[rocknclimb]

Eightmile stands as possibly the worst buschwack of my hiking & climbing career, but a recent fire up Jack Creek made me curious of what the conditions would be like now. My dad made an attempt last year and stopped about 1,000' short of the top, so we decided to make a second go at the mountain w/ Neil deciding to join us. The three of us headed up the Eighmile Lake trail around 8:00 under cloudy skies and an iffy weather forecast. 1 1/2 hours later we took our first break at Eighmile lake and had our first views of the objective.

Eightmile Lake

We traversed around the lake which has a decent amount of fire damage. The trail gets a bit difficult to follow, and the FS has closed some campsites due to tree fall danger. Once we reached the inlet our group followed the stream for about 1/2 mile to an obvious clearing under the gully.

Burned gully

Fire destruction

The fire has certainly destroyed the alder that made my previous trip a living hell, but the thick wet ash wasn't much fun either. Luckily the wet ash gave way to class 2 boulder hopping about 1/2 up the gully.

Eightjack

Neil heading up with Stuart looming behind

Looking out toward Stuart

The weather to this point had actually been decent, but we could see the rain moving in from the east. We thought about hunkering down from the weather, but decided to push to the summit before things turned even worse. Good decision as things cleared the moment we reached the top.

Glacier Peak et al

Ice Cliff Glacier

Jack Ridge (2)

Jack Ridge

We stuck around the summit for about an hour enjoying the swirling clouds and celebration brews.

Stuart's north face

Stuart

Summit pano

Asgard, Dragontrail, and Colchuck

Thunder and lighting along w/ a rainshower put some extra pep in our step back down the gully and to the lake.

Swirling clouds

Thankfully the sun came out as we reached Eighmile lake, so we took a long deserved break and dried off.

Descending

Heading off the summit

Dinner and beers at Gustav's to celebrate in Leavenworth. Happy Father's Day to my dad and best climbing partner I could ask for. 13 miles w/ 5,000' gained. Another great day in the mountains!!!

[neek]

[mtn.climber]

[Bernardo]

Nice report for fathers' day. My son outstrips me as well now, but I still have more experience for the time being! #happytobebeat