[yukon222]

A trip via snowmobile to a remote trailhead followed by snowshoe backpack into the high country.  Enjoy!

Our goal was Cathedral Rock, Peggy’s Pond and Mt Daniel. Three others along for the adventure – Schmidt Alti-Babe (Tisha), Schmidt Alti-Dude (Jeremy) and Mbgriffi (Mark).  We had planned on going the previous week but the poor weather forced a 1 week delay.  Fortunately, we had all arranged time off for both time slots.  Got away from North Bend just after 6:30am Friday morning, towing 2 snowmobiles, cargo sled and a lot of gear in the back of the truck.  After turning up the road to Salmon La Sac, light snow began falling.  Took awhile to offload the snowmobiles, load the cargo sled chock full of packs, snowshoes, crampons, poles and clothes.  Made it to the “summer” trailhead via snowmobile by 10:30am and 13 1/2 miles of cruising at 15 – 20mph down the snow covered road.  After stashing the machines in the woods, we were tromping thru the deep snow by 10:45am.  At least 6’ of snow on the footbridge as we crossed over the Cle Elum River.

Impossible to follow the buried summer trail, so we just headed due west until the ridge steepened.  Up, up and up thru soft deep powder on the tree covered hillside.  We tossed in a few short switchbacks when the powder became too deep to attack it directly.  A big relief for the legs as we crested the ridge just south of Squaw Lake. 
Still light snow falling as we followed the ridge towards Cathedral Rock. 
Snowshoes sinking 12” to 18”, more on a few of the ascending traverses.  Definitely not Spring conditions though it was the first official full day of Spring!
Arriving at the base of Cathedral Rock, we decided to stay up higher with 50 yards horizontal separation between us.  Very little snow on the rock face above us but there were some mini snow slides below our traverse line.  Cloudy and cool temperatures.  No signs of rock fall.  Initially the snow was good and I was able to kick nice deep steps across the 40° slope.  Unfortunately about 1/3 of the way across, the snow started to transition to packed snow or ice with 1” of snow on top or posthole snow or you name it.  It seemed like every 3’ the snow completely changed character.  Brief bad icy spot halfway across but I was able to ease my way over it with the ice ax rammed into it.  I cautioned Mark about it before I continued on.  He found a better line 30’ lower and yelled the info back to Tisha and Jeremy.  Not sure of our transit time across the face, but we were all glad to be past it.  Plowed thru deep powder snow again as we climbed back up the final 200’ to Peggy’s Pond.

We all needed a break but the deeper than expected fresh snow had slowed our ascent from the trailhead so no rest just yet.  Spent some time searching out a nice sheltered spot with plenty of room for the tents and seating area.  Quickly stomped out a big area for the tents in the fading light (perhaps a little too quickly, not perfectly level).  The snow had finally stopped but the temperature began to fall as the sky started to clear.  High teens then but it dipped to around 13° during the night.  The cold temperatures affected the stove fuels so we weren’t able to melt as much snow as we would have liked for drinking water.  I had carried up 4 1/2 quarts of water/Gatorade which turned out to be just enough for the round trip.

Very little wind during the night but clear, cold, and mostly blue skies greeted us in the morning. 
We sorted thru our gear, lightening the load for our summit attempt.  It was so cold one of Tisha’s contacts snapped in half while she was trying to put it on.    She had a back up pair  but needed to warm up the lens for awhile so they’d be delayed a bit.  Mark and I headed up the ridgeline, breaking trail thru 12”-18”. 
We were glad to see Tisha and Jeremy an hour later as they caught up to us.  The four of us continued to ascend the open slopes.  Scenery was amazing with heavy snow draped on the ridges; soft morning sunshine casting long shadows.  Finally gained the crest of the ridge and continued up to 7100’ where the ridge narrowed down.  At that point, we couldn’t continue on due to lack of time.  Well, time was an issue, but the ridge line to the summit had too much exposure for us.  Cornices to the right and hard icy snow with huge steep slopes to the left.  From our spot, it looked like the bump below the East Peak saddle would have been exciting.

The views from here were well worth the trip though. 
Glacier Peak to the North, Mt Stuart to the East, Mt Rainier South, rugged alpine peaks to the West.  Surprising and disappointing amount of smog/haze smeared the far horizon.  The wind started to pick up a little as we plunge stepped down the ridge to camp.  So easy to take nice big steps, cushioned by 18” of powder.  Too soft to glissade and no skis/snowboard so we just enjoyed a fast paced 35 minute tromp down to Peggy’s.
Quickly packed up camp as we were all anxious to get back across the traverse before the day warmed up any further.  From our vista on top of the SE ridge during our descent from Daniel, we had looked at the traverse and spotted what appeared to a better line than our entry.  200’ lower on the face with no cliffs for at least the first 1/3 of the way across.  Needless to say, we wanted to get across as fast as we could.  Unfortunately, the steep sidehill with varying snow conditions slowed our traverse.  I ran into a cliff band halfway across where the face rolled away from view and yelled back to the group to forget about trying this line.  There wasn’t any break in it as it extended up and down the slope for 200’ or so.  We’d just have to drop another 400’ in elevation down towards Deep Lake where the slope lessened.  Mark found a good descent route and Tisha and Jeremy followed him down using their crampons too.  Would have been much quicker and safer to just drop all of the 600’ initially on leaving Peggy’s Pond (and on the entry).

Sun was very warm as we slogged our way up thru the trees on a gentler slope back to Cathedral Pass.  A welcome break at the top where we enjoyed the last of the amazing views and finished off most of our water supplies.  Weary legs carried us back to Squaw Lake to our drop-off point straight down the ridge.  The deep steps we had cut on our way up wouldn’t hold our feet on the descent so we resorted to breaking trail downhill next to our upward track.  Icy in places down lower in the trees and I was very glad to let the legs unwind on the short 1/2 mile flattish segment back to the trailhead.

Jeremy and I snowshoed another couple hundred yards to the concealed machines and rode back to the trailhead.  Loaded all the packs into the cargo sled and took off into the fading light.  Arrived back at the truck just as darkness fell (not a problem as the snowmobiles have headlights).  Easy 1 3/4 hr drive back to North Bend.

Roundtrip stats: 27 miles on the snowmobiles, 10 miles on snowshoes with 5300’ gain (includes extra 600’ drop towards Deep Lake).  7 1/2 hrs up to Peggy’s, 2 1/4 hrs from Peggy’s to 7100’, 5 3/4 hrs from Peggy’s back to TH.

[Mark Griffith]

I just have a few comments and some photos.

First I have only made it through processing my photos from the first day, so I'll have to post the second day's later.

Second Yukon222 is a machine, he is superman who can break trail all day long on nothing but a half a pop-tart, Gatorade and lemonade.  He did most of the hard work on this trip, leading the way for the majority of the time, I'd hike with him again any day, though don't cut him off on a snowmobile, he gets even   Special thanks is owed to him for the transportation arrangements!

Third the Schmidts were great company, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting them and having a grand adventure together, I look forward to hiking with them again and drawing on their expertise among all the lakes in my backyard.

Now for Photos from Day One :

[Schmidt Alti-Dude]

Great trip report Yukon.  Thanks for inviting us along and letting me drive the snowmobile.  I think the best part of the trip is when my snowmobile overheated on the way back and Yukon told me that to keep it from happening again I needed to go faster and off trail more (yes!!!!  ).  Easiest instructions I've ever had to follow.

I was glad to meet and hike with you Mark and look forward to next time.

Here are my meager contributions in the photo category:

Does anyone have a suggestion of a better program to use for panoramas than Photoshop Elements?  I can't figure out how to make the blend lines disappear.

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Anything stated by me in no way reflects the attitudes or opinions of my wife

[Schmidt Alti-Babe]

Wow, what an exciting trip.  There were definitely no dull moments.    It was great to meet and hike with you mbgriffi.  Yukon, you are a superhuman robot (don't worry, this is a complement). Enough said.  Well, another big thank you, too  .

I found it especially pleasant to spend the entire night shivering in the below 15 degree temperatures despite having 9 layers on. (Yes, I have heard that having barely anything on in a down bag is the way to go, but I don't find this to be true for me  ).  I was even happier to discover upon my arrival home that tucked into the top part of my backpack were some hand/body warmers that I had forgotten.  Sure would've been nice to have 8 hours of heat if only my brain had been working. 

In honor of the memorable experience, here is a video of the trip instead of my usual photo blitz......

EDIT: I found a much better video hosting site, so the quality is much improved. 

[Tom]

[tazz]

oh man!!!    glad you guys made it across the traverse safely. With the reports being considerable at that elevation I am not sure i would have crossed
The shots of the east peak make me want to take my board up there and weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..................... I will wait for a bit though as I don't have a smelly machine to cheat with. 

Sweet stuff you all! very nice.

[Matt]

Impressive trip, everyone.  Beautiful photos.  Another place I'd like to get to in winter some future year.

Yukon, do you have any wider shots of the peaks captioned "North Cascades?"  I'd like to figure out which ones they are.

Tish, I also tend to sleep cold, and I agree with wearing as many layers as possible.  I've tried that theory of wearing less layers a couple times, and ended up putting all my other layers back on in the middle of the night to warm up.  The goal is to keep your body's heat separated from the cold outside, and the more insulation the better.

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"Matt, you are truly full of it.  But you take great --- pics, in spite of that."  Scrooge

[Schmidt Alti-Babe]

Matt, those are the Lemahs and Summit Chiefs in Yukon's pics.

[Dayhike Mike]

Looks like a good time! Thanks for sharing, guys!

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"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short

[Magellan]

What a stellar trip you guys!  I wish I could have joined you.  Some great views to be had.  Would an extra day, and an extra bag of jalepeno chips have gotten you to the summit?  Daniel is on the list this year, and it may be sooner rather than later.

[Magellan]

How was the sled ride?  Less memorable than Longs Pass I hope.  Did you see anyone or any tracks out there?

[yukon222]

[Tom]

Nice pics.  "North Cascades" is actually looking at 4 Brothers, Chikamin, Lemah, Chimney Rock, Summit Chief, Bears Breast, etc.

[yukon222]

[Stefan]

very nice effort guys.  very nice!

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Art is an adventure.