2014-12-14 Pinnacle Peak

We hoped to make an earlier start than last week to allow plenty of daylight for The Castle and maybe a few minor peaks, but alas, the gate at Longmire was to remain locked until 9 am. We left the Narada Falls lot 9:45 and climbed icy talus up to Stevens Canyon Road with a pair who said they were heading for Unicorn Peak. Tahoma was fully lit up by late morning sun when we reached Reflection Lakes and began up the trail. Near the saddle we crossed a few short-but-steep snowfields with substantial exposure. About a foot of workable snow obscured most of the trail on the shady side of the ridge.






As indicated by fast-moving clouds above, the wind was pretty intense at the saddle and for most of our stay on the sunny south face. Trekking poles were exchanged for ice axes as we began the mixed scramble above the saddle. Closer to the top most of the rock was poking out of the snow, but there was still enough ice for crampons to remain necessary. For the second time in as many weeks I was in position to view Mount Hood sitting in the distance between Adams and St Helens. I would say that our route was always within class 3 territory, however a fall could have potentially resulted in a 2000' tumble into the valley below.





Near the top we reached a small pillar at the edge of an overhang to the north, a potential BASE exit point? From there the going only got easier. The summit had plenty of room for the group, but heavy wind pushed us down a few feet to a sunny spot for lunch. The Castle and Unicorn Peak emerged from the clouds as we ate.




Time was getting short, so we canceled plans for the traverse to The Castle and began our descent, hoping to be able to hit Plumber Peak on the way out. We rappelled from near the pillar and made it back to the saddle with an hour and a half left until the park gate would be closed. As much as I would have loved to get in another summit, the wise choice was to play it safe. We followed Paradise Road back to the cars to avoid the still icy talus above Narada Falls.








5.5 miles 2200' gain

Last weekend was Field Trip #3 (Snow #1) with the Tacoma Mountaineers Basic Climbing Course. The class met at Longmire on Saturday morning and after a 3 hour delay due to the snow plows, our vehicle train was winding up the mountain road to Paradise. I had never been so close to Big Tahoma from the South but a dismal forecast kept my expectations low for any scenery we might experience. Being early spring, this first field trip in the snow is more often than not blessed with crappy weather, allowing for a better chance of sunshine on the next trip to Paradise (FT#5-Crevasse Rescue) in June.



Shortly after noon our party of around 60 were breaking trail through deep, fresh powder. My thanks to all those students wise enough to bring snowshoes, you saved us a lot of post-holing! Snowflakes continued to fall with increasing size throughout the day. After quickly setting up camp we broke into teams and headed up to some modest slopes for practice and testing of our ice ax arrest techniques. Easily my favorite part of the trip, we built glissade chutes and practiced arrests from various fall positions. After testing we ran through the standing ice ax-carabiner belay and proper anchoring technique with a snow picket. Back at camp we prepped for simulated glacier travel in the morning before  being excused to our tents.



That night I had my first experience cooking with white gas. Colin's whisper-lite stove seemed a little finicky, but after losing fire once and experimenting with the pressure pump, I am sold on the added efficiency in cold temps and at high elevation. While I boiled water for dinner and hydration several inches of fresh snow accumulated on the base of our rain fly. This forced some maintenance to the tent site as we were expecting close to another foot over night. In addition to glacier travel, I learned a lot on this trip about proper snow camping techniques. There is a fine balance between the size of a vestibule trench, effective anchorage, space to move around the outside, and sufficient room for shedding snow to accumulate without burying the tent. The most important lesson here: be adaptable and resilient.



In the morning my group was geared up and harnessed in before 4 a.m., ready to begin "up the glacier" in two rope teams of 3.  We practiced belaying each other out of camp and up the glissade chutes using prusiks, then simulated falls for each other to test ice ax arrests of the rope team. Throughout the simulation I found rope management (not stepping on it with crampons, and pacing with the group) to be the most complicated part, requiring constant attention to detail. On the way down we went through passing a running picket belay and then un-roped to test our ability to construct various bombproof anchors in the snow including the "dead man" and bollard. It was around this time when we were treated with a short break in the clouds. Big Tahoma emerged from the white and sunshine warmed our skin for the first time in days. Our instructor Scott was kind enough to pause the course work for a few minutes while we all enjoyed the brief weather change.



Finally we built emergency snow shelters. I was a bit disappointed that we lacked the time and proper snow conditions to dig a snow cave, but our little trench with an emergency blanket for a roof sufficed for the grade. While we broke down camp Pinnacle Peak and a few other Tatoosh Peaks broke through clouds to the south. By the time we had broken camp and started back, it has stopped snowing and the sun was out to stay. Before leaving we gathered for a much more realistic demonstration of the Z-pulley technique for crevasse rescue (the first demonstration was at the Seattle facility on carpet), which I look forward to practicing myself with Colin and a few others after our next adventure in the snow.



This weekend was a blast! Many thanks to all of the instructors for volunteering their time and subjecting themselves to crappy weather. You make it all possible!

Bearhead Mountain (Attempt) 3-15-2014

This was my and Colin's first outing with the Mountaineers. When we saw a new summit listed as the destination for a conditioner we jumped at the opportunity to avoid a weekend trip to Mount Si. With no recent beta I set my expectations low as our convoy climbed as close to the trailhead as the snow would allow. We made it to about 3600' and after a quick weigh in we were breaking trail under rolling snow clouds. The overcast layer slowly rose through the day and provided several sun breaks, as well as a few brief flurries.

Bearhead and Pitcher Mountains each came into view during the roadwalk. We reached the trailhead in just over an hour. Twin Lake was hardly noticeable under snow when we cruised past it. Beyond the lake snowshoeing was a pain on the steep traverse and the trail became faint. Beyond that the slopes grew steeper as we climbed higher, some of us even debated switching to crampons. Around 5500' we reached a clearing with a nice little bench just in time for a short break. Beyond Cayada Mountain Tolmie, Howard and Florence were capped in snow.

2013-11-29 Bearscout Peak

Colin and I tried to make the best of the weather the day after Thanksgiving by climbing a few obscure I-90 peaks. We parked less than a mile below the gate at the Hansen Creek Trailhead and set off up the snowy road before 7 a.m. There was a single truck at the borrow pit when we passed by. About a foot of snow was mostly firm on the road, and very thin or non-existent under canopy besides a few places above 4500 feet.



On top of the ridge we followed the remnants of the old Mount Gardner Trail along the watershed boundary. Hopping on and off several roads brought us to Scout Patrol Peak, which we quickly left for Bearscout Peak. Visibility was under 50 feet most of the day, and never more than 200 feet. On our return the snow was noticeably softer but mostly downhill so we never used the snowshoes that we carried all day. Back at the gate we found dozens of cars worth of people harvesting Christmas trees, and then got caught in a very unexpected traffic jam on Tinkham Road.




10.5 miles round trip 3900' elevation gain


View 2013-11-29 Bearscout in a larger map