Das toof - 5/21

 Soloed Das Toof C2C afterschool in 2:22. Had been on the HS afterschool bucketlist so glad to get it off in the final week or two.

Bacon-Hagan-Blum - "Ski" Traverse 05/23/2026-05/24/2026

 Over the weekend I linked up Bacon, Hagan, and Blum peaks. In typical fashion for this year, my laziness and a bunch of lawn jobs through the week meant that at 6pm on Friday night I was wondering about my plans for the weekend. Without a partner lined up and a lack of condition research, I settled on the Bacon-Hagan-Blum Traverse. With little time to pack and whatnot, I forgoed most beta or research and downloaded a single GPX track off caltopo. I recalled climber kyle mentioning it as 10,000’ so in two days it’d be a breeze. I called the parents for permission, and went on my way. My Pater’s E-bike was stashed deep in the woods near Baker River TH and I set an alarm for 4:45
The day started by driving up Anderson Lakes Road. I was a bit surprised by the road closed sign but with cars clearly having driven past it, I figured I’d test my luck. But 2000’ and 6 miles from the TH, I came across a massive washout. I almost considered turning around but given that it was(from what I knew), only 5k per day, what was an extra 2k total? I left the car at 5:30, spent 40min navigating the destruction to cross 100ft, and began my ways. I followed the road, then the trail, then cut around the melted Anderson lakes before finally putting my skis on to contour below Watson. From there I rode my first nice-ish run down to upper Diobsud Lakes.


My GPX told me to contour up through brush to the bacon creek drainage so I blindly followed it. And I soon fucking regretted it. I was soon climbing class 3-4 bushwack with skis on my back, hoping moss footholds didn’t slip and tree branches didn’t snap. The 0.7 miles from the lakes to the drainage cost me 3hrs and my sun glasses. After cussing out the forest, a gentler skin and ridge traverse led me to the summit of bacon. Blum looked exceptionally far away but I enjoyed the pickets views for a moment before riding the rolling terrain of the Diobsud and Green lake glaciers. Around 8pm I arrived at Hidden lake where I threw down a thermarest, popped in my sleeping bag, and after devouring some pizza(dominos deals are stupid good), promptly fell asleep.

Day 2 was simpler, I awoke to dew over all my shit but since my feet were already soaked from the day prior, I didn’t care much. moving at 5:30 I bushwacked into the Hagan basin where I threw on ski boots and crampons to bring me near the summit. I enjoyed a exposed class 3-4 scramble in trailrunners to the top at 9 before heading back down. I put my splitboard together and made my way slowly over to Bacon. Some more scrambling and then skinning brought me to the summit of Blum around noon. From there I rode down to the lakes and suffered through the endless shwack “trail” down to the bike, arriving at 6. An hour on the bike got me to the car where I greeted my sandals and finally freed my feet of 2 days of soaked socks.

The total stats ended up being 16,400’ of gain and 33.3 miles, a bit longer than I had expected. The road closure added about 3hrs to my trip, and I’m sure there would be a better way to navigate from Diobsud Lakes. From a ski traverse perspective, the route is out of condition. I probably spent as much time, or more, on bare dirt as I did on snow. Lakes were also too melted for skinning. Nonetheless it was a memorable trip, and in a spring where I’ve failed to get out as much I’ve hoped, mostly because of a lack of partners, it's one I’ll be proud of.

Mt Daniel 5/31

 Went up Daniel with grander plans of getting Dip Top and Hinman, Clouds foiled that which meant a nice summit bivy instead and ski down in the morning

Monte Cristo Range linkup, Also Chilliwacks and Isolation - Columbia -> Kyes -> Monte Cristo -> Cadet 06/17/2026

After getting back from the Chilliwacks(more below), I stuck around in seattle for two days before heading out to Monte Cristo. Continuing with my lazy route research trend of recently, I screenshotted a few photos from this lovely TR before heading out at a civil 7am from seattle. I made the mistake of taking the lower monte cristo road in, which wasn't all that bad, but was certainly bumpy and not too smooth. At the town, the first time I've been, I locked up the bike and enjoyed(?) the quick hike up to Columbia. Columbia was a nice scramble and I topped out around 1:30. Once I descended I was suprised to find old tracks on my route, but it made it easy to routefind. I descended down onto the glacier and made my way over to the chossy 3/4th class ramp. Heads-up scrambling got me up and soon I was to the ridge of Kyes. A nice walk and then scramble got me to the summit.

My reference TR mentioned rappelling from here but I didn't want to bivy on the ridge or on the exposed windy side so I decided to walk back down and find a spot in cover where I would be able to avoid ropes in the morning. This turned out to be an amazing decision as I found a little cave. I dug out a nice bivy, got some music and food going, and enjoyed a nice warm night. The green stuff put me to sleep and when I woke up at 5 to my alarm, I was feelin quite content in my bag so I enjoyed another hour.

In the morning I traversed snow slopes, following the old tracks over to monte Cristo. the slope got quite steep as I neared the Kyes-Monte Cristo Col and being above cracks I wasn't happy with one axe, but that was soon over and I was at the base of the route quickly. I rope soloed the 20ft bolted(!!!!) 5.6 pitch and scrambled to the top by 9am. From there it was a traverse over to Cadet which was moderately enjoyable. I dropped the bag 1000' below the summit  and topped out around 11:45. Boot skiing, a split finger nail from a fall, and small easy bushwacking brought me to the trail, where I enjoyed reading the signs and looking at the abandoned town before I got back to the bike and subsequently, the car. I stopped at REI on my way back to get food for the next three days- the isolation traverse.

For those interested about the chilliwacks, the TLDR is that after grad on the 10th, I headed up with a partner for 4 days and bagged Spickard, Solitude, Custer, and Ramh. Spickard was done on the second day, and then Solitude Custer and Ramh were done on day 3 solo. all 4 would have easily been done in a day solo. The highlights of that trip were the exposed scrambling on Solitude and the Spicy S. Ridge(and traverse to it) of Custer. Looking to go with a fit partner and grab the moxes and Redoubt over 3 days but still looking for the right person. photos(by me):The Isolation was also quite fun, even if late season. I did it the 3 days following Monte Cristo The only part done in trailrunners aside from beginning and end was from base of ice-elation couloir to Isolation peak. The one descent between the two had snow to ski but it would've just been a hassle for 300' of skiing. We added summits of Eldorado, Isolation, and Neve peaks for extra skiing. Though it was quite late in a crappy season, it was still super fun and nice to tick off something that had been on my mind for years. photos(by me):

Anyways now the weather ofc has to suck but I've been finding motivation for the bouldering gym and cragging so at least it's not all that bad.