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contour5 Member
Joined: 16 Jul 2003 Posts: 2962 | TRs | Pics
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contour5
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Mon Jun 09, 2014 1:52 pm
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Made a trip up Chatter Creek and tried to climb Grindstone, sort of.
My GT map was surprisingly inaccurate. I started off expecting to intersect the old road and trailhead, but just kept climbing and climbing-confused and perplexed, until I finally passed the wilderness boundary sign. There were tons of flowers along the steep lower portion of the trail. Met a couple of people out for a short walk on the lower trail, and then didn't see anyone else for the rest of the day
The upper valley has a huge swath of avy debris which has obliterated the trail from 5,000 ft to about 5,600 ft. Ended up climbing the hillside a ways to get over most of the mess. Found and lost the trail multiple times in the partly snow filled forest section. Due to a late start, I ended up making a very rough camp in the debris forest at about 5500'. Kinda spooky in there.
In the morning I bashed my way out of the forest and managed to find the switchbacks that lead up to the bottom of a half-mile snow traverse. After the big snowfield I mistakenly followed my map all the way to the waterfall and ended up climbing a bunch of ridiculously steep rock with my giant load of overnight gear. After that it was a fun walk on nice snow up into the upper basin.
Top-of-Switchbacks Upper-Basin1 Upper-Basin2 North-of-Pass1 Cashmere6
Camped on a little knoll in the basin. I'm not much of a snow camper, but conditions were perfect and it worked out pretty well. Could have used a second pad, or a better one than I brought, but I managed to sleep ok.
Camp1 Crater1 Crater4 Grindstone3 CashmereSunset10framev2 CashmereSunset3 CashmereSunset4 GrindstoneMorning TentDoorSunset4 Tower1 Tower2 Grind15 Pass-Ridge1 Grindstone18 MarmotFumarole Snow-Camp7 Cirque7 Moon4
I climbed to the pass the first afternoon, then tried to climb Grindstone the next morning. The snow was perfect and I suppose I could have easily followed the single set of tracks that led up the left side of the steep snowfield to the summit. But I didn't. The humungous cornice overhanging the route gave me the heebie-jeebies, and the route itself looked insanely steep, with a runout leading to a giant cheese-grater cliff band. The climb up to the low spot on the summit ridge basically pushed me to the limits of my comfort zone, so I contented myself with lazing about on the ridge and scrambling the little knob above the pass. Mostly shot video for some reason, feeling irked that I was missing out on half the views to the west.
So, a fail, but a fun one, as usual. It was an excellent week to be in the Icicle.
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polarbear Member
Joined: 16 Dec 2001 Posts: 3680 | TRs | Pics Location: Snow Lake hide-away |
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wildernessed viewbagger
Joined: 31 Oct 2004 Posts: 9275 | TRs | Pics Location: Wenatchee |
Nice !
Living in the Anthropocene
Living in the Anthropocene
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puzzlr Mid Fork Rocks
Joined: 13 Feb 2007 Posts: 7216 | TRs | Pics Location: Stuck in the middle |
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puzzlr
Mid Fork Rocks
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Mon Jun 09, 2014 9:53 pm
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That is a luxuriously sized tent to haul way up there! But I bet it's nice after all the work is done.
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contour5 Member
Joined: 16 Jul 2003 Posts: 2962 | TRs | Pics
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contour5
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Mon Jun 09, 2014 10:08 pm
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Quote: | That is a luxuriously sized tent to haul way up there! But I bet it's nice after all the work is done. |
It's only 2½ lbs. Floor plan is the size of a coffin. I was glad I brought it- the bugs are out early this year. Lots of mosquitos on the lower trail, black flies all the way to the top. Flicked a tick off my leg while resting on the switchbacks. Almost waited to see if it would crawl on to my permethrin treated shirt and explode, but finally got squicked out and flicked him off the cliff.
The main purpose of the tent is to prevent the rodents from gnawing on me as I sleep.
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RichP Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 5628 | TRs | Pics Location: here |
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RichP
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Mon Jun 09, 2014 10:21 pm
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I had an ill fated attempt on Grindstone some years ago for the same reasons. A snow squall was added to the mix as well. I never did return for another try. Sure is a pretty mountain though.
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Magellan Brutally Handsome
Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 13116 | TRs | Pics Location: Inexorable descent |
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Magellan
Brutally Handsome
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Mon Jun 09, 2014 10:23 pm
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Gorgeous.
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mehitabel archyologist
Joined: 23 Mar 2009 Posts: 519 | TRs | Pics Location: the Emerald City |
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mehitabel
archyologist
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Thu Jun 15, 2017 5:34 pm
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Anyone been up there this year yet?
toujours gai toujours gai
toujours gai toujours gai
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jdk610 Member
Joined: 21 Aug 2012 Posts: 330 | TRs | Pics
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jdk610
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Sat Jun 17, 2017 10:35 pm
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Yes, TR recently posted on WTA. (Not me)
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