Tribute Scramble for Ed

Trip Report

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Big Snow Mountain

Trip Reports

Tribute Scramble for Ed

Page Type: Trip Report

Date Climbed/Hiked: Aug 13, 2006

Activities: Scrambling

Season: Summer

Page By: tazz

Created/Edited: Aug 17, 2006 / Aug 18, 2006

Object ID: 216555

Hits: 3199

Page Score: 91.26% - 47 Votes

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A tragic event happened on Monday August 7th, 2006. fellow SP member Ed Miller fell to his death climbing the south ridge of Formidable as a part of the Ptarmigan traverse. Ed was a great humble man who was an avid climber and scrambler. He was a regular poster on the site NWHikers.net. He was a brilliant photographer too! One of his partners he was with is Tom, an administrator of NWHikers site. The news hit the scrambling and climbing community of Nwhikers very hard. Several folks there climbed with him. I had only met Ed once and was planning on a climb or two this fall here in Or. The sad thread about his death is here

One of his climb partners and friend Jeff Rogers came up with the idea to do a tribute scramble for him. We all decided Big Snow Mountain would be a good choice. Mike had climbed Big Snow with Ed and knew Ed loved the area and it was one of his favorites.

14 folks(oh my!) joined in on the climb (plus Ed). Most of the folks in the group have tons of climb and scramble experience at all different levels. So that spread us all out. We all split off into smaller groups as to lessen the impact and took short breaks in areas impact would be minimal to none.

We started out at 8:30 am from the TH. The day was perfect! Sun shining with temp at a comfortable level. We all regrouped at Hardscrabble lake for water and snacks. Then headed up to Upper Hardscrabble lake. We took the wrong path up to gain the gully. It took us up through some cliff and scrub. Just more of a pain than anything.

After regrouping again at the base of the gully the climb begins. The talus gully is filled with huge boulders the size of cars to refrigerators. Fun stuff! There was no snow in the gully except for a 20x20 patch. Once we dropped down out of the Col we hit the first snow patch. The you find your way to a flat granite slab Mike name the “football field”. HUGE!

There is deep skinny tarns and streams running all through the slab. The fun begins. We scrambled along the ridge on great granite rock and slab. I love good rock! There were a few more patches of snow to cross but all fun stuff and not steep.

Jeff, Tom, Mike, and Randy dropped down to a beautiful, secluded tarn they named “Ed’s tarn” and took a dip before hitting the summit. It was Ed’s favorite tarn when there last. It was nice they got to spend time reflecting alone from the group.

The final push to the summit is steep with a little bit more exposure than the rest of the climb. Easy stuff though. Once on top we all signed the true summit register and found E'ds name from 2003.Then signed and placed “EMTSRM”

“EMTSRM” is an idea a poster from NWHikers came up with. Ed Miller’s Tribute Scramble Register memorial. The register holds a photo Ed took, a register for those who retrieve it to sign, a photo of Ed with words from his family, and some of his ashes. The idea is someone from NWHikers will climb and retrieve the register and then take it to the top of another peak sprinkle some of ed and place it for the next person. Then they post a trip report to let folks know where it is. Then the next guy/gal does the same thing. This way Ed will forever be climbing and be spread over the Cascades (as per his wishes). This idea works because last year a regular NWHTSR was moved all over the state.

We all had enough space on the summit for heading off alone to think and say a few words to Ed if we wanted to. There where a few very close friends of his (including Tom who was with him when he fell)on this trip and I think it helped them go through this horrible grieving process.
We all took a summit photo and sprinkle some ashes onto Big Snow Mountain. It was very touching.

We all descended without to much difficulty. The last three came out by head lamp just after dark. 12 hrs rt with many long breaks. We all had an amazing day!

This climb (while the road is still open see mountain page) can be done by a strong climber(or small group) in 8-10 hrs or less. Conditions are perfect right now and we used no gear.

I did a lot of thinking and reflecting during this trip. I thought about what I do and why I do it, a lot. Ed’s passing has made its mark on me. He will never be forgotten. He was loved by many!

This climb was for you Ed. My you soar through the peaks you love so much forever!

Raw Video

this is a video I put together of the trip it is raw but real.

Ed's tribute video

Images

Comments

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Viewing: 1-12 of 12

saintgrizzly

RIP....

Voted 10/10

Ed had the mountains he loved. Based on what I've seen and read here, he also had some very good friends. Life was good!

Well done, Tazz.

Posted Aug 21, 2006 12:46 pm

BobSmith

Sad.

Voted 10/10

My sympathies to all of his friends and family members.

Posted Aug 22, 2006 10:39 am

mvs

“EMTSRM”

Voted 10/10

EMTSRM is a great idea. You guys are great friends to a good man.

Posted Aug 22, 2006 2:51 pm


	tazz	Re: “EMTSRM”
	Hasn't voted	He is already on the move! He was retrieved from Big Snow this past weekend and headed to another peak this weekend. :)
		Posted Aug 22, 2006 3:13 pm

Diggler

Good job

Hasn't voted

RIP, Ed. Looks like you have some good friends down here. Nice TR & tribute. Looks like a beautiful area.

Posted Aug 22, 2006 3:28 pm

EastKing

Ed!!

Voted 10/10

I will carry a heavy heart when I am out there next week. Great tribute and trip report for him. My prayers go out to his family.
-EK

Posted Aug 22, 2006 6:53 pm

gimpilator

Ed Miller

Voted 10/10

When I first heard about Ed I was deeply saddened. He was part of our team On the recent Mount Baker trip. Climbing and hiking with him I was always impressed with the degree of passion he displayed for mountaineering in the North Cascades. He was also the best photographer I knew on the trail. I have this last picture I took of him on Mt. Baker to remember him by. We'll miss you Ed!

Posted Aug 23, 2006 5:07 am


	tazz	Re: Ed Miller
	Hasn't voted	I remember the pics he posted from that trip. He posted pics on NWH. He was a great man! Sorry for your and OSTAT's loss. BTW klenke added a nice memoriam to the Formidable page. Including the front page shot of the "ENTSRM" register page.
		Posted Aug 24, 2006 6:56 pm


	gimpilator	Re: Ed Miller
	Voted 10/10	Thank you. I'll take a look at the Formidable page.
		Posted Aug 24, 2006 10:25 pm

charles

Wonderful thing to do

Hasn't voted

That was a wonderful tribute to Ed.

Charles

Posted Aug 25, 2006 2:57 pm

tarol

Thanks

Hasn't voted

I didn't know Ed but I think I can relate to his final wishes and I think it's wonderful that they're being carried out.

Posted Aug 25, 2006 9:17 pm

tazz

Update!

Hasn't voted

Ed has now been to 6-7 mountains so far since Aug 13th. He has stayed on a couple of those for a few days-weeks. Some peaks he has just been taken up and then back down. We took him to a NWH social camp out and took him up Tieton and then back down last weekend. He is now on the move again. For anyone on SP who Knew him and who wants to retrieve him and place him. Go to NWHikers and see where he is and report when you have it and where it has been placed. Thanks.

Posted Oct 19, 2006 7:03 pm

Viewing: 1-12 of 12