Past Featured Trip Reports

You would think that four months would be long enough, but it wasn't. There were still lots of interesting mountains I hadn't climbed, and now the end of my long trip to Peru was rapidly approaching. I had one week left before I would have to be in Lima to catch my flight home.

Time flies when you're having fun. And I sure had been having a whole lot of that. Now there was just enough time for one more short expedition. Without a partner, I was ready to hire a guide, and so I walked into the offices of Galaxia. While I was talking to Marco, who ran the place, something came up that suddenly required his attention. I don't know what it was, but I didn't see him again that night.

Earlier, I had been in contact with Mark, a climber from Scotland. While I climbed Huascarán Sur, he went to Alpamayo and Quitaraju with Skyline Adventures. We had agreed to keep in touch, but I hadn't heard from him yet since I got back in Huaraz earlier today. However, Lady Fortune was with us and he showed up right on time. He had successfully climbed both peaks, and was back longer than I was and ready for something interesting. Sorry Marco, nothing personal, but I won't be hiring a guide after all.

For many years, it had become my yearly tradition to visit my favorite national park- Kings Canyon- on its opening weekend in the spring. Beginning around mid-April, I used to start making calls to the park's recorded message system once or twice a week until a date was announced for the seasonal reopening of Cedar Grove Road.

That particular year, the opening was quite a bit later than usual due to an extremely heavy winter snowpack. But, like an on-call firefighter, my gear was already assembled and my plans were already made. This year would be the first in a series of trips designed to explore the western slopes and approaches to Comb Spur- a roughly 2.5 mile long ridge of several peaks that rise to well above 11,000 feet just north of Cedar Grove. Finally, one day I made the call and heard a faint scratchy recording that announced the date of May 10th for the opening. Awesome! I was stoked!

It had been during some of my earlier trips to the Monarch Divide (also on opening weekends) that I first noticed the western aspect of this miniature mountain range. These early season trips revealed Comb Spur at its best with gleaming mantles of spring snow adorning dark rocky cliffs and even a few sharp summits. The peaks looked surprisingly impressive and well worth a visit or two. I knew that it was likely easier to approach from Granite Basin via the Copper Creek Trail, but I was intrigued by the long steep ridges dropping westward from the summits to the various branches of Comb Creek far below. The topography looked confusing and there could be a significant amount of bushwhacking. In other words, this could be a lot of fun!

Finally it was time for me to climb the Ellingwood Arete! I had flown in from Seattle for a short 4 day trip and Stephan picked me up from DIA and we made the long drive down to the South Colony Lakes Trailhead. Along the way we saw numerous thunderstorms but the forecast called for improved weather on Saturday the 8th. We made it up just fine in Stephan's truck and since I had just come from sea level and we were carrying pretty heavy packs we made slow progress up the old road to the old closure gate. The rest of the trail along the base of Marble Mountain was of and on snow to the lower lake where we decided to continue up the trail to camp at the upper lake to get as close to the arete as possible. The afternoon lighting was beautiful and perfect for taking photos. Once we arrived at the upper lake we found a nice flat spot near the outlet stream and pitched the tent. Out my tent door I stared at the arete which looked dubious but awesome. We had a quick dinner and after sunset went to sleep.

The canyon called Okhtangi where several comps are located. The prices of the camps diverse. From northern part you can go there from Khujand by taking taxi that should cost ~40$ per car. The distance from Khujand to Okhtangi is about 120 km. If you are single than you can take shared taxi to Shahristan (10$) and then taxi to Okhtangi (~10$) From Dushanbe you can also take taxi directly to Okhtangi or shared taxi to Khujand ( 20$ per person)and take out in the entrance of canyon and then 15 km by walk.

Sometimes it's easy to be in a good mood.

Right now is one of those times. Only about an hour ago, the Boston Bruins beat the Pittsburgh Penguins to advance to their second Stanley Cup Finals in the last three years. And less than six days ago, my more than two-year quest to add Mount Hood to my state highpointing resume came to a successful conclusion after two not-so-near misses. Two seemingly unrelated events. But for me, not so much. Part of my theme for my 2013 Mount Hood trip ... my entire theme, in fact ... was to not only climb Mount Hood but to also pay tribute to the only city I really love.

This year has not been kind to EastKing. Throughout the year there have been a lot of cancelled trips, and a lot of lonely weekends. Add on that my health has not been 100%, and neither have my finances, and you have what can only be described as a rough 2013. Two weeks ago I was within 100 feet of my first Bulger of the year only to have my hands freeze on a Class 5 move in the middle of a rock climb. Coming close yet being so far really shook me up. Now with my conditioning being the poorest it has been in six years I will just have to make due with whatever mountain that I can get. This past weekend though, with help from my friends Cyohma and Jimbopo I was finally able to summit my first Bulger of 2013, Little Annapurna. Hopefully this will be the climb to turn my year around.

Started and organized by SP member Bob Burd, the Sierra Challenge, held yearly, is a 10-day affair featuring a different peak to climb each day (some days, there is more than just one to climb). Thus, veterans of the real Sierra Challenge will just laugh at what I am calling, for lack of a better term, "My Own Sierra Challenge." This was merely a 4-day affair featuring just 7 peaks, and some of it developed more or less spontaneously, but it wasn't a bad showing for an Easterner whose legs and lungs were not yet in prime summer mountaineering condition. In the summer of 2012, mountaineering season began for me on July 13 and ended 35 summits later on August 23. By the end of the summer, fit and strong and down to my high school weight, I may indeed have been able to complete the real Sierra Challenge.
Despite the incredible beauty and spectacular climbing opportunities of the Sierra Nevada, my growing obsession with Greater Yellowstone and the Glacier-Bob Marshall country of Montana has meant that I have done very little mountaineering in the Range of Light. Until July 2005, my only Sierra Nevada summit had been, I regret to admit, Whitney in 1999 by the mobbed hiking route out of Whitney Portal (unless you count Moro Rock-- even more regretful-- which I "climbed in 1996). In 2005, I took a painful break from Wyoming and Montana and made a point to get back to the Sierra, where I climbed Cathedral Peak, Mount Conness, and Mount Dana (by Dana Couloir, not the trail) over successive days. But then the summers called me back to grizzly country and my beloved dark Absarokas.

I get off work Sunday afternoon around 5:30PM and finish packing up. I realize I won't be making my 6:00 meeting time so I call Dane to say I'll be a couple hours late. Our conversation goes something like this: "ah thats ok we can just head over tonight, camp at the washout and do it in a day no biggie" Oh If only If only.....
I end up picking Dane up in Seattle around 7:15 and we head over to Edmonds to catch the ferry. The sunset from the ferry was quite scenic and we got to see the sun descend behind Constance as the clouds drifted away. With a sunny forecast called for the mountains we were very excited. Just as we arrived at Kingston, it was getting dark and we got to Brinnon just before 10PM. I was able to stop at the gas station minutes before they closed to grab just a little more food that I was glad I did. 10 miles up the Dosewallips Road we hit the washout and went right to sleep in the car (or at least I did).
At first light we were up and bikes a ready and by 5:30 we were off. It was about 4 miles up the gentle gravel road to the start of the Lake Constance trail. I was wearing flip flops and carrying my plastic boots on my back, along with the rack and all that other stuff I appear to need to go alpine rock climbing. Shortly before the trailhead there is this rocky stream I try to bike through only to end up face down in the water with a bunch of scratches and a wet foot. "Stupid Pack!" is the first thing I can think of to say as if I would have made it across just fine without it.

If I get down this slope safely, I'm home free. To be fast, I've been climbing with as little gear as possible, so, without a rope, the snow stake is no use to me. I have to climb down the 60º slope. It's no surprise of course, I was fully aware of it when I climbed up. But climbing down is harder than up, and I'm a bit more tired now, and with those two facts, I realize that this is the most dangerous part of the whole climb.

After a short breather, I concentrate, then I go to work. There is no margin for error, falling is not an option. Facing the mountain, I place my two axes in the snow, close to the edge. I take one step over the edge, kicking my crampon firmly in the snow of the steep slope below - and then I take another. I'm on my way.

Keeping three points of contact at all times, I methodically descend. I place my left foot lower, then the right one. Left axe lower, right axe. Over and over I repeat the cycle. I monitor my breathing, remind myself to go slow, and focus on my technique. Everything is going smoothly, and I'm a happy climber.

So Argonaut Peak has been on my short list since November 2012 when I attempted in in a snowstorm via the terrible south route. After that trip where nothing was accomplished other than a gear soaking and 25 dollars in wasted gas, I told myself I was going to climb Argonaut from a north side route. 5 months later now in the end of May I had my chance to get revenge on this peak. I spoke with Danial on CascadeClimbers and we were set on the idea of climbing the NW arete which from what we heard a slightly sandbagged 5.6 climb of 5 pitches. Even so, we were both up for the challenge and agreed to go light and take just two 30 meter alpine ropes and make a day trip out of it. As you will see below, this didn't exactly happen and we had to change our plans accordingly.