Category Archives: Central Cascades

The Tooth- South Face

Posted on by
Reply

The original plan was to climb the northeast buttress of Chair Peak but it was too warm lately and had recently snowed a good bit.  So the steep North Face of Chair was not in shape.  Michael and I switched our plans to “The Tooth”.  Either way, I was happy; I hadn’t climbed either and was looking forward to a technical climb be it snow, ice, or, in this case, rock.

We arrived at the trailhead at a little before 6am and ran into Dan Smith and his climbing companion Chris who had ideas of climbing either Chair Peak or the northeast slabs on The Tooth.  So, the four of us began hiking up the valley heading towards Source Lake.  The morning was quite overcast.  Actually, in reality, it was forecasted to be a great day.  We just happened to be hiking in legendary Snoqualmie Ice Fog.

The hike up to the Tooth was really pleasant, especially in these winter conditions.  Upon arriving at tiny Source Lake we ran into another party of four who were also heading up to the Tooth.  Beyond the Lake, a broad open slope appears.  This is the area that guidebooks warn of avalanche danger.  Everything seemed in decent shape today and we continued up.  We eventually turned hard left and began heading back south in the opposite direction ascending rapidly.  At another high slope we ran into at least two other parties.  Dan and Chris began heading off in their other direction and Michael and I, moving pretty fast, past the other parties nearby. 

After crossing a small ridge and hopping into a gully with a creek running through it, we finally came upon Great Scott basin at the base of The Tooth.  As we crested the lip of the basin, we passed the first party that set out to climb the Tooth.  This was a group of four of the “Mountaineers” club with whom we had some interesting conversation throughout the day.

We were nearing the edge of the fog as we looked up and noticed the blue sky breaking through.  I had never been here before and Michael was wondering exactly where Pineapple Pass was through the soupy fog.  He asked the leader of the Mountaineers group who replied, “Not gonna tell you.  You should have studied the map before coming out here.”

Well, we were both incredulous at this response and only after a few moments realized that he was serious!  Anyway, there’s a lot more to this story but too much to go into for this trip report.  Well…anyway, that didn’t really help the reputation of the Mountaineers.

Finally, we indeed broke out of the fog into brilliant sunshine and were able to see the route.  A sun warm wind blew down on us – in contrast, it felt like we were suddenly in the Bahamas!  We had passed the Mountaineers group and soon the trail ended and we began breaking trail up to Pineapple Pass.  We worked really hard to break trail trying to stay in front of the group of Mountaineers knowing that we could move much faster up the route than they could – two people verus four! 

Pineapple Pass is a tiny little pass.  We stopped here to take off our snowshoes.  We continued down the other side and then began climbing up the final snow slope to the base of the rock climb when suddenly one of the Mountaineers, taking advantage of our broken trail, began racing us up the slope for the rights to start first.  Well, we won!

Well, this was the first rock climb I’d done in over a year but it felt pretty good.  The Tooth is not a hard climb at all.  We climbed a little corner (for lack of a better word) on the upper part of the face that Michael rated at 5.5; the standard route is 5.4.  There was one step on the first pitch that was the hardest for me and I had to commit the faux pas of using my knee to get me up and over a particular move – I just couldn’t bend my leg far enough to reach a step and the lower ones were just too small for my heavy leather hiking boots.  Oh well – at least I wasn’t wearing plastic mountaineering boots!

The second pitch was an easy, somewhat airy pitch.  Pitch three can be done without rope completely – it’s 3rd and some easy 4th class.  But, it’s more work to take the rope off.  The crux pitch is the fourth and final pitch.  This pitch was easy for me; I guess I was getting my climbing legs back!  We ended the pitch at a little crux bouldering move that I led to short third class scrambling to the summit!

We spent plenty of time on the summit eating, drinking, and taking pictures.  We then rappelled down the entire route to the base of another little spire we decided to climb “Baby Tooth”, or so we called it.  It’s the little spire right next to Pineapple Pass and the one directly behind you when you’re climbing up the Tooth.

We climbed the little point in a single pitch that consisted of only steep snow and a little bit of 5.0 rock right at the summit.  The summit was really cool – very small, just enough room for two people.  This was a great place to take pictures of the Tooth from, although you’re so close to the Tooth that it’s hard to frame the entire peak. 

While sitting on Baby Tooth, we heard a loud crack and then a rumble – a small avalanche broke loose across the basin to the east.  I was surprised how much noise was generated by such a small amount of snow!

Anyway, this was a great day in the mountains:  a fun climb on a cloudless, warm day in January!

McClellan Butte

Posted on by
Reply

McClellan Butte was my first trip with Michael.  I got a call Friday evening about attempting something called “McClellan Butte” as a conditioning hike.  This is another of the easier peaks off of I-90 that serve as great condition hikes, and more so, sometimes, as was the case for this peak.  The weather forecast didn’t look too promising at all but since I hadn’t hiked since September and the chance to hike with someone new, I was all ready to go.

We left my house a little after 6am in drippy but warm weather.  Being a dark time of year, we were hiking in darkness at 7am.  For some weird reason, I kept thinking it was maybe four in the morning or so.  In any event it was quite gloomy.  The hike started off quite standard for Washington – dense, dark forest.  We crossed three logging roads and began climbing pretty steeply up the northeastern side of the mountain.

The peak has a nice profile and is quite steep on all sides.  I didn’t learn until we were hiking that the final pitch was 3rd class with some exposure.  We were both up for it but didn’t have an idea about the snow conditions were like.

We continued on the classic Pacific Northwest Trail discussing the usual things like mountain climbing and Lord of the Rings and sooner than we thought, we encountered snow.  The snow level was quite low and promised to be thicker up above, which it was.  The trail runs along the eastern side of the mountain and eventually reaches a saddle on the south side and traverses over to the west side which eventually leads to the ridge.  Before we were even to the saddle, the snow had become consistently shin deep.

On the other side of the mountain, the west side, the snow was even deeper.  Of course, I’d forgotten my gaiters and snow kept packing down in my boots.  Soon enough we hit the steep switchbacks on the west side which marks the short ascent to the final ridge.  The final ridge looked pretty treacherous in these winter, snow-plastered conditions.  As soon as we emerged from the trees, we were greeted by an Arctic blast that sent us scrambling for more warm clothing.  We tentatively began up.  The rock was obviously wet with snow, which covered parts of the slabs in maybe an inch of snow.  Below the ridge, a steep, ice encrusted slope vanished into the clouds.  Yes, this was indeed exposed.  About a quarter of the way up, we were at a crux move.  Michael edged out onto the face to the right and became uncomfortable and moved back.  I tried up the left side which was almost directly on the ridge.  This side was a good bit more stable and we chose that.  After another semi-spooky traverse on the ridge proper, we were on easier terrain and motored to the top.  It was pretty cold up here and after continually using our hands, our gloves were soaked.  My hands weren’t too cold just yet.  After a few pictures we headed down.  We were more worried about the descent and though it was slow and tricky, it didn’t seem too much more difficult than the ascent.  One notable difference was that my right hand was getting very cold.  Finally we made it down where I pressed my hands against my stomach and quickly warmed them up.  Also, I began to notice that my boots were soaked on the inside.  Even though my makeshift gaiters (my pant legs were tied down with my shoelaces) worked well, moisture still got in and I could feel sloshing around my toes.  I wasn’t too concerned about this…moreso, I was thankful that we were safely down from the ridge.  We motored out the rest of the way, getting back to the car at under 6 hours.  Along the way, we were surprised to see that a small avalanche had come through and dumped “Cascade concrete” all over the trail.  Wonder when that happened?  Anyway, this was the best I-90 peak I’ve done to date!

Mount Pugh

Posted on by
Reply

I picked out Mount Pugh the day before because it looked like a relatively short an easy climb.  At about 10 miles round trip and 5300 feet of elevation, this was indeed moderate for a Cascade Peak.  Plus it looked fairly popular hence it would be a good choice as a solo trip.  I awoke to an overcast day in Seattle.  I wasn’t too worried about this though because I was hoping that I would be able to climb above the clouds.  Alas, today was not the day to have a sea of clouds below me but Mount Pugh was a worthy and fun climb regardless.  As I drove up I-5, thankful that I was out early enough that there was no traffic, it began to rain.   The rain continued all the way to Darrington and began to let up somewhat while driving the 12 miles on the Mountain Loop Highway although the clouds were still thick.

The trail, as usual, began in thick forest filled with ferns and evergreen and, as always, too dark for photos.  The trail traverses southward for a while, crossing a few streams tumbling down the mountain before switching back over and over to Metan Lake.  I was moving really fast today and arrived at the lake well before an hour.  I stopped briefly for a picture and realized I was in the middle of a blueberry patch.  So I partook of the free eatings.  They were really good.  I planned on snagging some more on my way out (of course, I forgot).  I continued on up past the lake which was phase two of the switchbacks.  As I hiked higher, the trail became wetter and upon entering the clouds, I was surrounded by a lightly falling mist. 

Eventually, I started running into small patches of snow and shortly thereafter, a large steep slope opened up in front of me.  High above, the slope was totally socked in clouds but it was still wispy where I was.  I crossed a short snowfield as the trail began winding up the steep slope.  The best wildflowers that I’ve seen in Washington yet were on this slope.  There were some really need red Colombines up here.  However, this display couldn’t touch some of the flower displays I’ve seen in Colorado.  At the top of this slope is Stujack pass, that is really more of a notch than a pass.  There’s a towering rock outcropping on the left and the trail begins winding up ridge to the right.  This is where the climb of Mount Pugh becomes really fun.

The trail wends around a fairly broad ridge climbing higher and higher.  I couldn’t see much of anything other than misty clouds blowing past me.  Although I really wanted the views, it was enjoyable hiking in the surreal clouds.  After perhaps five hundred feet of gain, the ridge becomes much thinner and rockier and the trail stays right on the ridge crest.  I would imagine this would be a pretty good place for views since both directions are totally obstructed.  Sections of the ridge in the mist though were neat in their own regard:  sometimes the ridge would be thin and steep enough that the flanks were eventually lost in the clouds.

After a few more thin ridge moments, all of which are perfectly safe, a large buttress appears right in front of you.  This is the 3rd class section of the climb.  The trail becomes very rocky and climbs up a steep gully.  Past the gully the 3rd class turns a bit easier and, still third class, climbs some lesser angle slabs.  After this, the 3rd class difficulties were over and the climb was a pleasant climb around boulders and towers.  In these conditions, there were numerous false summits.  I’d see a rocky shape in front of me and shortly thereafter I’d see another rocky shape, higher than the last, beyond.  This continued several more times until I arrived on the top.  There are a few nice camping spots on top.  This would be a fantastic place to bivy!  The sun was trying to peek through the clouds and I thought that maybe the cloud level would indeed drop and I would be treated to an amazing spectacle, but it wasn’t meant to be this time.  Not a big deal, this was a great hike anyway.  I highly recommend this climb to novice hikers as a something a good bit more exciting and rewarding than the peaks outside Seattle.