Temple Mt. 4.13.10

While this was most assuredly not the goal for the day it did provide a fun outing. I had an early morning meeting to attend on my day off so that ate up some valuable time. One of my co-workers had shown some interest in joining me so I waited after my meeting for Blane to arrive losing even more time. The weather was a steady downpour so I had doubted Blane would be in for a long day in the rain. To his credit the weather was never an issue. I had some reports of recent climbing activity in the area and the snow conditions didn't seem like they were going to be very good. I thought it best to once again pirate someone else's hard work. I had heard that a group at tried for Cleveland via the traditional logging road approach so I thought that would be a suitable goal. I was able to drive to the first switchback putting the Subaru's ground clearance to the test. I did a 100 point turn and parked. The rain had stopped enroute and the skies seemed to becoming brighter. We walked the road for around 1.5 miles before switching to snowshoes. The going was easy and we made good time. I grew weary of the road walk so we cut some switchback and actually found good snow conditions in the shelter of the trees. After cutting one switchback we popped out on the road to find no trench. I had assumed previous group had used the road until it's end. I wish I would have continued on the road but I wanted to use as much of the broken trail as I could. We headed left(down) and rejoined the trench. I was amazed that I could barely follow the trench in the trees. After attending the Mariner's game yesterday with my wife and not seeing the kids for the entire day, I started to feel guilty because I knew that I would be back to work and wouldn't see them too much in the next two days. I decided that Temple Mt. would have to do to allow some time with the little ones. I thankfully was able to spend a couple hours of great family time before they went to bed.






Approx 8 miles 1800' of climb 4 hours car to car

Maloney Ridge Road 3.30.10

After a most disturbing week of work, I needed to get out and think some things through. With all the new snow and the high avy dangers climbing anything seemed out of the question. I desperatly wanted to stretch my legs however so I decided to see all this new snow first hand. As I made my way up US 2 I couldn't believe that there was snow just outside of Index. I made my way up the Foss River Road and then turned on the road that leads to Maloney Lookout. I was able to drive to around 2400' before I decided that the snow was deep enough to warrant stopping. I packed up and booted my way up the snowy road. The snow depth increased quickly and I switched to snowshoes. The weather went from heavy snow to sunshine to heavy snow back to sunshine. After reaching the junction I stayed on the road leading to Evans Lake. The snow here was easily more than 2' which made the beagle have to bunny hop from one of my steps to the next. I had to laugh looking back and seeing that my prints were as deep as he is tall. I half intended on going to Maloney Lakes or even the little bump to the NE of the upper lake. After pushing the beagle a little further I realized that would be too much for the little guy. Thankfully I was able to sort out my thoughts and made it home to spend some extra time with the family.




Approx 5 miles 800' of climb

Miller River Road 3.23.10

With the nice weather predicted for today I was excited to get out and start subtracting some peaks off my list. I went to Preston to pick up Bruce only to realize that he PM'd that he wouldn't be able to make it. I intended on a pretty stout off trail day and it lessened my enthusiasm to being solo. I pressed on making good time to my parking spot at the start of the West Miller River Road despite nearly falling asleep. After a 10 minute power nap I was recharged and ready to go. I have a strong dislike for the WMRR because of the rough slippery nature of it. I knew I wasn't going to be spending too much time on it so that lessened my angst. The plans was to leave the road at around 1600' just after the fresh rockslide . On the map it is just after where the the creek used to flow. I gave some thought of emulating the Quartz Mt report I had read recently and using the gully itself. I had read two reports of using the ridge and both made it sound steep but uneventful. I found the initial portion steep but mostly open. Upon reaching some mossy slabs I wove my way through them and began to see this efficient route was much more than expected. I pushed on for a short ways before I started to feel like a solo trip was not a wise choice. I traversed back towards the gully and was able to catch a glimpse higher up and it seems like it would work. I gave some thought of dropping into the gully but it was nearly 100' below me. I decided that the day would be better spent doing some chores at home. As I descended it became clear to me that I had made a wise choice. The moss on the steep slopes is not well mated with the slabs making for some unnerving descending. Thankfully I made it back to the road and stopped long enough to soak up some sun and eat my lunch. After making it back to the car I decided to see how far I could drive up the Miller River Road and surprising to me I could drive all the way to the end.




Approx 2 miles 800' of climb

Teanaway Ridge 3.16.10

I had been monitoring both the weather and avy conditions all week trying to get a trip that would go. Thankfully the avy conditions lessened enough to give me lots of options. After enjoying a balmy 66 degree day on Monday I could feel the winds of change. The forecast looked like the rain and wind would hold out until the afternoon giving me some hope. After the wind kicked up in the evening I was sure that the rain would arrive early. Yet when I awoke it was warm calm and dry. I picked up Bruce in Preston and had a debate on where to go. I had hoped to try for Cleveland but I was unsure if the weather would hold out long enough for that. The clincher was when Bruce asked me about my other attempts for Cleveland and why I hadn't been successful. My reply was it was that it pouring out. To that his reply was maybe we shouldn't do that. So East it was. I had been looking over the quads and noticed that I hadn't done Teanaway Ridge 4943' so there it was. The weather was actually cold when we reached the Iron Creek/Hovey Creek junction off of HY 97. Shortly after the sun peeked over the trees it warmed considerably and remained dry and windless for the entire day. We booted up the Hovey creek road passing one junction and then reached a second one that matched my map. Heading up the road started going the wrong direction so I led us up through the freshly logged area for 300' of climb until I saw another road beneath us. Thinking this surely must be the right road we gave up some hard earned elevation to reach the road. I then decided that that didn't look right either. We started off cross country for a short way before I decided thigh deep snow in a recent logged area didn't suit me. Becoming frustrated I led us back to the Hovey Creek Road for plan B. We walked the road until we reached a junction where the main line had been bermed to keep motorized traffic from continuing. The spur heading to our right looked interesting because it didn't appear on my map. We followed this to it's end. The area above us was open and mostly snow free. It was somewhat steep and the footing was soft and loose but it afforded quick elevation gain. We quickly reached the ridgeline just West of 4002'. We climbed a short steep snow slope to reach a well defined ridgeline which we followed towards the day's goal. After pushing through a short area of brush we reached some open slopes for the last 300' to the summit. While 4943' is a nice seat for regional views the tree cover prevents easy viewing. I managed to contort myself to catch some clear views through the branches of the trees. We had a quick lunch and didn't waste much time making it back to the car in less than 90 minutes. After being pounded by wind and rain on the ride home I was thankful to take Bruce's advice and head East. We surely would have had a miserable time West of the crest..






Approx 7 miles 2300' of climb with detours 5:15 car to car