Jack Mountain (10/6 - 10/7/2012)

Today feels like a great day to catch up on trip reports from the sunny summer season. It is a rainy December Sunday - winter blues be gone!



It was likely the last sunny weekend of the year, and our friend Misha had made time to go out with us so we were fairly excited and we debated the appropriate destination for this last of the year trip quite a bit. We needed something adventurous enough but with a reasonable likelihood of success. The Thursday or Friday before the trip we decided on a (for us) fairly ambitious 2 day ascent of Jack Mountain in the North Cascades.

View Jack Mountain in a larger map

Day 1 - No pancakes

We did not have time with a pancake breakfast since our first day was rather long. We calculated it to be approximately 7000ft gain, crossing 3 different passes, and much of it off trail. so we set off from the trailhead with a quick breakfast of bananas and scones. Yummy.

The first pass was a not-so-quick 5000 feet above our car, which translates to roughly 5 hours of hiking steadily uphill. Fortunately the trail extends most of the way to this pass and makes progress easy and we had some lovely vine maple areas to hike through which provided nice red fall colors. The trail takes you up towards Crater Lake, set at the base of enormous bowl which encompasses Crater Mountain and the pass we were heading towards. We followed the trail a bit more up to the ridge just south of Crater Mountain, and then easily headed cross country east towards our pass. Time for a rest!

View down towards the highway.

From the pass, the view ahead of us was of snowfields and Jerry Glacier with a large rock fall area. We put on crampons and headed onto the snow, soon finding ourselves at a rock outcropping on the edge of the glacier. We roped up and dropped a bit further just below a very dirty area of the glacier that exhibits frequent rock fall from above. It was not very pleasant.

The glacier soon gave way to bare ground again, and a hike up to our second pass of the day - the pass between Jerry Lakes and the Jerry Glacier. Another rest and enjoyment of views.  From here we could see the three deep blue Jerry Lakes nestled among a plateau of golden larches. I think we all thought about how nice it would have been to spend the night there. However, given that our objective was Jack, and still a few hours away we had no choice but to push on.

Late season snow - hard as a rock.	Looking back at the dirty part of the glacier.
First view of Jack at Jerry Lakes pass. Still so far away.	Some perspective with lakes in foreground.

As we dropped down the north side of the pass down towards the lakes we realized that the scree was frozen hard, and there were large areas of frozen mini-waterfalls running over the rocks, making the  hiking tedious and a little difficult.

Once down by the lakes, we had another rest and found a tent and associated people there. They were fishing in one of the lakes, and at that time it just seemed like the perfect this to do to me. I was tired and had limited desire to climb a third pass for the day. Maybe just camping in comfort by the lakes would be just fine....

The lake basin was covered in golden larches.

Nice fishing spot!

After a few minutes rest by the lakes, we headed up towards the third pass of the day, between Jerry Lakes and Jack Mountain. A steep meadow traverse, some loose climbing, and another 1000ft later, we were on top of the pass. Now all we had to do was to find a place to camp in the valley below us. As the sun was casting longer and longer shadows we dropped into the valley and set up camp at the edge of a gorgeous flat meadow. In summer it would be filled with mosquitoes, but at this time of the year, the only ones there were the three of us. Rest and dinner had rarely tasted so well.

Susan and me set up a tarp, with the head just by the edge so we could watch the stars as we (quickly) drifted to sleep.

View back towards Jerry lakes.	A closer view of Jack from the third pass.
No mosquitoes, but a bear had been here.	Susan rolling into camp.

Day 2 - Yuck!

Morning light on Snowfield, Colonial and Paul Bunyan's stump

Today was going to be an even longer day than yesterday. We woke up in the dark and started hiking with headlamps on to make the most of the daylight hours. The first bit from camp is easy with a well defined meadowy ridge to follow towards the base of the mountain so this worked well. As you get closer to the base of the mountain, you pop over a shoulder and finally get a (very) close look at the south face - the easiest way up the mountain and our intended route.  Call me a wimp, but I didn't like the look of it at all. Steep, loose and a lot of it!

Yuck!

We started side-hilling on scree, then steep scree, then hard packed steep scree, then small loose rock ledges above said scree until we were on top of the moat of a steep hard snowfield with a bad runout.  Yuck. Our original plan A had been to somehow traverse over to a small nose on the other side of the snowfield. Given the size of the moat, going down in it was not an option, and any further traversing on the rocks above the snowfield was also out of the question. The only way over to the nose was going back to drop below the snowfield, climbing it to then get on the nose. However, being late season, the snow field was bone hard, and with no snow protection and aluminum crampons it did not seem like a wise idea.

Standing on the small ledge, our only real option of progressing towards the top was to climb the rocks where we were. It did not look very hopeful, but some of the beta indicated a line up the face from here. So up we went, on 3-4th class at first, then short seps of 4-5th and then what seemed like more and more exposed terrain. Soon enough we decided to call it quits and turn around - just too much looseness and exposed 4-5th class climbing.

We backtracked our route down to the ledge above the snowfield, then back to the steep hard scree, then towards the regular scree and soon were back at the shoulder which felt very good. Quite disappointing given all the work that had gone into getting to this spot, but the mountain may be there for another attempt in the future, unless it has fallen apart by then.

Relaxing and having lunch after abandoning Jack.	Looking out over the valley.
Our camp is at the edge of the flat meadow.	Looking back down

Susan and me had tried to climb Jack a few years ago during 4th of July weekend. Although we had managed to find (almost) the right way up, it had been a very similar experience, too much looseness and exposure, and at that time a lot of spontaneous rock fall from the mix of snow/rock above. Now we were 0 out of 2 :)

After our break, we hiked back to camp, tore it down and started the beautiful but very long hike back to the cars.  Four valleys and three passes later we were finally back by the car an hour or two after dark. Despite not getting or summit, this trip was so much fun. Great scenery, high adventure factor, and tired legs!

Nice fall colors	Another picture of Jerry lakes, with Jackita ridge in the background.
View from our camp.	More fall colors.

Burritos at Sedro Wolley on the way back were tasty as can be!

Silvertip Peak - 9/30 2012

Having scrambled White Chuck the day before and with yet another sunny Sunday ahead of us, Susan and me decided to try Silver Tip in the Monte Cristo area the next day. We had a lovely car-camp along the Sauk river.

In the morning, we drove the final few miles to the trailhead at Barlow pass, and biked in the first few miles to the old townsite. Totally the way to do it since the route is mostly flat and goes along an actual road! After biking for approximately an hour we sat down at the townsite and had some yogurt for breakfast in the sunshine, watching a few boyscouts enter the townsite and explore the old artifacts. Entertaining to watch.

Yogurt in the sun!

Grassy field by the townsite.

The townsite, in the evening.

Soon enough we started hiking again, taking the trail the 2,000 feet up to Poodle Dog pass. At the top of the pass awaits Silver lake which is pretty.  I would love to camp there some day.

View from the lake towards Silver Tip

After Silver Lake, the trail disappears but the route is straightforward, just head up the heather/talus slope towards the low point in the south ridge and from there is a boot path leading along the ridge. Following the ridge you will eventually find yourself atop a false summit with rocky crags ahead of you. We dropped down to the eastern side and followed the base of the cliffs until there was a natural way up. This may be tricky in early season if there are cornices but straightforward in dry conditions.

Looking down towards the lake and Cadet, Monte Cristo and Columbia Peak in the distance.

Summit block.

Dropping down from the ridge to the eastern side 

The summit pyramid looks difficult from afar, and does offer a mix of 4th and a few steps of low 5th climbing.  Definitely want dry conditions and a rope. Find the easiest way up towards the south(southeast?) corner where you will find it advantageous to rope up for the final 50' to the summit. The climbing is easy, but exposed and it would be difficult to down climb especially the move just below the summit plateau. 2 nuts and a .75 cam later we were on the summit.

We spent an hour or two napping on the summit, until we decided to head back down again. What a wonderful fall day.

Rappelling down from the summit. This is the climb route up. 

Huckleberry slope?

Heading back after napping.

Gear: small rock rack, 30m rope, ice axe, helmet.
Condition:  late season is ideal

Whitechuck Peak (09/29 - 2012)

Scrambled Whitechuck Peak with Gretchen, Jack, Anna, Grace, Susan and Peter. The drive itself was adventurous, with more than an hour on logging roads, leading all the way up to 4500 ft, leaving the hike/scramble itself to be rather short (~2 hours to the summit).  

View Whitechuck driving directions in a larger map

Even though the areas you drive through are actively logged, the trail passes above that and it is quite pleasant with views most of the way as it goes close to the ridge.  

Hiking through a small meadow

Coming out to the basin. The trail heads up the first major gully above the trees, which at first looks impossibly steep.

Halfways up the gully, the "trail" heads out right onto ledges and continues on ledges and heather all the way to the summit. At you can see we had some excellent views along the way. 

Summit! 

Once we had packed up and were heading down, the clods parted and we got some views .

Anna heading down.

Mount Stone and Skokomish (9/22 - 9/23/2012)

Susan and self climbed Mount Stone (S peak) and Mount Skokomish (N peak), as a two day trip with a camp at Lake of the Angels.

I would recommend the climb of Mount Stone which is very enjoyable, but the climb of Mount Skokomish was quite loose and exposed, and not as pleasant.

Day 1: Climbing Stone

We started the day with breakfast at "Blondies" in Shelton. There did not seem to be very many breakfast places to choose from there, but this one was pretty good. I had coffee and pancakes as usual, while Susan was brave with poached eggs and too much hash browns. I'd go back if I had to have breakfast in Shelton again, but next time I'd try to dress more like a logger and less like a hiker.

We started up the Putvin trail and as promised it is steep and at times scrambly. (It is only officially maintained for the first mile or two). We came to a flat area with a little pond and an unmarked climbers trail that led up up towards Mount Stone. The trail took up into a steepish gully initially filled with slide alder but up the streambed in the middle, so it worked ok. Soon enough we poked up in meadows, where there is no longer any sign of a trail, but an "up and slightly left" direction led us to a small saddle where we finally got above the clouds.

Scrambly trail

Finally getting above the fog

The route goes across the talus, and then under the cliffs on the left

summit nap

More talus and a long traverse left below the summit cliffs took us to another saddle on the ridge separating our valley with the Duckabush river. From here we followed the ridge right on quite an obvious trail. I have to say that it was longer to the summit than I expected. The scramble finished with a short but easy class 4 section. No rope needed.

We enjoyed the summit views with clouds coming in but mostly out below us for a few hours. Obligatory summit naps were had as well as lunch all the right fixings.

Lake of the Angels is located right below mount Stone. We took the same way down that we did up, but it looked like there was a more direct meadow traverse down towards the lake. This would avoid losing and regaining a few hundred feet of elevation. Camping a the lake was nice - a few other parties there.

Our tent with mount Stone in the background

Day 2: Climbing Mount Skokomish

Wake up when the sun hits the tent, some coffee and oatmeal, and no rush to go anywhere. Quite nice.

When we had enough of the relaxation, we packed our bags and started heading up the obvious big drainage towards Skokomish. Halfways up we realized there were three different notches we could choose - the left one is the one visible from the lake, the middle small and treed, the right one seemingly snowed in. We had brough only limited beta for Skokomish so did not know the recommended route. We chose the middle notch, but it turns out the right one would have worked much easier (did that on the way down).

Mount Skokomish itself has three different summits, and our beta was very limited. The half page copy of the Olympic Climbing guide we had stated that the north peak while not the highest, is the more popular climb, so we tried it.

With no additional beta, we decided to follow the north ridge up and it went with a bit of loose scrambling up to a few trees, and then up along the north ridge all the way to the summit. A few exposed and loose moves in places.

Lunch on the summit, and then back to the lake for a dip and more lunch and hike back to the car.

The route up to the saddle below the Mt Skokomish. The right most saddle is the best one.

At the saddle, looking up towards the north peak. We hit the right skyline just above the trees.

Susan with Mount Stone in the back

Nice spiderweb

Susan's end of life boots. The sole was completely detached, except at the toe.