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.

spring

I still do stuff. Been kinda fucked by my partner situation with people injured and on awkward schedules but I'm building a roster again. Sadly I missed a few windows just since I had nobody to get out with. got baker n. ridge, magic s loop,  skiing on cascade pass, baker bc, tatoosh, and someways up to colonial before new partner got tired. pretty meh so far. Hoping to get some bigger trips but partners partners partners. really haven't felt like the splitmountaineer that I wanted to be. anyways heres a few random shots

WA pass november ski season

 The real ski season is november on WA pass. 

First day was spent on the birthday tour. Got some great shaded pow below copper benchmark(idek if this is it, going from my head)

Tried for Whistler E(?) couloir, bailed cuz of windslab, then went over to SW. Cutthroat but didn't get any photos of that day

Another weekend we went over to the ski the lyall (non)glacier with a fun crust.

Then later I went and nabbed Wallaby

The week later I did a weird reverse birthday tour from kangaroo col to bag Copper benchmark and blue lake pk. Ended up kinda fun. Spire gully was much lamer than expected

Day after that I went for a kangaroo wallaby tour, skied North couloir off wallaby, North couloir off halfmoon, then climbed NE couloir of Big kangaroo and skied W Gully at sunset for keenan to get caught in a slide.

And then the pass closed and a few weeks later I was off to hyalite. Def the best skiing of the szn for me. If somebody is skiing W gully of big K and finds a pair of skis, lmk. They could be keenans

Mt Thomson W ridge - 09.20.2025

 School's no fun. At least when all the weather windows are when you're at school. Been busy with college apps and workin and school and all the obligations that come along with that. Did get to see modest mouse, built to spill, and courtney barnett last weekend though. Saturday was free till 7 but partners were busy so I ran over to Thomson and soloed the West ridge which was fun. 7 hours c2c? ran past turnoff twice... 

Glacier peak c2c- 09.01.2025

 Ran up glacier peak day before school started to enjoy my last tastes of freedom. 14 hours c2c? not much running and not super fast but was happy to do it in a day. Brought crampons and ice axe which I never used. Good way to test out the homemade pack though.

Home to Dome - 7 day bike to climb on the southern end of the Ptarmy - 8/17-8.23.2025

During the past school year, I’d made the plan of doing a bike to climb trip this summer. Mainly due to the fact that it’s difficult to borrow a car from my parents for a while, but it also just seemed like a neat concept, and I was down for an adventure. After getting back from the North end of the ptarmigan traverse, I was inspired by the peaks further south. My partners were either out of commission or had came up with the lame excuse of “work” and “paying bills” so I figured I’d make it a solo trip. The peaks on the ptarmigan traverse made good sense for this since they’re usually 4th or low 5th making it a pain to bring rock gear. The only challenge was glaciers, but I hoped with my later-season climb they would be mostly dry. I was pretty lazy about prep so a late Saturday night found me and my brother binging a show. I woke up at the too-early time of 7am on Sunday and packed my bike before setting off at 10.

Sunday 8/17

The first day was quite chill until I got to the centennial. At my first break on the centennial, I went for my phone when I realized my pannier pocket had been completely open and in a position to spill out the contents for the last hour while I’d been biking down a windy hill and over railroad tracks. I looked around but couldn’t find it so I asked a kind stranger to see if I could call my parents to find out the location. The man, Tom, ended up driving me back an hour of biking to the last known location but after a 1.5 hour ordeal, I came out empty handed. I figured I’d continue on with a garmin and stop by somewhere to get a map. Hour or so later, When I reached down in my frame bag for some snacks, I found it tucked behind some bike tools. The rest of the day went smoothly and I got into Darrington around 6 or 7 in time to get some food, buy groceries, and set up camp.

Monday 8/18

As was the trend for the trip, monday was also a moderate day. I biked 30 miles to the trailhead and hiked up to itswoot ridge. The Downey/Bachelor creek trails are now well cut out. Always able to see your feet. At the Bachelor turn-off I ran into two climbers who were coming down from dome. Once I got to cub lake, I met a backpacker who had twisted his ankle a few days ago. An hour later I watched a helicopter come pick him up. I worked it up to Itswoot ridge where I went over to back the peak before setting camp at the established bivy sights to a nice view of dome and glacier.

Tuesday 8/18

Trying to save phone battery and figuring the ptarmigan was obvious, I navigated the old fashion way. I knew that I had to climb through snowfields to the spire col so went to what I thought would be the obvious one. Once I was climbing the gully to the col, I found that it was much much looser than I had expected. Topping out, I realized I was definitely in the wrong place, I’d gone to the spire/west spire col. A shitty descent and some more vert later, I got to the right col. I scrambled up spire peak and enjoyed a mix of sun and clouds. TR’s had reported a licheny slab that wouldn’t be fun in approach shoes but it wasn’t too licheny anymore. From here I made the awful descent down to the basin where I traversed around to cub lakes. The only snow of the entire day was between the col and the base of the spire point. I got into cub lakes early and bagged 7340 and Lizard before heading to bed.

Wednesday 8/20

The goal for the day was simple, Sentinel and Old Guard. The south cascade glacier was entirely dry and it was cool to see all the glacier monitoring equipment. I found a nice left leaning ramp up the West face of sentinel and scrambled to the top. With the sun and clouds there was a cool glory effect. I descended down, traversed over to the Leconte Glacier, and followed the dry glacier to the col. With some endrunning I was able to stay entirely on ice except for a large snow patch right before the col past the schrund. The scramble up was fun and I enjoyed good views of the more northern peaks. I descended back down and got back to camp by 4. Made some oatmeal and figured I’d scramble up old guard at 4:30. Made it from camp to the base of the North ridge in 45minutes before realizing that there may be some 5th class. It ended up being about 5.6 but it was a secure chimney so I felt comfortable. Made my way down by 6:30 where I found a deer at camp. Picked lots of berries alongside the deer before settling in for the night. Also lots of unfazed marmots.

Thursday 8/21

Woke up to find my helmet 20 yards away from my tent. The marmots had stolen the foam padding from it. Spent the morning walking over to the dome-dana col. I went up and over to the itswoot ridge side since I didn’t want to solo the Dana glacier. Set up a nice camp before scoping out conditions. Figured it would probably be do-able but I wanted to do it in the early morning before sun hit everything and while snow conditions were firm. I was doing everything in approach shoes and hybrid crampons so steep stuff was not my forte. Listened to podcasts and sat around for the easy afternoon. That night was horrible, some mice disturbed me for two hours, eventually getting into my tent  by making holes in the mosquito netting. My food was hanging but they still walked around by my feet. Didn’t get a ton of sleep.

Friday 8/22

Started at 5am, picked my way up the glacier trying to stay on ice. Summited dome at 6:30, down by 7:30 before the sun had even hit camp. Figured I might as well make it down to the trailhead where I found myself at 2pm. Quickly packed the bike and headed towards darrington where I stopped to gorge myself at the burger place. Afterwards I hopped back on the bike in the 93 degree heat to bike to arlington where I camped in a park. This night also sucked too. Loud music + heat + my grimy body only gave me like 2 hours of sleep

Saturday 8/23

I knew it’d get hot so I was moving as soon as it was light out, made it home in 5.5 hours where I showered and gorged myself. I’d been doing some moderate rationing for most of the trip so was, and still am, quite hungry.