[Fred_Beavon]

Tuesday, September 5 Nimbus Mountain, 6711' (511'P), Back Court #55, USGS Stevens Pass Thunder Mountain, 6556' (276'P), USGS Scenic Thor Mountain, 6804' (1044'P), Back Court #45, USGS Stevens Pass I started at the Tunnel Creek trail since the previous two times I'd been up this way everything was covered in snow and I now wanted to see what the terrain looked like snowfree. Eventually, I was following the scenic path above Trap Pass to the saddle above upper Thunder Lake. The close-up view of Slippery Slab tower looked most attractive. Nimbus was a quick jaunt above the pass. At the summit area however, it appeared I was going to be stymied reaching highest point, an 18 inch wide fin of rock with no hand holds I could reach. But by stemming myself with my feet on the lower rock with the cairn, I was able to grab a high hold, then shimmy myself on up. To get down, I intended to hang from that high hold and drop, but being short and with the rock bulging out a bit, I quickly got a new idea. Jumping from the fin to the lower rock with the cairn. A miss though, could easily result in death. But it looked easy enough. So I made the scary jump and succeeded, but I wouldn't recommend it. I wished I could have moved the cairn and register to the top of the fin, but there was no way I could do it. Perhaps a two person team in the future may do it. It was placed on November 17!/ 2004 by Fay Pullen. Someone not signing their name put a date of 6/4/05. Larry Robinson, John Morrow, Aaron and Neil Hinckley were here 6/24/05. A party of five dated it 8/5/04, but they must've meant 2005. Justus Smitchger and Mike Collins on 9/22/05 used shoulder stands to get atop the fin. Jeff Kimes and Pat Gallagher on 9/25/05. Fay came back on 9/29/05 to somehow reach the highest point this time. For 2006, it was Goodearl and Collingwood on 7/27, Philip Killey and Lynda Hillman on 8/19, Nellie and Swany on 8/21, Eric Cook with the cutey My Nguyen on 8/27, and "Foist" on 8/31. The ridge to Thunder Mountain looked ugly from here, but I decided to give it a try anyway. At the lake, surprise, surprise. I met the one and only "Slugman" of nwhikers.net fame, who had this gorgeous lake all to himself. He was really enjoying the surroundings and I felt a twinge of jealousy, knowing I'd be quickly leaving. After a fun quick chat, I descended below the lake, traversed around the steep hillside, then almost gave up. The high point of Thunder appeared to be guarded by cliffs, but I continued on. Fortunately, the tower that appeared to be the high point wasn't. That was encouraging. The only obstacle to the summit were some small evergreens that were easily powered through. My previous attempt on Thunder was with the Mountaineers some 30 years ago on 7/21/76, but they promptly gave up when hitting some cliffs above Glacier Lake. So it was gratifying to reach the summit today. The two registers were unfortunately both wet. Fay Pullen's was still readable though, and I should've dried it out, but I was afraid I was running short on time. Perhaps another party will dry out the pages inside. Fay placed the register on November 18!/2001, John Tolan and Steve Fox were here 11/2/02, John Morrow on 7/23/03, Pat Gallagher on 10/3/03, and one party in 2004. Apparently the same person on Nimbus on 6/4/05 was also here in fog and again left no name, and lastly, Dale Kalamas of Redmond on 7/18/05. The older register was REALLY soaked but some names in it were Rod Christiansen on 8/27/88, David Moline on 9/26/93, Mark DesVoigne and Cec Thomas, Grant Myers on 9/10/95, Don and Natala Goodman on 8/22/99. Leaving at 1:15, it was a simple matter of losing elevation and regaining it to get back to upper Thunder Mountain Lake and chatting some more with Slugman. He mentioned having a great sunset the previous evening. Then it was off to losing and regaining elevation again to get to Thor. Some names in Thor were David Moline on 7/23/88, Hilty in '88 and '89, Charlie Hickenbottom in '91, Sally Pfeiffer on 8/7/93, also Ron Chase and another party in '93, one party in '94, one in '95, one in '96, two in '98 including Mitch Blanton. Mike Torok and Don Beavon on March 6!/2001, Johnney Jeans, John Roper and Dick Kegel were here in '03. Kegel reported being able to still smell the burned trees from a fire. Two names from '04 were Fay Pullen and John Tolan. The two parties from '05 were John Morrow and Mike Collins/Justus Smitchger who traversed over from Nimbus and also included K-9 on their day trip. Lastly in '06, there was just the Jim Brisbine party of Jon, Eileen, Todd, and Adam. Leaving Thor at 3:15, I went back to upper Thunder Mountain Lake since I was thirsty and short of water. Without a filter, I drank a quart of water straight from the lake without any qualms. Racing to meet Slugman again, I almost passed right by him picking berries on the hillside. They were so plentiful, I proceeded to do the same. After talking his head off some more, we soon parted and I finally got back down at 7 p.m. for a 11 and 1/2 hour day. The highlights of the day were Thunder Mountain, reaching the potentially dangerous Nimbus highpoint, and the well known Slugman.

[Slugman]

Aw, gee, you're embarrasing me! Unless you are ribbing me. I felt like truly a sluggish person watching you summit everything in sight while I was nursing sore legs from getting to the bottom of the peaks you were climbing! We left TM lakes at the same time, and you beat me back to the TH by over 1.5 hours even though you summited Thor after that. To steal a line from Darth Vader: "Impressive. Most impressive".

[Fred_Beavon]

Oops, sorry Slugman. I read your report after posting mine. My legs were shot, too. I had to rest a few times to get some cramps to go away. I wasn't very confident in my headlamp getting me out after dark, so I pushed myself more than I would have liked. Even at 7 p.m. the woods were getting a bit dark. Plus, there's no comparison between my nothing of a waist pack and your three day backpack. That puts things more in proper perspective.

[ragman and rodman]

Thanks for the trip report... two of my friends and I camped at Thunder Mtn Lakes in 1991 and did the 3 summits mentioned in your report... until now we didn't realize that Nimbus and Thor were named peaks.

[Foist]

Oh wow, I thought I topped Thunder as well on 8/31, but reading your report I now realize I just went to the false summit closer to the lakes. I'm an idiot. Eh, who cares, still great views.

[Fred_Beavon]

I was wishing I had time to wander up there, too. It looked like a fine perch.

[Mike Collins]

Nimbus was a fun climb. I like peaks which involve shoulder stands as it underscores the fact that no matter how strong we may be as climbers none of us can stand on our own shoulders. It strengthens mountain comraderie.

[Stefan]

11.5 hours. Dude! How come you never come out with me?!

[CC]

What is the point of a peak-bagging-trip report that essentially just lists the people who have signed the summit registers, and where the route information is of the "it was uphill most of the way then fell off rather sharply at the top" variety? Are we supposed to want to climb a peak because, e.g., "the cutey My Nguyen" signed the register?

[Fred_Beavon]

Ha. Ah, cascade curmudgeon. Good name. And perhaps good points. I'll try to improve. Regarding My Nguyen, I was just giving a well deserved compliment to her since I'd seen her picture.

[Foist]

By the way, subtract the curmudgeon-y tone, but I was actually curious: why DID you list the people in the register? Kind of cool in a way (especially because I'm listed!), but I'm curious what prompted you to take the trouble.

[Fred_Beavon]

I just thought perhaps others might be interested in seeing who else had been there recently.

[naturealbeing]

Another Great report Fred, Thanks for sharing! Here's a couple of shots of Nimbus that I think will add some spice to your summit story.

Nimbus (Pt. 6711) as seen from near Upper Thunder Mtn. Lake 9.30.06.

Nimbus Summit 9.30.06.

[Fred_Beavon]

Those are two great shots of the tough little summit rock. Seeing it again brings back pleasant memories. It's a bit modest appearing perhaps, and not that difficult to surmount, I suppose, but my main concern was getting off of it safely. A small part of the rock with the cairn is shown to the left in the second picture. What's not seen is the exposure. Thanks for posting them, naturealbeing.

[naturealbeing]

Ok Fred, here's the exposure you're looking for. I hope you have an extra pair of depends near by. I didn't have the desire to get on that puppy, the air wasn't thick enough to place any protection. He He He!

Nimbus as seen from the saddle above Upper Thunder Lake. 9.30.06.

Nimbus as seen from the PCT 9.30.06.