Would be interested to know if anyone on the net has
made the circuit of the above peaks this year using
the Tatoosh Ridge Trail crosscountry over Ptarmigan Pk
to Shellrock Pass and out by way of Eureka Creek Trail
Dot Lake and Fred's Lake to the Pasayten River. I am
particularly interested in knowing if anyone has been
to Lease Lake or the trail to Pleasant Valley and Pt.
Defiance and the ? trail from Pt. Defiance to the Pasayten
River Crossing at Three Forks. Any info on trail and
climbing conditions in the area would be helpful as well
as photos.

I did Osceola in and out the Pasayten from Slate Pass in July. The Forest Service had gone to town with a chainsaw on the Pasayten trail, and the trail up to Doris was in decent shape. It became very faint past Doris. Trail 471 toward Point Defiance looked in similarly decent shape where it joins the Freds Lake trail. I think I remember reading somewhere (CascadeClimbers?) that Ptarmigan Creek had lots of blowdowns, but can't find the reference.

Anyways, here's the trip report.

seano:
Thanks for the info. The last report I had about three
years back was that the trail beyond Pt. Defiance down
to the river crossing at Three Forks is basically gone. In the past eight years I have been gathering trail information on the area no one has been to Lease Lake
by way of Trail 470 or cross country from Ptarmigan Pk
or the Mt. Carru-Mt Lago Col as far as I know.
From on top Osceola did you notice the two tarns
below the Osceola-Carru Col on the Lease Lake side.
If so, does it look possible to get to Lease Lake by way
of the Col from Doris Lake carrying a full backpack?

Murph1 wrote:seano:
From on top Osceola did you notice the two tarns
below the Osceola-Carru Col on the Lease Lake side.
If so, does it look possible to get to Lease Lake by way
of the Col from Doris Lake carrying a full backpack?

Sorry, I didn't pay particular attention, as I was preoccupied with cliffing out while trying to go directly from Osceola to Carru. That whole east side of Osceola is a horrible mess of steep, loose talus and cliffs. The col might at least be lower angle, but I believe it's the same crappy rock, so you might be able to do it, but it would likely be a slog.

seano
The horrible rock is probably the reason over the past ten
years I have been gathering information on the area than no
one has indicated they have traversed from the Osceola-Carru
Col under the North Face of Mt Carru to the Carru-Lago Col.
All the parties who have posted on the area have approached
by the much easier southern route on Eureka Creek, Doris Lake,
and Shellrock Pass. The circuit from the Pasayten up Tatoosh
Buttes Trail and cross country over Ptarmigan Peak to Shellrock
Pass and over Eureka Creek and Fred's Lake to Slate Pk Road
has been completed several times. No one I know of has tried
to make a complete circuit of the Lease Creek Basin and the
three peaks. All the photos I have seen of the northeast side of
Osceola, and the north side of Mt Carru have all been taken
from Ptarmigan Ridge. Will see if more people answer. Thanks
for your help.

I don't know if this has any info that would be helpful but here is a recent report from nwhikers.net about that area.

http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopi ... 7c47dba200

Matt is here at summitpost also.

Yes I just did those peaks as well as Ptarmigan. The entire linkup can be done on Class 2+ terrain. Just drop down to 7200 feet when descending the south slopes of both Osceola and Carru to avoid the cliffs on both peaks' east faces.

Thanks Packrat and Matt for the input. Packrat- Did you go to Olympic
College and belong to Packrats Hiking & Climbing Club? I was President
of the Club in 1960 the year before I transferred to the U of Washington
in Seattle. If so, did you know George Martin the Registrar and pioneer
climber in the Olympics?

Murph1,

I did go to Olympic College in 54, 55 and 56 and belonged to the packrat outdoor club.

Floyd Armstead was the advisor for the club and as I recall did not care for the name and wanted to change it but the club members liked the name.

I took the climbing course at OC in 1953 and met George Martin there. George is the who started the climbing course.

Ome Daiber taught one of the classes. Pete Schoening and the Whitaker twins taught classes also.

George was great guy and had a great laugh.

Did you know George?

Hi Again:
I visited with him three times at his home when we were planning climbs
in the Olympics. He retired the year I left. I also took the Advanced
Mountaineering Class and Rescue and Survival at Olympic. Worked with
Olympic Mountain Rescue for two years. My introduction to Rescue work
was carrying the Stokes Stainless Steel Stretcher and my pack up the
Mt Constance Trail. The total weight about 130. The older guys all looked
at me and said "You are the youngest! You get the stretcher!" I about
died by the time I got to the lake. I worked with Jim Whitaker in Mountain
Rescue. Do you remember Gene Faure, the President of the Tacoma
Mountaineers in the 1950's? He was my instructor for Basic Mountaineering
in 1955. My first climb was Pinnacles & Castle Peaks with the Mountaineers.
You and I appear to be the "Seniors" on Summitpost.