Forum Index > Trip Reports > Magic Mtn. 6/30-7/1
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dicey
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Joined: 11 May 2004
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Location: giving cornices a wider berth
dicey
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PostMon Jul 02, 2007 7:42 pm 
This is not the ride in Disneyland, BTW! A 4 day trip to climb stuff in the Easy Pass area turned into 2 days of good weather, so we decided to climb Magic Mtn, near Cascade Pass instead. The last few weekends of rain have been pushing this one down the list, but conditions finally gave a green light for the North Cascades. Laurie and I left Seattle Friday afternoon in the heart of rush hour traffic shakehead.gif After a gas and grocery stop in Arlington we cruised past Marblemount and up the Cascade River road to it's current end at Eldorado trailhead (MP20). Rather than sleep at the parking lot, which was bound to be a zoo all night and early morning with climbers off to climb Eldorado and stuff in and around Boston Basin, we opted to get the road walk out of the way and sleep at the Cascade Pass trailhead for some solitude. Walking the road/sometimes river isn't very fun, but we achieved solitude.
culvert failure
culvert failure
Seemed weird to be at one of the most popular trailheads in the North Cascades with no one else around. It rained off and on during the night and morning as we had breakfast and headed up the trail towards Cascade Pass. There are a couple of big patches of snow on the trail down low, then mostly clear to about a mile of the pass. Even with all the snow and snow bridges, the trail is easy to follow as it is never completely covered for long stretches. We arrived at the pass and dried out our gear in the sun!
tent drying technique at cascade pass
tent drying technique at cascade pass
cascade pass 6-30-07
cascade pass 6-30-07
There wasn't a discernable boot track on the traverse to Mix-up arm, so we had some work to do!
mixup arm 6-30-07
mixup arm 6-30-07
magic seems close but isn't
magic seems close but isn't
traversing to mixup arm
traversing to mixup arm
The traverse gets the blood pumping as a fall along it in a few spots could land you in Pelton Basin eek.gif Ice axe recommended. Upon reaching the arm, we could see that Cache Col was clouded in, so we hung out in the sun on the arm for quite a while just taking in the views and being entertained watching a couple of people climb up to Sahale Arm.
Ripsaw zoom
Ripsaw zoom
Me and Sahale to Buckner
Me and Sahale to Buckner
We got tired of waiting after an hour or so and decided to head up and hope things cleared out by the time we reached the Col. The sun obliged after a while.
cache col 1
cache col 1
cache col 2
cache col 2
The views from the Col were just as good as I remembered, but we had a couple of problems. We forgot to bring a shovel, so needed to find a flat snowfree spot, plus we neglected to load up on water, assuming there would be running water somewhere with all the snow and sun. We also didn't plan on melting snow for water, which left us low on fuel for this endeavor. doh.gif Well, we found the awesome bivy spot with the rock wall already built and room for 2 tents just east and about 100ft above the col! A real sweet spot!
tent with a view 1
tent with a view 1
tent with a view 2
tent with a view 2
tent with a view 3
tent with a view 3
We spent the rest of the afternoon putting water bottles under dripping cornices, taking pictures and scrambling around enjoying the views.
dicey view
dicey view
sahale 1
sahale 1
hi
hi
spider
spider
I haz 3 feets lolz!
I haz 3 feets lolz!
We knew there would be a full moon Saturday night, so we set the alarm for midnight to enjoy it - and WOW! Every peak lit up like daytime. You could read a book by the light, and no wind either - spectacular. eek.gif I stumbled around staring for a while before going back to sleep. The morning light was nice too.
Jberg and Mixup Sunday morning
Jberg and Mixup Sunday morning
formidable sunday am
formidable sunday am
dome am 2
dome am 2
eldorado to klawatti sunday am
eldorado to klawatti sunday am
Now it was time for Magic! From the Col, you drop towards Kool-Aid lake, then traverse for a very long way, angling up towards the col at 7100ft and the south ridge of Magic. The views from this col are nice down to Trapper lake, which is pretty big! From the col there is an easy to follow bootpath up through heather and rock which stays mostly on the west side of the south ridge until gaining the ridge proper is the only option. At one point it is necessary to drop to the east side of the ridge and some cornice/moat issues must be dealt with until gaining the snow is the best option.
cornice race to Trapper
cornice race to Trapper
moat ratting
moat ratting
magic south ridge
magic south ridge
Easy snow travel to the false summit if you stay well away from the moats. From the false summit, it is necessary to drop 80 feet to a ramp leading to the summit area, which looks like a mass of pinnacles.
magic summit block
magic summit block
I didn't really have any beta for the summit block other than supposed to be class 3. Dropping to the ramp had some steep slanting soft snow issues to get around a large boulder on the east side. Laurie and I had a "I'llgoifyougofirstidon'twanttogofirsti'llgoifyougofirstanddon'tdie" conversation, which can be comedic, but doesn't get you on the summit embarassedlaugh.gif Yep, chickened out on the true summit as we neglected to bring along a "Goader", the person who calls you names and uses other methods of cooersion - typically shame - to get you to the summit. Tis a shame (pun intended), but the views were great anyway. Headed back to the col after a while and began the long traverse back to camp. By this time, I'm really sick of traversing steep soft snow! gag.gif Packed up camp and had some lunch before descending the cache glacier, and then some more traversing - yay! Traversing back to Cascade Pass was even worse in the soft snow, as each step was suspect to 'slide out', and a million little bursts of adrenaline over the entire stretch is mentally exhausting! The trail back down to the parking lot seemed much longer and annoyingly flat, and the road walk back to the car really put the hurt on, but nothing a little gas station dinner in Darrington (AKA Randy style) couldn't fix!! lol.gif Gear used: Ice Axe Crampons Gear we should have had: shovel (well, we got lucky there!) more fuel the Goader (don't leave home without one!) wink.gif

I'm not always sure I like being older but being less stupid has advantages. http://www.flickr.com/photos/32121172@N00/sets/
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GeoTom
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PostMon Jul 02, 2007 7:52 pm 
dicey wrote:
I haz 3 feets lolz!
I haz 3 feets lolz!
Maybe this is why you can move so fast hmmm.gif Nice job. No shame in not getting the true summit (I have just eliminated myself from the job of goader). It is always better to read someone's TR than to read about them later.

Knows literally nothing
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summitseeker
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PostMon Jul 02, 2007 7:56 pm 
Very, very cool. up.gif up.gif I've always wanted to do that one, but haven't. Your pictures make me want to go and give it a try soon. Way to go after it despite the road closure. Extra props for that!

"Find out who you are and then do it on purpose." www.summitroutes.com : Guidebook to the 100 highest peaks in Washington
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Tazz
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PostMon Jul 02, 2007 8:04 pm 
Quote:
"I'llgoifyougofirstidon'twanttogofirsti'llgoifyougofirstanddon'tdie" we neglected to bring along a "Goader", the person who calls you names and uses other methods of cooersion - typically shame - to get you to the summit.
rotf.gif rotf.gif ykm.gif Damn I wish I was there... frown.gif Incredible shots and great report as usual lady!! You rock!! agree.gif up.gif

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Eric
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PostMon Jul 02, 2007 8:08 pm 
I love the tent drying pic. You look like one of those not really very scary ghosts from Scooby Doo.

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Yana
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PostMon Jul 02, 2007 8:22 pm 
dicey wrote:
This is not the ride in Disneyland, BTW!
I thought Magic Mountain was an amusement park in SoCal? confused.gif

PLAY SAFE! SKI ONLY IN CLOCKWISE DIRECTION! LET'S ALL HAVE FUN TOGETHER!
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dicey
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dicey
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PostMon Jul 02, 2007 8:25 pm 
Yana wrote:
dicey wrote:
This is not the ride in Disneyland, BTW!
I thought Magic Mountain was an amusement park in SoCal? confused.gif
Probably. I lost track of that stuff. This report is not of an amusement park in SoCal either moon.gif

I'm not always sure I like being older but being less stupid has advantages. http://www.flickr.com/photos/32121172@N00/sets/
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Malachai Constant
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Malachai Constant
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PostMon Jul 02, 2007 8:27 pm 
I thought it was a novel by Thomas Mann.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Tom
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PostMon Jul 02, 2007 9:07 pm 
Magic was the last mountain Ed climbed. I remember him and Gerard saying it was a lot trickier to reach the summit than they expected (others had echoed similar sentiments in the summit register). Glad you guys made it back safe. up.gif

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wildernessed
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PostMon Jul 02, 2007 9:30 pm 
Far Out !

Living in the Anthropocene
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Layback
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PostMon Jul 02, 2007 9:34 pm 
dicey view
dicey view
Love that shot. Looks very peaceful.

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ActionBetty
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PostMon Jul 02, 2007 10:06 pm 
cache col 2
cache col 2
Now thats Magic...sweet stuff Dicey!

"If you're not living good, you gotta travel wide"...Bob Marley
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Yana
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PostMon Jul 02, 2007 10:14 pm 
dicey wrote:
This report is not of an amusement park in SoCal either moon.gif
You don't see the resemblance?
Just add a little snow, and they're exactly the same!

PLAY SAFE! SKI ONLY IN CLOCKWISE DIRECTION! LET'S ALL HAVE FUN TOGETHER!
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dkemp
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dkemp
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PostMon Jul 02, 2007 11:14 pm 
Lots of great pics. That Cache Col 2 is a cool *ss photo! Nice goin' Dicey and Laurie!

Get up early, go all day, come home tired.
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Andrew
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PostTue Jul 03, 2007 12:29 am 
You're my heroine. What I'd do to be at that prime camping spot right now. up.gif

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