Eldorado Peak - East Ridge - 05.27.2024

 Sometimes you just gotta go and take a look. That was my philosophy this spring, where we lacked good weather windows and corn cycles. After a great uncertain-forecast day on Baker, I set my sights on Eldorado. It’s one of the 50 classics, and a popular easy climb in the cascades. We got to the trailhead on Sunday night, where we scoped out the river crossing and talked to a party of three also going up the next day. After a few hours of sleep, we were on the move at 03:00. The initial steep bushwacking was brutal, but we gained elevation fast. We were passed by two trail-runners but still felt good about our pace. 

Keenan being one with the Talus

Eventually we made it out to the Talus field, where we slogged and scraped our skis up for hours. By the time we made it out of the Talus field, we almost caught up with some snowshoers. We put on skins near the NOLS tents and worked our way onto the Eldorado Glacier where we were passed by the party of three. Though it was a whiteout, we decided to keep going since we still had visibility and a skin track.

As we followed the track, a solo splitboarder caught up to us named Emily. Since it was a whiteout on a glacier, we decided it’d be good if we all stuck together. After some traversing, we realized the skintrack went too far, and as I checked my phone, I dropped by glove on the steep crusted slope. Keenan went after it but his ski came off and flew down the hill out of site. Momentarily, the clouds parted and we saw his ski 300’ below. Once we regrouped, we headed up to the summit knife-edge, topping out at 11:00.

Keenan going down to his ski

Me nearing the summit 

From there, we skied down great snow and after a few hours of talus and bushwack suffering, made it back to the car at 15:00. While we didn’t get great views, it was still a great day and I met a new partner.

Mount Baker - Squak Glacier - 05.19.2024

 After climbing it the previous summer, I really wanted to ski Baker. The weather was looking iffy but Keenan and I figured we could get beta from the snow goat race the day before. We drove up Saturday evening with no issue and quickly got to work getting gear together for the next day. There was one other party at the trailhead planning to ski the day after, and we enjoyed a nice conversation with them.

Ski touring essentials

We set off around 04:00 and tried skinning the trail. After realizing walking would be much more efficient, we switched back and finally switched to skinning when the route departed from the scott paul trail. We felt a little behind schedule but still confident. As we exited the trees, we saw Baker tower over us. It was pretty cloudy at that elevation but this spring, I had decided to get out and at least take a look so we decided to keep going until it didn’t make any more sense. 

Keenan and the slog

The slog up the glacier was draining but I was feeling good. My running from the spring was paying off and I was dashing ahead of keenan. We took breaks every hour or so and by the time we reached 7k, keenan was drained. The clouds had went below us by then so we were feeling confident we could summit. We kept slogging along. The squak was super filled in with no crevasses we actually needed to get around so we chose not to rope up. At 11:30, we reached the base of the roman wall, where the true fun began.

​​Keenan bonking 

Above the clouds

As I booted up the Roman Wall, I kept thinking the top looked only 20 meters away but once I got to that point, a new 20 meters appeared. Eventually I made it up 45 minutes later, with keenan taking almost double the time. We walked over to the true summit and enjoyed the amazing views and Keenan’s  text from his grandpa asking about the weather up there. It was pretty good. 

Summit

We started our descent at 13:30. The roman wall skied well, though it could’ve been a tiny bit softer. Halfway down the Squak, we entered a whiteout but knowing there were no cracks along our route, we just followed the tracks, going very relaxed. The Squak descent felt endless but eventually, we hit the treeline. The snow got a lot stickier but we quickly hit the trail. From there it was an endless walk back to the car where we took off our packs, thankful to live in a state with these beautiful mountains.

Ruby Mountain - North Side 03.30.2024

The moment I read the Climber Kyle trip report on Ruby, I wanted to do it. Positioned at the base of Ross lake, it has stunning views of the North Cascades. Thousands of feet of perfect alpine descent lead into classic Cascadian forest. It’s a great relaxing day, one I suggest every Washington backcountry skier does. After reading reports of spring powder in the North Cascades, I convinced my dad to join me for a trip

My dad and I arrived at the Ross Dam trailhead at 08:00 and were quickly on our way. It was worrying being the last ones out, especially given that we were slow, but I still felt we could make it. After a mile of road walking, we started bushwacking. Luckily, this off-trail hiking is easy, with a nice open forest. Eventually, we came to a slide path where we climbed up snow and caught up to another party.

From here, it was just more bushwacking followed by putting skins on too early. At 11:00, we broke out of the lower forest and caught our first glimpse of Ruby. Our hopes of powder were confirmed, and with great weather, we kept working our way up. Gaining the ridge is where my dad fell behind. However, it didn’t feel like the sun was heating up the snow too much so I wasn’t worried. I took some weight from his pack and we continued up.

Ross

At 13:00, we broke past treeline and could see the final 1000’ to the summit ridge. It was a busy day with at least 10 other parties on the mountain, but everybody was having a good time and we kept slogging. At the ridge, my dad called it. He isn’t much of a peakbagger, and was more there for the skiing. I did the final skin up to the summit and transitioned.

My dad skinning up

My Dad shredding in the Alpine

From here, it was a great ski down. There was an amazing layer of powder, and while there were other turns, it was more than enough to share. Once we hit treeline, it was an hour or two of bushwacking and hiking and we were out by 17:00. It was a great day of type-1 fun with my dad, and some of my best turns all year.

Mt St Helens - Monitor Ridge 10.29.2023

 Nobody knows what to do in October. There isn’t enough snow falling to form a base, but it’s often too wet to go climbing. The biking can be good, but too often it is cold and wet. With the ski season stoke upon us, we chose to check out Mt St. Helens. This time of the year we wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of getting a permit, and hopefully there’d be at least some ski-able snow. We drove out on a Saturday evening and arrived at the trailhead around Dark. Keenan was using his moms Hyundai, which soon became problematic. While trying to sleep in it, alarms would go off once all the doors were closed. We couldn’t figure it out and eventually ended up propping a door open for the cold night. For those facing the same issue, google “rear occupant alert Hyundai”.

After a cozy night, we were heading out at 03:00 on Sunday. We skinned but in retrospect, should’ve walked due to the low snow coverage. We made it out of the trees and into the permit zone at 05:00 and worked our way up. Sadly for us there was a massive wind-crust. Even with ski crampons, it was extremely difficult to make upward progress. To slow us down even more, there were tons of exposed rocks to navigate around. We spent tons of time traversing towards skinnable slopes. In retrospect, we should have just booted up the whole Monitor Ridge.

Sharkies

Sloggin

We reached the summit crater at 10:30 and walked over to the true summit, reaching it at 11:00. 

With no clouds in the sky, it was a beautiful day. Looking into the crater was surreal, realizing that only half a century ago, this mountain was completely different. We walked back over to our boards and talked to some mountaineers, who asked if we were redbull or something. No, we were just two inexperienced, overstoked backcountry skiers with not much better to do for the weekend. While putting my binding on, I realized my rear didn’t fit. I didn’t have the screw for it and ended up ski-strapping my boot to the board. It was terrible but I had no alternative. We worked our way down the 1000’ of decent skiing before reaching shark infested territory. From here, I chose to give up snowboarding and bootpacking down. It was pretty demoralizing. Keenan kept skiing for 1000’ more before giving up from sharks.

Adams and Crater

Summit!

Summit selfie

We reached the car at 16:00, where we finally laid down our packs and started the drive home. While the skiing wasn’t amazing and the climb was terrible, I’m still glad we got it done. I probably wasn’t gonna do anything better with my weekend, and skiing is still skiing. I hope to pursue more October turns in the future. 

Mount Adams - Southwest Chutes - 06.01.2023

 Everyone has a first climb, for me that was Mount Adams. 2023 was when I decided I wanted to do more splitboarding. I recruited Keenan and we did a few afterschool touring laps, along with some mellow tours in the Snoqualmie backcountry and up to Camp Muir. As the snow started to melt and spring arrived, I decided skiing the SW chutes of Mt Adams would be a great objective for Keenan and I. Since we didn’t have the overnight gear or experience, we would have to do it in a day. On the last weekend of May, a solid weather window came where we were free. On Saturday, we threw our gear in the car and started the long drive.

Mount Adams is nestled away in Southern Washington along the Cascade Crest. The drive is 6 hours, requiring one to pass through Portland . We got the car 2 miles from cold springs TH where a mound of snow signified our camp for the night. After scarfing down dinner, we sorted out the gear and made the best of the uneven trunk. We figured we could keep that same 1000’/hour pace and planned to leave at 03:00, summit around 10:00, and be back at the car in the early afternoon. Alarms were set and we settled into the back of the CRV.

Novice Car Campers

3am came quickly and we were soon walking. A full moon illuminated the mountain, towering above as we slogged up the road towards it. We reached skinnable snow within an hour and stashed our boots. Two naive young ski mountaineers(and I won't deny I'm still naive) on their first big objective. We reached a steep portion on route and threw on our ski crampons. Working our way up, Keenan split from the route and had to front point steep snow. I’d been reading too much Freedom of the Hills and yelled at him to use French technique since I thought it was safer. Quickly, we leveled out and could see the lunch counter and the climb up to Pikers Peak ahead.

Keenan skinning towards lunch counter with Mount Hood Staring out from behind

Once we got to the base of the Pikers Peak headwall, the true slog began. Thousands of feet of bootpack. We threw on crampons, pulled out ice-axes, and started up. Being a perfect spring weekend, we were joined by the masses. We were the masses and it was quite demoralizing to be the slowest ones on the mountain. We had considered ourselves fit before, but mountain athletes have a different level of sustained cardio. 

A humbled keenan. Shit is tough.

Once we reached Pikers, there was a nice crowd waiting for the chutes to corn up. Keenan took a break while I darted towards the summit. He called towards me on my way down, but I didn’t hear. I got back to Pikers and took a break, watching as parties started making their way down. I radioed to Keenan but to no response. I got worried and kept radioing, but never received a response. Finally Keenan poked out, and I skied over at him, annoyed he hadn't responded. It wasn’t his fault however, as the preset channels had somehow switched on one of our units.

Standing on the Summit, my first volcano

From here, we started down thousands of feet of corn. The 35 degree slab of snow that seemed to extend forever. There were a few bumpy sections and random bits of harder snow but for the most part, it was extremely consistent. As we quickly lost altitude, we took breaks to de-layer. The conditions were primo, and we only dealt with slush for the last 500’.

Skiing down the Chutes, a placeholder from a video

Once we arrived at the bottom we had a long way out. I blasted through a field of sun cupped rocks, and we started the traverse t. By now it was about 14:30. We were a good deal behind schedule but still with lots of time to go till dark. We joined another group of skiers on the traverse, suffering through sticky skins and scorching heat. Neither me nor keenan had sunscreen, and we’d feel the effects after.

Another Party following the traverse with Helens looming in the background

Our Path to Pizza

At 17:00, we emerged from our cars victorious. We dashed down the crappy forest road and arrived at trout lake for a solid Pizza. It was our first true climb and while we were delirious, we were also destroyed from a 14 hour day. We enjoyed the cheesy taste of victory and slumped onto the tables. Another group that had sumitted sat nearby, tired but with energy. At the time, I couldn’t comprehend how you could do that and still have energy for laughs and drinks. We arrived home around midnight sunday. As I suffered through the first hours of monday morning at school, I couldn’t help but be grateful for the weekend well spent, and an incredible first mountaineering experience.