2023 Trip Reports

Mountain Loop Highway | September 17th, 2023

Alpine Climb | 7.5 miles | 4,347 feet elevation gain 

I remember attempting Vesper Peak for the first time. My friend, Lizzy was in town and I wanted to scramble this peak I heard so much about. Unfortunately that day was riddled with rain and a fall into a stream that resulted in a puncture wound on my right thigh. We gave up after sitting under a tree pretty drenched from the rain and I felt bummed. Little did I know that I'd end up summiting Vesper in 2019 and then again in 2021 via the Ragged Edge route. 

My friends, Rob and Jessica were hosting a Mountaineers climb for one of their students this past weekend and invited me to join them for a romp up True Grit. They're pretty awesome to climb with and I had nothing better to do so I figure let's give it a go. We left the trailhead at 5AM with headlamps and stoke. There was a wasp nest about a mile in that was marked with some small home made signs. The nest was a hole in the ground which was pretty freaky, but we passed it with no issues. 

We reached the base of True Grit around 8:30AM.  Our morning started off foggy but it cleared off after doing the first pitch. I paired up with Jessica and we swapped leads. The fourth pitch was definitely the crux which was fun to lead. The climb itself overall was pretty chill and we topped out around 11:30AM. We were back at the trailhead by 3PM. Happy to see Vesper's summit for a third time. It really was a lovely day overall!

Photos of me climbing courtesy of Rob!

Central Cascades | September 16, 2023

Hike | 10.5 miles | 3,783 feet elevation gain

I always wanted to climb this iconic looking peak. You can see it clearly when driving on the i-90 close to North Bend. I was excited to have my friend, Shannyn join me for this close-to-home adventure. 

We left the trailhead around 8AM. A majority of the trail is in the forest which was nice for this warm day. The steepness was pretty wild but thankfully the trail was well maintained. We took short breaks as we cruised up the 3,600 feet of elevation gain and kept a nice pace overall.

We reached the final summit block around 10:40AM and took in the open views and steep scramble to the summit. The scramble itself is not bad; there were plenty of solid holds to rely on. The exposure was wild though and should not be taken lightly. Luckily the exposed scramble was pretty short and before we knew it, we were at the summit. The views were fantastic and we enjoyed a nice half hour lunch at the top. We were back at the car by 1:30PM. What a sweet hike close to home!

North Cascades | July 30th - August 1st, 2023

Alpine Rock Climb | 5,600 feet elevation gain

Gear: Single rack up to 2 inches, doubles in 0.4, 0.5, and 0.75, set of nuts, 10 alpine draws (two double length), 60m rope

This climb. WOW. I was so fortunate to do this climb on a gorgeous weather window. 

Day 1: Left the trail at noon and hiked up to Boston Basin high camp. We had an incredible view of Mt. Forbidden from our campside and could make out the entire West Ridge route. 

Day 2: Took off from camp at 6AM. We went up to the Cat Scratch gully with little snow crossings that are pretty avoidable. The Cat Scratch gully had easy scrambling but the rock was pretty loose which kept thing spicy. We reached the notch at 10:30AM. I swapped leads with my friend, Josh and the entire ridge had super quality rock climbing that was mostly chill. There were a couple of parties on route so we were moving slower than usual but we summited by 2PM. The views from the summit were incredible and it was so amazing to see all the surrounding peaks I have climbed in the past.

Getting off wasn't too bad. We had a mixture of down climbing and rappelling - 3 on the ridge and 5 in the Cat Scratch Gully. The real crux was managing the slow parties getting off the climb, but we managed to get back to camp before sunset. 

Day 3: Left camp early and got back to the car by noon! Overall this climb was pure magic and I would love to do it again with a traverse to Torment.  

The Enchantments | July 2nd, 2023

Alpine Scramble | Day 5 of 2023 Enchantments Trip

Our last peak on our last full day. It started with a ridge scramble from camp up to steep snow fields that required ice axes and crampons. From the snow, we scrambled to a notch and worked our way around the summit block until we found a safe path to the summit. We saw all the summits we climbed over the last three days from the top as well as a clear view of the Teanaways. We took the long way back to get a quick view of Leprechaun Lake before heading back to camp. It ended up being a nice chill day with a couple of pesky mosquitoes around dinner time. Time flies when you’re having fun.

The Enchantments | July 1st, 2023

Alpine Rock Climbing | Day 4 of 2023 Enchantments Trip

There is so much that can be said about this climb, but in quick summary, it was a super fun climb with some bite. The not straightforward approach, remoteness, steep snow and occasional loose rock were all challenging. We also had to inspect and replace every rappel anchor before rappelling. In the end though, we got incredible summit views of the the upper Core Zone and Snow Lakes. It was super fun to problem solve and reach the highest point in the Temple Range.

The Enchantments | June 29th, 2023

Alpine Rock Climbing | Day 2 of 2023 Enchantments Trip

Prusik was the first and chillest peak of our six day Enchantments adventure. This classic climb up the West Ridge (5.7) was super fun and we were lucky enough to have the whole mountain to ourselves. No issues other than a lot of pesky mosquitos. We got back to camp early for some nice recharge time by Sprite Lake. An amazing start to an epic adventure. 

North Cascades | May 29th, 2023

Ski Mountaineering | 14.53 miles | 7,569 feet elevation gain

Got to do another last minute adventure with Claire by skiing Mt. Baker in a day. For this romp, we chose to do the Squak glacier. Neither of us had done this route and it appeared to be the most favorable for spring skiing. 

We camped at the trailhead the evening before to optimize resting before the big day. The alarms went off at 3AM and we left promptly by 3:45AM. The skin up wasn't trivial and we enjoyed clear views the entire way up. We summited at 1PM and enjoyed some high quality corn snow on the ski down. Third summit of Baker in the books and an epic day overall!