Fortune Peak 6.18.07

With a rare week off from hiking last week I was excited to get out again. I was hoping to do a loop trip going over Ingall's Pass traversing Headlight Basin and summit Ingall's South Peak. From the South Peak I hoped to head South to Fortune Mt. and drop to the Esmeralda Basin and back to the car. I was very happy to have the weekend's awful weather change to perfect and remain that way for the entire day. I reached the trailhead and was off just after noon giving me plenty of time. When I reached the Ingall's Way junction I was dismayed that the trail bans dogs. I try to be respectful of policy whenever it is feasible. I decided that I would reverse the trip and go over Fortune first. The trail is gently graded and there was plenty of snowmelt for the dogs to drink. I made great time to the pass over Lake Ann and started to make my way up Fortune's west ridge. I found the going easier coming from more of a Southerly direction. I was careful to watch for the dog induced rock fall. I was expecting some unpleasant loose scree but for the most part the footing was quite good. After a few false summits I popped out on Fortune's summit. I had already taken a ton of pictures of the Esmerelda Peaks on the way up so I directed my lens more to Ingalls and of course Stuart towering over me. I had hoped to continue due North to bag South Ingalls. I had read some reports stating that there were ""no special problems"" on this route. Sadly this traverse would be more than I felt comfortable doing solo. I could see the Ingalls trail pounded by heavy weekend traffic below me. I couldn't resist dropping the snowy basin below me to continue my planned loop. The drop off the summit intially was not steep but became steep enough for me to drop down facing the hill. It probably wasn't necessary but I felt it safer. Once the rock outcroppings were out of my way I plunged stepped in a descending traverse ending in nice butt glissade. I crossed the trail and found a melted out spot and had lunch. As I ate my lunch I watched to climbers trying to reach the col between North and South summits. I was suprised to see them turn around after passing what looked like the worst of it. I had plenty of time so I very leisurely made my way back to the car.




Approx 8 mile 3200ft of climb 5:45 car to car

Jolly Mt, Humerous Hill 6.5.07

Of late the weather hasn't been my friend. With the recent high temps I was glad to see a cooler forecast for Monday. I was concerned about the scattered showers forecasted but they didn't show themselves. I inverted my day and didn't hit the trail until the crack of noon. I didn't have any evening commitments and I was packing my headlamp. I wanted to give myself every opportunity to achieve the day's goal. The plan was to use road 4315 off of Salmon La Sac Road for my approach. I know this road is gated at 3300ft and again at 4300ft. On previous trips the first gate has been both open and closed. I had my fingers crossed that it would again be open. It was locked solidly. This forced an additonal 2.5 miles and 1000ft of climb. Undaunted I packed up and was off. The weather degraded to some light rain as I made my way up the good logging road. As I joined the Sasse Ridge trail the weather began improving. I followed the Sasse Ridge trail until it intersects with the Jolly Mt. trail. The ridge walk was mostly to entirely snow until the summit which was snowfree. The weather was now quite beautiful. I had a quick lunch and was off for the real goal off the day. I was hoping for a summit of Humerus Hill #76 on the BC/100. Humerus is the unnamed summit SE of Jolley Mt. It is a play on Elbow Peak which is further South. On the descent of Jolly I strayed a little to far West and dropped below the trail. This was a blessing because I found some great running water for the thirsty pups. I climbed back up and refound the trail just North of Pt 5756. As I rounded this point my goal appeared straight in front of me. I was suprised that the Northern side was quite steep. I followed the trail until I was South of Humerus and easily scrambled the remaining elevation to the summit. I was suprised that I couldn't find any summit register. I downclimbed back to the trail and made my way back towards Jolly. I wasn't looking forward to climbing the 800+ feet to regain Jolly's summit. I very thankfully crested Jolly and now was on the long walk to the car. I was pleased to make it out before dark.




18+miles 4500+ft of climb 9 hours car to car





Document Actions

Hardscrabble Lakes, Gold Pass 5.28.07

Since I had a big day planned another early start was in the cards. I picked up Coasty by 0500 and soon were making our way down the Middle Fork Road. I was armed with some very recent trip reports and spurred on by the impending gate closure at Dingford Creek I wanted a summit of Big Snow. I was very pleased by our arrival time near the end of the Middle Fork Road. This was about the only thing I was pleased about for the next hour. I quickly realized that one tire was losing air so I quickly changed the tire with the temporary spare. How was I going to drive the 26miles of crappy road to make it out? Well nothing we could do about it now, I was very thankful it was a holiday weekend increasing the chances of a helping hand if needed. The next problem was getting packed I seemed to have a much harder than normal time with that. The third nail was the weather it was a persistent drizzle making the brush approach even less fun. The final straw was the pack grabbing brush that we were forced to bash our way through. All these things were unpleasant but they couldn't rival how unpleasant my demeanor was. Without nearly enough sleep I had a bit of trouble keeping a smile on my face. After we broke out of the brush I was thankful that most of the first boulder field was melted out. At about 4000ft we hit new snow as well as more consolidated snow. I managed to get us to Lower Hardscrabble in around 2 hours. We made our way along the left side of the lake and then climbed to the Upper Hardscrabble. We had short snack and then set out to find the gully to reach Gold Pass. We dropped pack at around 5000ft and quickly climbed the gully to reach the 5800ft pass. I had hoped to have some views but instead our broken sun changed to visibility of less than 100ft. Since we both had obligations on the home front we were very near our turnaround time. I had to err on the side of caution because I knew the road out would take much longer with my gimpy tire situation. After some debate we plunge stepped/slow motion glissaded back to our packs and had lunch. The way out went much quicker than I expected. I was somewhat worried about the rotten snow conditions and route finding between the Lower lake and the car. I was pleased to keep us on trail nearly the whole way out missing the worst of the bad snow. This trail is not for everyone I think it would be easier with no snow or more snow but not this in between period. We managed to make it all the way out with only short periods of worry. I am again disappointed not to achieve the day's goal but I was much more disappointed with the lack of views from the ridge. This is one of the most scenic vantage points It was a shame not to see more.




Approx 8 miles 3200ft of climb 7 hours car to car

Chatter Creek 5.21.07

I once again had grand plans and I knew everything would have to align perfectly to achieve the day's goal. The plan was to use the Chatter Creek Trail to make a summit attempt of Grindstone Mt. The day started off well enough I managed to get out of bed at the unseemly hour of 0400 and was soon on the road. I was happy to stop and pick up Coasty who was once again brave enough to spend the day with me and the dingos. As we crossed over Snoqualmie Pass I was suprised to see the temp at 34 degrees.... isn't almost June? I knew we were in serious trouble when snow removal crews were out in force clearing Blewett Pass. To make matters worse I was pulled over for passing in a no passing zone wasting even more precious time. I really don't know what the officer was talking about I was clearly in a passing zone. We finally made it to the moved Chatter Creek Trailhead and after some gear repair and repacking for cooler temps we were off. The new trail is meaners while gaining elevations slowly until it merges with the old trail. For the next 1500ft it gets down to business. We hit new snow at around 3300ft making for most unpleasant travel. The trail is moderately brushy which was compounded by the wet heavy snow plastered to everything. At around 4300ft the trail crosses two branches of Chatter Creek. The first we managed by scooting across a well placed log. The second crossing gave us much more trouble we were forced to drop down quite a ways before we found a suitable crossing. After the crossing the trail became much harder to follow but I managed to keep us on route until well into the basin. There was enough snow in the basin that following the trail became unimportant. Grindstone is a huge mountain and it was very inspiring for me to see it plastered with new snow. By now the weather had warmed well into the 50's giving me plenty worry about the avy conditions. Soon my fears were realized when we heard some healthy avy's let go. It was apparent that time and the snow conditions were not on our side so we hunkered down at 5400ft for an extended lunch. It was simply amazing waiting for the next slide to release. Our route was clearly in front of us and it will still be there next time I try. The way out went rather quickly and we had much less trouble with the creek crossing even though the water was much higher. We both were suprised when there was hardly any signs that it had snowed on the lower reaches of the trail.




approx 8 miles 2800+ of climb 5:30 car to car





Document Actions