As I approach my 75th Birthday I thought it might be fun to look back on what climbing was like
back in the 50's in the Northwest. In August 1956 at age 16 my climbing buddy Harry Irwin and a
young climber we knew named Dick Rosenow met In Tacoma to leave on an eight day climbing
trip to the Sawtooth Range in the Olympic Mountains. We loaded our "Trapper Nelson" Wood and
Canvas Backpacks in to the trundle seat of Harry's 1938 Chevy Coupe. I drew the short straw and
had to ride with my legs rapped around the stick floor shift for the eighty mile drive around Hoods
Canal and up the Staircase to the end of the Hamma Hamma River Road which extended to within
4.5 miles of Flapjack Lakes. Today it ends near the Staircase Ranger Station and leaves hikers a
10 mile hike to the lakes. We adjusted our 60+ packs, placed the trump lines across our foreheads
and headed out in our 6 pound logging boots up the trail to the two lakes. We arrived at Lower
Flapjack Lake and deposited our packs on the narrow outlet from Upper Flapjack Lake in to the
lower lake. At that time two cabins were located at the lakes. Both made of Western Red Cedar
logs and shingles. One was a complete cabin. The second had logs up the sides to about three
feet and a suspended Cedar roof. Both were in good condition at that time. The Forest Service
and Park Service have made it a policy in recent years to remove the old shelters from the
Olympics.
It was great weather in the 70's so we chose to sleep outdoors on the narrow outlet between
the two lakes. We filled our water kettle directly from the Upper Lake and did not treat the
water at all. No other hikers or campers were at the lake.
The second day we were up by six and sorting the gear we planned to take on our first day of
climbing. Our gear consisted of three pairs of Van's Creape Soled Shoes, a 120' 7/16" Manila Rope,
10 Manila 1/4" slings for repels, 10 steel standard Oval Carabiners, 3 Locking steel D Carabiners,
an assortment of 12 small horizontal and vertical iron pins, 10 D Rings for repelling, three sets of
flat nylon webbing for making seat harnesses for long repels, and three ice axes.
We decided for our first day we would climb Mt Cruiser which at the time had only two completed
routes on it. We hiked the trail to Gladys Divide and headed to the right in to the chute leading to
the ridge south of Cruiser. Using our ice axes we were able to kick steps up the hard snow to the
Gap. Looking at the "Needle" we decided this would be a good place to test our rock climbing
skills. We climbed the 130' pinnacle unroped as we were to do on most of the peaks in the range.
After downclimbing the pinnacle instead of repelling we gathered our day packs and headed north
along the ridge crest towards Cruiser. Just before reaching the summit pyramid we were forced
to drop down and on to some loose scree to approach the gully and chockstone rock leading to the
ledge below the final seventy foot face climb to the summit. The final 70' with the big drop off
below was one of the few times on the trip we roped up. Dick, being the oldest, he was 18, led
the pitch. Soon we were sitting on the summit reading the Summit Register. The first ascent
was in 1938. There before our eyes was the name of the climber we all had heard about, Third
ascent by Fred Becky and his brother. in 1948 if I remember correctly. We added our names
as the 7th Ascent recorded. It was a good start to our trip in perfect weather. We set up our
repel and using the old the "One Carabiner Repel" with the rope over the shoulder. We shot down the cliff to
the ledge above the chockstone. We retraced our route to Needle Pass. We decided there
was still had lots of daylight left so we decided after eating a lunch of salami and cheese to climb
Castle Spires. We free climbed over the ridge south of the Pass to the summit. First ascent
was made in 1952 and ours was the third. We down climbed the peaks to the south to reach
Sawtooth Pass. We climbed down the easy rock to the boulders below the pass, traversed to
the Glady's Divide Trail and hurried back down to Flapjack Lakes. We gathered huckleberries
and cooked some pancakes which tasted especially good with the fresh berries.
That evening as we sat by the shore of Upper Flapjack Lake a large black bear came out of the
woods at the upper end of the lake and wandered out on the open slope and began digging for roots
and berries. As we got in to our sleeping bags at dark we could see the bear running up the open
slope and disappear over the ridge in to the drainage near Lincoln Peak. We slept well that night.
Our Van shoes had worked well on the Sawtooth rock, but were already beginning to show signs of
wear and tear. We thought it was a streak of genius that we remembered to bring a roll of duck
tape along. It looked like it was going to get a lot of use!!!!!!
(if anyone wants to read more let me know! If no one answers this post I will skip writing more.)
Happy Climbing!
Murph 1