Tusk O' Granite Aka West Granite 3.9.10

I had hoped to start this week with knocking off peaks off the Home/Back Court 100 but I had only a half day and didn't think I could fit one in. I needed something close which is becoming hard to find one that I haven't done yet. I decided that West Granite should fit in my time frame. West Granite lacks less than 100' of prominence to be included into the Home Court 100 so it is a worthy objective. I had read of a few routes but I chose the most direct line hoping to speed things along. I parked at the Pratt Lake Trailhead with only one other car in the lot. There was a light snow in the trees from the previous day but nothing substantial. The weather was a little brisk but much nicer than expected. I suited up and was off. I intended on using the trail until the first major creek crossing after the junction with the Granite Mt. Trail. I crossed the creek and made my way up a couple of switchbacks and on the last one I headed off trail. I was able to follow a fairly worn boot track under the snow cover and the both the grade and the brush were tolerable. Around 3600' the grade steepened and the brush became very annoying. The ground had a light cover of snow with the ground being very firm underneath. Trying to get a good push to bull my way through some of the thicker brush was very time consuming and frustrating. I kept getting my pack hung up and would have to untangle myself frequently. I decided on the way up that there was no way I was going to descend via this route. Finally at 4000' I hit solid snow. I switched to snowshoes but I think either booting it or crampons would have worked. Now on snow the elevation started ticking away at a much faster pace. I had good legs so I stayed on the ridgeline instead of traversing towards the nice basin to my East as I had planned. Soon I crested Red 2 and dropped 100' to the saddle. From Red 2 the summit of West Granite looked quite far away. From the saddle I pushed up the steeper slopes and very quickly I was on the summit. Now it was time to figure out how I was going to get down. I had thought of heading East and Making for Granite Mountain proper but since I had already been there many times it didn't hold any attraction. I thought of traversing the lovely basin below me and climb out of it and traverse to the Winter Route for Granite but that didn't seem appealing. I followed my ascent until I reached the saddle and I dropped to the West. I know that this is usually the route of choice for ascending West Granite so I felt pretty good about this choice. After dropping 200' I decided to take off the snowshoes and just plunge step my way down. As I headed West I tried to angle to the South to try to cut some distance off. I Traversed to a wonderful snow slope that had perfect snow for descending. As I nearly reached the bottom I turned back and looked at my steps through the otherwise untracked snow and that was the highlight of my day. Soon I reached the bottom of the snow slope and was in the trees. I crossed a creek and started looking for signs of the Pratt Lake Trail. Soon I spied a trench in the snow on the other side of the creek and when I looked down I was practically on the trail. Thankfully I joined the trench for the much longer than expected route out. Once I reached the junction to Talapus Lake the trail became exceedingly slippery and much care had to be taken. Even with this vigilance I managed to take a hard fall, but thankfully no damage was done. I had expected the weather to worsen as the day went along but the sun broke through and made for a nice walk to the car.





Approx 8 miles 3800' of climb 5:45 car to car

The Dungeon 3.2.10

When it comes to obscure you can't beat Peakbagger.com for ideas. While Dungeon would be well up the list of Homecourt 100 peaks it just lacking the benchmark prominence of 500'. With 400' of clean prominence it seemed a worthy objective. Dungeon can readily be seen from Snoqualmie pass . I believe this is the play where it derives it's name. I have to admit it took me a while to make the connection. While Dungeon sounds like a cool name for a peak it doesn't really make any literal sense. I believe that the it is a play on it's taller neighbor Rampart Ridge and the dungeon does tend to be below the castle's ramparts. If I had my choice I would have tried a day earlier when the forecasted weather seemed more cooperative, but alas we don't always get the best option. So with today's messy forecast I picked up Bruce in Preston and we were off. The drizzle evaportated into some sunny weather as we crested the pass. It seems every time I use the road that parallels on the North side of I-90 I have to park further back. There was very little snow on the road that was "closed" as much as I wanted to subtract some of the mindless road walking I for once obeyed. The road where there was snow was packed down by heavy snowmobile use the going was fast. Soon we reached our first junction and continued straight instead of following the main line. This road leads to the fisherman's trail that I have used to acess Lake Lillian and today would be our route of choice. After two hours we reached the dogleg in the road where the roads starts back to the South and here we continuted North. I half expected firm snow conditions but instead we had soft heavy snow so we shoed up. I led us best I could by memory of where I thought the trail went. I erred a bit and was following a feeder stream instead of the main water course coming from Lake Laura. We did a uncomfortable traverse across snow bridges to hit the crusty snow under the trees. Soon the going got icy and steep giving me much concern for our descent. We reached a small flat area and stopped to catch our breaths. I was able to see some signs that we were on route so I led us up a small sub ridge to some more steep areas. Feeling pretty sapped already I stopped and ate a quick lunch. Thankfully I was able to see a small gap to aim for that I surmised was the route to the lake. Once at the lake the views were worth the effort that we had expended so far.


Even though rationally I knew walking on the lake was safe I had a hard time venturing too far out on the ice. Once back on solid ground we caught our first glimpse of our summit. After crossing the outlet and another gap we were finally on open slopes. After about 200' of gain we hit a short nearly vertical slope that I could not make with my snowshoes on so I retreated a dropped the snowshoes and my pack. Once over this steep portion the grade slacked for a short ways until we reached a buttress that we bypassed on it's North side. Here again the pitch steepened and I found renewed legs. Once around the buttress the slope again slackened and I could see what I thought was the summit close at hand. The views were just beginning to open up.


Again the grade steepened which was much easier than the postholing in the flatter areas. I reached a corniced edge which I went around and finally saw our summit another 150' above us with again lesser slope. I was a bit demoralized because I thought we were about to top out so I had Bruce take over trailbreaking for the last push to the summit. Thankfully we reached the summit for some impressive views.


Running low on time I pushed the pace back to the lake and soon were making our descent back to the valley below. I wanted to avoid the icy stretches so I aimed for some more open areas of softer snow that I had avoided on the way up. I had a short tense face in descent of a slabby watercourse with rotten snow but that was a small price to pay to avoid the iced over steeper sections. Soon we were back on the road for the long slog out. For good measure the weather had been much more agreeable than expected but our luck ran out as it poured the last 4 miles back to the car. Thanks to Bruce for making this trip a success I am rather doubtful that I would have made it solo. Another wonderful day to be out. Even though the vertical on this trip was only moderate it was a very taxing day.






Approx 13 miles 3200' of climb 8:30 car to car

Bearscout 2.22.10

With company in town I had given up on going out this week. Much to my surprise my wife "suggested" I should go out and take advantage of the beautiful weather. Evidently cleaning house is much easier without two dogs and a husband to get in the way. Not to stare down good fortune I was out the door before she could change her mind. I had a plan just for this contingency and I made a quick stop to get some liquids.




I had an interesting exchange with the cashier Me " I will take one of those lottery tickets" Her " this one" Me "no that one isn't speaking to me" Her "so this one is" Me " yes it is". I went out and scratched it and not too surprising to me I won $50, which I went back in to redeem. I knew now I was going to have a great day.



The goal was Bearscout , an unnamed peak, Which lies above the head of Hansen Creek and derives it's name from the two lakes is watches over. Scout lake to the North and Bear Lake to the South. I had been up the Hansen Creek Road two weeks ago when I did Humpback so I knew I could drive to the 4wd road that I would use for my approach. The weather couldn't have been nicer and I only wore shirt and shorts for a Winter's summit, wow who would have thought. The initial portion of the road was melted with some ice but very passable. Soon the snow started and it was very firm making for easy going. I had read a few reports and I wasn't enthused with crossing Hansen Creek to get to Scout Lake and the reports of the West Ridge was the route I used. After reaching the end of the road I pushed through 300' of climb through small densely packed trees. I switched to crampons here as I crossed a small feeder creek. The trees became a litte farther spaced apart helping with the annoying factor. I drifted too far West and I popped out on a logging road at 4000' feet.

With the worst over I followed the road a short ways it's end. I angled to the SE to a wonderful stand of trees that had perfect cramponing snow. This mini glade was the highlight of the whole trip for me. The grade was easy and I quickly made the 400' to the West ridge. The rigde is open and had softer snow but nothing warranting putting snowshoes on that were to remain strapped to my back for the entire day. Most reports I read had all descended the East Ridge so I expected some sort of shenanigans but the ascent was very straightforward. At about 5000' I hit open snow slopes on the South side of the ridge. The footing was so great that I didn't bother to break out the ice axe. A slip here would have made for a long slide down. With such great snow and nothing to hinder my progress I quickly made it to the summit. I dropped pack and couldn't believe my good fortune to be on such a wonderful seat with such perfect weather. It was warm and calm and I didn't even have to add any layers.


After snapping quite a few pictures I retraced my steps back to the upper logging road. I was thinking that the reason most people descend the East ridge is to avoid the unpleasant portion of the upclimb to the West ridge. I had a brilliant idea to avoid this by walking the road at 4000' until I was closer to my car. This in the end went well but not without some tense moments. I walked for about a half mile where there were some steep snow slopes of bullet proof snow that I quickly descended only to find a small 25' cliff barring any further progress. I am sure that I could have found a way but I instead climbed 200' back to the road above me and walked for another half mile where I spied a mostly snowless descent with some open rockslide beneath that all going straight to the car. I took off the crampons and made my way down to a small basin and know I needed to drop through a swath of pygmy trees to access the rock slide beneath me. The snow was hard as a rock and I didn't want to take the time to put my crampons back on. Thankfully I reached the rocks slide which I rode to it's end and entered the more mature forest which was much more open and quickly I popped out on the road just feet from my car. Just a stunning day that I was overjoyed to be able to make it out.






Also the Hansen Creek road can only be accessed by using exit 42 and heading East on road #55. The usual route is closed for a logging operation.



Approx 6 miles 2400' of climb 5 hours car to car

Mount Kent 2.15.10

I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to make it out this week, but as it worked out I had a half day. I had seen a post from Flow looking for a partner and we exchanged information and we had a plan. I had been doing some research about some South side of I-90 peaks and saw a great report from Justus on the Duke of Kent. While I wasn't planning on doing that climb I thought a bird's eye view of the gully would be interesting. Since Mount Kent was so close it seemed like a worthy alternative. I think the standard route uses the McClellan Butte trail and meets up with some logging roads and makes it way to Alice Lakes and summits from there. In Justus report I saw the open slopes of Kent's NE side and looked like an easy ascent. I picked up Flow at the Issaquah Park and Ride and we were off.




I thought since the snow level is quite hight right now I could bypass the McClellan Butte trail altogether by using the road past the Ollalie Campground. The road was in good shape and made the mistake of not going far enough before I turned around. Had I driven another 50' I would have seen Kent's impressive North face. After turning around again I finally reached the abrupt end of the road near the washout by Alice Creek. We packed up and headed up. I was happy to miss out on 800' of gain by starting here. I was surprised that there was some patchy glare ice from the onset and we reached snow at around 2300'. There was a well worn skin/snowshoe track so the going was easy. I noticed some fresh bootprints in the snow which again was unexpected. Soon we reached the end of the road and I marvelled at the steep gully to the North of The Duke of Kent. There was a solo climber just beginning his ascent of the gulley. We instead did a descending traverse to cross Alice Creek at around 3100'.

While the snow was not deep here is was pretty crusty and held Flow's weight but not mine. After we reached a small flat area I switched to snowshoes which I kept on for the entire ascent. Flow followed behind and just stayed in boots. As I led us up I angled to the West where I was able to connect with some mostly open slopes. While the sun was out the snow was mostly stable. It was however very wet and heavy making for slow going for me. There was enough tree cover to make me disregard some of the avalanche warning signs. As we climbed the views opened up to the East. Josh started to grow weary of my less than sonic pace and started to make his own way up. His steps weren't helpful for me so I made my own way up. The going was sapping but I managed to keep the elevation ticking and soon I popped out on the summit just minutes behind Josh. The weather was as nice as one could expect for mid Feb. The wind picked up so as my usual case I snapped some quick pics and beat a hasty retreat.




I managed some low speed glissades on the way down. I really had to laugh watching Josh bound down the slopes like a kangaroo. Oh to have 17 year old legs. With my 41st just around the corner it really highlighted the difference in our ages. We made good time back to the road and I saw signs of a couple more travellers. It is good to see the area being used for something more than target practice. Thanks to Justus for the picture that inspired this trip. It really is a wonderful way to do this peak. Thanks to Josh for spending the day with myself and my ever annoying dogs. It is good to see Josh taking that boundless enthusiasm for climbing and perfecting his craft.




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