Experience Field Trip 2015

Today was the Experience Field Trip for the 2015 Alpine Scrambling Course I was helping teach through the Everett Mountaineers. After having covered all the basics it was the students turn to show what they know and take the lead on a real scramble. We had several groups going to different locations, I went with the group going to Guye Peak at Snoqualmie Pass.

Guye Peak is a short but steep climb and normally this time of year still has lots of snow. But not this year. Not a single instance of snow until we reached 4800 feet, and then it was just small patches where the sun doesn't shine on a regular basis. There was one 30 foot section that was pretty steep that required good ice axe skills, and that was pretty much it. The rest was pretty much a walk up.

We took the trail from the Alpental ski area up to Guye Peak, and on our way down we went back down the other side (on purpose) out through the Common Wealth Basin. The weather, temperature-wise, was excellent. Not too cold, and not too hot even when we got moving. But the visibility was non existent. Lots of fog in the parking lot, and once we reached the summit, you literally couldn't see anything but white all around. It was actually kind of eerie, looking off the edge and not seeing anything.

Despite not having a great view at the top, it was a great day with a great group. Lots of fun, and it was a good end to the course. Look forward to scrambling with these students in the coming summer and upcoming years. Great job everyone!

Region: Snoqualmie Region, Snoqualmie Pass
Distance: 6 miles
Elevation Gain: 2100 ft
Peak Elevation: 5168 ft
Difficulty: S2, T3
Pass Requirement: Yes, Northwest Forest Pass

As always check out all the photos of the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.

Snow Field Trip 2015

As a volunteer instructor for the Mountaineers I went up to Mt. Baker to help teach snow travel and ice ax arrest skills as part of the alpine scrambling course over the past weekend. The snow fall this year has been alarmingly low and the snowpack has suffered greatly. Luckily if you gain enough elvation you can still find some snow.

We began the weekend with basic travel on snow, how to hold and walk with an ice ax, how to step, where to step, traveling up, down, and across snowy/icy hills. We then got into glissading and how to stop yourself; ice ax arresting. We spent a good portion of the first day then hurling ourselves down the mountain while trying to stop ourselves from sliding too far. We went down on our butts, on our stomachs, on our backs, with our pack, without our packs, every way you could think, and learned how to stop ourselves from sliding to our demise.

After  good long while of sliding down the mountain we had a short demonstration on how to dig a snow pit to learn about different snow layers and avalanche conditions. After that informative display we headed back to the lodge to eat some good food and rest for the next day.

The next day we did some more ice ax arrest practice, and then we took a short hike up to Huntoon Point. It was a short scramble, but gave the students a great opportunity to practice navigation skills, and all their newly learned snow travel skills. Each student took turns leading and got the pleasant opportunity to kick steps in the new snow.

The views form Huntoon Point were pretty awesome with the clear blue skies and mountains in every direction. Some of which were Mt. Baker and the allegedly most photographed mountain in the world: Mt. Shuksan. It's easy to see why it may-or-may-not be the most photographed mountain...

At the top of Huntoon Point we ate a quick lunch, and socialized as a big group, and then had the joy of glissading down one at a time. That is by far the funnest part of snow scrambling. Then we headed back down to our cars and drove home. It was  great weekend and had lots of fun and sun.

Region: North Cascades, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
Distance: 6 miles
Elevation gain: 1200 ft.
Peak Elevation: 5150 ft.
Difficulty: Easy
Pass requirement: None.

As always check out all the photos from the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.

Rock Field Trip 2015

I volunteer as a trip leader and alpine scrambling instructor for the Mountaineers. This year we took our rock field trip to a new location a few miles away from our old location that we have been using for many decades. So this year was special, and presented new challenges with familiarizing ourselves with a new site and how to best utilize it. But after much planning and hard work buy several other volunteers we had our trip planned and were ready to teach.

We taught the students taking the course how to traverse on rock fields and slabs, basic bouldering moves like mantling, stemming, counter pressure, wedging and others, using a map and compass, route finding, leave-no-trace, ropes and knots and belaying using a hasty harness.

The day was perfect, it was clear and blue skies as far as the eye could see. It was warm with a cool breeze. We had lots of fun with the new students and things worked out pretty well for being at a new location for the first time. After the learning was over we headed down to eight mile campground and had a BBQ and enjoyed good times and tasty food. Lots of fun!

Region: Central Cascades, Leavenworth Area
Pass requirement: None

As always check out all the photos from the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.

AIARE 1 Course

So I spent the weekend with the Mountaineers up at Mt. Baker for an AIARE 1 (Avalanche Education) course. The weather was cloudy, about 34 degrees and snowed lightly off and on. Visibility was very limited and the amount of snow on the mountain was unseasonably low. But there was enough to demonstrate the concepts of reading terrain, traveling safely, beacon searches, avalanche hazards and making observations including looking at different layers in the snow pack.

We had tons of fun with our group. We all had snowshoes, except our two instructors who were on back-country skis. That was good to learn how to travel with skiers, since they often can't travel the same paths as snowshoers. We got to plan our own destination and figure out how we would travel avoiding specific avalanche hazards and choosing terrain wisely and route finding in near white-out conditions.

In the end, I learned a lot about avalanche dangers, how to spot avalanche conditions, how to trip plan effectively, how to travel in safe terrain and how to respond in an emergency situation. I had a lot of fun and got to meet some great people. The only thing I could have hoped for was better weather and snow conditions. But you can't control that.

As always check out all the photos from the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.

Wedge Mountain

Today we woke up early in the backyard of a fellow Mountaineer who lives in Leavenworth. 7 of us piled into two vehicles and drove out to our destination: Wedge Mountain. We drove east on HWY 2 then south on HWY 97 and then we began our dirt road trek up the mountain to the beginning of the trail. This dirt road is not for the weak at heart. It begins easy enough climbing slightly with nice even gravel but as you take multiple off-shoots of road the road becomes less friendly. It is very steep in some spots with extremely deep ruts from tires spinning in the mud. Trees and shrubs are overgrown and engulf the road, there is nowhere to pull off if you encounter another car coming the opposite direction. Needless to say it was a major feat just to get to the trail. I would strongly advise a 4WD, high clearance and short wheelbase vehicle if at all possible and try going when you know the road will be dry. That will significantly increase your chances of making it to the top.

At last both our cars made it to the top (we were prepared for the poor road conditions.) The hike is a pretty steady climb the whole way as it follows a fairly defined trail. Once we reached the ridge, we took a break and took some pictures of the amazing views of the Enchantments. Snow Lakes, The Temple, Little Annapurna, MeClellan Peak are all right there just staring right at you. Beautiful vistas to say the least. Once on the ridge, the trail becomes less defined and hard to stay on, especially due to past fires and lots of downed trees. So we meandered our way through thick fog up the ridge toward what we assumed was the high point on the ridge.

Once we neared the peak we found ourselves a little nervous about our next task. The trail (or what was left of it) was completely gone and what stood before us was some pretty sketchy rock with some definite exposure that we had to scramble up if we were to reach the top. We looked for the best route up and went for it. After we got going, it seemed a lot easier than it looked, and we all made it the top with no scares or issues. Once at the peak we relaxed, took some pictures, ate lunch and all signed the summit registry at the top. We sat there for quite a while and I started to get cold and stiff. (I wasn't expecting the cold weather that we had.) Once we started moving again my knee was starting to bother me a little bit, I think we sat too long and my knee got stiff. But we all managed to get down the peak and back onto the trail safely. On our way back down the ridge the fog cleared up and the sun started to shine and we were able to get some better pictures of the peaks and lakes off in the distance. The hike back down the mountain was pretty uneventful and easy going. I think after this scramble some of the rookies in the group (myself included) gained a little bit of confidence after climbing that technical bit that looked quite scary. So far this has been one of my favorite scrambles and I would certainly do it again. (While its dry, only so I could ensure I would make it up the sketchy road.)

Region: Central Cascades, Leavenworth Area
Distance: 6 miles
Elevation Gain: 2400 ft
Peak Elevation: 6900 ft
Difficulty: S2 T3
Pass Requirement: Likely none, too far out on a terrible road?

As always check out all the photos of the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.

First Mother Mountain/Castle Peak

Today started early, I had to drive down from Everett to Mt. Rainier National park to get started around 8:00 am. But I've gotten used to waking up early, even on weekends. I met some others from the Mountaineers group and we headed up to Knapsack Pass from Mowich Lake. It was a steady but short climb from the lake to the pass. Once you reach the pass you can see a sliver of Mt. Rainier standing tall directly behind some other peaks.

From the pass we climbed some more toward our first destination for the day; First Mother Mountain.

The climb up First Mother wasn't too terribly difficult or scary. Other than some sliding loose rock and shear cliffs to your death, it was pretty straight forward to the peak. Once we were at the peak we relaxed in the sunshine, had a quick snack and enjoyed some amazing views.

Our next summit was to be Castle Peak. We climbed back down First Mother and tried to find the best way along the ridge over to our destination. After a bit of searching and discussion among the group about our route we did a little bush whacking and found a boot path toward Castle Peak. We followed that along the ridge right to the base of the peak and from there made our ascent up to Castle Peak. The climb to Castle Peak was up a rock field and hard to know which way to go. But eventually our group found the best way up it through great teamwork. By this time it was midday and was getting quite hot. So after we made it to the top we took a quick rest and headed back down to the boot path along the ridge. From there we headed down, blazing our own trail through some meadows toward Mowich Lake. We ended up on the opposite end of lake (which was planned) after descending from the mountain. From here we got onto the well maintained trail and hiked back to our starting point.

It was a good day to be out in the mountains and in such close proximity of Mt. Rainier. It was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine, good company and great views. Unfortunately there were A LOT of bugs. I got pretty well devoured by mosquitoes. I have to say that was the only downside to an otherwise magnificent day.

Region: Mt. Rainier National Park
Distance: 5.2 miles
Elevation Gain: 2465 ft.
Peak Elevation: 6480 ft.
Difficulty: S2, T3   
Pass Requirement: Yes, Mt. Rainier National Park Pass.

As always check out all the photos from of the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.

Kendall Peak

This morning I went out with some members of the Mountaineers group. We set out as a group of 10 with a goal to summit Kendall Peak near Snoqualmie Pass. We started out at commonwealth campground and vaguely followed the Pacific Crest Trail for the first part in the snow. Then we made our own path straight up the mountain aiming for the peak paying no attention to the much longer route of the PCT. 

After we cleared the forest we tried to take a bearing on the peak but it was a complete white out. The snow was white, the clouds were white and low; visibility was very poor. So we headed in what we thought was the direction of Kendall Peak. Trudging up the mountain in the soft snow was tough work if you were up front doing all the work. We each took turns making steps up the steep mountain gaining the last 1600 feet of elevation in 1 mile.

Eventually the clouds cleared a little and we were able to see where we going a little better. We got toward the top and got to the rock section that was snow free. Here we had to scramble up the rocks to the top of the peak. We were very lucky once we got to the top the clouds cleared up and we were able to see surrounding peaks and lakes. The forecast was calling for rain and luckily we didn't get any.

Unfortunately when we cleared the forest and tried to find our route we were off a little bit and ended up on a false summit of Kendal Peak; one was that 50 feet of elevation short of Kendall Peak. But it was too sketchy to try to traverse over the actual summit and time was too short to descend and find another route to the actual summit. The group consensus was we were "close enough" for the day. We would come back another time to try for the actual summit.

Coming down was a little boy dream. Sit on your butt and slide down. We descended about 1000 feet in 5 minutes. After the initial glissade it got a little sketchy trying to slide in-between trees. But we all made it back safe and sound and had lots of fun.

Region: Snoqualmie Pass
Distance: 7 miles (total distance)
Elevation Gain: 2750 feet
Peak Elevation: 5650 feet
Difficulty: Difficult
Pass Requirement: Yes, most all passes honored.

As always check out all the photos from of the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.