Mt. Hood Summit and Ski Descent

The winter-long pattern of warm rain and crappy skiing conditions relented this week as a high pressure system moved into the area. I made the executive decision to take a mental health day and cut out for a climb and ski descent of Mt. Hood. I called my buddy, Matt Bedrin, who's trying to become the first person to climb and ski the highest 40 volcanoes in Cascadia, so I knew he'd be game for a last minute, mid-week outing.

We geared up and left the car at 2 am, only seconds before the first and only yard sale of the day. Walking across the parking lot, Matt hit a pocket of black ice and went down hard. My brain barely had time to think "be careful" before I hit the ground a split second later. With bruised egos, scraped elbows and a groggy heads, we picked up our stuff and started the slog up the Palmer.

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

We prepped for a battle, as the wind was blowing 20-30 mph from Timberline Lodge all the way up to the top of the Palmer, making for some cold, dark skinning conditions.

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

With an east wind, we were able to find a little shelter near the lift shack at the top of the Palmer, and we stopped to fuel up. The cold set in pretty quick, so we geared back up and started moving after a quick rest. 15-20 minutes later, just as we were warming back up, the wind dropped to a dead calm. At first I thought it was a brief lull, but from there on out we were treated to excellent, calm skies.

We got to the Hogsback as the sun rose and stared up at the blank canvass of a mountain, wiped clean by the snows earlier in the week.

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From the Hogback, we punched in a boot track up towards the Old Chute.

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

We had the whole mountain to ourselves and were treated to amazing views of the Cascades and surrounding foothills - mid-winter solitude at its best.

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

5000' of vertical was just too temping, and we eventually bid farewell to the summit and started the ski descent. The upper section was survival sideslipping, but we eventually found the goods on the steep slopes of the Old Chute and then the Hogsback. Great turns in a beautiful setting.

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From there we got some photo ops at Illumination Rock and then charged the ripper corduroy back to the Lodge. Great Day!

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

Good luck to Matt on the Cascadia 40!

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

Valhallas Reprise

I haven't updated this in awhile, so I figured I'd post some photos from an aborted trip to the Valhallas in eastern BC earlier this fall. Kristin and I had this trip on the radar screen for awhile, but when the time came the funk I'd been harboring in my lungs cut the legs out from under us. Bummer, but that's the way it goes. We still spent a couple of glorious days up at Mt. Gimli and managed to get up the ridge of Niselheim. Good times and inspiration for a return trip.

From Valhallas

From Valhallas

From Valhallas

From Valhallas

From Valhallas

From Valhallas

From Valhallas

From Valhallas

From Valhallas

Blowin in the Wind in Joshua Tree

Mother Nature plays some cruel tricks in the desert. The fall rains held off a couple of extra weeks in the Pacific Northwest, but by the end of October they had finally rolled in, and Kristin and I were looking forward to some warm crack climbing during our upcoming trip to Joshua Tree. Each day we would pull up the weather report and each day we would see endless days of sunshine and highs in the 70s.

We flew into San Diego on Sunday evening and spent the night with our friends Keith and Beth, who provided us with camping gear for the rental car and a morning tour of Ocean Beach. Monday morning, we drove out to Jtree in the Ford Focus, pulling in to find the glorious weather we had dreamed of. We grabbed a site at Hidden Valley and pulled out the gear for a quick romp up the Eye.

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

The next morning, we woke up to wind - lots of wind. Not to be deterred, we headed out to Lost Horse and Bird on a Wire. Great climb! Cold as hell. We forced our way up the 300 ft of climbing in sustained 20-30 mph winds saved only by the fleeting warmth of the desert sun.

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

That afternoon, the clouds moved in, and it blew like hell for the next three days. Gusts to 40, periodic clouds, highs in the mid-50s - brrrrr. We managed to climb a few pitches each day.

Wonderland of Rocks (Mental Physics and Room to Shroom)

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

Real Hidden Valley (Loose Lady and Illusion Dweller)

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

And despite the wind, we still enjoyed the scenery of JTree.

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

And when we left? Well, the hands tell the story. We still managed to get in some pitches.

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

Yeah, we wish the weather had cooperated a bit more, but you take what you get in the desert. JTree's a great place for a Fall escape, and it was kind of like alpine climbing without the mountains, commitment, approaches, descents and exposure.

Vesper Peak - North Face

Vesper Peak - North Face
July 19, 2009

Drew Hansen and I climbed the North Face of Vesper Peak over the weekend. On Thursday morning, I flew up to Fairanks, AK to meet with clients. By Friday afternoon, I was back on the plane to PTown, touching down at about 11 pm after getting bumped from my original shuttle from Seattle. By 8 am, I was up and packing for a weekend of climbing in the North Cascades. We got in a few pitches at Index before crashing at the trailhead for an early start on Sunday.

Drew and I were looking for an alpine day trip with an interesting objective, and Vesper fit the bill perfectly. Situated off the Mountain Loop Highway in the North Cascades, the peak offers spectacular views of the range, a short glacier crossing, an incredible north facing slab and excellent positions. Here's an overview of the route:

From Vesper Peak - July 09

We gained the rock from the snow finger in the middle of the glacier. We found pretty much the only spot we could see where the moat looked reasonably safe to cross. Even there, a fall would have been real ugly, and we focused hard as we stepped across the gaping slot and onto the rock with our aluminum crampons.

From there, we headed up low angle slabs for about half a pitch looking for a way to cut into the next gully to the left. The gully straight up above us looked unpleasant, but we didn't really see many other options. We ended up climbing a mid-fifth class, right facing corner that splits the two gullies. It basically heads straight up through the shadows from the top of the snow finger in the photo above. I managed to lead up on fairly sound rock that was coated in lichen and moss. Luckily it was dry, so we got pretty bomber hand jams and cam placements in moss covered cracks - a good alternative to tape!

From the top of that pitch, we pretty much simul-climbed the rest of the route with one or two stops for navigation and re-racking. The final corner was definitely the highlight, with fun moves on bomber rock. Stepping out of the corner, I topped out to a field of alpine wildflowers just under the summit block with not a soul in sight. Ahhhhhh.

Here are some more pics:

Sperry in morning light.

From Vesper Peak - July 09

From Vesper Peak - July 09

Looking up at the switchbacks towards Headlee Pass

From Vesper Peak - July 09

Drew on the way up the pass

From Vesper Peak - July 09

The cool tarn in the basin under the SE side of Vesper Peak.

From Vesper Peak - July 09

Vesper Lake under the N side of the peak.

From Vesper Peak - July 09

Drew crossing the glacier in the morning light.

From Vesper Peak - July 09

Looking back down towards the glacier.

From Vesper Peak - July 09

From Vesper Peak - July 09

Looking up the final corner. We simul climbed through this section, which is maybe 300-400 feet long.

From Vesper Peak - July 09

Looking back down the corner - this is maybe mid-fifth class but really very easy.

From Vesper Peak - July 09

Summit flowers

From Vesper Peak - July 09

From Vesper Peak - July 09

Sperry Peak

From Vesper Peak - July 09

Gratuitous summit shot

From Vesper Peak - July 09

On the way back out

From Vesper Peak - July 09

From Vesper Peak - July 09

All in all, the climb took us 9 hours car-to-car, but it could be done much quicker than that. We took a wrong turn in the basin by the tarn and ended up spending an extra 30-45 minutes finding the notch. We ate a leisurely lunch on the summit and generally took it easy enjoying the fantastic weather and peaceful setting. The descent to the glacier looks kind of intimidating, but it was fairly straight forward on 3rd class ledges that dumped you out onto lower angle snow. The moat was definitely the crux followed by tricky routefinding to get out of the gullies. From there, its a romp up low angle slabs and corners to the summit followed by an easy walk off. Great day in the hills!