b00
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Joined: 29 Sep 2003
Posts: 1144 | TRs | Pics
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b00
Member
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 Fri Sep 21, 2018 1:19 pm |
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diamond 9-17 - 9-19-2018
did diamond mt in the olympics tuesday with modern. let’s see if you can guess what modern and i saw there:
a) someone who went to wsu
b) “an older woman seeking a sexual relationship with a younger man”
c) “a large American wild cat with a plain tawny to grayish coat, found from Canada to Patagonia”
hint – eric e guessed: “I am hoping "c" since it should be the rarest and coolest sighting. But as often as you get out, it could be all of the above!”
quick and dirty route info: bike dosewallips(at washout, took lower variation, which has a fixed line on a steep exit section) and on to ranger station, hike trail to diamond meadows, head up to toilet and continue nnw up hill, moderate brush(beware of bees ~3350), around 4400', find class 2/3 step through rock/brush to higher ground, (mark with flag and cairns for descent) then continue up to ridge ridge, becomes nice open travel, at 5900' traverse rising climber's left nw to 6100, then traverse w around the base of 6670 to the 6300' saddle w of 6670, head n across basin and up to take w ridge to summit.
definitely a trip with highs and lows for me. the biking on the abandoned dosewallips road was a real pleasure. this time at the washout, instead of pushing the bikes up the steep new trail that bypasses the washout from above, we took the lower original washout next to the river. it was not too bad. the end was a little tricky as it was steep pushing the bike up, but fortunately had a fixed line(we used the fixed line on return to add a backup belay for the bikes). after locking our bikes, we hiked up the very well maintained w fork of dosewallips trail to our camp at diamond meadows.
while hiking we ran into a few people. one pair had made an attempt on west anderson, but were turned around early by steep hard snow. they were arborists, so were very experienced with exposure, but somewhat inexperienced at mountaineering by their own admission and by the looks of their gear. nice guys. another was a kind solo woman hiker, who informed us that the bear wire at diamond meadows was down, (non-functioning). she had camped at diamond meadows the night before and also informed us she had left a bunch of firewood for whoever camped their next. very nice person, but by the looks of her gear...
when we reached diamond meadows, we found the perfectly functional bear wire (i guess she had never learned how to use it?) and a half dozen small sticks bundled by a fire pit(no worries, i am not a fan of fires). diamond meadows is actually a very pleasant, serene, next to the river, viewless camping area with numerous campsites.
in the morning we had a nice breakfast, hiked up to the toilet and then up moderate brush. the travel was not bad and we were deeply embroiled in a spirited conversation. modern, even after over 200 peaks together, has so many interesting things to talk about. time and elevation were just passing by.
then i fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book. i experienced two firsts on the trip. this one was not my favorite. at ~3350', i fell for the old bee in the ear trick. i stopped to get the bee out of my ear. that proved to be a sub optimal solution, as i soon felt another bite me, then another. i started running and modern helped me kill the ones that were sticking to me, but not after attaining a new personal record of at least 14 stings :<(
i sat there pretty stunned for quite a while. then we turned our attention back to our task at hand. heading up, we spread out and the ascended the steepening terrain. at about 4400', we needed to thread the needle through a steep area. modern had found some orange flagging on the ground earlier and fortunately we had the presence of mind to use it to mark the spot for use on our descent, also adding a half dozen cairns up above it. and i can tell you, even though we both were running gps, when we came down, we were super glad we marked the spot.
eventually we reached the ridge and after a while, the terrain got really nice. modern had packed his flip-flops and wanted to scope a route over to the 5433' tarn so we could swim there on descent.
while modern scoped the route, i experienced a much more pleasant first. i saw a fairly large, slender, brown animal on the hillside above the lake. at first i thought it was a deer or an elk, but once it moved, i knew immediately it was not. it moved like a cat. i called modern over and we watched it for more than five minutes. in 50+ years in the mountains, it was the first time he had seen one in the wild too. i should have got my camera out.
we were not really sure how to finish the route, but looking at the map and the terrain, it just looked too difficult to continue up the ridge to 6670, so we traversed below and then around its west side. we walked around a couple of snow patches and small tarns(where we got water) and then looked over at the south face of diamond's summit block. modern thought about heading up scree and talus to the 6670/diamond saddle, but instead, we ascended straight up the south face, on nice dirt(since it had recently rained, maybe the dirt was abnormally pleasant?) and pleasant scree, to the top of the west ridge and then strolled it to the summit.
the register was placed by a party with richard johnson, who passed away from cancer and of whom i had the pleasure to ascend a handful of peaks with. there were very few names in the register, but another of the signers, also had an untimely passing when she was on a trip to nepal with some friends of modern. of course we also saw the names of scott rice and dan lauren(and their buddy curt baxtrom) and also quintessential peakbaggers stefan feller and ranger erin b, all of whom i have also had the awesome pleasure of doing a handful of peaks with. finding their names on an olympics summit, is about as rare as finding sand at a beach.
 looks like someone else had the pleasure of a bee experience  modern on diamond mt's se ridge. the hillside in the background is where we saw the big cat  viewing mt anderson from diamond mt's west ridge  traversing the easy terrain on the s slope of 6670  approaching the south face of diamond mt  above tarn 5433  viewing mt anderson from diamond mt's west ridge  camp at diamond meadows  a deluxe bridge on the well maintained west fork dosewallips trail  washout!
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