12 Months of Skiing

Yesterday I went skiing on the Muir Snowfield on Mt. Rainier and it marked my 12th consecutive month of skiing in Washington. This is the second time I've skied every month of the year (although, not in back-to-back years) and it can sometimes start to feel a bit like a chore in September and October. Fortunately, the Cascades received early-season snowfall this past week and it greatly improved the conditions compared to last month.

In September, Dustin and I went up onto the Muir Snowfield and found sun-cupped snow covered in a layer of volcanic dust. Not the greatest skiing conditions, but it was a beautiful day to be out.

Yesterday, with probably about 8 - 12 inches of new snow, the sun cups and dust were well buried but there were rocks hiding just enough to trick you into thinking you could let it rip. Dustin and I were conservative and tried to protect our bases. Other skiers were a little more bold and will be paying a local ski tech for it.

Let's hope the cold, snowy weather continues and many, many powder days are had!

Snowy slopes on Mt. Rainier in October

Dirty September snow on the Muir Snowfield

July: A Month of Camping

It wasn't truly a complete month of camping, but I did spend every weekend of July under the stars. Summer can take a while to get going in Seattle, so when the nice weather does finally arrive you need to seize the moment and get out there. That's what I tried to do with the month of July. Here's how it all went down:

July 6, 7 & 8 - Mt. Rainier

I climbed and skied Mt. Rainier on the first weekend of July. Mandie, Nick and I ascended the Emmons Glacier, a route I first climbed with Kyle back in 2005. This time the plan was to ski off the summit. Man, it turned to be a lot of work hauling skis all the way to top. It was definitely the toughest of the 4 times I've been up Rainier. As it always does though, that hard work paid off on the way down. Mandie and I booted back down about 1,500 ft. due to icy conditions up top before putting our skis on and cruising down to camp. Nick skied the whole route, with the exception of a spot at about 11,500 ft. where we roped back up to cross a crevassed section.

It was a challenging weekend but it felt great to accomplish the ski descent after several months of planning.

July 13, 14 & 15 - Forbidden Peak

Kyle and I teamed up to give the West Ridge of Forbidden Peak a shot on the second weekend in July. This is a route I have climbed twice in the past, but Kyle hasn't been up the classic line, so we set off to conquer it. We left Seattle on Friday night, making the mad dash to the Marblemount Ranger Station to try to secure a Boston Basin camping permit before they closed at 8 PM. We rolled into the parking lot at 7:45 and were in luck with the permit. We car camped at the National Forest campground along Cascade River Road and planned to hike up to Boston Basin Saturday morning and climb Sunday morning.

The weather proceeded to play games with us the rest of the weekend. One moment it was nice, the next it was cloudy and spitting rain. The conditions on Saturday afternoon had us questioning whether or not we'd be able to climb on Sunday but then it miraculously began clearing up around 8 PM. We watched a beautiful sunset as the clouds settled into the valley below. Spirits were high as we went to bed under clear skies.

Sunday morning was a different story though. We woke up to pour visibility and misting rain. We could barely see Forbidden. We lazed around in the tent for a couple hours discussing the possibility of climbing and turn around times if we did decide to go. A little after 8 AM the clouds began to lift, blue sky poked through and before we knew it we were standing in the hot sun. We scrambled to put our crampons on and grab our packs. Off we went.

A couple hours after leaving camp we found ourselves part way up the snow couloir that leads to the West Ridge notch where you get on the ridge. We were nearing a fairly committing spot when we heard the rumble of thunder behind us. Dark clouds were rolling in and we made the wise decision to bail before things got any worse.

We didn't get the West Ridge this time, but we can always go back!

July 20, 21 & 22 - Cascade River Road/Cascade Pass

On the third weekend in July, I tagged along on a Griggs Family Camping Extravaganza. Once again we left Seattle on Friday to get a jump on the weekend. We decided to head back out to the North Cascades and car camp near where Kyle and I had been the previous weekend. Our 2 Subarus packed with gear, beer, good food and great people rolled in the the campground around 8 PM Friday night.

Our crew was made up of Kyle, Betsy, Oliver, Katherine, Betsy's sister, Annie, and me. We ate well, drank well and had plenty of time to relax. We also conquered the 7-mile round trip hike to Cascade Pass with the 2 kiddos. Nice work Kyle and Betsy! It's inspiring to see you guys getting the little ones out in the woods at such a young age. I think this may have even been Katherine's very first camping trip!!

July 28 & 29 - Tuck and Robin Lakes

For the final weekend in July, Ben and I backpacked up to Tuck and Robin Lakes. This beautiful area has the feel of the upper Enchantments area and definitely lives up to all the hype. Tuck lake was completely melted out, but we heard reports from other campers that Robin lake was still frozen. Our plan had been to camp at Robin lake, but the thought of camping on snow had us second guessing our plan. We decided to keep on going and it paid off. We were rewarded with a beautiful camp spot near Robin lake and there was no one else around except for some mountain goats and 1 guy camped several hundred feet above us on the ridge.

That night we enjoyed a good meal and beautiful sunset. The next morning we scrambled up Granite Mountain and took in the spectacular views of Mt. Daniel, Glacier Peak, Rainier, Baker, Sloan and many more. We relaxed on the summit for more than an hour and never saw another soul. It was great.

And that's how I spent my weekends in July! I put together a photo collage of some of the highlights from the month. Enjoy!

Skiing in August

This poor blog just continues to get neglected.

In the interest of simply posting something, anything at all really, this is going to be short and sweet.

Ben, Dustin and I got in some August skiing this past weekend on Mt. Rainier. We drove down on Saturday, secured a permit from the Carbon River Ranger Station to camp in the Ptarmigan Ridge backcountry zone, then drove to Mowich Lake.

The hike from Mowich Lake to Spray Park is only 3+ miles and from there you meander through meadows full of wildflowers to find a campsite. I have visited this area 3 times now and will continue to go back. The easy access to Spray Park brings out all types of folks, but it's still not nearly as busy and Paradise or Sunrise, and in my opinion, it's more beautiful. The views of the mountain are amazing, the flowers are spectacular and the access to snow is fairly easy. The Park Service only allows 2 parties in each backcountry zone, so once the day hikers leave you really feel like you have the place to yourself.

When we reached camp on Saturday, we chilled out for several hours, taking pictures and exploring. Dustin and I threw our skis on and did a quick lap on the Flett Glacier.

We were attacked by some of the worst mosquitoes we've ever experienced in Washington and were forced to retreat to our tents early. I then discovered that my sleeping pad had sprung a leak. Needless to say, I didn't sleep that great on the hard ground.

We woke up Sunday morning to dark clouds and a few rain showers, which delayed our start a bit. Eventually the clouds blew through, the sun came out and we had great weather for the rest of the day. We left camp around 8:30, climbed the Flett Glacier, crossed onto the Russell Glacier where Ben and I skinned up to about 8,700 ft. before turning around. We had to hop a few little cracks, but other than that the route was in great shape. Views of the Mowich Glacier and Mowich Face were jaw dropping. The skiing wasn't pretty good, too!

I will post more pictures later, but here are a couple I snapped with my iPhone and ran through Instagram.

View of Mt. Rainier from near our campsite

View of Mt. Rainier and my tent

Let's Jump Start This Blog with a Post About Italy

So, I 've been saying for a long, long time now that I would get this blog going again. What better way to do so than with a post about my trip to Italy?

Back in April, I went to Italy for just over 2 weeks. This was my first time to Europe and it was an amazing experience. For the first week, I was doing the Ortler Traverse, a hut-to-hut ski tour in the Alps. The second week, I went on to Venice, Florence and Rome to do some sightseeing and eat lots of great food.

My coworker, Lulu, and her husband, Graham, were the driving force behind the trip and were nice enough to extend the invitation to me. I hemmed and hawed a bit before laying down the cash to commit, but I'm so glad I decided to go.

The plan came together like this: L and G would go over a week early with their friend, Julia, to do some skiing in Chamonix and Zermatt. Chris, Puck and I would meet up in Santa Caterina Valfurva a couple days prior to the Ortler Traverse. L, G and J would drive from Zermatt to Santa Caterina with our guides, Martin and Mike, from Pro Guiding Service, located right here in North Bend, WA. They'd pick the 3 of us up and we would continue on to the Rifugio Forni, where our adventure in the Ortler Mountains would begin.

I set off for Milan on April 6. I flew from Seattle to New York City and then on to Milan, arriving the morning of April 7. From Milan, I caught a train to Tirano, then a bus to Bormeo and yet another bus to the small town of Santa Caterina Valfurva. I stumbled my way to Thurweiser Hotel, where I met up with Chris and Puck who had spent the day skiing at the local resort. It was very long day of travel, but it all went pretty smooth, especially considering that I don't know how to say much more than grazie and ciao in Italian.

Downtown Santa Caterina Valfurva

Santa Caterina is a cool little ski town. It was pretty quiet in April, but there were some fun restaurants and bars to check out. We talked to some Italians while eating dinner. They were surprised to see Americans all they out there and had to ask what we were doing. They were friendly and introduced us to some Italian mixed drinks we just had to try.

The next day, Chris, Puck and I paid 10 euro each to catch a ride up on the gondola and then we toured out of the ski area toward Monte Sobretta (3,269m). It was nice to get out and stretch the legs and get used to the elevation. It was a cool, breezy day, but the views were spectacular. We toured up to a point at about 3,200m.

Chris, Puck and I tour out of Santa Caterina ski area

Later that day, they rest of crew cruised into Santa Caterina and picked us up and off to the Rifugio Forni we went. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. The adventure begins!

Rifugio Forni

Day 1: Toured from Rifugio Forni to Rifugio Branca. Dropped the gear we didn't need and set out on a tour up Monte Pasquale.

Incredible views all around. Taken on a tour up M. Pasquale

Day 2: Climbed Pizzo Tresero (3,594m) and skied off the summit. Returned to Rifugio Branca.

Working our way up Tresero

View from the top of Tresero

Back at Rifugio Branca taking in the view

Day 3: Toured up the moraine above Rifugio Branca in steady snow and poor visibility. Gained roughly 1,200m before turning around due to questionable snow stability.

Dinner time!

Day 4: Got up before 6 AM and left Rifugio Branca, bound for Rifugio Pizzini. Dropped the gear we didn't need at Pizzini and then climbed Monte Cevedale. Blue skies and fresh pow made for an incredible day.

Graham and Chris with Rifugio Casati and Gran Zebru in the background 

Martin on the summit of Cevedale

Day 5: Got up early for a 6 AM breakfast so we could attempt Monte Zebru, the highest peak in the area. We made good time to couloir, put on our crampons and grabbed our axes and started up. Deep snow and questionable stability turned us around. We skied back to the hut, grabbed a cappuccino, then headed back out to harvest some powder turns.

Back at Pizzini after attempting Zebru and skiing pow

Day 6: Our last day. We did a half-day tour in surprisingly good snow before heading back down the valley towards Rifugio Forni

One last meal at Rifugio Forni before driving back to the train station

At the train station, on our way back to Milan

We all spent the night in Milan and the next day I caught a train bound for Venice. Stay tuned for post about Venice, Florence and Rome!