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JimK Member
Joined: 07 Feb 2002 Posts: 5606 | TRs | Pics Location: Ballard |
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JimK
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Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:45 pm
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The Teanaway area is officially open for business. The last few years I've started my backpacking season with a late winter or early spring camp on top of a Teanaway Peak. Two solo trips to Iron Peak, A group camp below Earl Peak's summit, and one to Navaho Peak's saddle with summits of Navaho and Little Navaho. This year I convinced Bob, Kolleen, and David to accompany me back to Iron Peak. We met in Bellevue at 6:30 and headed off to the Teanaway. We all crammed into David's Outback. I was surprised we were able to drive half a mile beyond 29 Pines campground. There was snow and bare spots on the road.
Parking Spot
By 8:35 we were packed up and on the road. There were a few more bare spots but the road is still mostly snow covered. It was just over 32 degrees and the road was groomed all winter for snowmobiles. It is very hard packed. It would have been possible to drive a ways farther on top of the snow. The problem is that afternoon melting would likely have stranded a car up the road. It will be at least another few weeks before the road is bare to Stafford Creek. After Stafford we saw a bobcat! It was the first sighting in the wild for all of us.
Stafford Creek A Small Bare Spot
It was sunny and warming rapidly. We made good time on the nearly flat road. At Beverly Creek we turned right and began to ascend the Beverly Road. We reached the Beverly trailhead at 10:20. Four and a half miles in 1:45, almost all on snow. The parking lot has about 3 feet of snow. The hiker bridge is half snow and half bare. We crawled down to the bridge deck easily enough. Getting back up the other side was much more difficult. The snow was rock hard. With great difficulty we scrambled up the other side.
Beverly Trailhead Scrambling Off Bridge
Half a mile up the road we came to Bean Creek. In the early spring the creek can be totally covered by a snow bridge or a raging torrent. This time it wasn't bad. All the channels were covered by snow except a 4 foot wide stream. It was easy enough to climb down the snow bank. When it was my turn to cross. I reached my leg across to a rock on the other side. I planted both poles in the water and pushed off. At that moment my left pole collapsed and I did a slow motion spin down and into the water.
Crossing Bean Creek
At first I thought the only damage was to my pride. I landed in all of 8 inches of water left knee first onto a rock. I managed to submerge my pants. I got up and climbed out. The knee stung but I thought nothing of it. A little farther ahead the route traversed above the creek on a steep slope. The summer trail was buried. We kicked steps across. It was soft enough to kick steps but hard enough to make them less than comfortable.
David On Route In Forest
We followed a single set of ski tracks. They continued all the way up into the basin. Eventually we saw them on the side of Bill Peak. We crossed the boulder field that was all under many feet of snow. By now my knee was beginning to hurt more. I was down to shorts and a short sleeve shirt. It felt like spring at last. We popped out of the forest into the lower basin. The summer trail switchbacks high on the right side of the valley. With all the snow we just kept to the right of the creek.
Valley Wall First Peak View
By now I was lagging farther behind the group. My knee was killing me. We crossed the creek before the summer trail does. Our route was mostly straight up the slope. I took some Motrin and that helped the pain. On snow I always aim for a gap in the huge cornices just to the right of the summit of Iron. The NW Avalanche Center warned of high danger on east facing slopes from the heat and direct sun exposure. I figured we may have to go farther right to nearer the saddle below Teanaway Peak. The climb to the ridge is much shorter here.
Beyond The Creek Bill Peak Volcanic Neck
Kolleen kept booting it but Bob, David, and I stopped to put on snowshoes. We were sinking in 6" with every step. Looking up at the summit ridge the cornices were as big as I have seen. There were a number of snowmobile "high marking" tracks right up to the base of the cornices. Talk about putting your life on the line for a thrill... We had no interest in being below those cornices.
Corniced Ridge Usual Route Up & Down
We stopped below my usual ascent spot and talked it over. It was soft here but I knew it would be harder higher up. With the variability of the snow and my bad knee we chose to traverse right to a short slope to the ridge top. We dropped into a snowmobile track and the going was easier. We took off snowshoes for the final climb to the ridge top. Bob and Kolleen were out in front and began to climb. The soft snow grew thinner and there was a rock hard layer beneath. While we saw numerous sloughs coming up the valley there were none on Iron Peak. Bob kicked nice steps and in short order we were on the ridge top.
View East Teanaway Peak Nearing Ridge Almost To Ridge Top
The last .40 miles gained another 350' to the summit. As we climbed the views became better and better. Earl, Bean, Volcanic Neck, Teanaway, Bill, and Stuart were in sight. On the other side of the ridge we could see Koppen, Jolly, Hawkins, and Esmerelda. Higher up Mt. Daniel came into view. It was clear enough to see Hibox, Three Queens, Chikamin, and other peaks of the Cascade crest.
Summit From Ridge Mt. Daniel Hawkins & Esmerelda Last Climb Summit Ahead Nearly To Campsite
We heard snowmobiles below soon after summiting. One of them roared up to the ridge top and sped along it to our position. He had seen our deep footprints in the valley and just had to see who was crazy enough to get all the way up here without a motor. He turned out to be a nice guy. We did not expect to be visited by a snowmobile on the summit but he was too nice to be mad about it.
Just below the summit we selected our camp sites. This was a Hilleberg convention as we had Bob and Kolleen's red Nallo 3, David's red Akto, and my green Akto. We took the better part of an hour to dig out platforms and set up camp. There was more snow on the summit than on either of my previous camp outs. We were all about out of water and melting snow was the next item on the agenda. High clouds came in from the west. We had high hopes for sunset colors. Unfortunately, the clouds kept on coming and blotted out the setting sun.
At Campsite Trail Pair Site Sunny Mt. Stuart Teanaway & Stuart Kolleen Camp From Summit David At Summit Amidst The Mountains
As the sun set the temperature plummeted. From shorts we moved onto long pants, goretex pants, down coats, and gloves. It was cold as we went to bed at about 8:30. I got up at 3:15 as nature called. The wind was calm and I found my leg was really painful now. I was getting concerned with a 8 1/2 mile descent with 4000' of elevation loss. The morning had more clouds and we did not get the warmth or the lighting we had hoped for. Still, the clouds were high and we had nice views to all the peaks around us.
David & His Akto Volcanic Neck In AM Iron Ridge Morning View East Mt. Rainier
I could not put much weight on my left leg. I was more concerned than ever. We pooled first aid kits. I put on an ace bandage and that helped. Next was more anti inflammatory medicine. The clincher was some high powered pain killer. That stuff really worked. We broke camp and I could now walk. The plan was to glissade the first 500' off the summit. We had hoped for some sun to soften up the slope. It was well below freezing over night. All our steps were frozen solid. The untouched snow was still pretty soft.
Ready To Glissade
I went first. I've done this glissade many times. In fact it was slower than expected. Some snow built up between my legs. I managed to get almost to the bottom but not at the exhilarating speeds often felt. The slope was some soft snow on top of a hard layer. The others had my track to follow and had a better ride. In short order we were down the first slope. I was moving slow but moving as we continued down.
David Is Down Here Comes Bob! Kolleen & Tracks
The walk out was painful but not nearly as bad as I had feared in the morning. We continued down the valley, across Bean Creek, and back to the summer trailhead. The snow was softer than the day before but hard enough to avoid snowshoes all the way back. At 1:15 we arrived back at the car. We took 6 hours to ascend and 4 1/2 hours to come down.
Mary Peak On Descent Summer Trailhead In Bloom
The injury is the first one I have ever had on the trail. Still, it did not wreck our weekend. The sunshine on Saturday was spectacular. The views were just as good as I remember. The company was great. Even though we did not get the sunset and sunrise we expected the weekend was a success. Now I have to figure out what summit to camp on next spring.
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Yet Member
Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 2634 | TRs | Pics Location: Happily Ever After |
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Yet
Member
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Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:47 pm
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JimK wrote: | Tune back in to find out if I made it back alive. |
Gosh, I hope so! I want to read the TR.
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Bryan K Shameless Peakbagger
Joined: 29 Sep 2005 Posts: 5129 | TRs | Pics Location: Alaska |
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Bryan K
Shameless Peakbagger
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Sun Apr 27, 2008 5:15 pm
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I hope you made it back otherwise someone else is posing/posting as JimK BTW Jim, your website appears to have sustained an injury too.
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GeoTom Member
Joined: 19 May 2005 Posts: 3215 | TRs | Pics Location: Earth |
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GeoTom
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Sun Apr 27, 2008 5:26 pm
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You might have avoided this injury if you were a more experienced hiker.
Looking forward to the photos, and hope you are roaming the Teanaway again soon.
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wildernessed viewbagger
Joined: 31 Oct 2004 Posts: 9275 | TRs | Pics Location: Wenatchee |
Jim, my advice to you, is that you take a course before wandering into the backcountry.
Living in the Anthropocene
Living in the Anthropocene
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silly_traveler ~ roaming ~
Joined: 04 Jun 2006 Posts: 1525 | TRs | Pics Location: Bellevue |
♫ You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. And you're the one who will decide where you'll go. Oh the places you'll go. - Dr. Seuss
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Middle E no more moustache
Joined: 10 Feb 2008 Posts: 432 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle, WA |
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Middle E
no more moustache
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Sun Apr 27, 2008 6:50 pm
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Brewmaster and I also wondered whether you might be on Iron, but noted you likely missed the sunset and sunrise you were hoping for.
Sorry to hear about the knee - hope you're back in the saddle soon!
pithy yet insightful signature
pithy yet insightful signature
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Opus Wannabe
Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 3700 | TRs | Pics Location: The big rock candy mountain |
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Opus
Wannabe
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Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:16 pm
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Nope, no fantastic sunset or sunrise on this one. The views and company were both great though! As for JimK, rumors of his demise are greatly exaggerated. We all made it out of this one more or less intact, though all slightly banged up.
Click here for the full photo gallery and some huge summit panoramas.
Sun Traversing Ridgeline Zig zag Jim Dead tree Huge cornices Curious snowmobiler Bob & Kolleens palace Stuart range My tent Ridge camp Dinner Back at camp Pointing Sunset Sunrise Morning Bob See the coyote? Breaking camp Glissade! Tricky tricky Bean creek
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Randy Cube Rat
Joined: 18 Dec 2001 Posts: 2910 | TRs | Pics Location: Near the Siamangs |
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Randy
Cube Rat
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Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:36 pm
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Sorry Jim to hear about your knee.
Can anyone one provide a road condition report?
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TrailPair Member
Joined: 17 Apr 2005 Posts: 1699 | TRs | Pics
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Randy wrote: | Sorry Jim to hear about your knee.
Can anyone one provide a road condition report? |
We were only able to drive about .5 miles beyond 29 Pines, so we had a long, long road walk of almost 5 miles!
This thing called work is interfering with my play
This thing called work is interfering with my play
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wildernessed viewbagger
Joined: 31 Oct 2004 Posts: 9275 | TRs | Pics Location: Wenatchee |
Always looks nice , I like the tent pics to !
Living in the Anthropocene
Living in the Anthropocene
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Mike Collins Member
Joined: 18 Dec 2001 Posts: 3097 | TRs | Pics
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JimK wrote: | I managed to sprain my knee pretty thoroughly. |
Justus and I decided to pay some snowmobilers to drive us up that road several weeks ago to avoid that wear and tear. I hope you are fit for duty soon.
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TrailPair Member
Joined: 17 Apr 2005 Posts: 1699 | TRs | Pics
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Since Jim K will provide a more detailed report, we will just give a short version. While walking the Teanaway Road we had the fortune of seeing a bobcat! That was a first for all of us. The crossing of Bean Creek was a little tricky, and Jim has the misfortune of his pole collapsing while stepping across, causing him to cork screw waiste deep in 10 inches of water...spraining his knee. But he persevered.
The scenery was fantastic on Saturday, although high clouds appeared in the evening. But that kept the temperature moderate, and the snow stayed soft. We did not use the crampons we had carried. The guys briefly used snowshoes in the upper basin on Saturday, but K did fine without them.
Teanaway road Trail Head. On east slope of Iron Peak Traversine to ridge, Teanaway Peak on right. Opus and Jim K Bob, with Mary Peak beyond Bob and Bill Peak Texture Cornices on Iron Peak K on Iron Peak. Our tent, Teanaway Peak and Stuart Busy campsite Pointing Jim K Opus and a messy kitchen Foot shot for Silly_Traveler Opus Jim the leading the glissade Crossing Bean Creek on way out. Opus on bridge by trail head.
This thing called work is interfering with my play
This thing called work is interfering with my play
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Gil Member
Joined: 29 Sep 2004 Posts: 4062 | TRs | Pics
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Gil
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Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:14 pm
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Sounds like a great trip. Sorry about your knee, Jim. Hope it's better soon.
Friends help the miles go easier.
Klahini
Friends help the miles go easier.
Klahini
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EastKing Surfing and Hiking
Joined: 28 Mar 2007 Posts: 2082 | TRs | Pics Location: 77 miles from Seattle! |
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EastKing
Surfing and Hiking
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Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:15 pm
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That looked fun (except for the injury) . Don't be surprised if you get a PM from me asking for directions to this place for next week. GREAT PHOTOS! I wish the best of luck on the injury.
YouTube | SummitPost
Saw the depths of despair. Now I am salvaging what time I have left on Earth.
YouTube | SummitPost
Saw the depths of despair. Now I am salvaging what time I have left on Earth.
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