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awilsondc Member
Joined: 03 Apr 2016 Posts: 1323 | TRs | Pics
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Ozzy, Trevin, and I teamed up for a planned ascent on Boulder Ridge in the Olympic Mountains. Spoiler alert, that didn't happen. Trevin and I drove up together and planned on meeting Ozzy at the trailhead at 4:30. We had a contingency in case of snow on the road in and in case someone got stuck that if the other party didn't arrive at the TH as planned by 5:00, we'd head back to check. There were a few patches of snow on the drive in, some fairly deep which gave me pause but my Outback made it ok. The trailhead was still under ~7" of snow. Trevin and I arrived around 4:15. 4:30 came and went with no sign of Ozzy so we decided to head back around 4:45. My Outback got stuck in the snow at the trailhead for about 3-4 minutes before I got it out. Ozzy had pulled over at an area of deep snow his WRX couldn't make it through. We picked him up and on the way back I pulled over short of the trailhead, not wanting to risk getting stuck again. This would add about .4 miles to the start of the trip. By 5:30 we were finally under way.
It's hard to take pictures of moving hikers in the dark Turret Iron Sunrise Views are getting good! Still a lot of snow up here Just above Camp Mystery Ozzy, blazing the trail
The trail was snow free for the first 10-15 mintues but quickly turned to hard packed snow. There were tracks from previous hikers which was nice. We hiked up by headlamp for a couple hours until dawn broke and we started reaching some clearings and got some views which added to our stoke. Shortly after that the previous tracks in the snow ended. We were stuck breaking trail from then on. Snow conditions were variable and changed every few minutes from nice bootable crust, to frozen solid crust, then patches of thigh deep powder mixed in. Eventually powder was the theme and we switched to snowshoes. The last mile to Marmot Pass was very slow going. I think it took us something like 4 hours to reach Marmot Pass. With the slow pace and the anticipation of being in avy terrain as temperatures warmed if we continued on to Boulder Ridge, we decided to switch objectives and climb Buckhorn. We had all been up there before, but we could see the ridge to the summit was largely melted out making it a nice plan B.
Meadow just below Marmot Pass Marmot Pass Marmot Pass sign Mystery to Deception, feels good to have climbed them all Gray Wolf Ridge Deception Ozzy taking in the views on Marmot Pass
After a brief break at Marmot Pass we headed up towards Buckhorn. After gaining a couple hundred feet we reached bare ground and took our snowshoes off and continued on choss. The views really started to open up, especially out towards Constance. More distant peaks like Stone and Skokomish, and Mount Anderson became visible. WOW! It had been well over a decade since I had been up Buckhorn and it was nice to be back. In summer this is quite a popular peak, but today we had it all to ourselves! We chilled on the summit for maybe 45 minutes taking in the views. Ozzy let out a shout from the summit, stoked to be on top of a mountain on such a beautiful day. Five seconds later we were shocked to hear the shout echo off of Buckhorn's NE peak and Iron. I've never heard an echo with such a long delay, so of course we had to repeat it a couple times. After we finished with lunch we packed up and headed down.
Views opening up Ozzy climbing the ridge The boys climbing Buckhorn Trevin admiring the Constance area A couple guys... ...telling tales... Trevin scoping out the summit Buckhorn These mountains are incredible Summit block Ozzy passing the Buckhorn Gorilla Hard to beat this Nearing the summit Constance group Baker and Townsend Buckhorn summit views Stone and Skokomish
We decided to head straight down the SE slopes of Buckhorn, starting from the false summit which lies SW to Buckhorn. The snow was really soft now which made for great plunge stepping and later some glissading and standing glissading. The snow wasn't continuous either and the terrain was cliffy. We had to pick our line carefully and had to back track a couple times. The parts without snow were delightfully chossy and provided heavenly scree skiing, arguable more enjoyable than the snow glissading. Eventually we found our tracks in the snow somewhere east of Camp Mystery and began our way back to the car. We passed a few groups of maybe not totally prepared for the conditions hikers on the way back. We made it back about 3pm.
Descending from Buckhorn "My buddy asked me to go stand on this rock, I guess I should do something." - Trevin (probably) Do we have to leave? Descending off the saddle Trevin on one of the gnarlier melted sections Ozzy starting his glissade The joy of glissading That was fun Almost back to the trail Roller balls Worthington Descent Big Quilcene River
9:30 c2c with ~14 miles and gain I think in the mid to high 4000s. Killer day in the mountains with a couple great guys!
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RodF Member
Joined: 01 Sep 2007 Posts: 2593 | TRs | Pics Location: Sequim WA |
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RodF
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Mon Mar 23, 2020 8:18 am
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Thanks for sharing the fabulous views!
"of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt" - John Muir
"the wild is not the opposite of cultivated. It is the opposite of the captivated” - Vandana Shiva
"of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt" - John Muir
"the wild is not the opposite of cultivated. It is the opposite of the captivated” - Vandana Shiva
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reststep Member
Joined: 17 Dec 2001 Posts: 4757 | TRs | Pics
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reststep
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Mon Mar 23, 2020 12:40 pm
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Thanks for the report and beautiful pictures from one of my favorite areas.
If I had known you were breaking trail I might have headed up that way.
"The mountains are calling and I must go." - John Muir
"The mountains are calling and I must go." - John Muir
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raising3hikers Member
Joined: 21 Sep 2007 Posts: 2343 | TRs | Pics Location: Edmonds, Wa |
Thanks for the TR, good to know that the road is mostly drivable. Nice pics as usual
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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 Mar 23, 2020 8:23 pm
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Way to after it during this strange period in our history. Being outdoors doing things we love helps keep things in perspective.
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ozzy The hard way
Joined: 30 Jul 2015 Posts: 475 | TRs | Pics Location: University place, wa |
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ozzy
The hard way
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Mon Mar 23, 2020 10:26 pm
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“I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames”-Mr Mojo Risin
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awilsondc Member
Joined: 03 Apr 2016 Posts: 1323 | TRs | Pics
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Thanks for the photos Ozzy! And nice bagging a peak with ya.
Hesman wrote: | I haven’t been there in quite some time. Stopped going after the area started to get loved to death by too many people. |
Same here. It was really nice up there this time, snow hides the scars on the landscape very well. I can't believe how much of a trail there was up to Buckhorn. I don't remember it being that well defined last time I was up there.
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Nancyann Member
Joined: 28 Jul 2013 Posts: 2313 | TRs | Pics Location: Sultan Basin |
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Nancyann
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Thu Mar 26, 2020 11:50 am
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Gorgeous pictures, especially fun to see the glissading action photos, what a great day you guys had!
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