[freddyfredpants]

I was excited to get up to the North Cascades for what was forecast to be a smoke-free weekend. Wrong. Punked, just like a lot of other folks. Beautiful clear skies at Easy Pass overnight were thick with haze by the morning. I left my car bivy a little before 6. Merely annoying haze worsened to apocalyptic scenery destroying fog by 8 am, and it stayed that way all day. I took a left at Easy Pass and headed along the N ridge of Graybeard, eventually scrambling up the steep eastern choss to the summit gullies. I took the right-hand gully which led to ~100 feet south of the top, encountering one loose class 4 section. At the top visibility was less than 2 miles, such that I could barely see Arches or Fisher from there. After a leisurely summit break I headed back down to the eastern face, then worked my way south towards the Silent Wall on a series of sloping benches between 6800' and 7000'. I found the choss to be somewhat unreliable and slippy, so progress was slow as I exercised care to stay upright. Eventually I downclimbed a crumbly gully to cross a couple snow patches and talus around 6200' to gain the access ramp between cliffs on the Silent Wall. Another long lunch break at the saddle between Fisher and Upper Silent Lake got me in the mood to continue, at this point about 1:30. I had thought to do Fisher first but decided to save it for last, so I pushed on to Arriva. On the way I ran into a guy saying his asthma was acting up due to the smoke. He was ok, but taking it easy. I rounded the corner to the basins at 7000' and crossed terraced heather to drop down to 6800' to move along the ledges at the toe of a decent size buttress. The rock had transformed from quartzite ball bearings to granitic mega grip awesome, which helped move things along. Arriva = arriba. The SW route went smoothly up good gullies and ledges. Again a long summit stay, then reversed much of the route back to Silent Lakes, except staying high and crossing the ridge at 7200'. Either way is ok, the key is using the 7000' saddle on the N-S ridge SE of peak. Back to the upper lake at 5:15, and immediately up the W ridge of Fisher. At the top of Fisher an hour later, I took a look down the north ridge / narrow face and after some deliberation decided its crisscrossed ledges didn't look too bad to downclimb. The ledges were mostly easy to negotiate, though there was a spot about 100' below the summit on the W side of the face where I traversed about 10' on good holds to reach a 10' downclimb on some loose crap to reach the next the ledge. Below that the angle slowly but surely eased over the next few hundred feet to reach the bench midway on the ridge. The next steep step was straightforward, and I was at the north saddle by 7:45. Overall, attention required, but fairly secure terrain. For those familiar with Colorado, this had elements and flavor of NW slopes on Little Bear. The advantage of reaching the saddle was that now I had the option of heading east to make my way back to the highway rather than back to Fisher Creek and the extra 1400' slog up to Easy Pass. Because of the smoke I had about an hour of dim daylight left, but I had spied the region a couple of weekends before which gave me the impression that the terrain was mostly old growth forest. I was carrying a light bivy and lots of clothes, so a night out was an option. I wasn't feeling too tired so I pressed on. I crossed gently sloping heather and slabs to reach a broad ridge around 6000' around dark. Sure enough the forest was mostly open. Some blueberries and fir saplings, but not bad. Only when crossing a couple of streams around 4600' did I get to whack through some easy slide alder. I forded Granite Creek and soon was at the road at 11:30. Now I was tired. Another 45 minute walk and I was back at the car. I think I might not have saved much time vs. using Easy Pass to exit. Off trail travel is hard in a different way, but I skipped the extra uphill. Pick your poison I guess. Maybe I will go back and do it again sometime when I can see something.

Haze moving in

Silent Death Gorilla Wall

The North side of Fisher

Gnome footprints in dried slab moss

[awilsondc]

That's a big day! All those peaks are on my wish list. I'd love to head out that way if the smoke ever clears before the snow falls this year. Seems like such a waste in those conditions. Then again I'm sure you were fooled like the rest of us into believing the forecast of clear skies for last Saturday would be accurate. The only one I know that saw that coming is Gimpilator. I too got suckered into heading out into smoky skies and non-existent views. I'm getting sick of this crap... Nice trip.

[freddyfredpants]

I am just hoping that the wet weather this weekend helps to dampen the fires. I would love to get back to some haze-free outings!