Brad's Backcountry Blog

Sloan Peak - 8/14/10

2010-10-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

Sloan Peak Corkscrew Route

We met at Mark’s house in Vancouver at 5 a.m. and loaded up the car in the dark before beginning the long drive to Darrington, Wash. Introductions took place in a dark driveway followed by a dark car ride. It was strange meeting people in person for the first time and not actually seeing them for a couple hours. The only members of this team I knew before this trip were Chris and Kevin, whom I’d met briefly on the summit of Unicorn Peak a few weeks ago.

Fortunately traffic was light and we had no problem getting to the trailhead on time. We stopped at a local grocery store to pick up lunches. I ended up with a Lunchables box, which came as a complete meal with cheese and crackers and a juice box, along with Skittles for dessert!

The hike in was fairly uneventful. The approach trail is unmaintained and has a reputation for route finding challenges, brush, gnarly river crossings, and mosquitoes. There were some sketchy log crossings and the trail was quite overgrown in some areas, but none of these issues caused us significant problems. I managed to keep my feet dry for the entire approach.

Others were not so concerned about staying dry

We had some difficulty locating a decent camp spot large enough for our group of seven. I set up my bivy bag in a cleared area next to a fire ring, but the rest of the group setup their tents in the open meadow below.

The only flat spot large enough for our group

After the Lunchables meal I had for lunch I continued with the kid’s food theme and had macaroni and cheese for dinner. Unfortunately I forgot to add the tuna I’d brought until after I’d eaten the mac n’ cheese and ended up having to eat an entire package of tuna plain, which I’m not especially fond of.

Slabs approaching the glacier

The next day began with a scramble up some steep rock slabs to gain the North Moraine of the Sloan Glacier.

Crossing the glacier

Ordinarily the glacier would be very broken up this time of year, but due to the late spring snows we had this year, the crevasses remained mostly covered.

Corkscrewing climber's trail

After crossing the glacier the climb continues on a climber’s trail with some fun scrambling that corkscrews around the mountain (hence the name of the route), eventually leading to the summit.

View from the top

On our way back to camp the glacier crossing was painfully slow. Although it wasn’t particularly steep or crevassed there were a few members of our group who weren’t especially comfortable with the soft snow that balled up under our crampons, making for slippery footing. After making it across the glacier I used a standing glissade to descend snow fields back to camp, which made for a quick descent.

We packed up camp and hiked out the way we came. We had planned to possibly stay an extra night depending on how long the climb took. It was nice to get home early and have an extra day left on the weekend.

The dining options in Darrington are fairly limited. We opted for a bar donning a sign that read, “Biker and Family Friendly.” I figured with that type of endorsement we couldn’t go wrong. The service was good and the food was actually pretty satisfying. They had some monster hamburgers which are perfect post-climb fare.

This was an exploratory trip for our leader Kevin, meaning he’d never climbed this route before. It was obvious he’d done quite a bit of research on the route before leaving town. Thanks to his preparedness the trip went very smoothly and everyone had a great time.

Sahale Arm - 7/17/10

2010-07-22T14:58:00.000-07:00

As I left the house at 2:30 a.m. Friday I felt mostly rested, but my body did not appreciate being roused at such an unusual hour. After collecting Hye and Shayna, we arrived at the Marblemount Ranger station in a respectable 5 hours from Northwest Portland. We hung out on the lawn for a bit while waiting for the rest of our crew to arrive, and once assembled, caravanned to the Cascade Pass trail head.

From here we began the march up to Cascade Pass. The weather was perfect: cool enough for hiking but with clear skies for unobstructed views. After resting on the patio at Cascade Pass we headed up the Sahale Arm proper. The higher we got on the Sahale Arm, the better the views. As we hiked I recalled the sign I saw posted as we rolled into the town of Marblemount welcoming us to "The American Alps". I’ve never been to Switzerland, but this area is very close to what I’ve imagined.

The hills are alive...

This climb could easily be done in and out in a long day from the trail head, but our trip was designed to flow at a more leisurely pace. Our plan was to camp at the base of the Sahale Glacier and summit the next day, then spend another night at camp before hiking out Sunday.

First break out of camp on Saturday

In addition to the views, one of the main advantages of camping at Sahale camp is that the summit is only 1,000’ away. Our group set off ~8 a.m. Saturday for the leisurely jaunt to the summit block. As we first headed out I was hopeful that we were getting an early enough start that we would have the mountain to ourselves that day. Unfortunately, being a group of 10 meant that there was a fair amount of standing around while our leader, Jeff, setup a fixed line and we each headed up to the summit one after the other. This additional time allowed for several other groups to catch up with us. By the time we were all on top, several other climbing parties were beginning their assault on the summit block from both the Quien Sabe and Sahale Glacier sides of the mountain. After a few quick photos, we made an orderly rappel descent to make room for the other groups.

Hanging out on top

The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out in camp taking naps, snacking, and even a bit of Hacky Sack. There were a couple of goats that hung around camp for most of the weekend, which also kept us entertained. The wind kicked up quite a bit Saturday evening, which meant interrupted sleep for many of us.

Home sweet home

The Loo With a View

Photo taken while using the Loo With a View. Intimidated the poop out of me...literally.

After the hike out on Sunday everyone seemed tired, hungry, and ready for a nap, so we stopped at the Skagit River Brewery in Mount Vernon to refuel before continuing the long drive home. I had a good time getting to know my team members on this trip since I didn’t know most of them beforehand. Thanks to Jeff for putting together a great trip!

I’ll be headed back to this area for a climb of Sloan Peak next month, so stay tuned for another trip report.

Unicorn Peak - 6/25/10

2010-07-13T19:31:00.000-07:00

Our objective

Our objective this weekend was Unicorn Peak in the Tatoosh Range just south of Mount Rainier. Unicorn Peak is a very nice climb with a short approach and enough technical challenges to make it interesting but not intimidating for less experienced climbers.

We had reservations for a beautiful campsite at Cougar Rock Campground in Mount Rainier National Park. It was so pleasant that I decided to sleep outside Friday night even though I’d brought a tent.

Ready to go

On Saturday morning, the short hike in was all on snow. We were thankful for the wands and footprints of an unseen group ahead of us. We ate lunch at Snow Lake before donning crampons and heading up the couloir that leads from the lake to the upper flanks of Unicorn. It had been a while since most of our group had done anything with ice axes, so I gave a brief review on ice-axe use and self arrest, but we skipped practice due to the soft wet snow in the basin.

We caught up to a group of Mazamas at the base of the summit block and waited a bit for them to get their group on top. The weather was warm and sunny with little wind, so it was not a bad day to sit around.

Once the route was freed up I set up a fixed line and we all scrambled to the top without much difficulty. The view from the summit was one of the best I’ve ever had on a mountain. The sky was very clear and we could see at least 4 volcanoes clearly in the distance. Almost all of the area we overlooked was park or wilderness, so there were no distracting clear cuts and few signs of human activity.

On top, Rainier in the background

After soaking in the 360° panoramic vista and snapping some photos, it was time to descend. I lowered Sean, Lindsey and Liz since none of them felt comfortable rappelling. I used a 96’ rope for this trip to save some weight. When it was time for me to descend the rappel was ~52’, which made for a fun finish on the doubled rap line which ended a few feet above the ground.

We easily descended in the soft snow until we got to a moat at the top of a snowfield not far from the summit. The Mazamas group had set up a rope here and members were rappelling one at a time down into and climbing back out of the moat. This took a while, but we decided to throw a rope over as well since there was a nice sling setup. Sean, Lindsey descended using prusiks, while Liz opted to rappel. I followed without a rope and was able to hop over a narrower section of the moat without any trouble.

Liz modeling the classic trash bag glissade pants

At the bottom of this snowfield Liz and Lindsey started glissading almost all the way back to Snow Lake!

The easy way down

We anxiously gobbled up the burritos that Liz prepared for us for dinner Saturday night and relaxed around camp before heading home Sunday morning. Overall this was a very pleasant trip with perfect weather and a great group of friends to enjoy it with.

Let the burrito digestion commence

Awesome weekend!

Timing is Everything - 4/25/10

2010-04-26T18:40:00.000-07:00

I’ve been assisting with a Mazamas BCEP (Basic Climbing Education Program) class this year, which has been a good opportunity for me to refresh my skills and learn new teaching methods. On Saturday we had our snow skills field session near Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood. This was the final weekend of the class and it had been a couple of weeks since I’d worked with the students. This weekend I could really tell that they were starting to get comfortable with the gear and techniques they’ve been learning. They’re actually starting to look like climbers!

After the field work we headed to the Mazama Lodge for dinner and to rest up before Sunday’s activities. I’d never been inside the lodge before - it’s a very nice facility and the food we had for dinner was excellent!

Mazama Lodge

For Sunday the students were planning a hike to Illumination Saddle high on the southern flank of Mount Hood. Myself and two of the other assistants had planned a summit climb. The weather was looking somewhat questionable for a summit bid; it had been fairly windy on Saturday, but not too cold. The forecast was for clearing overnight before becoming warm and sunny Sunday afternoon. It appeared we would have a good window early Sunday.

After some debate about what time we should leave, we decided on midnight. We wanted to be up and down before the forecasted sun and warm temperatures turned the snow to slush and started a barrage of falling ice high on the mountain. We also wanted to avoid the crowds that can typically be found on spring weekends. This is the earliest start I’d ever had on Hood. I had never climbed with Don and Dan before, so I wasn’t sure how fast we would be. There was almost a full moon, so we didn’t need to worry about light too much and the idea of watching the sunrise from the highest point in Oregon sounded great.

After dinner at the lodge we crashed for a few hours in one of the basement rooms in the lodge.

Mazama Lodge Basement

By 12:30 a.m. we were one of the first teams headed up the mountain. The higher we got, the windier it got. After about a half hour of marching we stopped for a break at Silcox hut (~7000’). There were still a lot of clouds up high, but we were hopeful the forecasted clearing would come to fruition. We continued on to the top of Palmer (~8500'), where we were met with fierce winds and no opportunities for shelter. It was quite cold and we all added a few more layers. Dan decided the cold wind was a bit too much and decided to head back down. The clothing he had wasn’t as warm as what Don and I had brought, and his teeth were starting to chatter, so this was a wise decision.

Anxious to get moving again so we could warm up, Don and I continued up the mountain. The wind was continuous out of the West until we reached the elevation of Illumination Rock (~9600’). Here we found a brief but welcome respite for maybe 500’ of climbing. Soon the winds returned, but this time out of the East, carrying small ice pellets that sand blasted our faces.

I looked at my watch as we approached Crater Rock. It was 10 to 4:00 and the clouds were still obscuring the upper part of mountain and blocking the moonlight. By now we had passed every other team on the mountain. I suggested to Don that we needed to kill some time until it cleared or the sun came up, but it was too cold to stop moving and the only shelter from the breeze was now several hundred feet below us.

With very low visibility and driving snow we began to make our way around Crater Rock, hoping to find some shelter in the vicinity of the Hogsback. This is normally a trivial part of the climb as far as route finding goes, but in the dark with clouds and driving snow we couldn’t make out the usual landmarks, we had only the contours of the terrain to guide us. Being the first party up there also meant we had no footprints to follow. I was concerned about inadvertently wandering onto the upper part of the White River Glacier where I knew there were steep slopes and crevasses, so we ended up high on Crater Rock before beginning to traverse around the East side. Here we encountered steeper slopes than either of us remembered on this route and there was a layer of loose unconsolidated snow on top, which made for slippery footing. It was decision time. We had not adopted crampons yet because they were not necessary and the thought of stopping to put them on in the wind to traverse this slope was not appealing. Especially in light of the fact that if we did continue to press on we would probably end up waiting at the Hogsback for the clouds to clear. At this point we were highly skeptical that there would ever actually be any clearing and were not anxious to wait around in the cold and wind to find out.

In our quest to beat the cold we’d kept moving without many breaks and Don had been fighting freezing water bottles for a while. He was beginning to experience some leg cramps, likely as a result of mild dehydration. The combination of these factors led us to decide that it was time to head down. The wind continued to punish us as we descended. Once we got below the top of Palmer we started to catch glimpses of the upper part of the mountain.

View of the Top After Heading Down

By the time we reached the top of the Magic Mile chairlift the winds were starting to subside. Don continued to fend off the leg cramps as we descended, which reaffirmed that our decision to head down was a good one.

Sunrise

By the time we reached the lodge we could see the top of the mountain with climbers on the Hogsback. I’m sure many of them summited. If the forecasted warm weather and clear skies had come to pass their late start would have meant descending in loose, wet snow and potential ice fall. It turned out that on this day those who slept in a few extra hours may have ended up with an advantage.

I’m a bit disappointed at not summiting, but have no regrets. I learned some lessons about weather and timing. It was a good opportunity to test my gear and fitness, which all passed muster this time around. I enjoyed climbing with Don and Dan and look forward to doing so again in the future. Overall it was a good day in the mountains!

Favorite Gear - Outdoor Research Chaos Jacket

2009-11-03T07:56:00.000-08:00

A good puffy jacket is an essential piece of gear for mountaineering. Mine is kept in the top of my pack and goes on whenever I stop in cold weather and goes back in the pack once I start moving again. It’s also called upon to serve as an extra layer of warmth for unexpected storms or bivy’s.

Waterproofness is not usually a requirement for a puffy jacket because if it’s cold enough to need one any precipitation you might encounter will probably be in the form of snow rather than rain. The OR Chaos jacket has a water resistant shell that’s capable of shedding even warm slushy northwest snow. The filling is synthetic, which is my preference for use in the Cascades where it’s often wet. This works better than down which becomes a useless waterlogged sponge when wet.

There’s a large mesh pocket inside that’s sized to fit a 32oz Nalgene. This is great for keeping a waterbottle from freezing or defogging goggles. The fleece lined hand warmer pockets are cozy for warming bare hands.

My favorite feature of this jacket is the fit. The OR Chaos jacket was designed with climbers in mind, and as such is sized to fit a person with normal proportions, who happens to already be wearing climbing clothing.

In the past I’ve purchased jackets that were a size or two too big so that they would fit over my normal clothing. Typically the hoods are not large enough to accommodate a climbing helmet without stretching the jacket to the point you have to move your whole shoulders just to turn your head. The sleeves generally end up being a couple inches too long and the body often leaves me wondering who else I could get in the jacket with me.

When I put this jacket on over my normal fleece and Goretex the sleeves are just the right length, and there’s no extra maternity section in the front. The hood easily fits over a climbing helmet and still allows me to turn my head with normal motion.

The only downside I’ve found so far is that when I put this jacket on at rest breaks it’s often so cozy I just want to settle in for a long nap. : )

Summit Day Meal Plan

2009-11-03T07:55:00.000-08:00

In town most of us are accustomed to eating three square meals a day. In the mountains sitting down for an hour to eat a big meal is not practical for several reasons:

• If the weather is nasty you will become uncomfortably cold if stopped for too long.
• On technical terrain there may not be a comfortable or safe place to stop.
• The gut-bomb that follows a big meal will impede your ability to keep going.
• You may not have time in your itinerary to cook or prepare food.
• Stoves and fresh ingredients are heavy.

I’ve developed a meal plan that I use for hard days that seems to work well for me. By “hard days” I'm referring to summit day or any day where I expect heavy exertion with few rest stops. This is all food that can be eaten on the go or during short breaks.

My standard summit day meal plan:
• Pemmican bar (400 cal)
• Two 5oz bottles of homemade gu (300 cal. each)
• 1000 cal. bottle
• Snack bags: one salty, one sweet (~500 cal. depending on what I put in these)
Total: 2500 calories

The snack bags serve to satisfy cravings if I get tired of eating liquid food. I find that having one bag of savory snacks and one bag of sweet snacks gives me options to suit my mood. Sesame sticks, Kettle Chips, Doritos, dried apricots, dried cranberries, Reese’s Pieces, and peanut M&M’s are some of my favorites.

In addition to the above trail food I’ll have a normal dinner in camp at the end of the day. I sometimes use Muscle Milk Collegiate mix as a recovery drink within the first hour of reaching camp. This is a high protein body building drink that helps muscles repair after a hard day. I’ll also have a good multivitamin some time during the day to make up for some of the vegetables I’m not eating.

Pemmican Bar

2009-11-01T13:26:00.000-08:00

Pemmican bars (a.k.a. Mealpack ® bars) are a high calorie energy bar. There’s ~400 caloies in each of these, which is more than some dehydrated backpacking meals and twice as much as the ubiquitous Cliff-Bar. They’re made of all natural ingredients with no preservatives.

I like to eat these for breakfast on the trail when I’m not up for preparing food. They are made by Bear Valley and can be purchased at REI or Whole Foods. My favorite flavor is the original Fruit ‘N Nut.

Favorite Gear - Osprey Atmos Series Packs

2009-11-01T13:20:00.000-08:00

This is the most comfortable carrying pack I’ve owned to date. I own the 65 liter version which has a separate sleeping bag compartment in the bottom, and a secret zipper inside one of the outside pockets which allows you to access the main compartment without opening the lid.

The waist belt is nice and wide and conforms to the shape of your body so it distributes the weight well. This is the best fitting waist belt I’ve used. Other large packs I’ve worn rely on very thick dense padding, which leads to pressure points because it doesn’t conform well to your body. There are two mesh pouches on the waistband which are great for keeping snacks and other small items handy.

The mesh back is also nice for keeping your back cool in the summer. One thing I did not anticipate before I bought this pack is that the mesh back fills with snow if you use this pack in a blowing snowstorm. For technical terrain the durability of this mesh back would definitely be a problem. I’m sure it would not survive being drug up a cliff face on a haul line.

I don’t trust the bungees that are used to secure an ice-axe to the daisychain on the rear. I always clip a carabiner from the leash on my axe to the daisychain on the pack in case the bungees fail.

The curved frame makes these packs a challenge to pack, and limits the use of all available space, but they are light weight and carry very comfortably.

Homemade Gu Recipe

2009-11-01T13:15:00.000-08:00

For on the go calorie replenishment and electrolyte replacement nothing beats the convenience of energy gels.

My homemade gu recipe is made of maltodextrin powder, Cytomax, and water. The commercially available equivalent most similar to this recipe is Hammer Gel. I’ve found that it’s easy and much less expensive to make my own.

Cytomax is a powder that’s mixed with water to make a sports drink similar to Gatorade. It comes in several flavors and is readily available at sporting goods and nutrition stores.

Maltodextrin powder is a powder that can be purchased in bulk online or at home-brew supply stores. It’s the main ingredient in many commercially made sports nutrition products such as energy gels or body-building drinks. It’s also used during the bottling process to add body to beer.

Maltodextrin powder is basically broken down corn starch that serves the body as ready to use carbohydrates requiring very little digestion, so it can be eaten on the go without causing an upset stomach.

To make the gu I put one scoop of Cytomax in a ½ cup measuring cup, then add maltodextrin powder to top it off. I then add this mixture to ½ cup of cold water and stir it until the powder is mostly dissolved. Finally, I pop this in the microwave for a few seconds and then stir to fully incorporate the maltodextrin. This makes exactly enough to fill one 5oz sport flask.

There are a couple options for carrying your gu. I use a Hammer Nutrition sports flask. There are several types of these available; I like the Hammer Flask the best because it has small ridges on it that make it easier to grip with gloves on. Another option is Cophlan’s squeeze tubes. Others have had good luck with these, but the idea of one of them popping open in my backpack and squirting sticky sweet syrup all over everything is too scary for me. I like a good solid plastic bottle with a screw on lid, although I still always carry them in an outside pocket of my pack just in case.

One flask of gu has about 300 calories. I usually try to consume one of these every hour for the first hour or two along with my water. After the first two hours I’ll switch to a different concoction which includes protein to prevent my muscles from digesting themselves—The 1000 calorie bottle.

1000 Calorie Bottle

2009-11-01T13:13:00.000-08:00

What I call the 1000 calorie bottle is basically a Nalgene bottle filled with a beverage that provides about 1000 calories.

In a 32oz Nalgene bottle add:
29g maltodextrin powder
1 scoop Cytomax
1.3c soy protein powder
Fill the rest of the bottle with water

The mix dissolves best in cold water, but I find that even if it clumps up at first it will end up well mixed after shaking around in my pack for a while.

This mix is intended to provide carbohydrates from the Maltodextrin powder and electrolyte replenishment and flavor from the Cytomax. The soy protein helps prevent the body from harvesting protein from muscles during sustained activity. One bottle is adequate to cover about 4 hours of activity without additional caloric intake.

Favorite Gear - Jetboil PCS Stove

2009-11-01T13:00:00.000-08:00

My trusty Jetboil has found a home in my pack as a light weight, versatile, convenient, fuel sipping cooking solution. This is the stove I find myself using most often.

There are better options for simmering or foods that require a skillet like pancakes, but for boil-in-a bag cooking, hot drinks, and even melting snow the Jetboil is fast, simple, and functional.

The small Jetboil fuel canisters fit inside the pot, but for economical reasons I prefer the standard large fuel canisters which have twice the fuel and only cost about $1 more. If you want to save weight or space the small canisters have enough fuel to last for a very long time.

This stove has rather poor stability, especially when using the small Jetboil fuel canisters. Like most backpacking stoves this one tends to turn into a ball of flames and shoots boiling water everywhere if you tip it over. The optional stability stand is really an essential if you don’t like this kind of excitement in camp. The stability stand is a small plastic tripod that snaps onto the bottom of the fuel canister to provide a stable base. In my opinion this should come standard with the stove. I know the Jetboil is popular to use as a hanging stove, perhaps this is how many users get around the stability problem. I’ve never found it necessary or convenient to hang mine.

I noticed on the REI website that they’ve just come out with a new version of this stove, the Jetboil Flash. This new version adds a translucent lid, and a “thermochromic temperature indicator” that makes it easier to tell when the water’s boiling without opening the lid.

This stove has always been targeted at the technosavy backpacker. Adding the term “thermocromic temperature indicator” to their marketing literature should definitely increase its appeal to this segment of the market. It also comes in cool new colors to appeal to those who are simply attracted to bright colors and shiny objects. : )

Links

2009-11-01T12:45:00.000-08:00

-Weather Resources
Popular Northwest Weather Stations
Avalanche Center
Winds Aloft Forecast
Timberline Weather
Mt. Rainier Weather
Mt. Adams Climbing Conditions
Mt. Hood Climbing Conditions
Rainier Weather

-Trail/Climbing Route Resources
TrailsNW.com
Cooltrails
Oregonhiking.com
NWhiker.com
Cascade Climbers

-Trail Food/Nutrition
Freezerbag Cooking
Hammer Nutrition
Cytomax
Muscle Milk

-Other Blogs
Mount Rainier Climbing
Mike's Summits
Jess Climbing
Psychovertical
Glen Widener
Eric's Basecamp
Gearjunkie

-Local Organizations
Chemeketans
Mazamas
Santiam Alpine Club
Cragrats
Portland Mountain Rescue
Mount Hood Ski Patrol
Cascade Adventures
Pacific Northwest SAR
Multnomah County SAR

-Mountaineering Tips/Techniques
Mazamas Tip of the Week
U.S. Antarctic Program Field Manual
Psychovertical
Chemeketan's Climb School Manual
Santiam Alpine Club Climb School Manual
American Alpine Institute Tips

-Do-IT-Yourself UL Gear
Zen Stoves
Jason Klass' Homemade Backpacking Gear
Backpacking.net Make Your Own Gear

-Commercial Ultralight Gear
Antigravitygear
Six Moon Designs
Gossamergear
Integral Designs
Tarptent
Ula-equipment
Mountainlaureldesigns
Golite
Traildesigns
Bozeman Mountainworks
Simblissity
Backpackinglight

Brick And Mortar Stores
REI
Oregon Mountain Community
ClimbMax Mountaineering
Next Adventure

Online Retailers
GearEXPRESS
Steepandcheap
Backcountry
Backcountrygear
Sierra Trading Post
REI-Outlet

-Favorite Gear Shopping Resources
Black Diamond
Outdoor Research
Garmin

-First Aid
Outdoor Emergency Care
Wilderness First Responder
Mazamas Mountaineering First Aid

Mt. Cruiser - 9/13/09

2009-09-25T13:47:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I headed out once again with the Mazamas, this time to climb Mount Cruiser in the Sawtooth range near Olympic National Park.

Our team gathered early Saturday morning at the leader’s house in Portland to carpool to the Staircase Ranger Station in Olympic National Park.

John, Mike, Kim, Jessica, & Chad at a rest stop about half way in

Upon registering at the ranger station we were told that we needed to be out by 6 p.m. Sunday. Apparently the area was being closed so they could replace the temporary patch with a permanent fix for a section of road that had been washed out.

We were told that our cars would be stuck in the parking lot once they tore out the temporary section and we might not be able to get them out for a week. This meant we were going to be very tight on time to reach the summit and hike all the way back out on Sunday, but no pressure. ; )

After gathering our gear we set out on the 8-mile hike in to Flapjack Lakes. Flapjack Lakes is a popular limited-use area equipped with bear wires, vault toilets, and is staffed by a wilderness ranger most weekends during the summer.

Flapjack lakes with Sawtooth in the background

The trail started out fairly mellow, but then we began to ascend the ~3,100’ in the last half. Somehow I managed to remain glued to the heels of Chad, who is a fit marathon runner, as he led our hike for most of the ascent. The exertion provided a good outlet for my masochistic tendencies.

During the hike in, leader John and I began talking about the Mazamas Advanced Rock class, which I took last summer. He asked if I would be interested in leading the 5th-class section that led to the summit on Sunday. It’s rare that I’ll turn down an opportunity to lead rock that’s within my ability, so I anxiously took him up on the offer.

We headed for the group campsite that we’d reserved at Flapjack Lakes, eager to set up camp and relax before our early rise Sunday for the climb. The campsite was vacant, with the exception of five tents belonging to a Boy Scout troop, so we headed down to the lake to hang out while we waited for their leader to return so we could sort out the campsite situation.

The resident ranger eventually rolled into camp and we were able to verify that there were other open campsites, so John graciously offered to let the Boy Scout troop remain in the group campsite. We also discussed the road closure situation a bit and determined that the work probably wouldn’t start until Monday morning, but that we should be out by at least 8 p.m. or we might get locked in.

We were off to a bit of a rough start with the surprise road closure and the campsite reservation debacle, but it all worked out. We decided to start a bit earlier than originally planned on Sunday to make sure we were out on time.

4:30 a.m. came way too early, but we had a deadline so we got moving fairly quickly. There’s a nice trail from Flapjack Lakes up to the base of Needle Pass where we left the beaten path to scramble up a loose rock-filled gully to the crest of the range. The going was a bit sketchy as the six of us made our way up to the pass trying not to send rocks down on each other.

Ascending the gully to Needle Pass

From Needle Pass we had to traverse the ridge crest over to the base of Mount Cruiser. There was a lot of exposed 4th-class scrambling and some route finding required to make our way across the ridge, which added to the adventure of this trip.

We dropped our packs at the base of a chimney leading up to a large platform at the base of Mount Cruiser. After mustering some courage we ascended this gully un-roped and squeezed through a small hole in the rock to gain the platform that would serve as our staging area for the technical portion of this climb.

Mike squeezing through the hole at the top of the chimney

As we waited for the rest of the group, Jess and I located the belay ledge and scouted the climbing route. Unfortunately, the climb began with a bulge just above the belay ledge which made it impossible to scout the route from the bottom.

Once John arrived he handed me “the rack”. I should mention that I had not planned to lead this until I was on the trail, so I didn’t bring any gear of my own that I would usually use for leading, I was in hiking boots, and I could hardly see any of the route I was about to climb. Fortunately I was feeling confident that day, so in my mind this added greatly to the adventure. “The rack” that John had brought consisted of 5 stoppers, 2 cams, 3 tri-cams, and not nearly enough carabiners and slings. For those of you reading this who are not climbers this is about ¼ of the gear I would usually carry up a climb like this at the crag, and about ½ what I would usually take in the mountains. I was a bit nervous about heading into the unknown being so sparsely equipped, but I knew that the rock was easy.

Once I started up the route I was glad to see that the climbing was easy so that I could focus on finding gear placements to protect my ascent. This turned out to be quite a challenge as the rock in this area has very few cracks. It took some significant creativity to complete the pitch with what I had on my harness. The guide book says this is a 70-foot pitch. What I discovered is that 70’ only gets you to a belay ledge from which you have to traverse across a very narrow exposed ridge to the summit. I knew nobody in our group would want to climb this un-roped and that belaying each other one at a time would take forever, so I clipped the belay anchor as I passed and pushed on to the summit where I was able to fix the end of the rope to a large horn. After completing the pitch and fixing the rope I had two carabiners left and zero slings. That’s as close as I’ve ever come to running out of gear on a route.

This is a photo of a private group of Mazamas who climbed the same route right after us

With a fixed line in place I called down to the rest of the group to head on up. We took turns on the small summit before rappelling back to the safety of the staging platform below. From here we rappelled back down through the keyhole and the chimney to our packs.

Descending the chimney back to our packs

We ended up setting about four fixed lines on our descent since down climbing this steep terrain was quite intimidating for all but the most experienced climbers. Although the rope provided much more safety it also tended to knock down a lot of loose rock as we rappelled down the loose gully from Needle Pass. Fortunately everyone made it down safely and we began the short jaunt back to camp before heading down the mountain.

Once in camp we refueled and packed up before heading for the cars. I burned down the trail like a horse headed back to the barn in an effort to hike out before darkness set in and the gate was locked. We managed to knock off the 8 miles back in less than 3 hours, which put us at the cars at 8 p.m. We quickly packed up and headed down the road hoping the gate had not yet been locked.

Fortunately the Rangers had left it partly open so we could get through. We stopped for burgers at a tavern in Hoodsport and then drove home. I arrived home exhausted after midnight.

I must say I wasn’t good for much at work the next day, but it was an awesome adventure and I’m glad we did it.

More photos of the climb, and another trip report from Jessica:
Jessica's Trip report
Jessica's Photos
Kim's Photos
Brad's Photos

Hardest Summit in Oregon - 8/22/09

2009-08-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

Mount Jefferson is the second-highest peak in Oregon and has a reputation for being the most-difficult summit in the state. Certainly there are harder routes, but the easiest route on Jefferson is arguably more difficult than the easiest route on any of Oregon’s other volcanoes.

On Saturday I had the privilege of sitting on top of this prominent peak with views to the north of Hood, Adams, Rainier, and St. Helens. To the south we could see the Three Sisters, Broken Top, Mount Washington, Bachelor and Three-Fingered Jack.

Me on the summit

We set out Friday morning to hike into Shale Lake (el 5883’) where we set up camp prior to climbing the mountain on Saturday. The hike in from the Pamelia Lake trailhead was enjoyable in cool weather. The clouds burned off as we made our way up the 7.5-mile approach trail with an occasional light breeze to keep us cool.

Jefferson from our camp at Shale Lake

There was a lot of nervous energy around camp on Friday evening in anticipation of the long day ahead and the notoriously intimidating snow traverse that would be required to reach the summit block.

We heard from another Mazamas group that had climbed this route the weekend before that the traverse was in an exceptionally difficult condition. After hearing this I was mentally preparing myself to bail if the traverse looked too dangerous. This would have been a very difficult decision for me after so much work to get there, but I was determined to return home safe even if it meant not summiting.

We left camp at 1:45 a.m. to begin the tedious slog up the South Ridge. It was a moonless night, but the stars were out as we made our way up the ridge by headlamp. I saw several shooting stars and wished for favorable conditions that would lead to a safe summit and return trip.

Thanks to our trip leader Hugh’s amazing route finding in near total darkness we reached the notch adjacent to Red Saddle (el 10,200’) in 5 hours of climbing. Since we were on this route in late season there was no snow, which meant the entire South Ridge was boulders and scree, most of which we climbed in the dark.

Upon reaching the notch we got our first view of the dreaded traverse. After sizing up the route and determining it was doable I felt greatly relieved to realize I actually had a chance at summiting!

Our group headed over to Red Saddle to get ready while Hugh scrambled over to the snow to figure out the best way to safely navigate the steep snow. I joined him along with our assistant leader Greg to start setting up the anchors and put together a game plan. After getting an anchor setup I scrambled back to Red Saddle where I could wait safely out of the rock-fall zone while Hugh led the traverse and Greg belayed.

Hugh leading the traverse

Hugh completed the traverse and affixed the rope to a large boulder on the other side. With 6 pickets in between we had a fixed line that allowed the remainder of our party to cross the slope with reasonable protection.

One at a time we walked down from Red Saddle, put on crampons, and began the fixed line traverse. We opted to take a low line on the snow, which allowed us a shorter traverse before ascending straight up the steep snow to gain the ridge on the far side.

Water that melted during the day and ran off the snow field had frozen and turned to ice on the rocks below. This meant that we had feet on verglas and axes in snow.

Mark finishing the traverse

As I started across this portion of the traverse I regretted bringing my aluminum crampons. Making them work on the verglas was a delicate operation. I also longed for the security of an ice-tool in addition to my ice axe. I’ve learned from my experience in climbing that wishing for things you don’t have is a waste of energy, so I tried to push those thoughts out of my head and focus on the task at hand as I made my way across.

Three-Fingered Jack, Mount Washington, and Three Sisters in the distance

Soon all 6 of us were safely across and ready for the rock on the summit block. Though the climbing there is easy, the rock is loose and the exposure is great, so Hugh again setup a fixed line to protect the single rock pitch to the summit. Somehow we managed to get all 6 of our party on the tiny summit and record our names in the summit register, which we were surprised to find was chock-full of lady bugs!

An unlikely home

We then down climbed back to the traverse for round 2. By this time the sun was on the face so the snow was softer, but fortunately it was not yet too soft. There’s a fine line between snow that’s firm enough to provide purchase for crampons, ice axe and pickets and slush that’s difficult to navigate safely, so we wanted to get back across before it got too soft.

The ice that we had on the way up had now partially melted and mixed with the rock and dirt underneath to create a red mushy mess that was only marginally better than the ice, but I found it much more enjoyable to navigate with the confidence I had gained by crossing this slope earlier in the morning.

Our descent back to camp was long and tedious. We were headed downhill, but the sun was out now and was getting quite warm. After the long climb my feet were killing me. We made it back to camp 15 hours after we’d left. I’ve never been so anxious to get my boots off. I was extremely grateful that I’d brought along a pair of Crocs to wear as camp shoes. I went to bed early after soaking my feet in the lake and eating some dinner to refuel for the hike out Sunday morning.

I got up at 4:30 a.m. and cooked a big breakfast before packing up and hiking out the 7.5 miles back to our cars. It had been a great trip that ran smoothly from start to finish. This was one of the most difficult and memorable climbs I’ve done, so this summit came with a great feeling of accomplishment.

Ingalls Peak - 7/17/09

2009-07-22T18:57:00.000-07:00

Ingalls Peak (North peak in middle)

Last Friday I climbed the South Ridge of North Ingalls Peak in the Mount Stuart range with the Mazamas. Kim and I drove up Thursday afternoon to camp near the trailhead where we met Hugh and Greg. I had never met any of them before, so it was nice having this opportunity to get acquainted before climbing the next day.

We were on the trail shortly after 5 a.m. Friday. The approach trail to Ingalls Pass was very nice. Upon arrival at the pass we were greeted by a heard of mountain goats and swarms of mosquitoes.

I’d never been this close to the mountain goats before. I wouldn’t say they were aggressive, but they definitely weren’t shy. They seemed to show no intention of yielding the trail and would follow us when we tried to go around. If we got too close they would let us know by making snorting and grunting sounds and pawing at the ground. This modest display of aggression would not have been quite as intimidating without the sharp horns on their heads.

We tried to give them as much space as possible, but they lingered in hopes one of us would stop to take a leak.

These goats crave salt and will get it any way they can, sucking on pack straps or lapping up urine. They reminded me a bit of the shape-shifting salt vampire from that old Star Trek episode.

It’s recommended that people pee on the rocks instead of on the dirt or on plants when in goat territory. This prevents the goats from tearing up the ground and plants.

Hugh attempted to become pee brothers with the goats but I don’t think the ceremony was complete, as Hugh never managed to drink any goat pee.

Salty yellow beverages

From the pass we proceeded across rock and snow fields to the base of the South Face.

The South Face

The slab that forms the South Face is a nice solid piece of rock with easy climbing and good cracks for protection. We climbed the route as two teams of two. I got to lead all three pitches on the second rope with Greg and had a blast! The sky was crystal clear, so we had great views of the surrounding peaks. 3 pitches up and 3 rappels down.

From the pass we proceeded across rock and snow fields to the base of the South Face.

Ingalls Lake

Looking down from top of pitch 2

Summit

Rappelling off the top

By climbing early on a Friday we managed to avoid the crowds for which this popular route is known. The first other climbers we saw were just gearing up at the base of the climb as we made our last rappel. Having the route to ourselves made me glad we climbed on a weekday.

The hike out was hot and the drive home long, but it was definitely worthwhile. I’m already scoping out peaks for another visit to this beautiful mountain range next summer.

Mount Stuart

Gear notes:
Required 2 ropes to rap the 2nd pitch
Used ~9 draws
Every anchor had bolts, slings, rap-rings
Used a #3 Camalot, but could have done without it
Wished I’d left the large hexes at home and brought cams in the .5-.75 Camalot range instead
Tri-cams took some fiddling to set properly in the smooth slippery cracks
Driving back to Portland through Yakima (~4 hrs) was faster than driving up through Olympia (~6 hrs)