real story or entertaining mishaps, just a solid week of 10-14 mile days of hiking. I’d wake up, hike and then repeat each day. I guess I could bore you with my attempts at homemade dehydrated meals ( a HUGE success mind you….) or tell you how I had to hold both pairs of my socks together with Duct Tape because both pairs wore holes on the first 6 mile hike in…thank god for tevas. I could even tell you how refreshing it truly is to take a “bath” in the middle of a huge meadow and not a human sole around for miles, or maybe even tell you what its like to simply sit in a hot spring in the middle of the backcountry for an hour before finally having to hike on. I could even try to relate what its like to watch the sunset on the Grand Tetons from almost 75 miles north, in a meadow…silent, or watch an entire heard of Bison cross through Hayden Valley, or see 5 black bear in a matter of 20 minutes. I could even tell a few of you the thoughts that went through my head as I hiked; thoughts about who I am, my current place in life, what natures all about and how it all truly works, taoism, etc. All these little aspects of the trip could really make a pretty interesting story…but I think I’m going to keep some of them just for me. This was a trip for me…..

The pictures are for all of you!!

Day 1

the view from camp night 1

Day 2

an early start

1st of about 10 stream crossings for the trip

camp night 2 & 3

Day 3

Day 4

stream crossing early am..who needs coffee? Just make a 75yrd stream crossing, up to your “temperature sensitive” area and you are certainly wide AWAKE!!!

all mine…all day!!!

Day 5

time for little soak!!!!

actual sitting pool

Its amazing how much the temperature fluctuated! It would be super cold one second and then another too hot, it only took a few inches of distance to really change the situation from comfy to painful. Still, nothing like getting the shoulders way in there and just looking back into the skies!!!!

That nights camping meadow. I got to watch the sun set and rise by simply rolling over in my sleeping bag. It can’t get much better than that.

Day 6

By about this time I realized that the storage on the camera was running low so I had to take fewer and fewer pictures. The last day is not photographed (a pretty dull day of tree hiking) besides this last one along Lake Lewis.

I felt pretty like I had some pretty positive energy flowing when a 7 mile road hike turned into a 1/4 mile stroll before being picked up by a local and being driven back to the trailhead. Took the drive down to Jackson and it still makes me think about moving. Finally took a real shower and headed off the the Snake River Brew Pub for beer and greasy beef. The next day I took the chance to ride through the park’s east side, which I hadn’t seen before. This is only a small glimpse of what I did see. I wish I had a telephoto lens that matched some of the people I met….WOW you can see so much more! I spent an hour waiting for a pack of wolves to come back and take out an injured elk that I had missed them take from the herd only 45 minuted before and injure….SO CLOSE!! No wolves this time and no grizzly..owe well. There was still a ton of bison, elk, some moose, 5 black bear, deer and one little gray fox as I was crossing the park boundary.

A perfect trip for the soul, a perfect place for nature, a perfect place to connect the two