Month: May 2010

Both of these trails have always been on my list but since Thunder Creek is basically a very long valley trail there's often not much reason to do them, except early season because it will be snow free.  Or when it's been raining for days and days and days like this last weekend.  However, Thunder Creek Trail is the approach to several interesting climbs.  With that in mind, plus that it had been raining and raining and raining and might rain some more Jim and I decided to check out the approach to Logan, which is on both our lists.  And also ponder the aproach to Tricouni, Austere,and Primus, based on a trip report we had both seen on NW Hikers.

Along the way we talked to several backpackers who said that they camped high and dry on 4th of July Pass and other camps.  Huh.  Well that explains why the telemetry websites weren't showing much precipitation.  Yet at home it rained constantly for more than 24 hours.  Jim said his wheelbarrow was half full of water.  If it rains that much at low elevation it is reasonable to expect that it rained (or snowed) more at higher elevation.  So much for studying all the weather and telemetry websites.

We walked on the trail, which is well groomed and basically follows a contour so there is very little elevation gain for the whole hike, until you get much further south.  I snapped a lot of pictures of water falls, flowers, mushrooms, trees.  Seems like the flat trails are harder on my feet, mostly because of the repetition of taking the same step over and over and over again.

About 6 miles down the trail we decided to turn around and go back to 4th of July Pass, which is 3 miles up a different trail.  We had all day so why not?  And it wasn't raining yet.  It took a couple hours to get back to the junction to 4th of July Pass.  The climb up to the pass is steep (2200' in 3 miles) but there are lots of switchbacks on a nice trail so the climb was reasonably easy.  We got up to the pass in less than 2 hours.  The pass is still relatively low elevation (3600') so the only view is a break in the trees at the backcountry camp.  We wondered why we didn't think of just coming to 4th of July Pass in the first place and slogging our way up to the summit of Ruby (7408').  I guess we were expecting different conditions and didn't get our minds around the dry conditions and easy travel until we were 6 miles in the other direction.  Oh well.

By then it was 4:00 so definitely time to turn around.  Then it started raining lightly.  On the way down from the pass we noticed all kinds of flowering dogwoods that we hadn't seen on the way up.  In part, because it was steep uphill we both had our heads down.  And white dogwood flowers against a monochrome sky are hard to see.  But they were distinctive against the bright green background of the forest.

We got back to the car at 6:30 p.m.  It had been a 9 hour day that was fairly leisurely in spite of the distance.  We were both sore in different places but none worse for the wear.  It was a great day to get out of the rain and see a trail neither of us had hiked before.  Here are the pictures.

Download Corrina's climb list 2006 to Present

One of these is a ski.  I hope to add more actual summits from skiing but most trips are "attempts", as you can see from my long list of trip reports.

Here's another forgotten TR from 2007.  Mark Weeks and I planned to take 4 days to climb Star Peak plus Courtney and Oval.  We drove over to Twisp the first day and hiked to Star Lake via Buttermilk Creek to set up base camp.  The next day we hiked back up to Fisher Pass then did the easy scramble to Courtney.  From there it was one long talus slog up and over Buttermilk Ridge.  From Buttermilk there is no easy way to get to the ridge that connect to Oval.  We ended up downclimbing all the way to a lake basin then climbing the scree slopes up Oval.  Thunderclouds were beginning to gather while we were on the summit of Oval (8795') so we didn't spend much time up there.  We hiked back down to the lake, saw some bear prints, and made the long trek back to camp.  It took about 10 hours to make that loop.  I'm sure there's an easier way — at least there's one described in "Summit Routes" by Scott Stephenson and Brian Bongiovanni.  I wouldn't recommend the route described by Peggy Goldman.  She fails to address the killer Class 5 downclimb from Buttermilk down to Oval's flank.  The rain came in the night, erasing our opportunity to climb Star Peak.  Here are the pictures, which I unfortunately reduced so you only get an idea of the grandeur of the area.  The USGS map is Oval Peak.

I have years of trip reports missing.  Here is Mt. Forgotten from July 14, 2007.  The trip leader was John Seehorn.  Other party members were Kim and Kerry Kelley, Shannon Good and her climbin' dog, Bil.

Originally I asked MarkN if he wanted to go skiing on Sunday but he said he already had plans with Dallas to climb either Porcupine Peak  (7762’) or Kangaroo Ridge (Mushroom , Melted, and Big Kangaroo).  He said I was welcome to come along so I did.  Before our departure they decided on Porcupine as the objective I think mostly because Mark had attempted it some weeks before but was turned away by sketchy snow conditions.

We were expecting a trudge through the snow to a ridge between two broad peaks then a scramble up to the summit, with possibly a rope as backup to get through the exposed sections.  Easy.  Mark had even told his wife he’d be home by about 4:00 p.m.   I packed my harness with a few doo-dads and my helmet.

The plan was to meet  at 6:00 a.m. at the park and ride at Cook Road in Sedro Woolley.  Mark was there first shortly followed by Dallas and another Mark, MarkD to keep the Marks straight.  Based on the weather (rain) and the forecast, possible clearing but maybe not, we weren’t really sure whether we’d just have a pleasant ride up to the pass then turn around and come back.  Or hike a ways then come back when it started raining on us.  Or actually make our objective.  Surprisingly I wasn’t fretting about it.

On the ride up I learned that MarkD is a retired teacher and had taken the climbing class through the Skagit Alpine Club with MarkN (who is in the middle of his teaching career) back in 1978.  Dallas is a track coach at an area high school and is in his 50^th year of climbing.   He started climbing in 1961 and hasn’t stopped.  There were over 100 years of combined climbing experience in just that group of three.  My climbing experience only added about 5 years to the sum.

It wasn’t raining at Easy Pass and just a little further we saw the sign for Porcupine Creek.  Just past that is the parking spot.  Apparently there’s a trailhead with parking another mile up the road but since the trail is still under snow MarkN thought we would save ourselves a mile or so and just hike from the side of the road.

Traveling was pretty easy, except for the occasions we punched through the snow crust and ended up hip deep.  Seems like that was happening to MarkD more than anyone else for a while.  Round and round through the forest to Porcupine Creek.  Rest and a drink of water after an hour.  Continue.  We found a snow bridge across Porcupine Creek right next to the trail bridge.  The snow bridge seemed much less dicey than the sideways, slippery trail bridge.  MarkD went first.  Since I’m the lightest and it held up under the three men I felt confident it would hold my weight.  Across the creek, through more forest then across a snow covered talus field and through another forest.  We continued working our way to climber’s right.  MarkN had a gps with the route from his last attempt so there wasn’t much head-scratching over the direction of travel.

It still wasn’t raining on us but the clouds were low, obscuring peaks in the distance.   We decided to continue.  Then we came to the final steep (~500’ or so?) to the ridge.  Time for snowshoes.  At least for a while.  Then it became too steep for snow shoes.  Boot pack.  MarkN kicked steps.  I offered to kick steps but I am not the person who is going to elbow my way to the front.  Note: if you want me to kick steps or break trail you have to let me when I offer.  Maybe as I go on more outings I will find the openings to get to the front but for now I’m content to stay in line until encouraged otherwise.

The clouds lifted somewhat as we arrived at the ridge.  It took three hours to get from the car to the ridge, which was about 7480’.  Not bad for the twisty turny route through the trees, punching holes in the snow, and so on.  From this point it was only another 250’ or so to the summit (7762’ according to Beckey).   We put on harnesses and helmets (at least those of us who remembered to pack them – MarkD ended up fashioning a harness out of webbing).  Dallas and MarkD started up the scramble.  MarkN encouraged me to ask for the rope if I felt uncomfortable.  I wasn’t uncomfortable yet with the scramble but soon arrived at a point where I felt like I wanted a belay.  MarkN scrambled ahead of me and set up a belay.  I climbed the pitch just fine but felt much more secure knowing I had a belay in case I slipped on the cold wet loose rock.

Once I arrived at the top of the pitch we all roped in and Dallas lead the traverse, putting in three points of protection along the way.  The traverse was long and eventually up to the false summit, which had taken two hours from when we left the saddle.  Dallas made the final pitch to the summit.  The rest of us decided that if one person on our roped party made the summit then we could all count it, mostly in the interest of time.  It would take another hour to get the rest of us to the actual summit and Dallas was only about 20’ above us.  Good enough for me and I was at the other end of the rope.  I have a feeling that MarkN at least will want to tag the actual summit at another time.  I may too, but probably in the fall when the route is an actual scramble rather than a technical climb.

I lead the way out until the final pitch.  MarkD set up a rappel and went down.  I went next then traversed to the saddle.  An unsatisfying glissade in heavy snow down to a point where bootpacking was necessary to where I had left my snowshoes.  Even with snowshoes the descent seemed harder than the ascent.  Slippery, less sure on my feet.  Probably tired too.  We finally made it back to the car at 5:00.  The way out seemed longer than the way in.  Does it always feel that way?  I’m not sure.  We were all pretty tired by the time we got to the car but we celebrated with a beers and dry clothes.  No one fell asleep on the way back to the park and ride, mostly because we were all talking about climbs we all wanted to do in the future, next weekend and beyond.  Here are the pictures.

Stats:  Approach is fairly gentle and easy going if you’re lucky enough to have firm snow until the last 500-1000’.  Elevation gain is approximately 3000’.  Time spent is totally dependent on the conditions encountered.  Expect anywhere from 5 to 9 hours RT.

Equip: harness, glacier rope, a couple slings and ‘biners, ATC, helmet, snowshoes, 10 essentials, ice axe, extra gloves, sturdy gloves for rock – I admired MarkN’s Manzella’s, warm clothes, rain gear.

Turns out that I did do a few more trips than I had thought.  In my last post I mentioned that I had broken my camera.  Well, when I used the memory card from my old camera in my new camera, I discovered a couple more trips that I had done but had never downloaded the photos.

This Yodelin trip was for the backcountry ski class that Everett Mountaineers offers every winter.  Randy and I ski Yodelin fairly often each winter because it's a safe place to go when the avalanche danger is high.

Yodelin is a former ski area but now the lot serves as extra parking for busy days at Stevens Pass.  Yodelin itself can be fairly busy but this year didn't seem quite as busy since the snow cover was low during typical winter season.  Nice for us because we had fresh lines all the time.  The bad news is that we have to break our own trail and sometimes break it again when the snow fills the track in while we're skiing down and want another lap.

Anyway, there were 6 of us on this trip: one instructor (Lee Wilcox), two assistants (Randy and me), and three students [Greg (accomplished snowboarder), Tomas (beginner split-boarder), and Al (accomplished skier)].  We took the students up to the tippy top of the ridge and skied down through the trees.  Randy, Greg, and Al swooshed through gracefully.  Tomas did okay and Lee and I made it with our own unique styles.  We made two more laps up to the top.  I lead the first one then Randy lead the second one.  He's harder to keep up with than I am.  Tomas had a hard time climbing with his split board.  Greg too to a certain degree because split boards are harder to manage uphill than skis.  Tomas actually opted to sit out the third lap and wait for us to come down.  After the rest of us had our fill we all began the descent to the parking lot.  Skiing down slopes is one thing but eventually we hit the fire road, which resembles a luge.  Tomas ended up walking down due to a number of equipment and terrain  difficulties that frustrated him.  We were able to stick together by skiing in shifts, waiting and so on all the way down.  At the end of the day we were able to ski about 4000' of vertical, which is a decent day in the backcountry, a good goal anyway.

Here are the pictures.

/

But first a litany of excuses as to why I haven't posted.  Quite honestly I haven't really done very many interesting things lately.  I hurt my back in October, which slowed me down a lot.  Ski season was a bust until about April, by which time I had had it with skiing in crud, ice, mashed potatoes.  Yuck.  Then I started taking a mountaineering class which took up a lot of fun time.  Then I developed another problem that finally seems to be resolving itself.  And spring seems to be here finally.  Oh and my camera went kaput.  I find blog posts less interesting without pictures.  That's my list of excuses.

Earlier in the week my friend L and I hatched a plan to ski somewhere to take advantage of the latest spring powder dump.  Usually by this time of year avalanche danger isn't much of an issue but with the latest spring snows it was an issue so we had to choose our ski destination carefully.  The North Cascades Pass is open, which has a short spring season, and you can ski from the parking lot since the elevation is quite high.

We decided on the Cutthroat Pass area because we felt like it would be safe(r) due to lower angle slopes, northfacing bowls which are less prone to sun effects, and lots of treed areas to explore if the open slopes were sketchy, especially with the size of overhanging cornices.

We to the parking area, wondered if we had driven too far because the pass is actually about 5400' and where we were parked was about 4000', which meant the snow would be mushier.  Still we would be climbing higher and wouldn't have to compete for ski lines with the crowds that were skiing the Birthday Tour.  Plus I felt good about our decision given the potential avalanche danger.

The approach was about a mile ski on a road to the actual trailhead.  From there we cut west through the trees up toward a feature known as "First Bowl".  L had skied there with a guide earlier in the year and thought it would be a good place to go.  The snow in the trees was quite hard so I put on ski crampons, which made it significantly easier.  Above treeline the snow got much softer and deeper too.  Promising!

A small group of guys were ahead of us so by the time we had reached the bottom of the open slopes they were on their way down.  The lines looked lovely, the snow even better.  Yahoo!  The guy in front told us that "conditions were deteriorating rapidly".  Yeah right!  Nice try!

The overhanging cornices were a little worrisome but nothing seemed to be moving at that point.  So we continued up the skin track to a nice bench that seemed reasonably far away from the cornices.  The first ski down is always a bit awkward, especially for me since I'm still learning to ski.  But it was great fun and we decided to skin back up for another lap.  The guys in the meantime skinned up to the ridge, found a place to cross over that didn't have any cornices and went on to ski "Second Bowl".

The second ski down went better as I felt a little warmed up.  L commented that I make skiing harder than it needs to be.  I do, of course, but I don't know how to ski any differently at this point.  At the bottom of our run we sat and ate a little lunch then tackled the difficult tree skiing.  By this time the snow had softened considerably, which made it easier but there were still tight trees, tree wells and sketchy slopes to negotiate.  It took quite a while to get down but L is a good skier and I'm a good problem solver so we picked our lines, stayed in voice contact and reached the road.  The road was an easy ski out with a little poling but mostly just a long slide out.

By the time we got to the parking area, the party of guys was already back and enjoying a refreshing adult beverage before packing up and heading away.  We asked about their ski up and over to Second Bowl.  Enjoyable, same as First Bowl, with a long negotiation through the trees.

It was a great time with a good friend who loves adventure.  And it was a beautiful day.  We had worried about the weather forecast, which predicted T-storms, and briefly debated going to Mt. Baker instead since it was so nice on the west side.  Fortunately the T-storms never developed on the east side and later I found out that Mt. Baker was in the clouds all day.  We made a great choice and I had the best ski of the season since last November!