Past Featured Trip Reports

Ever since our last attempt which ended up as the foolhardy reputation-destroying disaster, Josh and I knew we had messed up on a good deal. A lot of things weren't right that day (probably mentally as well). But the route felt right. It's rare for a person to find a completely new route these days in the Washington Cascades. Not that nobody has ever been there but that nobody has found it worth mentioning. And with the young exuberance that instills romantic notions we were sure we found one on Mt. Stickney. Josh even came up with a cool name for it: Sky Rocket Coulior! Mt. Stickney already has a standard route up Olney Creek road but with budget cuts on the large, the approach is reprehensible to any thrifty up and coming peak-bagger. Our new route is shorter, direct and more alpine. A lot of things about it still seem good; just requiring the right conditions.

With the last misadventure in mind, first thing was first: inventory. No more mind-blowing catastrophes! We were going to have everything we needed attached to our packs way ahead of time. Ice tools, ice axes, crampons, water, clothes, food -- all scrutiny was applied as soon as we saw a good window for weather. Then some adjustments were made and we were left with the tantalizing realization that we were about to forge a new route up a prominent westward facing mountain. I couldn't tell what I thought was cooler; that it was a first ascent for the route (documented), that the gully resembles a coulior snow climb of a constant slope that rockets 3,000' from the valley below, that it was in a perfect proximity to Index, Baring, Monte Cristo peaks, and most of the western cascades, or the fact that it starts from my very first hiking experience in memory by beginning from Wallace Falls State Park!

We got up shortly after 6, right on cue for a glorious view to the mountains on the other side of the Llanganuco valley. By half past seven we were moving. We soon spotted a couple of climbers on the slope leading up to the crest of the NW ridge, the steepest bit of the route,, not far from the summit. They must have started early. To get to the edge of the glacier, we had to go over a small ridge with some very big boulders tossed around haphazardly. There were cairns marking the route, but with an alpine start it would still have been tricky to find the right way. In daylight it was easy and soon we got to the edge of the glacier.

We took our time getting geared up, but after that we made good progress. It wasn't steep, and we had a wide trail to follow. Route finding wouldn't be any problem today. Occasionally we saw a crevasse. Mostly they were babies, there were only a few bigger ones. The snow bridges looked very solid though and while we crossed them one at a time, we didn't set up a belay.

Lying amongst the superb Himalayan peaks of the secluded Indian state of Sikkim, the Goecha Là trail allows to get the Goecha Là - a col 4940 meters high (some sources quote it at 5002 m.) - taking an outstanding view over the mysterious South-East face of Kangchenjunga m. 8585, the third highest peak on earth and the less climbed amongst all the 8000s, situated on the boundary ridge between Sikkim and Nepal.

Kangchenjunga, which name means “Five Treasures of Snow” and also “The Dwelling of the Five Treasures”, in reason of its five summits, was first climbed in 1955 by Joe Brown and George Band, members of a British expedition; since the first ascent, the mountaineers use to stop the climb a few meters below the summit, following the tradition of the first summiters, as Kangchenjunga is considered to be holy. It has been my third himalayan trail, after Baltoro-Concordia-K2 Base Camp in Karakoram and Markha Valley Trek in Ladakh.

They say, the kept promise is good promise. I think it is true as well when we make promise ourselves. After my very first ski-tour from one year ago padding in pleasing and sweet memories, very easy came the decision that I would like this next year again! Than slowly elapsed the winter of 2012, there was plenty of skiing, but with all of that something was missing…Of course, the ski-touring! This time everything was more easier than one year ago, after a few calls and emails I succeeded to find and book a similar trip. This year the winter does hold out, the snow remained until April here in Hungary, so in a very early morning we departed to South-Tirol, in Ortles, to conquer the summit called Cevedale.

We knew it, and as we were approaching the location, we could even see that at higher altitude there was lot of snow, but even so, when we were meandering among budding apple orchards in the Martello valley, we started to worry about that at the terminal, in the parking place could we stand on skis or we would have to walk a lot with skis on our shoulders until we found enough snow to enclose. Fortunately, from 1.500-1.600 m-s altitude, beside the road the snowfields conquered the bare ground, so at 2.000 m, in the parking place in the reddish light of the setting sun we could feel reassured there was much more snow then we expected, so we hadn’t to pad the road at all.

“All that was sure to me at the time was a nagging uneasiness in the pit of my stomach and a certainty that it is just as poignant and terrible to lose a new friend as to lose an old one.” -Greg Child

I know that people are going to continue to publish reports of the tragedy whether I say something or not. They will second-guess Tom and me whether I say something or not; but it may make a difference to some people that I get the truth out. I feel that until I get a complete public report out, I will have neglected my duties to right the wrongs of the media, and also to put my anger about the aftermath to rest. At this point I have complete piece of mind over what happened and the decisions Tom and I made, so I’m not afraid of what others less involved or informed with these events think. Those that matter have already spoken, and the unanimous opinion is one of support.

For Tom and me climbing wasn't a trivial pursuit or a hobby, and we both have done it as carefully and thoughtfully as we could. We both took pains to educate ourselves, seek out mentorship, and practice the skills necessary to climb safely. We both even loved taking time to show others how to enjoy being out in the mountains safely. In the following account I’m intending to accurately portray what happened as well as the serious and thoughtful spirit in which Tom and I entered the mountains. There are some valuable lessons for other climbers to learn from the tragedy as well – the decisions I made that got me down the mountain alive. Tom's family has given me their blessing in speaking freely about Tom's last days in hopes that such positive messages make a difference for others.

Two days before this hike, on the internet, I had read about Upper La Barge Box Canyon. The writer had said that unlike Lower La barge Box Canyon, Upper La Barge Box Canyon was not spectacular but certainly was worth a visit. Looking at my maps, it appeared that I could combine the eastern parts of Dutchman Trail with Whiskey Spring and Red Tank Trails to reach Upper La Barge Box Canyon. The sources that I had did not give the distances between trail intersections so I did not know how long the hike would turn out to be but I had estimated it to be around 15 miles. There were a few people at the trailhead but every one of them must have gone on Peralta Canyon Trail. I did not see a single person during the 7 hours that I was on the trail. I was in the shade but the sun was shining brightly over the rocky face that rose immediately to the west of the trailhead.

During our winter stay in Macedonia we realized a whole day long trip from Popova Šapka to the second highest Macedonian summit Titov vrv (2748 m) in March 5, 2013. The weather was marvelous – sun, clear sky and almost no wind. Our group consisting of 25 people with ski-touring equipment, snowboards & standard skis met at the bottom station of the double-chairlift. We didn't want to spend time ascending to the summit of Antena, se we used chairlift.

The mountain range Šar planina consists of a lot of beautiful peaks. The highest peak is Titov vrv (2748 m). The ideal start point for ski-touring trip to Titov vrv is ski-resort Popova Šapka. We started from the end station of chair-lift to ridde. The first reached summit was Antena. As the whole group was quite big, we divided into several smaller groups. We continued on the ridge to the second highest peak here in Macedonia. 6 people out of this group of 25 people skied & snowboarded down to the valley – the slope and snow were simply excellent!

The rest of the group continued to the pass and followingly to the summit of Titov vrv. We got together at Titov vrv again and toke a lot of photos. We prepared for the donwhill. The first stop was the previous pass. Skiers continued by many traverses to Popova Šapka, whereas snowbaorders climbed on rocky slope again. There was almost from the top excellent downhill – firstly on hard surface and followingly also in about 15 cm of fresh powder snow.

As in life, success on first attempts at difficult objectives is usually not achieved. But sometimes, we defy the odds and hit the mark the first time. Luck, planning, skill, perseverance - which is it? Well, this is a report with a good mix of all of these ingredients, as well as the importance of being able to be flexible and most importantly to have fun at what you are doing.

For the purposes of this TR, the story starts on an Idaho Summits forum thread on April 23rd. It starts out with a topic about the LRP South Towers route and ends up with a few people who don't know each other personally getting together via a Facebook group to do a climb. (Luck??).

The original group size was five, but we lost two due to scheduling changes and conflicts. Originally the plan was to depart Boise on Friday and hook up for the climb on Saturday AM. However the Saturday weather report did not look good, and Sunday looked much better. After some additional online debate, we determined that we would reset and do a Sunday climb on May 5th. In addition, instead of two vehicles, we car-pooled with one vehicle. Our first intent was to camp at the trail head, but then after Deb made the suggestion to stay in Mackay at the local motel, we jumped on that. This allowed us to be well rested and get the start we wanted which was to be on the trail at 4:00 AM. (Planning, flexibility??). By the time we had started the climb, we had all become well acquainted and the camaraderie was evident during the entire round trip. There were 9 people in three different groups on the mountain that day and we were first out and first on the summit. (We actually were caught shortly after the false summit by a faster group, but they deferred and allowed us to continue ahead of them to the summit). Depending on which TR you read, the ridge-line (.25 mi), from the false summit to the true summit is everything from a walk in the park, to a dicey proposition. In our case, it leaned more towards the "dicey". The compounding factor was the huge drifts and 4-6 inches of fresh windblown snow from the storm the previous day. The ridge-line is very narrow, especially in a couple of places and this new snow made travel riskier, due to hidden rocks and cracks. Oh, BTW, as has been mentioned in other TRs, this section as well as the entire Super Gully is a snow/crampon ascent during this time of year. (Skill, perseverance??).

For some reason, someone appeared to switch the lights in our dorm on and off. Eric was oblivious, but I woke up. Then I looked at my watch, and then I really woke up! It was 5:48, I had overslept! Still, there was no harm done. The previous evening, I had asked the hut warden if I could have breakfast at 5:30. Flipping the lights must be the customary way to alert people there when they don't show up for it. I appreciated the service and got out of bed. The weather was excellent, and despite the small delay, it looked like we would still have plenty of time to carry out our plan.

On my previous visit to the Ishinca valley, I had climbed Urus Este to warm up for Tocllaraju. When you ask around in Huaraz which mountains people have climbed, you'll hear “Urus” quite regularly. It's a short and easy climb, perfect for beginners as well as for acclimatization. Only when you dig deeper, it turns out everybody means Urus Este. Nobody climbs Urus Central, and few people even seem to know it exists.

It was July 4th weekend and I needed a destination that would be both interesting and obscure enough to be off the radar of most of the 5 trillion or so people that would be heading out to the mountains for the holiday weekend. Given that, I thought that an attempt on Mount Keith near Shepherd Pass would be fun and challenging. It was the highest peak in that area that I hadn't yet climbed and I was pretty sure that the arduous Shepherd Pass trail would not be the first choice for most people standing in line with me for Wilderness Permits.

Indeed, this turned out to be a good choice. Over and over I heard the permit issuing ranger cautiously explain to disappointed and unhappy backpackers that the quotas for the Whitney Trail or the Kearsarge Pass Trail were full. There was relief on his face and in his tone when I asked for a permit for Shepherd Pass. I walked out of there with that great feeling of having a permit in hand! Now all I had to do is get to the trailhead and start hiking. Except...