[huron]

With reports of rain, clouds and thunderstorms for the weekend, Twodogdad and I thought that Raven Ridge might have a good chance of avoiding a downpour. We drove out Friday afternoon and managed to intersect a large ursa two miles up the forest road. He ducked away before we could get the cameras out. We hiked the 3.5 miles to the base of Raven Ridge in intermittent sprinkles and and camped on a bluff overlooking Crater Lake. There was far more snow on the route than either of us expected with 2-3 inches very recent. Snow was soft underneath with a variable crust. The next morning, we made a clockwise traverse from the South side of Libby peak (West end of Raven Ridge) to Corax and back to Crater Lake for lunch. The traverse was mixed snow and talus making for slow travel. Views of Bigelow, HooDoo with brief glimpses through a shifting cloud layer across Lake Chelan to the Entiat.

Candy stuck to register? Who was last one up here?

Corax register location

Nikolai gaining Corax summit

Corax to Libby looking West

Corax summit shelter

North Face of Bigelow with its "rock glacier"

Libby to Corax (obscured) looking East

Western end of Raven Ridge "Libby" from South

View Raven Ridge in a larger map

[Magellan]

Sweet! Don't worry, only two days til summer.

[wildernessed]

Strong work, looks like you guys stole all the nice weather.

Ravens Roost

[Schroder]

Great work. What elevation did you hit snow on the way in?

[Tom_Sjolseth]

Way to make the most of this weather. Score on the Swedish Fish!

[twodogdad]

Notes and more photos: Surprising/?/ amount of snow = generous opportunities for postholing. Comparing conditions to what we encountered at Reynolds two weeks ago it seemed as though spring had not just stalled but retreated. And no bucke verteth. This for Magellan (and all bird lovers), courtesy of my dogs

031SupportTeam

and Ezra Pound: Winter is icommen in Lhude sing Goddamn. Raineth drop and staineth slop And how the wind doth ram. Sing goddamn. Sing goddamn, damn, goddamn, Sing goddamn, goddamn, damn. After the lovely Middle English "Sumer is ycomen in": http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/medlyric/cuckou.php We had intended to ski Little Tahoma: we could have skied this one, top to basin and beyond. Al in all: a most enjoyable excursion. Thank you Magnus for saving my *** by providing shelter and other sartorial amenities as well as great company for man and dogs. N

02ChrisLibbySummit2

014LibbySummitViewWest

015CraterLakeLibby

017CorvusMagnus

019ChrisLoveTunnel

020ChrisCorax

021CorvusGpsicus

028BigelowFromCorax

029MartinSwitchbackfromCorax

Here's something the summit register vandal can't destroy:

022CoraxRegister

023CoraxRegister

024CoraxRegister

025CoraxRegister

026CoraxRegister

[RichP]

Nice work fellas. Lots of nwhikers in that summit register.

[Roald]

Nice trip and pics! So, which end of that ridge is higher? :-) I don't remember that register in October 2007. Is it new?

[cartman]

I think the fish was there when Matt and I did those Oct 2003. It's a historical fish.

[twodogdad]

[raising3hikers]

Thanks for the report, we almost went there this weekend. I found one of those same red candies in the West Craggy register yesterday.

[Mesahchie Mark]

Good going, guys! I will take your approach when I return to the area. Isn't the "true" summit Point 8572'?

[Mesahchie Mark]

TDD: Great to see B&D getting some fresh air. Rufus says "Woof!"

[huron]

[Tom_Sjolseth]

Don Duncan went up there with some sort of surveyor's level and 'confirmed' that the high point of that ridge is actually the 8580' Corax Peak, not the 8572' Libby. He wrote it up for the Mountaineers. Threw a loop for some of us who had to go back to climb the true high point after missing it the first go-round. Oh well, it's a neat area.