Forum Index > Trip Reports > 3 Mooks Miss Moolock
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Malachai Constant
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Malachai Constant
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PostSat Mar 14, 2009 9:27 pm 
Starting this wonderful morning @8am Mesahchie Mark, Magnum and Malachai Constant (mooks evey one biggrin.gif )set out to complete a winter ascent of Moolock Peak, the prince of the Middle Fork Peaks, 96 of the Backcourt !00. The traverse to exit 34 was uneventful, mooks being passed by one of Washington's finest. We soon were headed up the notorious Middle Fork Road eek.gif. Noting that the Lake Dorothy road was closed, due to slide? We soon were at the Mailbox trailhead. The road was "closed" just past there. We avoded the crank mills, plinkers and assorted nere do wells. The closure consisted of a sign on one side of the road. The road surface was a series of linked potholes, as bad as I have ever seen in the easy section. There was a layer of slushy ice covering all areas not potholes. The good news is all of the slides seemed easily avoided. We arrived at the CCC trailhead intact but scrambled dizzy.gif . We decided to leave snowshoes in the car rolleyes.gif and proceeded to head up the trail which was covered in an inch of slush or so. Did I mention it was pouring down rain bawl.gif . There were a few bare spots but we soon reached the CCC road, right turn for 0.3 mi. until we turned up the Bessemer road. Soon enough we reached the "Mutual Materials Office" complete with scary signs eek.gif . We ignored them of course wink.gif The switchbacks were tedious but the rain turned to snow at about 2500'. Since I had tele skies I finally added skins at about 3000' the rest of the mooks were on AT gear. the slope steepened but was easy and stable. Around 4000' we hit Kiss Your Ass Goodbye Pass moon.gif , (love the name wub.gif ). An obvious path up led to a borrow pit. After a bit of searching we found a road on the North side of the ridge. It dropped around to the South side of the ridge. Continuing on the road the way steepened. It was apparent the road would empty out onto a South facing gully. We considered digging a pit. Instead we headed up to the ridge in wind slab and ice. Seeing the ridge was treed we stashed skis at a tree and began postholing. The ridge was knife edged and coniced. We followed the ridge to 4400' and decided to bag it 500' short of the summit. Wind was from the North at 30kt. After a delicate turnaround we plunge stepped to our skis and the road. We were soon at Kiss Your Ass Goodbye Pass. The snow was fast on the first few switchbacks down and I was at a disadvantage with Tele gear. The Tele stuff worked great on the few uphill/flat stretches though. The lower swichbacks we slower but easy. Only problem was some nimrod postholed up the last 3mi. of our skin track moon.gif Soon we were at the NBB@G enjoying quesedillas and porter. Sorry for the lack of Pix but they would have resembled white on white.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Quark
Niece of Alvy Moore



Joined: 15 May 2003
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Quark
Niece of Alvy Moore
PostSat Mar 14, 2009 10:38 pm 
Thanks dood. Am considering doing CCC road tomorrow. "Slush on all area not potholes." I think I get it.

"...Other than that, the post was more or less accurate." Bernardo, NW Hikers' Bureau Chief of Reporting
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puzzlr
Mid Fork Rocks



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puzzlr
Mid Fork Rocks
PostSat Mar 14, 2009 11:19 pm 
Thanks for the report -- Moolock has been the location of a two "adventures" for me, but I eventually got to the top. From below, that last bit from the road-to-ridge-to-top looks short, but looks are deceiving.
Moolock from MFK road
4 labels
Moolock from MFK road

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Go Jo
of the lykkens



Joined: 08 Jun 2003
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Go Jo
of the lykkens
PostSun Mar 15, 2009 2:34 am 
Sounds like such great company! Wish I were there to slog along with you, I'm keeping my eye out for tele-ski gear for next year so I can tag along.

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Kat
Turtle Hiker



Joined: 05 Oct 2003
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Kat
Turtle Hiker
PostSun Mar 15, 2009 7:11 am 
Neat trip. I made it as far as the pit above Kiss Your Ass Goodbye pass last year? I think. Gotta visit a pass with a name like that! On the return dowhnhill you said
Quote:
The Tele stuff worked great on the few uphill/flat stretches though.
You must have had "fish scales" on your skis, yes?

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Mesahchie Mark
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Mesahchie Mark
A Lerxst
PostSun Mar 15, 2009 1:05 pm 
Nice write up, MC. Good times, making the best of the less-than-ideal weather conditions. This is my second time skiing this route, the first being a trip to S. Bessemer two years ago. More snow this time, but certainly slushier. Hopefully the weather pattern will turn-around soon and see some sun on the weekends! Big thanks to Magnum for sacrificing the SUV's struts. The Middle Fork is in rare form!

Cheers, Mesahchie Mark
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Type E
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Type E
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PostSun Mar 15, 2009 3:47 pm 
Do you know how much further one could drive on the MFK Road?

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Scrooge
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Scrooge
Famous Grouse
PostSun Mar 15, 2009 4:30 pm 
Which peak is Moolock Peak? Point 4995, directly above Moolock Lake, or Point 5028, closer to Bessemer Mountain? Interesting to see that those logging roads near the crest are now (almost) connected. I came over the one on the left, a couple of times, from the Weyerhaeuser Tree Farm. That was back when that spur ended right below the peak, and the roads on the right had not seen any activity in decades. If anybody had a current Tree Farm pass, coming in that way would cut off several miles and a couple thousand feet. hmmm.gif

Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you....... Go and find it. Go!
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Malachai Constant
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Malachai Constant
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PostSun Mar 15, 2009 4:34 pm 
Moolock is 4995, 5028 is South Bessemer a couple of us had already skied SB.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Randy
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Randy
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PostSun Mar 15, 2009 4:35 pm 
Thanks for the ski idea guys. Sounds like an entertaining one.

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Redwic
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Redwic
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PostSun Mar 15, 2009 9:03 pm 
Sounds like an interesting trip!!! I'd like to summit Green, Moolock, South Bessemer, and Bessemer some weekend later this year.

60 pounds lighter but not 60 points brighter.
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Scrooge
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Scrooge
Famous Grouse
PostMon Mar 16, 2009 12:52 am 
The ridge line's a mess, very rough and irregular, even though the bumps aren't very big. However, there are roads (in various states of disrepair) that connect about half of it, so it might be doable. I explored a lot of it, years ago, but never bagged any peaks. One current daydream is a ridge line trail from Mt Si to the SMC Lakes, now that DNR is managing the whole area. ....... But I'm not holding my breath. irked.gif

Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you....... Go and find it. Go!
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