[polarbear]

Ok, you know a lake is truly a nemisis when you've forgotten just how many times it's kicked you. There was one other failed attempt on SCL. That time when I got to Burlington, thick smoke was pouring out of the Marblemount area from a forest fire. I drove up the CCR road to see how bad it was. It was bad, but for some reason at the Cascade Pass parking lot it was clear. So instead hiking in smoke I decided to drive up to Canada and go to Lake Garabaldi. This turned out to be worth doing as it's a spectacular place.

[lopper]

Sloan Peak was my nemesis for several years in the early 80's. Two attempts via Bedal Basin, two via Elliot Creek, three or four via the Cougar Creek trail. We endured various inclement situations with storms, brush, rotten snow conditions and iffy group dynamics. But the summit wasn't the only goal....every trip to Sloan left us with tales to tell. When conditions were finally right in Aug 85, the actual summiting was rather an anti-climax. The goat path along the upper ramp on the west side at 7600' is the best! No underbrush problem there, no sir.

[kleet]

Mount Stuart! Finally conquered my nemesis on the third attempt. First attempt was thwarted due to picking the wrong couloir, second time due to rain which turned to snow as we got higher.

top stuart

[smmslt]

Mt. Shuksan was my nemesis. First attempt in 1979 was doomed from the get-go with a late start at the TH and trying to do the entire RT in one day (Fisher Chimneys/Hells Highway). I refused to go to the summit when we hit the Sulphide Glacier because it was already 3PM, but the rest of the party went on, returning to where I was at 7PM!! They had a trick up their sleeves - nobody wanted to descend Fisher Chimneys in the dark, so they came up with descending the Sulphide Glacier and Shannon Ridge to the logging road. We got to the road well after dark and found a good spot for a bivy that night, then spent the next day (a work day for me) finding our way back to Mt. Baker and our vehicle. Bad dream!! 2nd and 3rd attempts ('91 and '92) we tried to do from the car on the Sulphide Glacier approach, but in both cases got to the base of the summit pyramid too late in the day, once in worsening conditions. Finally in '97 we got smart and packed in to Shannon Ridge, summitted the next day, and hiked out the third day. What a great mountain!! My other nemesis is Clark Mountain. Have already attempted it 4 times over the years with no luck. If there's a next time we have decided on the approach (Boulder Creek and over the south ridge of the SE peak), which we tried once but had navigational difficulty and got too high with deep snow and there wasn't enough time to recover.

Yours truly on the summit of Mt. Shuksan in June 1997.

[rubberlegs]

Hey smmslt, Clark is super easy (barely class 2) in mid/late summer. It's a great summit too. The S route is not terribly direct but works well.

[smmslt]

Thanks rubberlegs! Well, we have always tried it early, so next time when we do that south approach, it'll be later in the season. Is that the barely class 2 route you're talking about, or is there a more direct one?

[MtnGoat]

Clark is a great peak. Good workout, fantastic views of large peaks all around, and down into the deep white river valley. We did a S route also. Went along the White until below the mountain, then straight up the hill. Coming out we cut over to Boulder pass and came down the trail. Can't decide which way I'd go if I had it to do over, Boulder pass was great and the trail is nice, but that long grunt up out of the valley was pretty cool, as well as direct.

[IBEX]

Ahh. Mount Clark; a fantastic summit view. I would guess most do Mt Clark car to car in an afternoon these days. But back in ‘78 it took me six days to summit Mt Clark. I should mention that I did start the climb from the White Chuck River out of Darrington. I spent a few fog bound days in Glacier Meadows near the White Chuck Cinder Cone, and then took a leisurely stroll along the south slope of the DaKobed Range. After solitary camping at upper Lighting Creek and Thunder Basin, I ended my solo traverse with a south side walk-up of Mount Clark. I didn’t see a soul between Kennedy Hot Springs and the Boulder Creek trail. A little more bizarre than my approach route to Mt Clark was the events of the next day. Soon after I reached the trail below Boulder Pass, and to my surprise, I hooked-up with my pick-up crew who had come up the White River and Boulder Creek trails. The next morning we passed through the SE Peak Gap, crossed the head of the Walrus Glacier, and then I signed the summit register for the second time in three days. Ahh! The Good ol’ Days.

[Mike Collins]

OK...I admit that this peak took me four outings to get to the top. The first three were winter attempts and could be excused because of the added effort which winter entails. They were from different approaches though. The first time was up the standard logging road off of the Middle Fork. The second time was from the Quartz Creek approach where we happened upon Carl Dreisbach crosscountry skiing. The third time was via a route which Carl describes in his book "A Guide to the Middle Fork of Snoqualmie" which worked fairly well but we had mild hypothermia and decided to turn around. The fourth time was a success and I wrote it up for WTA. It describes the shortest, easiest, and most esthetic route to the high point of Bessemer. There is a summit register for those willing to commit a day on this peak. I look at Bessemer from Seattle everyday and relive the memories which are all over that peak.