4th Pass 05.19.09

Today was another in a run of days where things didn't quite go as planned. Because of the poor forecasted weather I had planned on doing Mailbox and traversing to Dirtybox. I didn't have much more than a half day because of some morning obligations so I knew that it would be short and sweet. When I left the house the weather was cloudy with some sun breaks making me think I might avoid the worst of the weather. When I reached North Bend It was pouring with no relief in sight. I called home to say I would be late and struggled with a backup plan. I really didn't want to get soaked which ended up dripping in irony. I hoped again to be bailed out by the Teanaway effect which again worked to some extent. I decided to try for Devil's Head which is North of Bean Peak and just North of Volcanic Neck. I hoped to use the basin below Bean and cross just East of Bean and then come out via the Beverly Creek Trail. There was two cars at the trailhead with one twosome just finishing suiting up. I chatted briefly with them while I was getting ready. They planned an overnighter with out much of a destination in mind. I reached Bean Creek and headed up to the first crossing. I passed the twosome having some trouble finding a reasonable spot to cross. The water was much higher than last week and I began to wonder if crossing the torrent was going to go. I reached the crossing and realized that I was going to get my feet wet. I crossed with little issue as did the Shepard. I instructed the Beagle to stay put which he only partly obeyed. He made his way half way across and was perched on a rock. I dropped pack and turned in time to see him slip off the rock and being sucked downstream. I dropped everything and sprinted after him. He managed to right himself on a small log jam. I was able to reach him but I was unable to balance myself without my poles and promptly fell in myself. So much for looking for a drier day. I recrossed the creek and retrieved my belongings and made my way across one more time. I decided that maybe this day wasn't meant to be. I dropped to the Beverly Creek trail crossing of Bean Creek and before I really decided what I was going to do I scooped up the Beagle like a football and ploughed through the water to the other side. I pushed the pace up the trail and hit consistent snow shortly thereafter. I resisted on putting on snowshoes and was rewarded with some deep postholes now and again. I decided to leave the trail at 4900' in a more direct line for my goal. I crossed some avy debris but the snow was stable and there was no need for snowshoes. I reached a wonderful small basin and switched to snowshoes. I climbed to nearly the ridgeline before traversing towards the pass East of Bill's Peak. I could see in the snowy mist Volcanic Neck and Devil's Head. I didn't think I had enough daylight to make the summit and out before dark. There was no way I was going to try to make another creek crossing in the dark. I decided to drop via the trail and made good time on the way out. I reached Bean Creek for my 6th crossing of the day. I again scooped up the Beagle and made my across the raging creek. I was able to manage the water but if there was much more I think the crossing may not be possible. With as much traffic as this trail sees I am surprised that a bridge is not in place.






Approx 7 miles 2400' of climb 4 hours car to car.

Squak Mt 5.18.09

Monday's have been my day to watch the kids so I thought with some warmer weather a day out would be in order. I have taken my oldest many times to Squak Mt. and worked at building up her stamina to make it to the summit. Today was the day for our first try. I was unsure if she was capable at 3 and half I thought my desires might be too much. So I loaded the baby backpack with lunch and the little one and we were off. It was a little cool and mostly cloudy for the majority of the ascent. I decided to try to take the most direct line to the summit. Usually we use the trail system for our Squak jaunts but for today I wanted to use the South Access Road. We had a great conversation along the way and the little one was very happy to be along for the ride. I started entertaining thoughts of success but I was still unsure. We passed a worker a short ways from the summit. His encouraging words were the perfect tonic for the last bit to the summit. Soon we rounded a corner and caught sight of the towers. This spurred the oldest to break out in a run. Soon we were at the summit for a well deserved lunch. For the descent we used the East Summit Trail to connect with Phil's Creek Trail and rejoined the South Access Road for the remainder of the descent. Needless to say I was very proud of my little girl. At her age I think that it is pretty stout accomplishment.




Approx 5.5 mile approx 1700ft of climb 4:00 to car to car.

Earl Peak 5.12.09

Well let's try this again,






I had hoped to do something on the Home Court 100 but with the terrible weather forecast I thought better of it. When the weather turns poor Teanaway is usually a safe bet. With the access opening up the problem was, what to do? I am running out of options so I thought I would clean up some of my remaining victims on a loop trip.

I had the whole day so I was confident of success. Sleep came very fitfully so I let myself sleep an extra 2 hours thinking I would still have plenty of time. I managed to get out the door quickly and was dumbstruck by the "chains required" sign on I-90. WTF isn't it the middle of May? As I made my way up the pass the chains required was relaxed and I started to again feel hopeful. That was short lived when all traffic was stopped to clear an accident. There went another 30 minutes. Undaunted I pushed on. The North Fork Teanaway road is mostly free of snow to the Beverly Creek Trailhead. I would be wary of the many sneaky washouts that are not seen until it is too late. At the trailhead I was greeted with this scene:


I layered up and was off. The first crossing of Bean Creek went well and the area that the trail goes along the creek was well travelled making it less troublesome. The last time I was on this trail I had to break out the ice axe for this portion to ensure not falling steeply into the creek. Soon I was on solid snow that for the most part held my weight. Always with a nice surprise posthole once in a while. Once I reached the basin I needed to again cross Bean Creek. I found a reasonable spot to drop to the creek and only had a small issue with making it up the other side. Tanner was able to make it up on his own but the Beagle wasn't so fortunate. This ended up being the crux of the day. I had to lay on my stomach with my toes kicked in the slope as far as I could so that I could hang upside down just enough to get his collar and hoist him up. It was more than a little unnerving to hang there knowing if my plan didn't work I was going to fall head first into the frigid water. Once on the other side I put on the snow shoes and aimed for the open areas above me. The views opened up and I thankfully snapped some pictures.


I was able to see a nice snow filled gully going my way so I aimed for it. The gully was a reasonable pitch and the snow was stable and I was able to lose the snowshoes and just kick step my way up. After about 600' of climb I left the gully for a more direct line to my summit. The snow was much harder here and I contemplated swithching to crampons which I thankfully had remebered to bring. I reached the ridge around 6400' and was greeted with some blustery winds and blowing snow. It was fierce enough to give some thought of turning back. I decided to push on. I crested a false summit at 6800' and so Earl easily attainable in front of me. I thankfully reached the summit and wasn't able to find a summit register. I was too cold to fumble through my pack so I snapped some pictures with my phone:


From the summit the basin looked very attainable below me. I was almost seduced by the endless untracked snow of the basin but relented and returned. I had been worried about the steepish descent so I angled to the saddle where the summer trail passes and descended from there. The angle was much less severe and the snow was receptive for descending. Once I reached the gully I glissaded to it's bottom.

The weather settled for the rest of the way and I thankfully was able to soak up some sun. Although Earl is a popular summit it was much more difficult with the day's conditions. It seemed much more of a Winter's climb than a Spring one.




Approx 8 miles 3500' of climb 5:45 car to car

Lumiere Ridge 4.21.09

With Steven's Pass Ski area recently closing for the season I did my usual pilgrimage to the ski slopes. Since I have climbed all the peaks surrounding the ski runs I was going to have to get creative. I parked at the trailhead for the PCT and quickly changed to snowshoes. I could see that trying to follow the PCT was not going to work so I traversed to the ski runs and gave up some elevation and dropped to the ski run that would take my directly to the saddle between Big Chief and Cowboy. Not knowing how far I would stay on the runs I left the snowshoes on. I did see a few prints going my way. The sun was beating down on me and was quite warm as I easily made my way to the saddle. Once at the saddle I could see my objective a long ways off. I had plenty of concern about avalanche danger with the warm unbroken sun. I was surprised to see about 20 snowmobilers in the Mill Creek Basin. Since most of them were highmarking every available hillside without provoking any slides, I felt more comfortable. I quickly dropped in the basin below and followed the snowmobilers tracks as far as I could before I began a traverse at 4600'. I followed an old ski track which worked. I decided that the slope above me looked suspect so I dropped to around 4400' to give myself an extra cushion. I rejoined the snowmobilers track greatly increasing my speed. I met a big group at Lake Susan Jane. They were going up the steep gully just to the SW. I would have liked to use this gully because it was a more direct line. Not wanting to get run over or have any issues with the dogs I crossed over the frozen lake and followed roughly the PCT. In the gully I did see a couple small avalanches come slowly down the slope.Once in the basin above I dropped pack and pushed for the ridge. There were plenty of snowmobilers tracks to follow so the going was straightforward. I reached the ridge just South of the summit and started to make my way to the summit. The ridge was heavily corniced and they were full sun resulting in a steady stream of water coming off of them. This seemed to me a dangerous situation that didn't warrant continuing. I gave some thought to traversing underneath them and decided against that. I slow motion glissaded back to my pack. I had a quick bite and retraced my steps back. When I reached the point where I had decided to drop lower I was dismayed to find a larger avalanche that had crossed my path. Feeling lucky I pushed on to the dreaded climb out of the basin. I took off the snowshoes and booted the remainder. I was hoping to speed up the descent back to the car by glissading but wasn't able to get much speed up due to the soft snow and low angle descent.




Approx 8 miles 3100' of climb 5:30 car to car