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Best & Worst of 2004

(Click any photo to enlarge.)
 

Best Snowy Trees:  Excelsior Mtn., 2/1

The meadows and trees looked like they were designed for a Christmas card.  We reached the high meadows at that most fortunate moment for winter scenery – the first sunshine after a storm, when all the trees are coated with fresh snow.

Most Diverted Destination:  Barometer Mountain, 2/1 and 2/15

First Mike scheduled a trip to Barometer on 2/1, which was diverted to Excelsior because of avalanche danger.  Then I scheduled a trip on 2/15, which was diverted to Welcome Pass for the same reason..

Most Excessive Bumps:  Polallie Ridge, 2/28

Every time we thought we were getting near the end of the ridge, there was another drop and rise to another bump ahead of us.  And then we had to go over all the bumps again on the return.

Best Revisited Location:  Teebone Ridge, 3/28

Back in 2002, we traversed the end of Teebone Ridge on our exit from the Dorado-Backbone Traverse.  Clouds obscured the view, and I always wanted to go back to this high viewpoint to see the spine of peaks high above Monogram Lake and Marble Creek.  Sunny weather gave a great winter view

Most Indecisive Approach:  Boulder Peak, 3/13

Before crossing Boulder Creek, Mike and I dithered for at least twenty minutes trying to decide whether to continue the trip in potentially cloudy weather.  We literally walked back and forth several times before finally deciding to continue the trip.  The decision was well-rewarded, because…

…Boulder Peak also wins for Best Panoramic Views, with great views of several traverses I’ve done in the North Cascades.  And it wins for Best Summit Tea, as I enjoyed my summit tea looking down on Upper Granite Lake and out toward the Ptarmigan Traverse Peaks.

Most Ungraceful Move:  Twin Peaks, 5/9

On the short pitch to the west summit, there was one tilted slab that was too slick for a foothold in the damp weather.  To climb it, we had to stretch way up, grab the top edge with our fingertips, and pull ourselves up.  The descent was just plain awkward, since the only reasonable move was hang on and slide one’s body back down the slab, with all your clothes bunching up as you do it

Most Inauspicious Start:  Chelan Sawtooths Outing, 6/17.
Twenty minutes into the trip, a member of the party dropped his boots into the West Fork Buttermilk Creek, where they quickly floated away.  So two of us drove all the way back to Winthrop to buy new shoes.  The detour delayed us enough to be caught in a hail and rain storm before making it to camp

Best Rainbow:  Chelan Sawtooths Outing, 6/17.

After the thunderstorm, the sky cleared just enough for bright red alpenglow to light up the bottoms of the clouds.  A rainbow formed over Star Peak, resting right on the col where we would ascend the snowfield.

Least Green Meadows:  Chelan Sawtooths Outing, 6/17 – 6/22.

“Do the Chelan Sawtooths in June,” said Dale & Mike.  “There will be no motorcycles, no bugs, and the meadows will be beautiful green.”  They were right about the bikes and bugs.  However, the thaw must have been late this year, because most of the meadows were a mess of snow, muck, and dead grass.  Still, in this case, two out of three was pretty good.

Most Ladybugs:  Chelan Sawtooths Outing, 6/17 – 6/22

Summit after summit was covered with thousands of ladybugs, orange hordes sunning on the lichen-crusted rocks.  Later in the trip, you could tell we were near the summit when you’d hear someone yell:  “I see ladybugs.  This must be the summit.”

Most Marmots:  Chelan Sawtooths Outing, 6/17-6/22

Marmots are my favorite mountain animals, but the last few years I had hardly seen any.  In the Sawtooths, I saw at least a couple dozen, especially in the boulder fields above Star Lake and in the grass near Boiling Lake, where I sighted eight marmots at a time.  Boiling Lake also wins a prize for Muckiest Lake.  I tried swimming in it and sank past my knees into the bottom.  I’m not sure I felt any cleaner after swimming than before. 

Most Solo Summits:  Gray and Finney, Chelan Sawtooths Outing, 6/18 & 6/20.
 

Mike has corrupted me in two ways.  He’s gotten me interested in the Second 100 highest peaks, so I wanted to do Gray and Finney during the Sawtooths Traverse.  He’s also set a bad example on outings by going off alone to get extra bonus peaks.  So I got up before dawn two days in a row to get these two bonus peaks while the rest of the party supported me by resting in camp.

Happiest Wet Meadows:  White Pass, 8/27 – 8/28.

In the middle of the summit-drought, I went with Mike, Billie, & Suzanne on a trip attempting Kololo Peak.  We never got beyond our camp at White Pass, because the area was covered in mist and fog the whole time.  But the high meadows were beautiful even in the fog.  After two months in town, I was so happy just to get up high that I was literally singing as I walked down the last stretch of trail to camp.

Longest Summer Without Summits:  6/22 – 9/24.

On the last day of my Chelan Sawtooths outing I ascended Bigelow Peak.  Then I didn’t ascend another named summit until little Pick Peak on the approach to Horseshoe Basin.  Legal and financial troubles from my ex-wife had kept me stuck in town almost all summer.
 

However, the long drought was book-ended by two outings with the most summits. 
 

On June 17-22, the Chelan Sawtooths Outing won the prize for Most Summits Per Trip with 11 summits (six Top 100, three Second 100, and one other). 
 

And on September 24-28, the Horseshoe Basin outing won the prize for Most Summits Per Day, with four summits on each of the middle days of the trip.

Best Previously Disregarded Region: The Northeast Pasayten Range.

For decades I had neglected the Pasaytens, considering them just to be large rounded hills that would lack the glacier-carved majesty of the west-side peaks.  But they are also some of the best terrain anywhere for high roaming, with miles of open ridges, beautiful grassy meadows, and bright groves of larches.  The Pasaytens have also provided the Best Last-Minute Destination.  This year, we chose Horseshoe Basin (September 24-27, 2004) only days before going there, and last year we did the same for the Cathedral Peak Loop (September 26-29, 2003).

Best Larch Patch:  Horseshoe West Ridge, Horseshoe Basin Outing, 9/24 – 9/27.
 

Everywhere we roamed around Horseshoe Basin, one patch of larches always caught the sun and caught my eyes.  It was an uneven sideways triangle of golden trees cutting a slash of color halfway up the face of Horseshoe Mountain’s west ridge, directly facing our camp, accented by talus and meadows above and below.  The larches were visible from every angle, and they glowed in every light.  They were lit up literally from sunrise to sunset, glowing deep gold while everything else was dark.  I could see the larch patch from miles north or east, and I walked right through the center of it on our descent from Horseshoe back to camp.

Most “Borderline” Peak:  Armstrong Peak, Horseshoe Basin Outing, 9/25.

Armstrong Peak is literally on the border.  About ¼ mile north of the American summit, we played by the border monument.  Looking off the edge of the mountain, you could see the border cut stretching through the valley forest.  However, the border also kept Armstrong off the Washington second 100 list, because the highest summit of the mountain was actually a mile further away on the Canadian side.

Best Wide-Open Scrambling:  Horseshoe Basin Outing, 9/24- 9/27

The Horseshoe Basin area let us roam as far as our legs could carry us each day, with long multi-peak ridge-tops, valley trails to bring us back, and side peaks that we could traverse right over.  One day included a ridge run along Armstrong, Arnold, & Goodenough, with a bonus traverse over Horseshoe on the return.  The next day was a ridge run along Haig, Teapot, & Bauerman, with a bonus traverse over Rock Mountain on the return.  Even the exit hike was a traverse over the crest of Windy Peak.

Prettiest Lake:  Teapot Lake, Horseshoe Basin Outing, 9/26.

On the map, it’s just a nameless oval at 7400 feet between Teapot Dome & Bauerman Ridge.  Descending through the forest below Teapot Dome, it caught me by surprise with reflections of deep blue between the dark green firs and bright yellow larches.  Standing on its shoreline meadows, it provided a refreshing blue foreground with the larches and rocks stacking up to the southeast crest of Bauerman Ridge behind it.  Looking down from the ridge crest, it was a small pool of sky nestled in a col filled with bright larches and steep curves of rock.  From any angle, it was one of the prettiest lakes I’ve seen.

Longest Camps:  Horseshoe Basin Outing, Entiat Crest Outing

Twice this fall, I had the rare luxury of staying three consecutive nights in the same camp.  Each camp provided opportunities for side trips in multiple directions, so that we could travel all day with light packs return to a ready camp.  And each camp had soft grass for the tents, comfortable rocks for cooking, larch trees scattered in the meadows, and open views of the surrounding valleys and peaks. 

Best Wait for Weather:  Entiat Crest Outing, 10/9-12
 

It’s been at least a decade since I first began looking for an opportunity to do the Entiat Crest peaks during larch season in October.  Bad weather or other trips always interfered.  Last year I cancelled the trip.  This year I delayed it one day because of passing storms.  We got in just close enough afterward for the snow to have melted off the bad parts.

Best Larch Valley:  North Fork Entiat, 10/9 – 10/12
 

The larches form a bright band between the dark green fir forest below and gray rocky peaks above.  It looks like a tide of larches ran up the valley and splashed up against the peaks at its head – leaving a golden rim along the edge of the valley, waves of larches up the high end, puddles of larches in all the high bowls, and bright sprays of larches spattered high up to the ridge tops.

Worst Abuse of a Pot:  Entiat Crest Outing, 10/9-12

While driving to the trip, almost half our fuel leaked out of one of the bottles.  So we decided to cook our evening meals over a campfire.  Even lighting the fire was a chore the first day, with all the wood soaked by several days of rain.  Previously I had kept the pot in pristine condition by heating only water in it.  Now it was baked completely black by the soot and sap from the wet burning wood.

Nastiest Scramble:  Saska Peak, Entiat Crest Outing, 10/11
 

Lots of steep, loose, exposed rock.  But the summit had the best views of all the surrounding peaks.

Best Sunset Summit:  Gopher Peak, Entiat Crest Outing, 10/10.
It’s late in the day when you can see the sun shining sideways through the larches before you even start up the peak.  From Saska Pass, I hurried up the ridge of Gopher and reached the summit just as the sun dropped below the horizon, which made for a dark return.  I didn’t mind, because along the way up, the setting sun had lit up the neighboring peaks in beautiful gold light and contrasting with long dark shadows.

Best New Equipment:  Canon Powershot A80 Digital Camera.
 

Before this year, I carried a 35mm SLR camera to every summit I’ve ever ascended in the Cascades.  Then I bought a digital camera, intending mainly to take pictures of my kids at home.  I brought it along as a spare camera on a couple winter scrambles, and it worked so well that it has been the only camera I used for the rest of the year.  Then I could take literally hundreds of pictures on trips without running out of film.  Now if I could just get caught up with sorting the pictures down to a reasonable number, then I could get the other half of this year’s trips up on my web site.
 

Runner up:  My new down sleeping bag.  This is the first year I’ve slept warm on every trip.

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