What do the following items have in common? (See end of report for answer)
Ivory Soap
Aurora Avenue North
Luftballons
Bottles of Beer on the Wall
Barbara Feldon
Einsteinium
Sum of divisors of first 11 positive integers
Luahna
Itinerary & Weather
I had figured that Clark & Luahna would be a three-day trip. Due to weather and schedule constraints, we decided to try it in two. Well, technically it was three days anyway.
Day 1: Hike White River trail, Boulder Creek trail, and Boulder Basin sheep trail to high camp.
Day 2: Scramble Clark & Luahna via south side scramble routes, return to camp, and hike out.
Day 3: Arrive back in Seattle around 1am.
The weather forecast warned that hikers should beware of winter-like weather conditions. It promised unseasonably cold weather and clouds, but mostly sunny on Monday. Well, the first parts of the forecast were correct.
Approach Hike
The White River trail gained only 200 feet in 4 miles, but added a couple hundred feet of ups and downs. Right at the start, there were some interesting rapids where the water had carved curving scoops out of the soft rock. The Boulder Creek trail climbed in woods lower down then brush in the upper valley till it reached the beautiful green meadows of Boulder Basin around 5000 feet.
We found the sheep trail and followed it up westward till it crossed the ridge line around 6200 feet, then traversed north and up to find a flat meadow about 6450 for camp. The high peaks were hidden, but occasional sun breaks made the meadows glow brilliant green under the diffuse cloudy cover. Brief snow flurries swept past as we set up camp.
Day’s End
Above our camp was the ridge stretching south from Clark’s SE summit. Straight up were the two dead-end notches, and higher up to the right was the shallow notch that’s the gateway to this side of Clark. After dinner I hiked up to the notch – to check out the route and weather west of us, to watch the sunset, and mostly just to be there for the transition from day to night.
There’s something special about watching the day’s end or day’s beginning from a high place – just being there for an hour as the shifting light highlights everything in different colors and relief, and then settles down into the quiet shadows of night, or rouses up into the brightness and energy of the day.
For this evening, the route was clear up to Clark, the further summits were cloud-wrapped, the late light made the meadows glow bright golden green, the setting sun briefly cast orange highlights beyond the gray clouds, and then everything faded to deeper gray.
When I arrived back at camp, I figured everyone would go to bed, since it was both dark and cold. Instead everyone gathered to recline against the convenient rock benches and socialize long after dark.
Day’s Beginning
I got up before dawn, put some boiling water in my bottle, and hurried back up to the notch to watch the day begin. The night had been cold. The damp dirt on the slopes was frozen hard. The clouds had thickened. Clark’s summit was hidden. I made oatmeal and tea from my boiled water while the day began.
Colors shifted downward from the sky to the peaks before fading to gray behind the mask of clouds. I watched pink light slide downward toward the peaks and then disappear behind clouds. I watched the rising sun burn orange at the horizon and disappear upward into more clouds. After light briefly illuminated the camp far below, I watched the others hiking across the shadowy slopes to join me.
Clark
Clark had become completely hidden by clouds. But Dicey had been there before, and we had seen enough to find the route. Down two hundred feet of steep dirt-and-rock gully. (Some tiny rock fragment attacked Dicey’s eye and hurt “like being poked with a needle” for the rest of the day.) Up the higher ramp ahead, first on rock, then cramponing on hard snow. Working our way up very steep snow to the ridge crest. Then up more rock to the summit.
Up inside the cloud level, the freezing mist had made icicles on the rocks and turned grass clumps to ghost plants.
Around 9:40am we arrived on top, 8602 feet. The USGS marker said so. Views showed nothing.
Luahna
Now we had to get down the other side of Clark and traverse new ground to Luahna, with no visibility. We worked our way down 2nd/3rd class rock mostly just east of the Clark’s SW ridge till about 7600 feet, where we crossed the ridge and a broad snowy ramp led westward toward Point 7970. Hated to lose so much elevation, but we had to get lower than the 7700-foot col of Point 7970 anyway. We traversed around the point kicking steps in easy soft dirt, then around an outcrop of Luahna and up to about 8000 feet. The final section on the SW face of Luahna was steeper 3rd class rock again.
Along the way, frosted plants and icicles again decorated the slopes. Different plants must hold their temperatures differently. High narrow grasses were completely frosted, lower flowers and broader leaves partly, and very low dense plants like stonecrop were bare.
Lucky we were on the west side of Luahna. Rocks on our side were mostly bare or a little damp, rocks on the other side were plastered with rime. We arrived at the somewhat frosty summit register at 1pm, 8400 feet.
Now the weather finally began to break. First the clouds cleared partially below, framing selected snapshots of the vicinity.
Then bigger breaks gave clear views of the local area, though further peaks stayed hidden. First Clark came out, then a few of the peaks further north. Clark sure looked dramatic, with all the edges of its glaciers glowing fierce blue.
The Return Traverse
Now the question was, could we find a faster traverse back to the original notch, without ascending back up over most of Clark? Gladly, the answer was yes. We retraced our traverse around 7970 to Clark’s SW ridge circa 7600 feet. Then we worked across the steep section between the SW and S ridges, staying about +/- 50 feet of 7500 feet. Despite average steepness of the slope, there was a convenient bench or ledge around every outcrop or gully. We reached the S ridge at 7550, right on line to follow the lower ramp back to the gully and up to our starting notch. There I found that a critter had chewed up the empty water bag and tea bag that I left behind. A quick descent brought us back to camp.
Darn it, forgot to take a photo of the steep part of the traverse from the SW to S ridge.
Ramens & Exit Hike
We reached camp at 4:45 and departed at 5:30. While packing, my stove somehow turned on and cooked an extra package of ramens that I had. That bit of ramen sure tasted good for refueling before the hike out. Then we raced darkness down the trail, reaching the White River trail junction with the last bit of glimmer of light before headlamps. I reached the trailhead itself at 10:15pm, 16hours after starting the day.
What the following items have in common:
Ivory Soap = 99 percent pure (and 44/100)
Aurora Avenue North = SR 99 in Seattle
Luftballons = 99 Red Ballons (song)
Bottles of Beer on the Wall = 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall (song)
Barbara Feldon = Agent 99, Get Smart
Einsteinium = Element #99 on Periodic Table
Sum of divisors of first 11 positive integers = 1+1+2+1+3+1+2+4+1+5+1+2+3+6+1+7+1+2+4+8+1+3+9+1+2+5+10+1+11 = 99
Luahna = 99th of Washington Top 100 Peaks for Matt Burton
My heartfelt thanks to Carla, Tisha, Jeremy, & Steve for squeezing in this trip on a cold cloudy weekend, so I could get to my 99th summit this year.
#100 will be Colchuck Peak next summer. I’m saving it so I can plan ahead and schedule a party on the summit for whomever wants to celebrate the 100th peak with me.
-------------- "Matt, you are truly full of it. But you take great --- pics, in spite of that." Scrooge
Joined: 11 Mar 2008 Posts: 539 | TRs | Pics Location: Buried by backlogged pictures
Thu Sep 04, 2008 11:33 pm
A huge thank you to Matt for letting us join in on his #98,99 peak bagging trip! We have finally gotten to hike with you another NW Hikers legend! While I was a tad cold the whole trip (which was very unexpected considering it was only the end of August! ), I still enjoyed the company. What a fun group!
Not that I'm saying we're now peakbaggers or anything but it kind of cool to climb two top 100 peaks on the same day. That puts Dude at 7 and Babe at 6 so we have a long way to go* (Dude climbed Mount Saint Helens years before he met Babe).
*according to the Bulger list - 6 and 5 if you don't count Little Annapurna*
Day 1:
Day 2:
-------------- Anything stated by me in no way reflects the attitudes or opinions of my wife
First time visiting this area and I had high hopes of some spectacular views of Glacier Peak and the glaciers of Clark Mountain. Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas and Glacier Peak remained almost completely hidden during our brief visit. There’s always next time!
I liked the views from the 6600’ high camp although could have omitted the bone-chilling wind and temps Sunday night! Sure, it was late August but still. Yikes. Not quite ready to give up on pleasant summer temperatures.
Great fun seeing Matt accomplish # 98 and # 99 of the Top 100 Peaks. I imagine it has been an amazing journey filled with quite a variety of peaks. Congratulations! Oh, and you do have one more left.
Wow, fantastic scenery (and effort!)...but man it looks cold. Congratulations and huzzahs to everyone for the summits!
Someone mentioned in another trip report that Babe is scared of heights, I'm assuming this is very very not true? Even just looking at some of those photos makes me dizzy!
Very nice trip. I like your guys synchronized posting. Conference call or AIM?
Matt wrote:
#100 will be Colchuck Peak next summer. I’m saving it so I can plan ahead and schedule a party on the summit for whomever wants to celebrate the 100th peak with me.
That is a nice sentiment Matt. I hope I can make it.
Joined: 13 Jun 2004 Posts: 1992 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle, WA
Fri Sep 05, 2008 8:22 am
Nice trip folks! Looking over atcha from the Maude/7FJ area I knew you guys had to be cold (especially since we were cold all weekend and had mostly sunny skies)...there was a bank of colds that stemmed from north of Glacier to Clark all weekend...it didn't look too pleasant. Way to get out there anyway, despite the chilly temps.
That's excellent Matt! I didn't realize these would be your 98th & 99th of the top 100 summits - good for you! Sorry the weather wasn't better for you, but it sounds like things all worked out in the end. Thanks for the report - I've been waiting!
We only used crampons to ascend the very steep snow slope leading up to the final ridge at Clark. Could have avoided that section by going to climbers' left either on the lower snow ramp or on the rocks. The snow was incredibly hard, not quite ice density but close.
No snow travel at all from Clark, down over to Luahna nor up Luahna. As long as you stay on the West side away from the glaciers on the North/East sides.
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While I was a tad cold the whole trip (which was very unexpected considering it was only the end of August! 
), I still enjoyed the company. What a fun group! 
)
