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Jake Robinson Member
Joined: 02 Aug 2016 Posts: 521 | TRs | Pics
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Returned to Depot Creek this weekend to climb Mount Spickard. What a beautiful trip! The Depot Creek Trail was in pretty rough shape, lots of new blowdowns in the first few miles after the border. Travel was tedious and slow through here. Patchy snow began above the rope section of the falls, but we were able to wear trail-runners all the way to the 5000' flat area above the falls.
Border swath Trail register Typical of the first section of trail Are we having fun yet? Depot Creek Falls The upper falls
We were able to snowshoe directly up the creek to Lake Ouzel. We found a dry campsite above the lake with running water nearby, and spent the evening watching huge avalanches dropping off NW Mox and Solitude Peak. Very humbling. S and W facing aspects seemed to be pretty well-consolidated, but N and E facing aspects were shedding lots of debris in the afternoon. Overall, the snowpack still seems pretty rotten up high, and probably needs a few more weeks to consolidate.
Mount Redoubt Avalanche debris on the way to Lake Ouzel Snowshoeing to camp Lake Ouzel from camp Home for the night NW Mox. Route is not quite in yet... Spickard Redoubt Avalanche Ski tracks coming down from Silver Pass Not a bad place to spend the night Sunset Spickard alpenglow Mox alpenglow
Concerns about snow stability had us leaving camp the next morning at 1 AM. We followed the standard route up Spickard and had no difficulties other than some rotten snow in places. Climbing all the way to the summit by headlamp was a surreal experience. We were back to camp by 7 AM, satisfied with another beautiful trip into the North Cascades.
4:35 AM, summit of Mount Spickard Silver Lake environs Selena Spickard Summitshot Descending off the summit Descending, still pre-sunrise, with the Moxes beyond Jack Pickets Sunrise Solitude Luna Peak Logan and Buckner Golden Lemolo Postholing back to camp Some steep downclimbing Large crown on Mount Redoubt Slesse The Moxes
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Bluebird suffering optional
Joined: 22 Jan 2014 Posts: 199 | TRs | Pics Location: United States |
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Bluebird
suffering optional
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Mon May 13, 2019 7:52 am
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I think Jake's got the photos pretty well handled... but here he is on his 98th bulger and one of the summit with our ice axes in the predawn light.
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Fletcher Member
Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Posts: 1870 | TRs | Pics Location: kirkland |
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Fletcher
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Mon May 13, 2019 8:02 am
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rbuzby Attention Surplus
Joined: 24 Feb 2009 Posts: 1006 | TRs | Pics
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rbuzby
Attention Surplus
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Mon May 13, 2019 11:55 am
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That flying Butress on Redoubt is awesome.
Nice pics.
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iron Member
Joined: 10 Aug 2008 Posts: 6391 | TRs | Pics Location: southeast kootenays |
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iron
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Mon May 13, 2019 3:10 pm
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great pre-sun shots! must've been awesome!
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Midnight Slogger 'Schwack Job
Joined: 04 Aug 2017 Posts: 96 | TRs | Pics Location: Greater Cascadia |
Well done, Jake! Love the shots. You're inspiring me to get back there sooner than I thought...
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raising3hikers Member
Joined: 21 Sep 2007 Posts: 2343 | TRs | Pics Location: Edmonds, Wa |
nice call getting an alpine start for the climb, especially after seeing some recent avalanches glad you two had a great trip
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Jake Robinson Member
Joined: 02 Aug 2016 Posts: 521 | TRs | Pics
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Thanks everyone!
Jeff wrote: | Were there lots of sketchy people camping on Chilliwack river road? We had a car broken into and another was burned to the ground! Police said lots of druggies are camping around there now. |
Nothing that we saw, but I definitely had this trip report on my mind as we were hiking back! It was a bit of a relief to come around the corner and see the car still in one piece.
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geyer Member
Joined: 23 May 2017 Posts: 462 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
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geyer
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Tue May 14, 2019 10:06 am
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Jake Robinson wrote: | Nothing that we saw, but I definitely had this trip report on my mind |
holy crap! I'd never seen that but that is ridiculous. SMH people can be terrible
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Jake Robinson Member
Joined: 02 Aug 2016 Posts: 521 | TRs | Pics
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Sorry for the shameless bump, but I'd like to share an account of a close call we had on this trip in the hopes that others might learn from it. We didn't even realize we'd had a close call until yesterday while looking at late-season route photos. Here's what my partner wrote about it:
Last weekend my partner and I climbed Mt Spickard, a gorgeous peak in the challenging Chilliwack range. We arrived in the late afternoon near Lake Ouzel and set up camp, watching avalanches off Solitude, the Moxes and Redoubt. Although there was no avalanche activity on Spickard, we decided to start our summit push at 1am, assuming that could put us back to camp well before 9am, when Spickard would start getting some sun along our route.
The snow down low was slushy and we had to trailbreak laboriously at times, although it mostly improved as we ascended. We followed the standard route up and traversed below the cliffs of Spickard to reach the west facing traverse towards the summit. On the traverse below the cliffs we snowshoed up some moderately steep snow. My partner called out to me from less than 10 feet away: “Do you hear that roaring sound?”. It was quiet and I listened intently, only hearing a very faint water sound. We continued on and a few feet later, I heard it too. A loud roar and it was clear to me that the sound came from directly below my snowshoes. I moved over it as quickly as possible and once a couple steps away, the sound disappeared again.
We met up again shortly afterwards and discussed what we had heard. I was sure it was significant water below the snow and my partner agreed. We opted to find a different route down and continued our successful climb to the summit of Spickard, reaching the summit in the predawn light. On the descent, we were able to traverse around the concerning spot with some steep downclimbing to the descender’s left.
My partner found photos of our route from other trips online after we returned home. From examining photos, it appears we were directly over a significant waterfall! Obviously, water under snow and thin snowbridges are a well known danger. I share my story today because of how incredibly localized the sound of the waterfall was. From 5 feet away, I could not hear this waterfall roaring under the snow. Once I was on top of it I could. Snow dampens sound, this is why in a snowy forest you might never hear your companions calling for you a short distance away.
My take home lesson: with ANY concerning sound that you cannot localize on a snow climb that may be below your feet-- turn around and find a different route. The snow was firm for us, but I have no way to tell how deep the snow was over the water. In different circumstances, perhaps had we started the climb later in the day, it could have been a thin or weak snowbridge that broke under my partner’s weight. It is unlikely I could have found him under the snow if that had happened- the snow that muffled the waterfall sounds would also muffle the screams of someone trapped within. If this situation ever happens to me again, I will turn back and find another route to my destination.
This was a humbling reminder to stay alert to these kinds of hazard during the spring melt. Thoughts of Aasgard Pass immediately came to mind. Here is the waterfall we traveled over, photo courtesy of Gimpilator. At this time of year there were no visual signs of it other than one small rock island on the right - the rest was all snow, though perhaps it would have been slightly more obvious if we weren't traveling in the dark. The sound wasn't noticeable until we were literally on top of it, which was a very scary and disorienting experience. Safe travels to all.
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Gimpilator infinity/21M
Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 1684 | TRs | Pics Location: Edmonds, WA |
The rushing water sound directly under foot described here also happened to me and my group near the top of Asgard Pass. A few weeks later someone lost their life, trapped under the snow.
Have also had a similar close call near Berdeen Lake. Hopefully everyone uses caution out there this season, while climbing steep snow against rock walls.
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