Previous :: Next Topic |
Author |
Message |
goats gone wild Mr. Goat
Joined: 19 Aug 2007 Posts: 2524 | TRs | Pics Location: Vampireville |
Bet the climb wouldn't have seemed so long for youse all if youse all hadn't done the whole thing sideways.
.....leaving me wanting to return over and over in what ever capacity that may be, even if one day my knees are too old and I can only see the mountains from my porch.
Jason Hummel
.....leaving me wanting to return over and over in what ever capacity that may be, even if one day my knees are too old and I can only see the mountains from my porch.
Jason Hummel
|
Back to top |
|
|
yukon222 Member
Joined: 12 Mar 2007 Posts: 1893 | TRs | Pics
|
|
yukon222
Member
|
Tue Sep 15, 2009 11:45 am
|
|
|
Looks like plenty of terrain to keep your attention as you climbed higher and higher! Matt in the keyhole slot -
|
Back to top |
|
|
TrailPair Member
Joined: 17 Apr 2005 Posts: 1699 | TRs | Pics
|
....talus and boulders and scree....oh my!
Excellent adventure
This thing called work is interfering with my play
This thing called work is interfering with my play
|
Back to top |
|
|
dicey custom title
Joined: 11 May 2004 Posts: 2870 | TRs | Pics Location: giving cornices a wider berth |
|
dicey
custom title
|
Tue Sep 15, 2009 12:13 pm
|
|
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
Matt Tea, Earl Grey, Hot
Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 4307 | TRs | Pics Location: Shoreline |
|
Matt
Tea, Earl Grey, Hot
|
Tue Sep 22, 2009 12:46 am
|
|
|
Destination: Mt. Larrabee, American Border Peak
Dates: September 12-13, 2009
Party: Matt, Dicey, Yana
Our trip followed Klenke’s American Border Peak route description on summitpost.org.
Check there for detailed instructions and illustrated route photos.
Saturday
Twin Lakes 5200 to High Pass 5900
From Twin Lakes, we hiked up 200 feet, then down 300 feet, then back up 800 feet to High Pass.
High Pass, Larrabee & Pleiades Larrabee from High Pass (Route starts at right, crosses red talus basin in center, then angles up to left skyline)
Larrabee 7868
We dropped the heavy packs and ascended Larrabee. Lots of talus and red rock.
Ascending the talus (background High Pass, Winchester, Goat, Shuksan) Colors on Larrabee summit
Views were fine. American Border looked intimidating, gray piled atop red.
Yellow Aster Tarns Baker Looking east to Pleiades Looking northwest to American Border (& Canadian Border)
Back down we went.
Another group had put bright orange flags along the route, apparently not noticing that there were zillions of rocks available to build less obtrusive cairns.
Back down the redness Tomyhoi Peak & Lake Flaky Larrabee Flowers in the cracks
Side trip to Larrabee: 2000 gain, 4 hours
High Pass 5900 to Garger Mine Stream 5700
From here, getting to AB required lots of downs & ups get around ribs of Larrabee.
We descended the trail to the creek by Garger Mine (the only water between Twin Lakes and camp).
Note: Hiking pace is inversely proportional to blueberry ripeness.
Hiking pace is also inversely proportional to fall color.
Where the berries are blue and leaves are red at the same time, hiking pace is inversely proportional to the product of edibility and colorfulness.
Progress was slow but delicious. The slope yielded a bountiful harvest of blueberries. You could just rake them off the bushes in handfuls.
Blueberry color at High Pass Blueberries in a crack Colorful blueberry slope Yum! We weren’t the only animals enjoying the blueberries also
1st Basin (“Garger Basin”: Garger Stream 5700 to Forested Shoulder 5400
We angled down across the basin, following what seemed to be an old, deeply-sidecut stock trail till it faded out. Perhaps an old stock trail from the mine to the creek meadows?
Butterfly bush somewhere in the Garger Basin (See three butterflies?)
Klenke vocabulary of the day: “unscarifiable”
Quote: “Don’t try and stay high, as there is a steep, unscarifiable slope.”
Turns out “unscarifiable” means dirt that is so hard that you can’t kick steps or hang onto it.
We needed to hit the forested shoulder at the far end at about 5400 feet, to avoid steeper ‘unscarifiable’ terrain above.
Inside the forest, the ground was softer but very steep between the trees.
Matt’s Inverse Law of Terrain versus Photography: The nastier the terrain, the fewer the photographs.
This is particularly true if I’m uncertain about route finding.
Thus no photos inside the steep dark forested shoulder.
2nd Basin (“Thistle Basin”): Forested Shoulder to 6320 Notch
In the next basin, we angled uphill to a high notch at the far end.
Terrain was every possible mixture of talus, slabs, dirt, grass, & heather.
My least favorite part in the middle was tall slippery grass interspersed with thistles.
Looking up toward the 6320 notch Looking back from 6320 notch to Forested Shoulder
3rd Basin (“Red Talus Basin”): 6320 Notch to Camp 5600
The third basin was not a mixture. It was nothing but red talus.
Klenke phrase of the day: “maniacally talused”
Quote: “…descend the maniacally talused camp basin. Oh my goodness! I’ve never seen or trod on so much redness.”
American & Canadian Border Peaks from the 6320 Notch Looking down from the notch to snow patch & camp Carla’s opinion before descending the red talus Carla’s opinion after descending the red talus Carla & Yana on the snowpatch
High Pass to American Border Camp (excluding Larrabee side trip): 1900 gain, 1500 loss, 4:45 hours
American Border Camp
We had been forewarned to bring bivy sacks, because there was no flat spot big enough for a tent. Actually there was no flat spot big enough for anything, just a few relatively less bumpy spaces between rocks amid the grass. But there were lots of rocks to sit on for dinner. And the only running water, hauled up from a stream that popped out of the rocks downhill from the snow patch.
Evening light made the rocks even more red, and backlit some peak in Canada.
As Yana mentioned, we saw something fall burning brightly and breaking apart in the late evening sky.
Very Red Basin Red Campers Sunset
Sunday
Camp to 6840 Saddle
Predawn glow on Tomyhoi Looking back down to our camp basin The slope up to the Saddle (later photo during descent) Casting shadows into Canada Layers of peaks Clouds above
The Route
The climbing route consisted of entertaining features such as: the Saddle Ridge, the Red Face Traverse, the De Gaulle Nose Gully, the Scree Apron, the Dirty Gully, the Narrow Ledge, the Birth Chimney, the Wet Gully, and the Summit Mantles.
Due to the Inverse Law of Terrain versus Photgraphy, I got no photos on some parts going up, so I've included photos I got later on during the descent.
The Saddle Ridge
A broken rock scramble up the ridge crest a few hundred feet to get alongside the Red Face.
Matching packs ascending the ridge The Saddle & The Notch (viewed later on descent) (camp is out of sight below all the red talus)
The Red Face Traverse
Acres of sloping rusty rock, with an unlikely-looking array of little ledges and steps all the way across.
Yana & Carla waiting on the Red Face ledges (with De Gaulle’s Nose on the far horizon) Traversing the Red Face
The De Gaulle Nose Gully
Named after a protruding lump of rock at the far end of the Red Face, a lumpy rock gully with a brief 4th-class move in the center.
Rappelling down the Nose Gully (descent)
The Scree Apron
My least favorite terrain. A traverse across a slanting apron of scree hugging the base of the rocks.
My shadow looking at the Scree Apron Traversing the Scree Apron Returning back across the Scree Apron (descent)
The Dirty Gully
Full of loose rock at the bottom and hard packed dirt at the top.
Ascending the Dirty Gully Rappelling the Dirty Gully (descent) Red & Gray stripes on the north face of Larrabee, never touched by sunlight all day. Exiting the Dirty Gully (descent)
The Narrow Ledge
Actually a series of narrow ledges, very exposed but surprisingly stable, almost the only place on the mountain with mostly flat solid surfaces to stand on. We belayed on the way in, but just walked across on the way out.
Exposure on the Narrow Ledge Yana traversing the Narrow Ledge
The Birth Chimney
The crux of the route is a tight chimney that ends by squeezing upward through a narrow hole, somewhat like a birthing experience.
The Inverse Law of Terrain versus Photography applied especially while climbing here, so my only photos were taken after rappelling down.
View of the Birth Chimney Dicey at the base of the chimney. Her belay nest was atop the large boulder at right. The Narrow Ledge comes in from bottom left.
I bypassed the steep start by going up easier rock on the side. Rope drag stopped me at the rappel anchor midway up the chimney, where I brought up the others before proceeding.
Carla arriving at the midway anchor 1 label View upward to the chockstone hole Yana higher in the Chimney
The top of the chimney was almost enclosed, full of chockstones, and steep but narrow, so the only way to climb was a variety of stemming moves against the sides. I don’t think I’ve ever twisted and turned and wedged myself so many different ways into a route – feet, hand, shoulders, knees, & butt.
Climbing maxim from Dicey, when I propped myself up with my feet on one wall and rear on the other:
“If your butt’s against the wall, you cannot fall.”
The finish required boosting oneself up around an overhanging chockstone to squeeze through the final gap
Yana’s pack precedes her out of the hole Yana emerges Carla ready to emerge
The Wet Gully
Dangerous when wet! Another dirt and rock gully, but the top section was wet from an unseen snow patch melting on the ridge crest. I gave myself a scare when I climbed up a couple sketchy steps thinking I could continue onto easier terrain above, but then had to back down because it was too wet and slippery.
Rope throw in the Wet Gully
Summit Ridge & Mantles
Blessed relief! Finally some easy, un-scary scrambling up the crest toward the summit.
Then steeper at the top. The final promontory required a couple chest-high mantles.
Base of the summit promontory Orange and yellow hazard warning lichens Guarding the mantle move
Summit
A hawk had overflown us several times while climbing, and circled overhead on the summit.
Dicey & Yana on the summit (with camera shadow on my head) 1 label Matt on American Border summit (with Yana’s shadow) Hawk that had escorted us upward
Summit Views:
Baker above Yellow Aster Lakes Tomyhoi summit & Glacier
The American/Canadian boundary ran almost right through out summit, sadly marked by the extensive clearcuts on the far side.
Canadian Border Peak Boundary clearcuts stretching west from ABP Boundary cut stretching east from ABP
Descent
The afternoon was already growing uncomfortable late as we descended.
We rappelled the three gullies and the birth chimney.
Racing the Darkness
By the time we hurriedly packed camp, it was already 6:15.
We had at least 4 hours of hiking left, but only 2 hours of daylight.
We also had 1500 feet to ascend on the way out (700 to the notch, 500 from the Forested Shoulder to High Pass, and 300 on the trail below Twin Lakes).
Yana got going first and disappeared into trackless wasteland of red talus.
1 label Can you see Yana in the talus?
By the time we reached The 6320 Notch, golden light was making the slopes glow, but ominous shadows were covering the depths.
Looking back at the slope up to The 6840 Saddle Looking forward at the slope down to The Forested Shoulder My shadow on the glowing talus Blueberries catching the late light
Our hope was to get through the Forested Shoulder before full dark, because the rest of the route was open terrain or on trail.
We didn’t make it.
We simultaneously reached the far end of the forest, the end of the light, and the end of our hopes for an easy exit, for we were too high and couldn’t exit there. So we had to backtrack and work our way down with inky darkness hiding everything but the nearest tree trunks, impossible to see whether beyond our headlamps would be passable terrain or cliff bands. By the time we escaped the wicked forest, we were wondering if we’d have to use the rope to rappel off the trees, or maybe just tie ourselves to trees to spend the night.
Walking into shadow as we race for The Shoulder
The rest of the exit was just a lot of hiking in the darkness, first along the bouldery 1st Basin, and then on the trail.
Signs that your trip is running a bit long:
- You have to add 12 to the hour to calculate how long you’ve been hiking.
- You’ve watched both the sunrise and sunset while you’re still hiking.
- You’re traveling off trail after dark.
- You can’t find the route you came in on.
- Dialogue has been reduced to terse exclamations, profanities, and groans.
- You anticipate dinner will be whatever fast food place has a drive- through open after midnight.
But it didn’t turn out to be a true northwest hiking epic, since there wasn’t fog, rain, or a forced bivy.
I felt myself very privileged to be traveling with such dependable hiking companions.
Despite the darkness and difficulties, there was no bad temper or despair, just steady, careful, determined efforts to keep making progress and find a way through.
Near the end we found a porcupine climbing a small tree.
Quite a display of quills “Please go away and stop flashing that thing in my face.”
“As beacons mountains burned at evening.” J.R.R. Tolkien
“As beacons mountains burned at evening.” J.R.R. Tolkien
|
Back to top |
|
|
Sultan Guy Member
Joined: 22 Jul 2008 Posts: 353 | TRs | Pics Location: Now reinforced with Concrete |
Any worthwhile expedition can be planned on the back of an envelope- H. W. Tilman
|
Back to top |
|
|
Yana Hater
Joined: 04 Jun 2004 Posts: 4212 | TRs | Pics Location: Out Hating |
|
Yana
Hater
|
Tue Sep 22, 2009 7:26 pm
|
|
|
Wow! Awesome porcupine shots, Matt!
PLAY SAFE! SKI ONLY IN CLOCKWISE DIRECTION! LET'S ALL HAVE FUN TOGETHER!
PLAY SAFE! SKI ONLY IN CLOCKWISE DIRECTION! LET'S ALL HAVE FUN TOGETHER!
|
Back to top |
|
|
dicey custom title
Joined: 11 May 2004 Posts: 2870 | TRs | Pics Location: giving cornices a wider berth |
|
dicey
custom title
|
Wed Sep 23, 2009 10:32 am
|
|
|
Thanks for adding your pics and story Matt!
I agree with Yana about the porcupine pics = cool
What funny critters they are....
|
Back to top |
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate NWHikers.net earns from qualifying purchases when you use our link(s).
|