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!
1 comment:
Yes, it was Katherine's first camping trip, 3 months old! And thanks to you it was a super fun and successful trip! Thanks for all your help and being AWESOME!
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