Mary's Peak, Judy's Peak 5.13.08

My original intent was to do something off of the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie but when there was a steady rain on Sunday I knew a change of plans was in order. I always to head to Teanway when the weather is iffy and this was the perfect choice for this day. I picked up Nick and David at 0600 in Issaquah with a slight drizzle. By the time we crested Snoqualmie Pass there wasn't a cloud to be seen. I was able to drive further on the road than I was expecting. I pushed through a few small snow patches and pushed my luck through some larger ones before deciding that was enough tempting fate. I backtracked and parked near a bridge crossing the North Fork of the Teanaway. I eagerly applied sunscreen liberally. When I let the dogs out of the car they were off before I had a chance to leash them. The beagle crossed the river on the bridge and was off. I finished packing up and followed across the bridge yelling for him. With the rushing water I could not hear him and I was sure he couldn't hear me. I waited a while before deciding to get moving. I expected he would return to the car and wait for our return.




The goal was for a summit of Iron and Genes Peak via the Beverly Creek trail. The snow was rock hard so the long road walk to the summer traihead went quickly. Once we over the summer trail it traverses along the creek for .25 mile. I found this traverse to very unpleasant. It was very icy with a substantial drop to the rushing creek below. I broke out the ice axe and went very slowly. We crossed the creek and I decided that a change in plans were in order. I really didn't want to keep along the creek so we recrossed the creek near the Earl Peak trail. Instead of ascending the basin via the trail I had us climb the defined ridge heading North. The snow coverage was patchy but mostly consistent but was firm and very stable. We crested the ridge and lounged soaking up the warm sun and enjoying a bite to eat. Now on the ridge our route was plainly in front of us. Judy's Peak looked a little imposing but we had no problems topping out. Once on top of Judy's I wanted Mary's further along the ridge. Again we had no problems except for an occaional full body posthole. Since I had already climbed Bean Peak I had no desire to continue on the ridge so we contemplated our descent route. I really didn't want to retrace our steep ascent route and the basin below was begging for some bootprints. We all had a wonderful short but steep glissade to the basin below. I really enjoyed meandering through the basin.

Soon we were back for the most unpleasant traverse. The conditons had softened making it even more tedious. I was very thankful to all have passed without incident. The snow on the road had softened considerably making it little slower than our ascent. Soon we were back at the Subaru. The Beagle however was not.





I spent some time calling and searching to no avail. Not wanting to keep my partners and made the long drive home. When I told my wife about the lost dog I had half expected her to be happy. Beagles are not the easiest dog to own and with 2 small children can make for some tense moment. She wanted to go back and see if we could find him. We packed up the kids and were off for a "family adventure". I expected to see Baxter running down I-90 on the way. After nearly an hour of searching we had no luck. I think someone probably picked him up. Since he is microchipped I am still hopeful for a reuniting of my most annoying pet. I passed all my info to every agency I could think of so now we wait. For those of you that follow my escapades I am sure knew losing the Beagle was inevitable. If it wasn't for the loss of my pet it was one of my most enjoyable days in the mountains ever.



Approx 11 miles 4100' of climb 7:15 car to car

Rasberry Mt (Colorado) 5.8.08

I had an afternoon open for some climbing with no shortage of destinations. I am on vacation in Colorado Springs so you don't have to go too far to find some lofty peaks worthy of climbing. When I arrived on Thursday there was 4 inches of fresh snow and the next day the wind was blowing quite strongly. I had done some research using SummitPost.com which is a great resource for climbs in an unfamiliar area. I wanted to do something over 10K but I was leery to doing anything much higher because I didn't have all my gear. So after much deliberation Raspberry it was. It was about an hour drive and the weather was much improved with some hazy sun and benign winds. I had no problem finding the trailhead with the great trip reports I had read. I layered up but for the first time in a long time I only wore shorts. The trail is an old road and there was only patchy snow and the grade is not steep at all. Despite the lack of steepness my heart was racing trying to get enough oxygen. I stayed on the road that deteriorates more into a trail and traverses the North side of the peak. I reached the summit rocks and had to poke around for a short while before I found a way up the last bit of rockwork. The views from the top were nice especially the back side of Pikes Peak which I had climbed in an earlier visit to the Springs. On the descent I mixed it up by following a faint trail that I spied on my way up. The trail spit me out on a road that I followed for a short way until it split into 3. I was starting to wonder if my sidetrack was a good idea when the the middle road that I had chosen dead ended in someone's house. I noticed the power lines to the house went in the direction I needed to go. I descended the open forest following the power lines until I reached the bottom of the gully. I realized that the gully went straight to the car. I shaved nearly a mile with my shortcut.




Approx 5miles 1500' of climb and 2:10 car to car

The Ark 4.21.08

I had a surprise when I had a couple bites for a partner post from last year. Somehow the post had been bumped to the top and since it was for the same time frame I could see why there would be some confusion. As it turned out only Don B. would be able to make it. I have read many reports from Don regarding his superhuman ski trips so I was eager to meet up at 0600. As it turns out Don does much more than just skiing and is one of the few people out there who can understand the compulsion to climb obscure peaks. When it comes to obscure The Ark ranks right up there. I had tried last year and was turned around by some tricky cornices. This year I was turned back by lack of access due to the heavy snows on the Middle Fork Road. I was unable to find any info on the conditions so we decided to wing it. The road had some fresh snow but was in good shape except one portion where the road has slumped. I almost skidded off the drop but managed to stop just in time. The area can easily be passed on the right. We made it to the Taylor River Road where we were only able to drive a short ways . I turned around and parked near the road junction. The weather was warmer than it has been recently but was still quite cold for mid Spring. We booted to the Quartz Creek Road where we switched to snowshoes. The road is a tangle of broken trees and snow laden trees that make for less than straight line walking. The snow was not making for quick work and I really questioned whether our day's objective would be met. Soon we were to the junction with Sunday Creek Road. We headed right at each intersection. Around the 3rd switchback there is less than obvious road that must be taken. I had remembered this from my try last year. At around 3000' we left the road and made our way up tending to our left to get into the beautiful when snow covered basin below The Ark. Once we were in the basin I decided that I wanted to cross the creek and head up the mostly open slopes to reach the summit ridge West of the summit. Last time I stayed in the basin until I reached the South Ridge. When we reached the basin the sun broke through and was quite warm. This gave us some worry with the slopes above us drenched in sun. We stayed mostly in the trees and kept out of the more open slope. Don had been doing most of the grunt work breaking trail in the sloppy snow. As the climb steepened he led the whole way. I had an immense amount of trouble because his steps would not hold my heft and I was forced to crawl some short sections. To make matter even worse I started cramping which thankfully abated. After what seemed an eternity we crested the ridge at around 4900'. We had a quick bite and layered up because the sunny weather had evaportated into some cold windy weather. We dropped pack and made our way along the enjoyable ridge with some nice views of Mowitch lake straight below us. Soon we reached the summit rocks which would be much more difficult without the heavy snow cover. There was just enough room at the top for both of us 5339' #74 HC/100. The sun broke through just as we reached the summit giving us some stunning views of the many peaks of the Garfield Group and Treen Peak as well. I was upset with myself for leaving the camera in my pack. I had projected an 8 hour round trip so with it taking us nearly 7 hours to reach the summit I couldn't stay long. We quickly made our way back to our stowed belongings. We started the descent we did some slow motion glissades to regain the basin below us. The road walk out seemed to take forever. Just before we exited the Quartz Creek Road it began to snow and blow urging me to walk just little faster. Thanks Don for a most enjoyable day I hope to repeat in the near future.




Approx 12 miles 4300ft of climb 9:45 car to car

Cowboy Mt. 4.14.08

had a taxing work week so I was looking for something shorter. I still wanted to climb something and when I heard that Steven's Pass Ski Area was shut down for the season I knew I had a perfect target. I parked at the upper parking lot and followed the cat track next to the terrain park. I traversed over to the 7th heaven lift. My intent was to use that for my approach. It didn't look like that much fun so I sniffed around the South side where I found a nice open slope going up. I reached the top of the slope and stayed in the trees until I reached the summit ridge. The summit ridge was very heavily corniced show I took some care to stay back from the edge. A short ways later I was on the true summit #79 B/C 100. I didn't feel very strong all day so I was surprised that it only took 90 minutes to summit. I retreated via my up route trying to glissade when I could. The ski runs were so rock hard that they didn't make for the most comfortable sliding.



Approx 4 miles 1800' of climb 3:30 car to car