Castleton Tower, North Chimney

Castleton Tower, North Chimney

After driving half the day on Friday and most of the day on Saturday Ben and I got into Moab Saturday afternoon and went to climb Wall Street before it got dark. Climbing the sandstone of southern Utah is as similar to the granite of Washington as geography between the regions is. Crack climbing technique doesn’t change much, but unfortunately I have none of it. No matter though, we’re all warmed up now so we…

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April Fools Tower, Snow Creek Wall

April Fools Tower, Snow Creek Wall

Located on the north end of Snow Creek Wall, April Fools Tower is one of several towers in the immediate area and constitutes a long approach, a short climb and a spectacular rappel. If your goal is to climb everything in in the area it should definitely be on your list. If your goal is to climb the good climbs in the area you can probably wait on this one. Starting at the Snow Creek…

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Mt Adams, South Face

Mt Adams, South Face

We had planned to do this one a couple weeks ago but the weather was bad. This weekend however delivered perfect climbing conditions so we trekked south for a Mt Adams climb. Leaving Seattle on a Friday is a loosing prospect to begin with. Then there is the location of the mountain itself. It is said that Glacier Peak is the most remote volcano in Washington, but I think I would rather do a few…

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Climbing, Mt Hood, Touring

Cooper Spur, Mt. Hood

by  in Climbing, Mt Hood, Touring
We’re standing on the top of Oregon’s tallest volcano which by itself isn’t that impressive considering over 10,000 people attempt the summit every year but our path was windy one and for awhile the whole thing seemed unlikley so for now we are just happy to be here.  The Cooper Spur route on Mt Hood doesn’t get traveled nearly as much as its cousin route to the south. The steepness of the route combined with…
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Touring, Snoqualmie Pass

Holy Diver

by  in Touring, Snoqualmie Pass
Having both been recently unencumbered by employment, Rory and I made plans for a weekday tour.   Monday’s forecast was for Sunshine and temperatures approaching 60F, so we brainstormed higher mileage tours that would avoid south facing, large and/or steep terrain in the afternoon.  The prior weekend was unseasonably warm as well, so we figured any good snow would be hidden on north aspects. We settled on a loop in the Aplental backcountry with descents down a…
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Washington, Touring, Snoqualmie Pass

Chair Peak Circumnavigation, Alpental Valley

by  in Washington, Touring, Snoqualmie Pass
We went out in Alpental Valley on Saturday. For me, it was my first time out there on a splitboard. Our objective was to Circumnavigate Chair Peak. We left from the upper parking lot at 8am and split up into the valley following the groomed track until it ended. At this point split left until we met up with the main skin track just below Source Lake. The East Shoulder of Chair Peak was pretty…
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British Columbia, Selkirk Mountains, Touring

Asulkan Hut, Rogers Pass

by  in British Columbia, Selkirk Mountains, Touring
I booked three nights at the Asulkan Hut after the third separate conversation when it came up last year. The hut was built in 1995  so who knows why it took so long to get on my radar but I guess I’m still relatively new to British Columbia huts so away we go, to Rogers Pass. The long term forecast had looked nice for the weekend of our trip. A couple feet of new snow…
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Crystal Mountain, Touring

Silver Basin, Crystal Mountain

by  in Crystal Mountain, Touring
Just a quick update on early season conditions so far. We went out in Silver Basin at Crystal on Saturday. There were probably about 50 cars in the parking lot when we arrived a little after 9am. It was wanting to snow so badly while we geared up but it was coming down mostly as mixed precip. Our group of 10 split up the Quicksilver chair line more or less in some very heavy snow…
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North Cascades, Climbing, Movies

Inspiration Peak, East Ridge

by  in North Cascades, Climbing, Movies
This year Tim and I decided we wanted to learn the true meaning of Labor Day so while we could have spent our three day weekend climbing anywhere we chose the Pickets, a range in the North Cascades known by climbers for its remoteness and inaccessibility. In 1931 when all of the major peaks in the Tetons had established routes the Pickets saw their first recorded technical ascent. When people talk about the wild of…
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Climbing

Prusik Peak, South Face, Beckey-Davis

by  in Climbing
The reviews are in, Prusik peak is as good as they say. Chase and I climbed it last Thursday (7/20) via the Beckey-Davis route on the south face. I would summarize the route as sustained alpine granite fun. The following is a summary of approach/descent and a pitch-by-pitch recap of the climb. Hopefully this helps the next aspiring Beckey wannabe find their way up the route. Approach – we started from Snow Creek TH at…
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North Cascades, Climbing

North Face of Burgundy Spire, Washington Pass

by  in North Cascades, Climbing
The plan was do to a Paisano Burgundy link up, but nothing that day quite went according to plan. Andrew, Tim, James and I slept at the trailhead 4mi east of WA pass, and were walking by 5:45 Saturday morning. The trail starts by scrambling down past cairns to Early Winters Creek, then weaving up through the woods to the bivy camp. The camp is roomy and has excellent views of the Liberty Bell group…
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North Cascades, Climbing

Southwest Rib w variation, South Early Winters Spire

by  in North Cascades, Climbing
Tim and Andrew beat us to the same summit up the same route two days earlier, so David and I rolled into Monday with some helpful beta for the climb. In hopes of a warmer climb we opted for a later start, leaving from the trailhead at 7am. We followed the Blue Lake trail for 1.5mi, until the terrain opened up and we had views of the Liberty Bell group. From there we took the…
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Climbing, Touring, Mt. Rainier

Success Glacier Couloir, Mount Rainier

by  in Climbing, Touring, Mt. Rainier
Success Glacier Couloir on Mount Rainier. A friend of a friend had heard about it. Finding information on the route wasn’t easy; a google search pulled up a couple dated trip reports with helpful beta but very little to cross-reference against. Skiing down the south-facing couloir seemed straight-forward (and fun!) but climbing up was more like choose your own adventure. We chose the Kautz Cleaver for the ascent with two goals in mind: 1) ski…
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Olympic Mountains, Touring, Movies

East Basin, The Brothers

by  in Olympic Mountains, Touring, Movies
Looking west from Seattle, The Brothers rises up from the sound to 6650 ft. The East Basin is the obvious line from the top and even from 40 miles away is clearly a sicky. After a very wet March and April with few breaks in the weather, Easter Sunday was forecasted for sun so we camped out at the Lena Lake trailhead the night before and hit the trail at 4am for what would be a 14…
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Touring

Emerald Bay Chutes, Lake Tahoe

by  in Touring
Lake Tahoe is California’s premier summer playground. Flooded with tourists longing for beachy days, boozy boat rides and immaculate mountain views, it can be a challenge to find solitude in these mountains. Winter, however, is when the real magic happens. Luckily for Mark and I people seem to shy away from the piles of snow and cooler temps of winter. Despite the cold and stormy weather that had defined the season, cold temps were not…