The Zipper on Lane Peak

April 17, 2016

As a first steep snow climb for Erica, this was a great objective—low commitment, short approach, awesome scenery, and just enough steepness to make it interesting. We left Seattle at 6am and hit Longmire just around 8am when the gate was scheduled to open. We geared up quickly and were moving by 8:30am or so, heading up the steep slope to the closed Stevens Canyon Road, which we followed until the bend and then left for a tromp through the woods, across the meadow, over a tenuous snow bridge across the Tatoosh Creek, and to the base of the climb at about 9:30am to gear up.

Since this was her first steeper snow climb, we short roped together and then hit the entry fan just after a party of two and a soloist, so we got a nice boot pack to follow. The party of two was headed for The Fly, so it was just us and our new friend James. We broke out a second tool at the entrance to the couloir and then headed up on snow that varied between firm and a bit sloppy, but it was never concerning and always secure. Coverage was excellent and no technical moves were needed. We poked out into the sun at the top of the couloir at 10:45am and quickly determined that the South-facing slope was not stable or safe, so we quickly headed down the descent route without bothering to tag the summit—it just wasn't worth the risk.

I was worried that we'd post hole terribly on the way back out, but the conditions stayed good for booting and we were back at the car eating lunch and having some celebratory beers by 12:30pm. A great intro climb for Erica and a nice day to be out in the park.

Worm Flows on Mount Saint Helens

April 10, 2016

I'd been meaning to get up Saint Helens for years and just hadn't prioritized it when the conditions were right until this spring. Early April seemed like a perfect time to catch it, with good snow coverage and warm enough temperatures to generate some some corn for the descent.

Dan and I drove in the night before and got some sleep in the trailhead parking lot along with a couple hundred other folks with the same Sunday plans. We started moving at about 5:20am and made the wise decision to start in trail runners since the first mile or so of the trail was melted out or patchy snow. From there, it was icy, but doable skinning to tree line and then, when it got steeper, I switched to ski crampons. Most people were booting up with skis on their backs, which seemed strange to me—ski crampons worked great and didn't catch too badly as the snow started to soften. Regardless, we all enjoyed a great view, with Adams and Hood poking up out of a sea of clouds covering everything else below.

Knowing that it'd be icy until 11am or so, we took our time and made it to the top in about 4.5 hours. I scampered over to the "true summit" despite the mountain not really having a summit anymore (I've been told summits matter...), and then hung out with the crowd, eating my sandwich and waiting for the corn to ripen.

The ski down was glorious. There was enough open territory to find fresh tracks and nature's groomer had done wonders. We were back at the car in under an hour, including the walk out. The snow cover was great—with the low angle of the trail, we could just point straight down hill and be carried through the forest like a magic carpet ride. A truly lovely Sunday on my last big volcano in Washington.

*Skinning back to the ski area boundary*

White Salmon Glacier on Mount Shuksan

April 3, 2016

After a week of high pressure and with signs of spring all around Seattle, Kelsey and I were itching to get out into the mountains. We considered Whitehorse as a good early spring adventure, but eventually decided on the White Salmon Glacier on Shuksan instead. We thought about going car to car, but decided that a night at high camp with this weather would be lovely.

We left Seattle a bit before 9am on Saturday morning and were skinning from the White Salmon Lodge by about noon. In 15 minutes, we hit the clear cut and began skiing down heavy, wet snow next to the trees until hitting a section about halfway down that was too narrow and steep for us to ski, so we switched to booting and made our way down the dry forest in true PNW mountaineering fashion. I'd been there before while climbing the North Face in July of 2013, so the territory was moderately familiar.

Soon enough, we made it out of the trees and back onto snow, which quickly brought us to the gentle valley bottom. A few stream crossings and one more set of trees later brought us to the wide-open valley with massive wet slide avalanche debris from chutes on the Shuksan Arm. We crossed these at about 2pm and headed for the bottom of the White Salmon Glacier, rounding the turn at about 2:45pm.

We hadn't made a final call on camping location, but with that much time left to ascend about 2,500 feet, it made lots of sense to head up to the top of Winne's Slide. The snow was soft, but not concerning, and made for good skinning. We dispatched the vert pretty efficiently and were at Winnie's slide at about 5pm. After a quick boot up the face, we set about digging out a campsite next to a pair of other climbers who had arrived earlier in the day.

We enjoyed a brilliant sunset while cooking dinner and then promptly tucked ourselves in for bed at about 8pm with an alarm set for 4:30am. I'd pulled the bonehead move of stopping on the drive up to buy some Vias, but had forgotten to pack them, so we had no coffee to make the early wakeup more palatable. Thankfully it wasn't too cold and the skies were clear. We left camp at about 5:15am. I remembered the section from the summit pyramid down to the top of Hell's Highway as being prime for skiing, so we carried skies on our backs and booted our way in the darkness on firm snow.

An hour brought us through Hell's Highway and onto the Sulphide Glacier just as the sun was beginning to rise over The Pickets—it was gorgeous. We arrived at the base of the summit pyramid with the other party of two just ahead of us at 7am, just as Mount Baker was beginning to get lit up in pastels from the summit downwards.

When I'd originally climbed Shuksan via the Sulhide Glacier in 2011, we had stopped short of ascending the rimed-up summit pyramid, so this was my shot at redemption in wintry conditions. It turned out to be quite civil with a whippet and a light axe. The snow was very firm and took a few kicks per step, but was nice and secure. We were standing on the top by 7:30am, enjoying great visibility in the morning light.

We retraced our steps, including an icy ski from the base of the summit pyramid to the top of Hell's Highway, and were back at camp at 9:20am. The snow was still very firm and the sun was not yet hitting the White Salmon from what we could see, so we decided to take a nap before packing up and skiing down. Unfortunately, while the top 500 feet were icy, the bottom 2,500 feet was some of the worst concrete I've experienced in the mountains—our poles would plunge 2 feet into the slush and we each fell a half-dozen times with our ultralight, matchstick skis not helping matters. It was tough, but we eventually made it to the valley floor, back across the debris and streams, up through the forest, and back to the ski area at 2pm. It was an awesome early-season adventure despite the ski conditions on the way down.